I don't know if it's just me, or is the Internet-based virtual world called
Second Life getting a lot of attention lately? All the news and reports from this virtual world have finally caught my attention, and after reading the post
My Second Life and the post
Presenting in RL/SL, I have decided to see for myself what all the fuss is about.
The first thing to do was of course to download the application and create a Second Life (SL) account. And so it was that on January 31st 2007
iAlja Writer was born. Yes, that is my SL name (by the way - if you're wondering about the last name: when signing up you have to pick a last name from a list of names, so you can't just make up any name you want). After that was done, I was finally able to sign in and take a first look around. At first I didn't get very lucky as an update was scheduled just around my first day in Second Life, so I was soon unable to log in. Argh!
But it takes more than a maintenance outage to stop a curious educator from exploring new worlds. When Second Life was back online, iAlja Writer finally took her first steps in her Second Life. Walking around is pretty easy (just use the arrow keys) and if you want a better view of the world, you can also fly and view it from air.
That's me flying over EduNation island:
Then I completed the challenge of setting up the appearance of my avatar. This can be done with the help of a quite simple and powerful editor (a more complex version of the
Mii editor on the
Wii).
Editing a playful and a daily appearance in SL:
You also have many other tools that can be used to teleport between places, chat, edit you profile, join groups, search etc. - and yes, figuring all that out takes some time, but after an hour or two I was able to master basic tools, menus, and other UI elements. The UI is quite basic, but can be learned quite fast, and you also get an essential SL tutorial right as you step into the world. But although the basic functions are quite simple to learn, I must say that the key word for my first days in SL was
confusing. I don't really know why, but I really felt confused and disoriented. I felt there was still so much of basic tools to find and learn, when in fact I already knew how to use the basic tools of SL.
iAlja wondering Where am I? What am I doing here?:
Anyhow, the thing I was of course most interested in was
meeting people (fellow educators trying to figure out SL if possible :) ). And to meet the right kind of people you of course have to go to the right kind of places, like the
EduNation island,
Campus: Second Life,
Sloodleville (a place where people are trying to bring
Moodle to Second Life) and
many more. For this reason I did a little search on the web and among SL places, events and groups, and was soon able to find places where educators meet and where links to other edu spaces can be found. The only thing that bothered me was that I didn't really got to meet a lot of people in the first days, as the edu places were mostly empty - I guess I'm in the wrong time zone :( But then I finally came across some interesting people and had some interesting conversations. I was really pleased to see that many people were willing to talk, answer my stupid questions (like: Who controls the weather in this place?) and share their experience and knowledge of SL (or other areas of 1st life :) ). Talking to people in SL is basically like using IRC, but much much more fun because you can in a way see other people and to some extent communicate non-verbally. I was quite impressed by the way SL avatars (characters) behave - they really seem alive. When you stand still they start looking at their watch (even if you don't have one) or look around the place or just stare at their feet (that's just what I'd do if I had to stand still in one spot!). You can also make your avatar do different gestures. Also, I find the pose that avatars assume when they are typing really great. It's a great way to show that a person is writing something! Voice chat can also be used in SL, but as I don't have a microphone for my Mac Mini I was yet unable to test it, but I think it would add a lot fun and realism to conversations. So, SL Voice Chat is definitely on my to-do list!
Another thing that impressed me was the variety of locations, places in Second Life. You have everything from clubs, shops and even museums. You can even race with Go-Karts, take a swim in WaterWarks or go to a party and dance a bit (check out
this list of 5 free fun things in SL). From the places I visited I especially enjoyed the
International Spaceflight Museum, which can also be a great place for learning.
At the International Spaceflight Museum:
So,
is all this any good for education? I think SL is a great learning tool for programming or computer science students as you can build object and add various scripts to them, so it's a fun tool to practice or learn about 3D modeling and programming. I am a bit afraid that our (business and management) students would find the world a bit too confusing, though it could be a great way to practice business skills as you can trade various objects or land in Second Life (using
Linden dollars). For this reason I think that you could have different modes in SL; for example: one very basic for people just interesting in going to places, meeting people and maybe buying stuff; then a business mode that would highly focus on the business aspects of SL; and finally an advanced mode for programmers and 3D designers. Basically, I think that SL and other virtual worlds have educational potential, but they should become even more intuitive and user friendly. A lot of people I met on help an information islands were feeling very confused by this new world and that can be a serious barrier for a wider adoption of virtual worlds.
//slightly off-topicAlthough, walking around SL did give me an interesting idea - what if future operating systems would adopt the characteristics of virtual worlds? Try to imagine - we already use the metaphor of desktops as the place where application are run, so why couldn't we have a 3D office instead? A 3D office in which you can have pictures on your walls, of course choose wall colors or wallpapers, and have different office applications around the office - either on the desk or sorted on shelves. And when not working you could go to your leisure room with an audio and video system, and shelves of music/videos. Basically, each user could customize his/her own house and different rooms by dragging objects around the place, also between rooms (if it sounds familiar - something similar will be done with Spaces in the next version of Mac OS X Leopard (and probably 5 years later as Places in the new Windows version that Microsoft will claim as a new and innovative feature)). You could of course also have rooms for kids in which parents could control some of the content and you could invite your friends to your house and show him/her how you just redecorated your office or you work with that document or go to a public space to see a movie, hear some new music, talk with friends or strangers. Everything would of course be connected to the internet and you could for example watch YouTube videos in your video room. I think that might be possible in the future when better graphics, higher Internet speeds and computer power will be available - that or the alternative in which our houses will have screens in every room. But as the trend is moving to mobile technologies I think it'd be much easier to make the OS a 3D environment that you can carry around with you and work in your office in the fresh air while sitting in a park. We'll see.//back to the topicMy point (my opinion) is, that we're still not at the point where SL can be as widely adopted as for example instant messaging. SL is more demanding, takes more time to start using, but in the end is quite more fun - but for the average user the road to fun is still too bumpy to be enjoyable (imho). I really can't make up my mind on the future of SL or other virtual worlds. As I said - it has potential, but so far it only appeals to a quite limited number of users. We'll see how it goes. In the meantime, I still think it's a valuable experience for every educator to go and check it out and experience it first hand - you don't really know what it is all about until you are actually in there. And if you happen to meet iAlja Writer somewhere along the journey don't forget to stop and say hello ;) Also, suggestions of interesting activities and places iAlja Writer should in your opinion visit are more then welcome, so feel free to leave a comment or write me an e-mail :)
Note: This is just an archive post. The blog has moved to a new home at
blog.ialja.com, where you will also find a copy of the entire blog.
And I was actually surprised by the fact that the comic almost immediately helped to lower the number of mails we receive and that students requesting login now included all the required information (just the way the girl in the comic does). Wow! I didn't believe it would make such a noticeable difference, but it does. It seems that our students pay more attention to the content of the comic than they did to the content of the written instructions. No serious research has been done about this (at least yet :) ), but a few students already responded to the short survey about the comic that we posted in the e-classroom and they all said the instructions in the comic are easier to understand than the written ones before.
More info about our moodle.si conference can be found here, although the site is in Slovenian language only. If you don't understand Slovenian and would like to know more about the conference or even participate in some way, please feel free to leave a comment on this post or email me :-)
My typical day starts with a cup of coffee and a click on my browser icon. It's strange now that I think about it, but the first thing I do in the morning (no matter what I have to do during a particular day) is to start my browser - Safari. I don't stop to think - oh, I need my browser now! - I just do it. Just a few years ago I'd then type in the address of a news site, but now the first thing I check in my browser are the web feeds. I regularly try to organize and reduce the number of feeds I'm subscribed to, but usually I'm stuck between 50 or 100 feeds (and here I'm counting just the feeds I regularly read). I have my feeds organized in folders in Safari's bookmark bar that is always visible. That allows me to see how many unread feeds I have at any given movement. It is a bit intrusive, but that's the way I like it (most of the times). I've tried using applications and web sites to keep track of my feeds, but I always come back to Safari's bookmark bar because it's always there, always telling me hey! click on me, I've got news! And sometimes I do feel the pressure of all those unread feeds; I feel like I'm missing something if I don't click them right away. Reading web feeds and following links they provide in a ways makes me feel connected. It gives me the feeling that I know what's going on right now and what the most interesting topics on the net are.
The number of feeds makes me read a minimum of 10 posts a day (on a calm day that is), but it doesn't just stop at reading and clicking links. Fact is that whenever I find an interesting post or link I immediately feel the need to share it. A few years ago I'd perhaps email or IM the link to family or friends, but now it's just much more. I feel the need to share it with the world - I don't want just friends and colleagues to read this link, I want to give everyone in the world that might be interested in a certain topic a chance to read it! And so I always make sure to share the really interesting posts/links at least on TeacherShare.org or/and Moodle.si. Isn't that interesting?
Keeping a blog makes me an active seeker of content that will be interesting and relevant for you: the readers of my blog. I am now the editor of my personal channel and for this reason I feel a big responsibility for the "life" of my blog - it is up to me to keep it interesting, current and worth reading. And all this also makes my primary work as a researcher more engaging, and even more valuable and meaningful to me. I feel that I can do much more than just the task in front of me. I am constantly learning, collecting experiences and thinking about how they could be shared for others to read. I try to write at least one post per week about what I currently do, what I am thinking about, what questions I am trying to answer... and I love the way my blog "obligation" is keeping me busy and active. If I can't find any new valuable ideas in my work I am motivated to go elsewhere. On other blogs, where I can even interact with the authors and readers of those blogs. I have in fact became an active seeker or ideas that I try to transform into new content that can be shared with the purpose of inspiring new ideas. Wow!
Then I completed the challenge of setting up the appearance of my avatar. This can be done with the help of a quite simple and powerful editor (a more complex version of the Mii editor on the Wii).
You also have many other tools that can be used to teleport between places, chat, edit you profile, join groups, search etc. - and yes, figuring all that out takes some time, but after an hour or two I was able to master basic tools, menus, and other UI elements. The UI is quite basic, but can be learned quite fast, and you also get an essential SL tutorial right as you step into the world. But although the basic functions are quite simple to learn, I must say that the key word for my first days in SL was confusing. I don't really know why, but I really felt confused and disoriented. I felt there was still so much of basic tools to find and learn, when in fact I already knew how to use the basic tools of SL.
Anyhow, the thing I was of course most interested in was meeting people (fellow educators trying to figure out SL if possible :) ). And to meet the right kind of people you of course have to go to the right kind of places, like the EduNation island, Campus: Second Life, Sloodleville (a place where people are trying to bring Moodle to Second Life) and many more. For this reason I did a little search on the web and among SL places, events and groups, and was soon able to find places where educators meet and where links to other edu spaces can be found. The only thing that bothered me was that I didn't really got to meet a lot of people in the first days, as the edu places were mostly empty - I guess I'm in the wrong time zone :( But then I finally came across some interesting people and had some interesting conversations. I was really pleased to see that many people were willing to talk, answer my stupid questions (like: Who controls the weather in this place?) and share their experience and knowledge of SL (or other areas of 1st life :) ). Talking to people in SL is basically like using IRC, but much much more fun because you can in a way see other people and to some extent communicate non-verbally. I was quite impressed by the way SL avatars (characters) behave - they really seem alive. When you stand still they start looking at their watch (even if you don't have one) or look around the place or just stare at their feet (that's just what I'd do if I had to stand still in one spot!). You can also make your avatar do different gestures. Also, I find the pose that avatars assume when they are typing really great. It's a great way to show that a person is writing something! Voice chat can also be used in SL, but as I don't have a microphone for my Mac Mini I was yet unable to test it, but I think it would add a lot fun and realism to conversations. So, SL Voice Chat is definitely on my to-do list!
So, is all this any good for education? I think SL is a great learning tool for programming or computer science students as you can build object and add various scripts to them, so it's a fun tool to practice or learn about 3D modeling and programming. I am a bit afraid that our (business and management) students would find the world a bit too confusing, though it could be a great way to practice business skills as you can trade various objects or land in Second Life (using Linden dollars). For this reason I think that you could have different modes in SL; for example: one very basic for people just interesting in going to places, meeting people and maybe buying stuff; then a business mode that would highly focus on the business aspects of SL; and finally an advanced mode for programmers and 3D designers. Basically, I think that SL and other virtual worlds have educational potential, but they should become even more intuitive and user friendly. A lot of people I met on help an information islands were feeling very confused by this new world and that can be a serious barrier for a wider adoption of virtual worlds.
Wiiii, a Wii has finally made it to our living room! And after a few days of Wii Sports I can share my first impressions and reflections on how the Wii can be used in education. I know a lot has already been written, so for those of you who might not yet know what is a Wii I suggest reading Nintendo Wii: first impressions - a great post that in my opinion nicely describes what a Wii is and how you can play with it. Also, you might want to read A Wii post on educational gaming, just to warm up ;-)
The Miis are sure a cute feature, but as an Internet addict I must say that I enjoy the web browser much more. The Wii browser is still a Trial version and I think there is still a lot of room for improvement (like encoding settings - right now the browser can't display certain specific characters of my language), but at a first glance it looks ok. You can zoom in or out on web pages, which is really useful because of the low resolution of TV screens. The browser has Flash support, and there are already web sites with flash games that can be easily played on the Wii (Google Wii flash games). You can also watch YouTube or Google Videos with no problems. Browsing with the Wii Mote is over all very intuitive and easy to learn. When you need to type a web address or fill out a form you use an on-screen keyboard - you can't type as fast as on a real keyboard, but you get some help in the form of word suggestions and I really like the fact that it provides a subtle tactile feedback (the remote vibrates slightly when you move over a letter).
Moving on - why is there now RSS reader on the Wii? It has a great news channel, a browser, so why didn't they include an RSS reader? I sure hope they'll be adding it soon - either as part of the browser or as a separate channel.