Mags Writer is hosting the next NMC Campus Teachers Buzz- a trip to Otis Island

As he describes it:

Otis College of Art and Design associate professor Michael Wright took three Classes of Otis digital sophomore students into the virtual world of Second Life where they developed and created content based on a class-developed theme.

The project, which was created on the Otis Island in Second Life, required team building, out of the box creative thinking, introducing students to working with 3d & 2d virtual tools, working with a budget (3000 lindens per class), and working with a limited amount of building blocks (3100 primitives per class). Each team/class developed a production pipeline and a theme for there area. Three hours of in-class time and 10 hours of outside of class time were devoted to this project. None of the 55 students had second life experience.

They were required to learn proprietary software to engage in the process. The process required students to create and design their own personal avatar. After creating the avatar each had to manage to get to Otis Island at an assigned time. At the island they were given brief introduction to movement, flying and building. The production pipeline began with brainstorming sessions. Once the themes were established the teams went to work creating content for their individual areas. The themes developed were “Heaven and Hell”, “Pirates and Atlantis” and “Lost World and Mythology”.

When: Monday, February 18, 2007 9:00am PST (check for local time)
Where: Otis Island (128, 128, 0)

Your NMC host and contact for this Buzz session is Ninmah Ash.

To give you a taste of what Mags has done, we met up with him last week for an NMC Campus Studio One interview where he shared a bit about the unique programs at Otis College of Art & Design, how he got into Second Life, and how this first project with students fared (and their reaction to the project). In summary, he took his students through
a project design and production process, working as teams on the themes outlined above.

Interview with Mags Writer (20.4 Mb MP3, 22:15)

See a comprehensive summary of Michael Wright’ work on the Otis web site which includes evaluation from the students as well as their comments.

Otis Gallery in Second Life, modeled after a real building on campus that was built originally for IBM (note the punch card motif). Inside, the SL version, you will find ongoing exhibitions of student work

In this session, we will assemble at Otis Island so Mags can tell us a bit more about what is available to see here, then you will go and explore the student projects, and return for some followup discussion.

Interview with Ann Enigma

Ann chatted a bit about her background and her early interest in computers (a self proclaimed and proud “geek”). The we talked about her entry into Second Life 2 years ago with the Virtual Morocco project- one of my favorite stellar educational builds that we visited in December 2006 for an NMC Campus Teachers Buzz field trip.

She also talked about her upcoming projects with students who will be provided some land and cash to try and start up a virtual business in Second Life, to learn about planning, marketing, business strategy, etc.

Ann sees code writing as being very creative– and beautiful, and she shared some of her wishes in the future of Second Life to have more programmable connectivity to and from SL to the web.

And we talked a bit about her presentation at next week’s NMC Symposium on Creativity in Second Life where in her sessions Effective Communication Design with Scripted Objects she will help even folks new to scripting create an elegant scripted item.

Thanks Ann for chatting with us! And we look forward to visiting your new projects.

Their poster is on “Using Simulations To Enhance Online Learning” and provides an overview of three different online simulations created at UMUC for online programs:

1. Networking and Information Security Hands-On Online Lab Exercises
2. Crime Scene Investigation
3. Homeland Security Simulation: City of San Luis Rey

Using audio chat to interview Jules and Kathleen

You can see an online version of the poster along with three audio narrated overviews of these projects at:
http://polaris.umuc.edu/de/csi/nmc/simulations.html

In our audio interview, Julie Commons (aka Jules Gilliam) and Kathleen Maloney (aka Kathleen Puckett) describe the simulations and some of the outcomes. You may also want to refer to the handout they provided in world.

UMUC Interview

Desideria Stockton Interview

Her avatar is named after a poem by William Wordsworth. What we learned was that Beth has been very active in using web 2.0 technologies for a while. She had a rather disturbing first visit in Second Life that turned her away, until having a meaningful experience in Harvard’s Cyber One class.

In our interview, she gave a flavor of the kinds of activities she weaves into her classes that use Second Life (see her extensive collection of course materials) such as her recent British Literature class– e.g. while studying Beowulf, her students built in Second Life their own Grendel’s Lair.

We also got to her perspective on the wild success of last week’s Second Life Best Practice in Education Conference, and her excitement of connecting with more than 1300 other educators active or interested in Second Life. We both agreed that the media support and coverage of this event by SLCN.tv was nothing short of amazing (see the recently posted video archives).

Lastly, we got to discussing the notion of avatars and why hers is no “school marm”– including some amazing stories of some research she did iin her early exploration of Second Life.

Thanks again, Desi for spending some time talking with us.

Interview with Blogsar Lumpen

Blogsar has recently “set up shop” on EduIsland– and like many of us, feels more at a point of having more questions than answers. So plan onthis session being an ope dialogue, not a sermon!

Today, Corwin Carrillon and I had a chance to meet up with Blogsar for a brief audio interview (see below).

Join us Monday, 9:00 AM PDT (check your local time) for this next Teachers Buzz Session. We will meet again on Teaching 3 (121,147, 24) or try the SLURL map to get there. Your hosts will be Corwin and the lovely Totally Vavoom as this dog has a mission in the field to take care of.

Interview with Jeremy Braver

As it turns out, Jeremy arrived on time, but the grid was acting goofy, and I could not connect (not for lack of trying or cussing). But as we run our interviews over Skype, we had a great conversation (available below), and after we were done, I was able to connect so we could pose for a “Dog and Mouse” photo on the red carpet lobby:

So Jeremy is not only an 8th grade Math teacher, he’s also a Masters student in Instructional Technology at University of Texas at San Antonio, an avid game player, and as you can tell from listening to him speak, an enthusiast for educational technology.

We talked about game theory, the potential for teaching Math in Second Life, his new projects being planned for the Teen Grid (where he will be known as “Math Binder”!), and possible educational uses of Machinima. He’s volunteered to help lead an upcoming NMC Campus Teacher’s Buzz session with a possible role play activity to put into gear.

Thanks Jeremy for taking time to chat with us!

Interview with Alpine Tendaze

Alpine Tendaze a.k.a. Brent McConnell

We first had contact when Brent emailed us a few weeks ago. He had been using the NMC Campus Sandbox that floated above the main campus, and asked why he could no longer get to it. The problems we were having with the sandbox were due to the main sim having so many prims that it was overfilling, and when this happens, objects suddenly start returning to their owner. because of this issue, we’ve had to decommission the current sandbox, but have no fear… with our land holdings now, we hope in the next few months to have some new sandboxes set up.

When he described what he was building, I was very interested to hear in his own words, what an educator in Dubai was coming up with for using Second Life.

In the interview, Brent talks about the growth of his school, the level of technology sophistication of the students there. Their school is going through a period of rapid expansion (going from 60 students to 1700 in 6 years), and in addition to growth, they experience a turnover rate of 25% per year. They see using Second Life as one of the transition tools for students just coming to Dubai or leaving it for another place.

Brent shared how he got a Creative Teaching Grant to pilot educational activities in Second Life. Dubai American Academy would be the first overseas American school to set up a project in Second Life. If it goes well, they would be looking to get a few islands, mostly in the teen grid. He shared one of the challenges in getting their staff approved via the required background check. Because most of them have experience in multiple countries, what might cost $40 in the US to run a background check is easily 10 to 25 times as much to get the required checks done overseas.

Listen to the rest of the podcast to learn more about Brent’s projects and what it is like to work and teach in Dubai.

Update: We got word that the teens working on this project are blogging the entire process and will be creating a video documentary as well. See the Dubai American Academy’s Digital Media Studies TeenSL Pilot Project. For example, today’s entry includes:

So far we have blueprints of our media center. The center will be made to recreate the old villa that Dubai American Academy was based in. Our team members have learnt basic building and have been exploring the depths of SL and the uses of Second Life as a medium. Meanwhile, our Tech Connections section of the team has successfully promoted SL during tech connections.

Our Second Life team is currently working on:

· Creating a list of elements
· Sketching center on paper
· Building a model on sketch-up
· Collecting electronic resources
· Exploring SL as a medium

Our next steps are to start a solid layout for the media center as well as learning advanced building. This includes our current exercise, which is building a platform that drops a ball on a chain of dominoes.

Studio NMC Interview With Gudand Hao

Gudand Hao ponders digital storytelling

So we chatted a bit about Gudand’s work in real life for the Center for Digital Storytelling. He shared some of his ideas about of Second Life, and speculations on doing storytelling in SL:

I think it’s intriguing that its going to offer an opportunity for a simulacra of inter-relationship in which embodied avatars give us a sense of the other in a way that a telephone conversation or a text based messaging or interchange can’t give us– I’m excited where that’s at. Where it goes in terms of the more nuanced levels of human communication that re really important to storytelling– looking someone in the eye and listening to them — is not quite clear. But I think that regardless, it’s a great place to experiment with this form, and I’m excited you guys are putting so much energy into it.

We are still scouting locations on NMC Campus for the next Buzz– he has requested a beach…. Look for an announcement next week.

Update: Gudand and I took a little flying tour, and he liked a small sandy island north of the new Machinima Studio. So our Teacher’s Buzz Meeting on Digital Storytelling in SL will be Monday, Feb 5, 9:00 AM PST (check your local time) at NMC Campus 1 (51, 39, 25).

Jeremy “Kabumpo” Kemp… maybe his tag line is, ‘I’m not a Doctor and I don’t play one in Second Life’

In our audio interview (see below), Jeremy shared his background in virtual worlds and his position woth San Jose State University. You can learn more about Jeremy’s work at his Prosim Virtua blog. And educators everywhere in SL owe Jeremy a big thanks for his work in hosting the SimTeach wiki (a must bookmark link) and the Second Life Educator (SLED) forums.

Interview with Jeremy Kabumpo

Jeremy walks me through the Heart Murmur Simulation

Jeremy provided a quick walk through tour of his Heart Murmur simulation, which features use of special audio features to provide the needed sounds to simulate cardiac auscultation. But what is more interesting is the data Jeremy is collecting via the sim’s surveys and user tracking that will be the subject of his dissertation. He reports that he has collected data on more than 2500 unique visitors to this sim, and is rather excited about the amount of robust assessment he will be able to make.

You can experience more from a YouTube machinima movie that walks you through the Heart Murmur Simulation:

Finally be sure to listen near the end as Jeremy describes the Simteach Teacher’s Lounge event on Monday, Oct 2, Noon (SLT/PST), when there will be a guest presentation from John Bransford, one of writers behind the brilliant How People Learn books. If you are interested in attending, use this slurl on Oct 2 to teleport to the location (Palladium 120,120)

Thanks again Jeremy for the tour! You make a great looking surgeon in Second Life garb.

In the audio interview below, Lorenzo share his obvious excitement for Second Life, and some of the places he has discovered on his explorations. He was especially intrigued by the Idaho Bioterrorism simulation. We talked about things that happen when we try to describe Second Life in words as opposed to experiencing it.

Lorenzo/Larry went on to talk about his first in world project, a Continuing Medical Education class he is going to run in December, in cooperation with the University of Illinois, Chicgo Medical College Library. He made this connection via the Second Life Educators Group. Doctors will get a small dose of content, but they will then have to address a patient scenario related to hypertension and diabetes.

In the scenario, they will be required to use some of the Second Life library resources accessed via Info Island, then return at the end for some in world discussion. Participants will be practicing doctors working on their CME credits, and it is Lorenzo/Larry’s hope that the doctors build some of their experience in Second Life before the workshop.

We are eager to report back on this class in December. And if you see someone happily flying around NMC Campus, it’s a good chance it is Lorenzo Stork.

Interview with Lorenzo Stork