Virtual Halloween Party: Learning can’t get much more fun!
When: Friday, October 24, 2008
Time: 8:00 - Midnight (PDT)
Where: SJSU SLIS Second Life Campus
This is a great opportunity to have FUN learning about Second Life. If you’ve heard about Second Life, spent time there or not, have an avatar or not, this is a low stakes opportunity to get a sense of the virtual world imagined and created by it’s users.
The host, San Jose State’s Jeremy Kemp, is a very active and enthusiastic Second Life educator. I’m sure he’s designed a great event.
For more info, head on over to the SDSU CDI blog, where I’ve posted too!
Hope you can make it!
Suzanne
Wisdom from the past - fast forward to the Beach Club
I ran into one of our IT Security Officers the other day in the ladies room. She overheard me talking about the the pICTsl Farm’s and the new Beach Club and we got to talking about Second Life and technology in general.
Unlike me, she’s been working in IT and with computers for 30 years. She told me that way back when it was hard getting folks to use computers. They weren’t sure why they should, what the benefit would be, since as far as they were concerned everything was just fine the way it was.
She said it was games and fun things to do with computers that got people into using them. Even in the workplace, people were encouraged to play and play around with computers.
That was a great story, I thought. It confirmed my intuition. Beach Club here we come! Hoo!
Suzanne
Coming Soon - Faculty/Staff Beach Club
Situated behind the SDSU campus and next to the Library, the new Faculty/Staff Beach Club will be a one of a kind in Second Life. A Beach Club, you’re thinking?? What about learning how to teach in SL?
During the Gustav crisis, we received a request to use our SL facilities in case New Orleans’ schools might need emergency locations to conduct classes. I thought, “now that’s a resourceful idea.” I mention it because it reminds me that people create their own uses for technologies and that’s what we’re continuing to do.
We’re going to elevate the entertainment and social value of Second Life and push aside for near future the fact that Second Life is an educational technology. (Read this post and this post for more on SL as an educational technology.)
The Beach Club is about hanging out in SL in our casual San Diego kind of way. It’s about having a fun place to meet, chat and do Second Life kinds of things. It will have the usual SL and real life amenities such as indoor & outdoor lounging areas, a campfire, swings. Swimming, diving, water sports (e.g. jet-skiing, sailing, canoing), music, dancing and cocktails, a gift shop and informational counter.
It’ll be open and available 7/24 to all SDSU faculty and staff. Students are welcome too. If it sounds like play, that’s what we’re inviting you to do. But don’t be mislead into thinking that’s all it’s about. Are you working on an international project? With a team of folks spread across the country? Second Life & 3D environments are used more and more as places to meet, when distance and time is a concern.
Suzanne
Learning in Virtuality Archived Session
Access the archived Horizon Wimba session go to Blackboard>Course Design Institute>Communications>Live Classrooms>Learning in Virtuality Archive.
[slideshare id=485368&doc=virtua2-1214409150287338-9&w=425]
Avatar Design for non-designers
When I first looked seriously at Second Life, it was self-evident that the avatar was the essence of the entire experience. This may be more the case in world-building environments than in gaming environments. It’s not only that learning is an embodied and social endeavor, turned topsy-turvy now that we can control avatars in a shared space, sitting thousands of miles apart from one another. It’s that selfhood and identity in these spaces becomes wildly complex.
In Meez and Spore Creator Creator we can create avatars. We can create selves, characters, personas; it’s all completely open. One of the initial critiques of QWAQ has been the lack of avatar customization.
There’s also been some research looking into avatar design from a functional perspective. What does an avatar need to be able to do to be an “effective avatar” in a given virtual situation?
I’m personally enamored with the aesthetic of Second Life avatars, it makes being there visually rich. I redesign my avatars more than anything else in SL. They are my playground. And in one sense, this might be a good entry into 3D design for non-designers.
What Exactly Is A Virtual World?
Pop quiz: What is a Virtual World?
a) A shared space
b) Avatar-based chat room
c) 3D collaborative experience
d) All of the above
e) Or something else?
With new Virtual Worlds being announced almost weekly, the question bears asking.
The Virtual Worlds Review, for example, a pioneering effort in describing the development of Virtual Worlds, suggests six features common to all Virtual Worlds:
- Shared Space: the world allows many users to participate at once.
- Graphical User Interface: the world depicts space visually, ranging in style from 2D “cartoon” imagery to more immersive 3D environments.
- Immediacy: interaction takes place in real time.
- Interactivity: the world allows users to alter, develop, build, or submit customized content.
- Persistence: the world’s existence continues regardless of whether individual users are logged in.
- Socialization/Community: the world allows and encourages the formation of in-world social groups like teams, guilds, clubs, cliques, housemates, neighborhoods, etc.
However, with more companies and institutions jumping on the VW bandwagon, I begin to wonder if the term is becoming more broadly defined.
Case in point: Weblin.
The Weblin website describes their virtual world as follows:
Weblin “turns the web into a virtual world. Your personalized weblin avatar surfs the web with you, enabling you to see friends and meet new ones on the same site as you. Weblins can chat, move, show emotion, visit lounges, and trade stuff with other weblins.”
Wow! The whole web! Sounds interesting, yes? I thought so and quickly created a weblin for myself. I chose my avatar and decided to surf the web right away.
So.. IS Weblin a Virtual World? Or maybe Virtual World lite? Yes, it allows a shared social space, communication, immediacy. However, is it persistent? Does it allow any level of meaningful user customized content? Not really.
Why is this important? For a couple of years now, educators have been using Second LIfe as the standard by which to evaluate instruction and learning in a virtual world. But not all Virtual Worlds ARE Second Life. They each have unique capabilities and characteristics that must be carefully evaluated.
Does this make Weblin and other platforms “bad”? No. But it does make them different. And a wise educator will take the time to evaluate those differences in light of what s/he is attempting to accomplish with his/her students - and then make the most appropriate choice.
