Research and CTU in Second Life

Copyright Cynthia M. Calongne, 2008.

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Cynthia CalongneColorado Technical University

DCS-EIS April 18, 2008

Research in a Virtual World

• Integrates– People -- that sense of presence

• Avatars, movement and communication

– Places• Settings that provide a context for exploration

– Content • Science, culture, behavior, innovation, branding

– Accomplishments• simulations, studies, experimental designs, business

Virtual World Explosion

• By the end of 2011 – 80% of the world’s active Internet users will be in a

virtual world (Gartner, 2007)• Over 330 million active Internet home users in March

2007 -- Nielsen ratings

• Education– Over 400 universities and 4500 educators in SL

• Congressional hearings held in April 2008– Concerns on teen use, terrorism, security

How we Teach and Learn in SL• Self image

• Mentor, collaborate

• Social networks

• Class projects

• Roleplay

• Learning games

• Blended reality

• Exploration

• Build

• Create an avatar - you!

• Office hours, facilitation

• Share ideas, hold meetings

• Applied learning

• Immersive learning

• Interactivities

• Real & virtual meetings

• Visit, tour, study

• Create and customize

If 80% of the world’s Internet users will be in a virtual world by 2011 (Gartner, 2007) -- Are you ready?

Virtual World Learning Spaces

• An environment for learning includes– Communication tools

for sharing ideas

– Content that maps to the the course objectives

– A variety of course delivery methods

Nanotechnology Lab in Second LifeAn asynchronous learning environment

Science Comes to Life

The National Physics Laboratorypresents the advances in

Nanotechnology

Interactive Nano Labs

Middle School Students at Ramapo

Roleplay andconflict in animmersive literature class

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, portrayed by Suffern Middle School students

MBA 770 Class at Wright State

Shu’s students prepare for a collaboration exercise in Second Life

Virtual Hallucinations

University of Queensboro University of Calif, Davis

Survey Instrument in SLVoices and Perception

Content at Virtual Hallucinations

Words leap out at you,simulating an experience

Interactive Learning Spaces

Dr. Dobb’s Life 2.0visit http://life20.net

Acheron LV426CTU class work space

Modeling the Problem

Crooked House

You never run out of house as it rolls over while you walk

Cooperation Theory

We sit above, seeing the maze and the demonstration viewers

SL Research

• VITAL Lab -- Software Engineering Process Game and more– http://vital.cs.ohiou.edu/vitalwiki/index.php/Second_Life_Development

• Eric McLuhan on animation and the Egyptian silhouette

• Conferences and Symposiums

Eric McLuhan in SL

Robotics at CTU

Student, instructor and Big Robot on Campus group robots

MacArthur Foundation in SL

Philip Linden, CEO of Linden LabMeets with the MacArthur Foundation

Real and Virtual Meetings

NMC Symposium, Lyr Lobo queries the MacArthur Foundation

Meetings around the Campfire

Thomson NETg in SL

Using a video stream with Thomson NETg’s online course content

8th Graders Learn to Design

Colorado Tech Island

CTU Boardwalk in SL

CTU Class - 1st Day in SL

Robotics Class Projects

Robots by CTU doctoral students and Lyr Lobo on Acheron LV426

If You Build It, They Will Come

• The interaction between people and content– Students, faculty, instructional designers

• Support for active and passive learners

• Support for a variety of learning styles– How do you learn?

• Discussion

• Exploration

• Discovery

• Creation

Otis College Art Projects

Instructor-designed classrooms

use creative and innovative

environments

ExperimentalDesign

Classrooms

CS 820 at CTU -- doctoral students study how to design their prototypes

A self-guided tutorial for building a 20-minute project

Preparing for CTU student presentations and usability tests using empirical methods

Student projects and class content on display at Acheron LV426

CS 820 from Fall 2007 conducts usability evaluations using empircal testing

Virtual Meetings, Interactive Content

(top two images, left to right)

The House of Seven Gables session

(bottom image)

Jared Bendis on Digital Tattoos

NMC Fall Symposium in SL 2008

Getting Ready to Teach

• Readiness checklist– Avatar -- yourself!

• Appearance

• Communication

– User interface• Using the tool

• Motor skills

• Camera controls

– Content• Activities, simulations

Lyr Lobo in Second Life

Sense of Presence

• Appearance– 1st self or ideal self?

• Movement– SL user interface– Animation override (AO)

custom device

• Communication– Voice, text, gestures

• Hair, skin, shape and clothes

• Moving your avatar – Arrow keys or View menu

and Movement

– Poses and animations

• Looking at the class– Camera controls

• Arrows or View menu

How Will Your Avatar Look?

Looking at Objects and People

• Camera orientation– Hold down your alt key

and left mouse click on a person or an object to focus on it

• Your display will follow the person or the object’s movement

• Use your scroll wheel to zoom in and out

– Use the Escape key twice (Esc) to return to your view

Controlling What You See

• Camera controls– To move around a person or

object• Let’s look at your face!

– Press and hold down• ctrl + alt + left button

– All 3 at the same time

– And on a Mac?

• Move your hand down, around and up while pressing these keys to move your camera around the object

Navigation ControlsCan also use the arrow keys

Camera ControlsHandy for Capturing Video

Communicating in Second Lifewith 1-2000+avatars

Left to right

TeleportGroup notice

2nd row

Voice chat - Sound waves overhead

Instant messageGroup messages

Movement at the TCC Reception

Dance animation menu displays after clicking the floor; control menus on screen

Social Networking in Second Life

A screenshot of the TCC Reception in Second Lifefrom a dual monitor system; notice Twitter in the back channel

Attendees at conferences report events as they happen via Twitter, integrating Web 2.0 tools with virtual world interaction

Content and Virtual Spaces

• Research studies scientific, cultural, social, political, educational and business issues

• Virtual world classes support– Immersive, interactive, imaginative settings

• Asynchronous and synchronous support

• 3D graphics, sounds, gestures and interaction

• Immersive literature, immersive history, scientific discovery, contextual settings, applied math, creativity and social networks

– Activity-based learning

SL Research Links

• Research in Second Life presentation– http://www.slideshare.net/lyrlobo/research-in-second-life

• Artificial Intelligence in SL– http://web.bvu.edu/faculty/schweller/

• TCC Preconference Wiki -- SL from a Flash drive tips– http://tccpre-conference.pbwiki.com/

• Libsecondlife -- programming tools– http://www.libsecondlife.org/wiki/Main_Page

• LSL Wiki -- programming tools– http://www.lslwiki.net/lslwiki/wakka.php?wakka=HomePage

• Edumuve– http://edumuve.com/tour/ and http://edumuve.com/blended/

SL Research Links 2

• Second Life http://secondlife.com/ http://secondlifegrid.net/

• National Public Radio’s Science Friday in SL– http://www.sciencefriday.com/

• NMC Campus Observer– http://sl.nmc.org/

• NOAA’s Traffic Analysis– http://mayarealities.com/

• Best Practices in SL– http://www.slcn.tv/bpe-lyr-lobo

• Annotated Bibliograophy of SL Educational Resources – http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~mpepper/slbib

SL Research Links 3

• Second Life as a Virtual Learning Environment– http://www.dokimos.org/secondlife/education/index.html

• An Educational Tour of Second Life– http://www.slideshare.net/lyrlobo/an-educational-tour-of-second-life

• A View from Second Life’s Trenches: Are you a Pioneer or a Settler?– http://sl.nmc.org/2007/06/09/pioneer-or-settler/

• Leveraging the Affordances, Minimizing the Barriers of Virtual Worlds– http://sl.nmc.org/2007/06/09/edu-panel/

• LearnScope in Second Life– http://www.slideshare.net/lyrlobo/learnscope-in-second-life

SL Research Links 4

• Using Second Life– www.educause.edu/ir/library/powerpoint/SAC07025A.pps

• Beyond Course Management Tools: Second Life – www.educause.edu/ir/library/powerpoint/SAC07014.pps

• Virtual worlds in Online Education: Are You Ready to Teach in Second Life?– http://www.telecoop.org/conference/materials/CalogneTeachinginSecondLife.ppt

• What Can We Learn from World of Warcraft & Second Life?– http://archive.nmc.org/events/2006fallregional/materials/calongne.ppt

• SL Podcast by Bayne, Walker and Calongne– http://connect.educause.edu/blog/gbayne/podcastusingsecondli/44967?

time=1188754831

SL Research Links 5

• Who’s on Second? Educational Podcasts– http://www.rabble.ca/rpn/podcast.php?id=wos

• Second Life Development -- VITAL Lab– http://vital.cs.ohiou.edu/vitalwiki/index.php/Second_Life_Development

• Suffern Middle School in Second Life– http://rampoislands.blogspot.com/2007_02_01_archive.html

• Second Life Library 2.0– http://www.infoisland.org/drupal/ and http://www.myspace.com/73899784

• Second Life Education Wiki– http://www.simteach.com/wiki/index.php?title=Second_Life_Education_Wiki

SL Research Links 6• Secondary Worlds

– http://secondaryworlds.com/

• Reuters -- Doors to open on Google Virtual world(s)?– http://blogs.reuters.com/mediafile/2007/10/24/doors-to-open-on-google-virtual-

worlds/

• SL and Google Earth are Transforming the Idea of Architectural Collaboration– http://archrecord.construction.com/features/digital/archives/0701dignews-2.asp

• Timeline - History of Second Life Wiki – http://secondlife.wikia.com/index.php/Second_Life_Through_The_Ages

• UberNoggin: Big Brains - Big Ideas– http://www.ubernoggin.com/

SL Research Links 7 News

• Reuters in Second life– http://secondlife.reuters.com/

• The SL Newspaper– http://www.sl-newspaper.com/

• Second Life Herald– http://www.secondlifeherald.com/

• Metaverse Messenger– http://metaversemessenger.com/index.html

• SLNN– http://www.slnn.com/index.php

SL Research Links 8

• New Worlds Notes– http://nwn.blogs.com/

• SL A Virtual Universe for Real Engineering– http://www.designnews.com/index.asp?

layout=article&articleid=CA6490691

• Just Virtual– http://www.justvirtual.com/index.php/category/second-life/

• Seifert Surface - Math in Second Life– http://www.segerman.org/2ndlife.html

Research and CTU in Second LifeAre you ready?

Lyr Lobo in Second LifeRyl Redgrave on the Teen Grid at Ramapo

calongne@pcisys.net

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