NMC Campus Observer

Teachers Buzz Nov 27 - Field trip with Lyr Lobo

Corwin Carillon (aka Nick Noakes) : Nov 28, 2006 02:53am

Today we had a fantastic field trip to Lyr Lobo’s space in Arah with 33 avatars attending - a great turnout! Lyr was demonstrating a commercial tool, called Paradise Blanket (you buy the base tool and can buy additional modules) which rezzes complete ’scenes’. Both Lyr and the NMC are producing scripted tools to do something similar to this - a variation of a holodeck - so make sure you’re subscribed to the Campus Observer for the latest news about these!

Lyr took us on a whirlwind tour from the planets to a swimming pool, from a playground to a disco, from a western saloon to a tiki bar and beyond! Some of these scenes included working props and activities, such as a turntable for changing music All a lot of fun and very cool. However, Lyr kept on challenging us to go past the cool factor to discuss what type of learning spaces we liked and how we might use this concept with our students.

“Lyr: I saw this concept and realized that the beauty of this world is that it can change rapidly and leverage a lot of different capabilities…all at once. Why have physical classrooms when our learning spaces can change…to accommodate the mood or the content? Now, not all of these scenes are suitable for a classroom but the concept is intriguing.

[Lyr rezzes a Grecian scene] Welcome to Greece *chuckles*.

Imagine if we could add to the scenes, develop our own content or have students develop content, even store their portfolio contributions and rez them when needed; saving storage, prims and using the scenes when needed…putting them up when we are done.

What kinds of learning spaces or scenes appeal to you?”

The quickly changing scenes sparked the group’s creativity and ideas rolled in quickly:

• Something that reflects content
• Theatrical spaces; different audience performer relationships
• For journalism, being able to simulate breaking news situations
• Something that makes students think out of the box
• Natural landscapes
• Landscape architecture design
• An art gallery to show student works
• Historical scenes
• Geographic locations over time
• Spaces we cannot visit easily such as other planetary surfaces
• Architectural scenes
• Role playing scenes - business practices, dealing with a client in real pain, interviewing people, organizational behavior and social networks
• Models of internal organs for anatomy study
• Microscopic environments - molecular levels, circuit boards
• Portfolio presentations
• Introduce students/teachers to a variety of places in Second Life without having to teleport and worry about lag on someone else’s property
• Different musical venues that reflect acoustic feedback; like the difference between playing the cello in your garage or at Carnegie Hall, try playing an original composition at Abbey Hall
• Scenes that change in response to actions - based on events touches or triggers

In answer to one avatar’s question, Lyr told us that she changed environments to set mood or suit activities and that she had used these scenes for small group activities and virtual office hours. For Lyr, the scenes helped her students and herself to interact and think differently. For example, she liked to set up her Japanese meditation table with poses, invite the students to sit and they could build, script and talk while discussing their issues (individually or in groups).

“Since you can be seated while working…it helps everyone think differently.

I pattern my sessions after the one hour classes given in world. Then have them experiment and design at a slower pace on their own. So we introduce, create then take a leisurely pace, so they can explore. [snip, snip] So far, I’ve taught Game Design, Usability and Interaction, Software Requirements engineering..and Software Testing in here … but I could teach my Faculty course in here, too..on how to teach online.”

Lyr mentioned that she is building and scripting her own variation of this concept and asked us what would we like to see on the basic menu. Again ideas flowed, with people mentioning the ability to customize so that students could build, revise, keep, discard. This led to a discussion about the importance of ‘place’ in Second Life versus interaction, with respect to people who build replicas of physical places. Lyr said that such builds are great for identity and recognition, and developing a common look and feel. Which is important for property in architectural studies.

In response to a question about students’ participation in this space compared to their participation in an online chat or discussion group, Lyr stated that from her experience it is richer, more immersive:

“We can accomplish in an hour here what we would discuss in lecture or the lab in a few hours. They do not come into my sessions for more than an hour or two … by then, they are exhausted, and have a finished product [chuckles]”

Finally, Lyr was asked if she would tell us another time about the training work she does with faculty about teaching online/distance classes and she gratiously said she could put together a session! So look out for this in a future Buzz!

Thanks Lyr from all of us for a great session! The discussion continued long after the transcript of this session ended, which says it all! And there are photos on Flickr from the session, thanks to CDB!

Story filed under: Teacher's Buzz, Teaching and Learning

See all stories by Corwin Carillon (aka Nick Noakes)