When worlds collide: learning activity management for avatars or “Taking LAMS to Second Life” (but hopefully not “Like LAMS to the SLaughter”) image by ialja @ flickr.com

Summary

Second what? 3-D virtual world run by Linden Lab populated by avatars, a.k.a. residents ‘ proprietary’, but public commitment to open standards and OSS a ‘metaverse’ almost entirely built by its residents www.secondlife.com

3-D virtual world

run by Linden Lab

populated by avatars, a.k.a. residents

‘ proprietary’, but public commitment to open standards and OSS

a ‘metaverse’ almost entirely built by its residents

So it’s just a game right? looks and feels like a gaming environment but no purpose as such use it to buy / sell, entertain, learn, collaborate, … do not approach it simply as a game – you’ll be disappointed! image by J0@nn@ @ flickr.com

looks and feels like a gaming environment

but no purpose as such

use it to buy / sell, entertain, learn, collaborate, …

do not approach it simply as a game – you’ll be disappointed!

A collaborative space images by silversprite @ flickr.com meetings conferences lectures group work informal discussions chat, IM, groups and gestures

meetings

conferences

lectures

group work

informal discussions

chat, IM, groups and gestures

A creative space not just building objects… scripting putting on plays / gigs / performances art installations creating machinima written text …

not just building objects…

scripting

putting on plays / gigs / performances

art installations

creating machinima

written text

…

But note… “ It's easier for [Second Life] to be a chemistry set than a chemistry class” “ One of the issues with SL is that generally only 10% of people get it” Babbage Linden http://artfossett.net/meetings/2007/06/19/efsym-followup/transcript.txt

“ It's easier for [Second Life] to be a chemistry set than a chemistry class”

“ One of the issues with SL is that generally only 10% of people get it”

SL as part of a blended experience SL is good for some things but not everything - good for some people but not everyone SL will offer a potentially useful venue for some of the activities managed using LAMS pedagogies have to be flexible enough to allow for multiple modes of collaboration and creativity our learners won’t be fully immersed in virtual worlds for the foreseeable future – therefore LAMS integration can be partial

SL is good for some things but not everything - good for some people but not everyone

SL will offer a potentially useful venue for some of the activities managed using LAMS

pedagogies have to be flexible enough to allow for multiple modes of collaboration and creativity

our learners won’t be fully immersed in virtual worlds for the foreseeable future – therefore LAMS integration can be partial

Functional requirements in-world (LAMS->SL) information about activities workflow snapshot (what have I done? what do I still need to do?) dates and times (when do I need to do it by?) participants (who do I need to do it with?) out-world (SL->LAMS) information / tracking about progress stored chat-logs log of activity saved artefacts

in-world (LAMS->SL) information about activities

workflow snapshot (what have I done? what do I still need to do?)

dates and times (when do I need to do it by?)

participants (who do I need to do it with?)

out-world (SL->LAMS) information / tracking about progress

stored chat-logs

log of activity

saved artefacts

Issue 1 – logging collaborations chat and IM history not stored persistently across sessions need to maintain record elsewhere automatically or by manual copy-and-paste

chat and IM history not stored persistently across sessions

need to maintain record elsewhere

automatically or by manual copy-and-paste

Issue 2 - displaying text in-world difficult to dynamically display textual information in-world XYText vs. ‘text as image’ vs. chat HTML on a prim long promised but not yet available :-( http://www.jeff-barr.com/?p=587 http://www.slexchange.com/modules.php? name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=123668

difficult to dynamically display textual information in-world

XYText vs. ‘text as image’ vs. chat

HTML on a prim long promised but not yet available :-(

Issue 3 – data transfer SL scripting language has built-in support for HTTP requests and RPC but no in-world XML or Ajax parser support so need to process complex data using external scripts and pass data in-world using simple formats (e.g. CSV) also note limitations in amount of data that can be passed

SL scripting language has built-in support for HTTP requests and RPC

but no in-world XML or Ajax parser support

so need to process complex data using external scripts and pass data in-world using simple formats (e.g. CSV)

also note limitations in amount of data that can be passed

Issue 4 - shared credentials avatars have a name – e.g. Art Fossett in-world objects have a unique identifier need to reliably tie avatars to LAMS accounts and LAMS accounts to avatars need to trust the intermediate in-world objects thru which messages are passed

avatars have a name – e.g. Art Fossett

in-world objects have a unique identifier

need to reliably tie avatars to LAMS accounts and LAMS accounts to avatars

need to trust the intermediate in-world objects thru which messages are passed

Mapping the landscape Second Life Moodle LAMS

Learning activity management for avatars LAMS adds activity management to the mix

LAMS adds activity management to the mix

Eduserv Foundation currently funding development of SLoodle contact Daniel Livingstone [daniel.livingstone@googlemail.com] to find out more

Eduserv Foundation currently funding development of SLoodle

contact Daniel Livingstone [daniel.livingstone@googlemail.com] to find out more