A View from Second Life’s Trenches: Are you a Pioneer or a Settler

Slide 1: A View from Second Life’s Trenches Are you a Pioneer or a Settler? NMC Summer Conference Cynthia Calongne Colorado Technical University June 8, 2007 1

Slide 2: Second Life Philip Rosedale, Philip Linden in SL  Founder and CEO of Linden Labs  Every day - 120,000 people log into SL   They spend 4 hours at a time in world  The average user - 15 hours per week 2

Slide 3: Blending Real and Virtual Meetings 3

Slide 4: Growth in Second Life June 2007 over 7 million accounts  March 2007 -- over 250 Universities  and 2500 educators on SLED Gartner projects 80% of Internet users  will be in Second Life by 2011 4

Slide 5: Exploring New Frontiers 5

Slide 6: Second Life Statistics 120 square miles >2x San Francisco  10% of users stick with SL, similar to blogs  40k simultaneous logins, >6500 servers  The user-to-user economy is >US $15  million/mo - land, clothes, jewelry furniture 6

Slide 7: A Lush Landscape 7

Slide 8: Pioneers and Settlers Pioneer -- discovery and innovation  Explorer -- takes risks, tries new techniques   Innovator -- seeks to define new methods  Mitigates risk while trying new methods Settler -- successful operations  Colonizes and maintains steady progress   Stabilizing influence, assessment, analysis  Manages risk using proven methods 8

Slide 9: Settlers or Pioneers? 9

Slide 10: Teaching Approaches Traditional Lecture Socratic discussion   Sage on the stage Instructor-guided content   Student-driven content Learners are passive  Case Studies  Student presentations  Immersive roleplay  Individual or panel  Concepts & objectives  Q&A sessions  Applied Learning  Activities  Projects and portfolios  Labs & Procedurals  10

Slide 11: NMC Teachers’ Buzz Meetings 11

Slide 12: Settler and Pioneer Styles Lecture Open Discourse   Seated, raising hands Guided exploration   Speaker control Everyone contributes   Orderly, easy to read Great for brainstorming   Cognitive Burden  Focused discussion  Constrains our ability to  Models RL behavior  think, reason & respond Some ideas are lost  Distracting  Some participants get  Includes off-topic notes  bored 12

Slide 13: CS 672 - 1st Day in SL 13

Slide 14: GlobalKids in Second Life 14

Slide 15: GlobalKids -- Take a Stand 15

Slide 16: English Composition in SL 16

Slide 17: Writing Assignments in SL 17

Slide 18: Virtual Classrooms 18

Slide 19: Slides and Streaming Video 19

Slide 20: Virtual and Real Campus 20

Slide 21: Teaching Activities in SL Create your identity Avatar   Teach and mentor Classes, office hours   Social networks Share ideas, meet   Class projects Applied learning   Roleplay Immersive learning   Learning games Interactivities   Blended reality Real-virtual meetings   Exploration Visit, tour, study   Build Create and customize   21

Slide 22: Teaching at NIU in Second Life 22

Slide 23: Ramapo in Second Life Ramapo in New York 400 8th Graders   Suffern Middle School Peggy Sheehy   Gus Woodward  Second Life activities  Classes & SL groups  “Of Mice and Men”  Language Arts  Geo gallery  Geometry  Business sales  Entrepreneurs  Design and scripting  Robotics  Ellis Island  History  Inventions  23

Slide 24: Virtual World Class Rules 24

Slide 25: Imaginative Instruction 25

Slide 26: Ramapo’s Creative Spaces 26

Slide 27: Studying Immigration 27

Slide 28: Teens in the Courtroom 28

Slide 29: Modeling Geometric Problems 29

Slide 30: Student Conference Center 30

Slide 31: Biographies and Resumes 31

Slide 32: Coca Cola, Sony, Linden Labs 32

Slide 33: Literature at Ramapo Photos courtesy of Peggy Sheehy of Ramapo 33

Slide 34: Facilitated Team Discussions Photos courtesy of Peggy Sheehy of Ramapo, Suffern Middle School in NY 34

Slide 35: Bridging Universities University of Queensboro University of Calif, Davis Voices and Perception Survey Instrument in SL 35

Slide 36: Mathematics Comes to Life Seifert Surface’s Research on Mathematics 36

Slide 37: Modeling the Problem 37

Slide 38: Inside the Model -- New Frontiers 38

Slide 39: Second Life CTU Classes Virtual Office Hours CS 641 - 17 students   Underwater offices 13 Projects   Amusement Park  Island requirements  CS 672 - 11 students  Merry go round  CS 382 - 12 students  Radar system  Tree that grows Game maze with traps,   treasure, gadgets, and Water park and star  capture the flag Basketball  39

Slide 40: Virtual Office Hours 40

Slide 41: Students Explore Without Fear 41

Slide 42: Challenging Safe Practices 42

Slide 43: Projects Grow Between Classes 43

Slide 44: Analogous Problems 44

Slide 45: Defining and Measuring Quality 45

Slide 46: Exams focus on applied and activity- based learning methods 46

Slide 47: Exam Feedback 47

Slide 48: Crossing Boundaries DART Dementasia Aerial Rapid Transit 48

Slide 49: Managing Innovation & Change 49

Slide 50: Modeling Behavioral Changes 50

Slide 51: Emergent Behavior Bridging CS 641 with CS 382 Software Design 51

Slide 52: Team Project - 12 Students 52

Slide 53: Enthusiastic Maze Game Design “I survived the Maze Game” shirts Traps and Scoreboard 53

Slide 54: Course Assessments Course objectives Projects and Activities   Competency evaluation Successfully achieved   the learning outcomes Valid use of Second Life  Rubrics and grades  Measurements  Better understanding of  Critical Analysis and  requirements, concepts Synthesis and design issues Student-driven design  Learner Independence  54

Slide 55: Legitimacy in the Academy 55

Slide 56: Assessing Education in SL 56

Slide 57: Next Steps Collaboration and Learning extends   community beyond the classroom Extracurricular events Student services and   blended reality events Music, dance, art Cultural venues   Exploration and games Discovery   New tools and  technology Business and industry Career development   57

Slide 58: Art that Comes Alive 58

Slide 59: Testing the Boundaries Activities that map to Educational games,   learning outcomes immersive activities Student-driven participation Planning, design and   development Foster self-discovery  Quests and interactivity  History, literature, clinicals,  Immersive learning  & procedures environments Ephemeral - rendered and  Temporary learning spaces  removed quickly -- contextual environments 59

Slide 60: Settlers Build for Success Assessment  Learning - grades  Course - refinement  Do you seek growth  Degree - quality  and new frontiers? Course Design  Standards  Are you focused on  Proven methods  maintaining a Accreditation  successful program? Stability  Planned growth  60

Slide 61: Blending Pioneers and Settlers 61

Slide 62: A View from Second Life’s Trenches Are you a Pioneer or a Settler? For more information, contact Lyr Lobo in Second Life Ryl Redgrave on the Teen Grid at Ramapo calongne@pcisys.net 62