The Interactive Classroom

Where the Studio Wikitecture 4.0 (SW4) challenge produced an architectural space, the interactive features are the wiring and plumbing of that space. How can scripts ease the delivery of synchronous instruction in a virtual world? So, what are the fixtures and utilities of a classroom?

The Interactive Classroom was submitted to test these waters, and three features from that design were included in the final idesign installed for the University of Alabama. They are described here.

Automatic Notecard Delivery

Provide a notecard to all students by dragging it onto the classroom podium (after selecting that option in menu). When a user takes a seat in the classroom, the notecard is delivered automatically.

Hand Raising

Seated avatars can raise their hand by clicking on a “Raise Hand” icon in the front of the classroom. Click the icon again and the hand is lowered. When clicked by the instructor, the icon/object offers the options of resetting the object or reporting the number of raised hands in chat. Resetting the object results in the report of the tally, clearing of the tally, and causes all avatars hands to lower.

Parcel Media Display

Assign Internet URLs to the parcel media stream by dragging a notecard onto the display. Once assigned, touch the display and a menu prompts the teacher to select any of the URLs. Once selected from the menu, the URL is streamed onto any prim assigned with the parcel media texture. The object also detects the parcel media texture automatically, in case that changes between sessions.

Discussion

The design challenge assumed that instruction would occur as a synchronous event. So, what are the activities that can be expected? What actions are an instructor likely to take? Answering these questions in tedious detail provided interactions that might be simplified or even automated. Chronologically, a traditional lesson might involve the following:

1. Teacher arrives at location, prepares for lesson
2. Students appear at location and sit down
3. Teacher notes which students are in attendance
4. Materials are distributed, such as a lecture notes*
5. Lesson content is introduced
6. Students are prompted for feedback*
7. More content is presented, with any variety of multimedia sources*
8. Students are prompted again (possibly a quiz), and invited to ask questions
9. Discussion is mediated
10. Assignment is made for further study
11. Students depart
12. Teacher goes for a beer.

This list simplifies a very complex process. But, for providing a starting point, any of these steps might present an opportunity to develop some type of interactivity. I took the approach that scripting could help with every step in this process, and tried to imagine an associated behavior for an object in each step. A script was then developed—in every case—to assist with or automate each event. (Everything except the “quiz”…I know a can of worms when I see one.) Several of these interactions would be field-tested along with the other aspects of the space that were being explored.

Some features were discarded; they were either developed too slowly (Wikitecture runs with deadlines, too) or implemented too poorly. Some were included in the first submission, but did not seem to offer much advantage…the three that made it worked, for me.

First, the notecard distributor…Most every SL user who gives a presentation or leads a class is likely to have a notecard giver. Some may even choose to drag notecards onto every avatar. This script is simply a time-saving device. On taking a seat, any avatar will receive a notecard if one was made available. No need to mention a notecard giver, no wondering if anyone has missed the offer. The teacher makes a notecard available by dragging the notecard onto the podium, and the notecard is deleted when the classroom is reset (touch podium, select “Reset All”).

Avatar with hand raised

Second, a “Raise Hand” image was assigned to a prim and linked to the podium and all of the seats. The same script that tells the podium that you have taken a seat (and so, to deliver a notecard) also communicates with the Hand Raise prim, which now serves as a button. Touching that button results in the broadcast of a signal that “Avatar X” has just touched it. The script in your seat evaluates the signal and checks to see if it was you that just touched that prim, if you are “Avatar X”. If so, your avatar’s hand goes up.

Yes, most avatars already have a hand raising gesture or animation. But, do they always have it ready when they need it? By the time I drill into my Inventory and activate the animation, I’ve often missed the next question in a presentation. And what about student gesture HUDs? Well, this new feature does not claim a spot in the client viewer, and also tracks the number of hands raised, reporting that tally into public chat if the teacher chooses to do so. Also, with many hands raised, the teacher can—with a touch and a menu-click—report the tally, reset the counter, and lower the hand of every avatar. (This is the scripted equivalent of a teacher saying “OK, twelve out of nineteen hands raised; you can put your hands down now.”)

The hand raising feature was surprising in its complexity. And, suspecting that linking prims does not provide an advantage over many objects listening to remote channels, I might develop this feature differently. As with any feature, the users will have to learn how to use it (a simple thing, here). Still, until installed and tested we cannot know the value of such interactive features.

Parcel Media Display

Third, the Parcel Media Display accepts a formatted notecard containing URLs and titles to manage the display of audio files, images, web pages or video content available on the Internet. On touch, the object presents the teacher with a menu of buttons from which to choose a URL.

The globe (see other images) converts into the display, whose script then assigns each selected URL to the land parcel’s media stream. This alleviates use of the About Land panel by a teacher during a lesson, since the Second Life client does not have media presets.

Last bits

Interactive Classroom Pods

I would like to see an organization such as NMC or ISTE sponsor a project that is similar to SW4. There was plenty of opportunity for educators to participate, yet few were around. Maybe if the project was hosted within the SL educational community…

Interactive Classroom Pods

There was some discussion, early in the project, about a standalone, self-serve media kiosk; a learning lab with many stations. I plan to continue developing this idea.

One comment made during an early presentation to the UofA pointed out how these interactive features represent “more to learn”. That is fair. Yet, I wonder if that individual has made a presentation in Second Life, making use of the full range of bells and whistles already embedded in the platform. Yes, to employ new, interactive features does require an additional step or two up an already-steep learning curve. However, if new approaches are not tested, we leave every repetitive, manual task in the hands of the teacher.

Rather than compare button selection in a dialog menu with the use of the About Land panel I will step back, and hope that some in the Alabama cadre will give these these tools a try, and offer their feedback.

Studio Wikitecture 4.0 has delivered. Nearly four months after the first announcement, a virtual classroom (SLURL) has been placed on the Second Life® campus of the University of Alabama. Finishing touches continued to the last, even on the morning ofl Keystone Bouchard’s’s presentation to the university.

Studio Wikitecture 4.0’s Virtual Classroom, Final Design

Wikitecture facilitates collaboration in virtual world architectural design. Participants submit virtual models by dragging objects from inventory to the Wiki-Tree (image below). Each design is represented by a colored sphere and can be viewed by clicking on that “leaf.” You can see this in action at the U of A site (link above), or at the award winning Wikitecture 3.0 site [slurl]. Just look for a tall white column with bonsai branching, and touch any of the multi-colored balls. (Betcha can’t touch just one!)

The Wiki-Tree

Once a design is submitted, members can rez it from the tree, and they are encouraged to submit comments about the design at a companion website. Many ideas were kicked around in the website’s forum; not all of those made the cut. The role of the website may not have been clear to everyone, at least at the start, and some folks did not even know it was there.

Occasionally, members vote on each other’s contributions. Designs with the most votes are carried forward, and new design elements are folded in. The final design emerges (hopefully) as an collection of all the best features.

Cream, rising to the top.

As essential as the Wiki-Tree was the management of the group by Jon Brouchoud. During many a chat, members became critical of the process, the designs, and even other members. I was doing some of the talking, too. Jon always seemed to field our gripes with the calm of a zen master.

Writing about it now, I am reminded of something an educator said about working with groups in SL…something about herding cats.

The Wiki-tree tree has potential. It helps a group to juggle ideas. Sure, it was down at times; but was probably as reliable as SL itself. And, there are other “holodeck” styled rezzing tools in SL. However, the Wiki-tree is not meant to simply present multiple builds, one after another. You can review many designs in a short time, take a copy and riff on that design, even roll back to earlier versions. The tree also preserves the relationship among diverging strands of development (the branching of limbs reflects those relationships). Everybody adds their bits, patching together the best design possible.

This may be the closest I ever get to Granny’s quilting circle.

The Interactive Classroom
(image by keystone1111 [Flickr])

My own contribution focused on interactive features meant to simplify some activities (i.e., distributing handouts and URL selection). Several elements from my Interactive Classroom were included in the final design, and I will write about those in another post. First, I wanted to explore here the Wikitecture Way.

The Wikitecture project had its share of hiccups. But the Wiki-tree and the Wikitecture process are both evolving, according to Studio Wikitecture co-founder Ryan Schultz (Theory Shaw in SL). New ideas will be implemented with the 5.0 project (yet to be announced). And, finally, the the Alabama faculty will have to judge the worth of the virtual classroom design. But, there can be no question about the educational value and success of this project, because…

I learned plenty.

Thanks to New World Notes, where I learned of the first crossing of avatars from SL into another grid.

At about 11:00 AM, Linden, Ruth arrived on an OpenSim server
- Zha Ewry

This seems significant.

What it could mean: Soon, parents and school administrators down the street will not have to worry about Mature Content, because they can run their own grid and minors can TP in from the Teen Grid for lessons…

Today, I had the opportunity to present a basic scripting workshop at the NMC Symposium on Creativity. One of many sessions offered during the week-long event, this mini-course was an effort to introduce some basic concepts of the Linden Scripting Language.

The participants might have been better served by a parade of scripted objects. Could have peppered that with discussion about the wide room for development in this new technology. A hands-on approach when teaching scripting requires a bit more practice than I have had at this point (none).

A fair amount of planning and preparation was accomplished, and last night it seemed as though everything was ready. A restful night and a pot of fresh roast later, and the games began.

The first hurdle was learning that a co-presenter did not have access to the event. Might just plan solo flights in the future. The second jump came during the opening survey, when questions revealed more scripting experience than I had anticipated. Oh, a handful of folks were very new to scripting, but more had already written or modified scripts, some being familiar with Javascript or Actionscript.

The amount of material I had planned was lengthy. The session was to last only 45 minutes, and could have lasted 90 (which was the originally scheduled length). But, that was not the difficulty. Presenters knew well enough in advance of the shortened time slots. I simply had no experience with such a program.

The scripts and scripted objects may have been sufficient; it was my delivery that was stunted. Lessons learned:

• Demonstrating an interaction (or effect) for the group is better than letting all present attempt the interaction independently. Then, the script behind the behavior can be examined.
• Do not try to orchestrate mass editing of scripts to begin with, working all at once as a group. First, modify a script by example with images illustrating changes, step by step. Then, let the group give it a go.

Turns out that I had much to learn. Trying to accomplish 25% too much, I was less productive by half.

Still, if I was the one who learned the most today, at least some learning took place.

Monitor and adjust.

Each time I see reference to myself (or my website) on the Internet I am pleasantly surprised.

A post in a recent Second Life educators mailing list mentions me, and links to a web page that describes my donation of an interactive tool for educators. The post and that web site are both from the hand of Milosun Czervik, founder of the ICT Library.

The ICT Library is a showcase of scripted tools for educators (SLURL). There are so many tools, from some of the most celebrated developers in SL, that anyone is sure to find something of value. The site was a must-see destination when I first entered Second Life. Having read the official guide (a good primer), I was prepared with the names of many locations in the grid.

ICT was on the short list.

As soon as I left Orientation Island, I visited ICT and found an overwhelming array of scripted objects. Most are open source objects, available at the touch of a button. I left ICT that day headed for a sandbox where I sat, prying into object after scripted object, until I was pecking out my first scripts.

There, in a public sandbox, I decided that one of my early projects would be offered to the ICT Library. Since Pollster was the first tool to find any real interest, it was an obvious choice.

Interestingly, during a demonstration at an ISTE show-n-tell, I was actually asked by Milosun to consider sharing some of my tools at ICT. He could not have known how ICT Library had helped me get started, though I am surely just one of his many virtual students.

I am pleased to have contributed, and even happier now to say…

Thank you, Milosun.

We live in very exciting times, do you agree? One story worth watching is “One Laptop Per Child” (OLPC association). This project has recently released a low-cost laptop computer – complete with a hand-crank power supply – for children in developing countries. The cost per unit will be $100, low enough for governments and foundations to easily invest.

XO-1 (laptop)

A child in a remote village in South America will soon be able to open her laptop, crank the generator, and surf the Internet. Here is a labelled image of a working model, some videos about the project (first one from 60 Minutes on CBS), and the Wikipedia article about the XO-1 laptop. The project was started by Nicholas Negroponte, the founder of MIT’s Media Lab (a leading school in the field of emerging technology), who stepped down from some of his duties at MIT to serve in this program.

Inspired people doing inspiring work.

Extensive development in security for these units is well underway, it seems.

“Millions of identical, network-attached systems will be deployed into some remote parts of the world, where they will be managed by people who are not security experts. The systems will be obvious targets for theft, self-propagating malware, and the creation of botnets. …”The goal was to significantly raise the bar from the current, deeply unsatisfactory, state of desktop security.”

When may I buy one, or ten? Seriously, how do I get one of these?

Update:  Nicholas Negroponte’s presentation at TED: The vision behind One Laptop Per Child

It is encouraging that a web development icon like Jon Udell frequently shares—through his online presence—his genuine interest in educational technology. In “Re-imagining education” he posts the challenge:

“Access to knowledge, access to publishing. Motivation and context. If an educational system embraced these principles, what would it look like?”

And, for Mr. Udell, it is not just rhetoric. He explores a topic with a mindful bent toward problem solving. In a recent entry, he speaks about his podcast interview with Graham Glass, (founder of edu2.0) about the future of education. This sort of conversation is like ear candy for the edTech-minded. Udell brings unique insight to the conversation; the links alone, given the extent of his journey across technology and the Internet, present a wealth of material that can keep an educator’s eye on the leading edge. Prime example: this link to a project based learning video produced by high school students (app. thirty minutes; worth a look).

I often find it necessary to edit my pessimistic view, if only to keep myself on the constructive side of the dialog. I have, for example, cut entire rants about the inertia in public education (where technology is concerned). Railing on about adoption lag time is not going to bring about change. The teacher’s lounge that is the Internet streams a cacophony of complaint.

It helps to hear such a clear message from folks like Jon Udell.

Classrooms have changed plenty since the early nineties. This is not only due to the gadgets that have come into vogue; I was as geeked out as anyone back then. I recall staying late on campus one Friday, hooking up the first laserdisc player on campus; then, going home to spend most of that weekend scripting buttons into a Hypercard stack to remotely navigate a disc’s program while simultaneously throwing instructional text up to the monitor.

That felt like Education2.0. What we didn’t know back then was that it was still World1.0, and that things were about to change. Oh sure, some few would have seen clear to the tech horizon; but their voices were drowned out by the steady thrumm of copy machines spewing handouts; their vision blurred by chalk dust. And the failure—yes, I think we failed—to keep up with the pace of development has left a great rift between what we now have and what could have been.

In “K-12, Higher Ed, Apples, Oranges…”, Christopher Dawson offers—almost in passing—a notion that has driven my own webquest:

In many ways, higher ed and K-12 are two different worlds.

Could someone please shout that from a rooftop? If we had any hint of the change to come back then, would we have worked any harder to promote development of K-12 educational technology? Tried to keep pace with the development in academia? Well, better late than never. The extent of technological progress over the last decade leaves me grinning at the thought of trying to imagine what the standard will be in ten years. And it will be prudent to temper the charge with advice like that from Kirk Kirksey

“Just because we can create a technology doesn’t mean we will do something worthwhile with it.“

I am reminded here of something that Carl once wrote:

“Even if I could have a to-do list holographically projected in 3-D, floating in front of my face with really cool spaceships battling all around it which was activated via voice command, I still wouldn’t be anymore productive.”

Comparatively, just because a student has posted in a weblog about the way a jazzy podcast has helped him to contribute to a wiki does not mean that he is gaining knowledge. Or, does it? (Carl?)

Best, perhaps, to just keep plugging along, keep looking for what works now.

Technorati Profile

I have been surfing around eLearning technology, scoping out the state of the industry as it pertains to K-12 education. Mostly what I found are sites targetting higher education.

Still waters.

I have done this too many times: begin surfing around SCOs and eLearning, only to become mired in a network of BigCo industry presentations and academic discussions. Joe and Jill Public Teacher do not have the funding to pursue these technologies. Nor do they have the time.

I started this post with a title that read “…and the K-12 Market”. Soon came around to the idea that public education is more “audience” than market. In my experience, most motivated educators are resourceful survivors, not as many are active as technology consumers. An application should start making things easier straight out of the box. There is an obvious need for educational tech-tools to be blatantly, absurdly user-friendly. In his recent article discussing “XERTE” (a Free Visual Editor for SCORM compliant Flash Learning Objects) Scott Leslie writes

…I truly do not think this is what I call an instructor-focused tool.
Seriously, what kind of time should we expect faculty to invest in these types of tools?

Sharable Content Objects, and Learning Management Systems (LMS) might smooth the process of developing and distributing high quality, interactive instructional materials. But the learning curve for any new application can be daunting. In this article, James Burke defines a SCO as “…the smallest piece of content that is both reusable and independent.” The item appears in a table of contents, can contain its own bookmark, score, and completion status, and may be tracked separately from other items.
In “SCORM for dummies”, Rustici Software explains that a LMS, or Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) is

…responsible for directing the learner to relevant training, tracking the learner’s progress (things like score and current location) and maintaining the learner’s transcript. The essence of SCORM is that any content that conforms to the SCORM specifications will work with any SCORM conformant LMS. SCORM is the ’secret sauce’ that operates behind the scenes to make things compatible.

For a more thorough treatment, Burke directs his readers to a white paper titled “Got SCORM? A Brief Technical Overview That Answers the Question ‘What is SCORM?’” From the Introduction:

When I started researching SCORM in preparation for developing content and implementing an LMS, what I remember most was my frustration at the lack of any concise, hands-on information that was available about SCORM.

The bar of technological literacy has certainly been going up, and up. Still, the new web-based applications of Web 2.0 are promising. Mr. Leslie even seems hopeful by pointing out that “[web 2.0 tools] make it INCREDIBLY EASY to create new, polished looking content.”

So, I am dropping a breadcrumb at Rustici Software. Their offering of SCORM Test Track and Simple Content API represent a curious openness. Both are freely available, and a test of these tools is now on my list of things to do.

Paddling away now; surfing back, once again, to the uncharted water of open source education…finally, the wave breaks:

Sakai is an online Collaboration and Learning Environment. Many users of Sakai deploy it to support teaching and learning, ad hoc group collaboration, support for portfolios and research collaboration.

Sakai is a free and open source product that is built and maintained by the Sakai community. Sakai’s development model is called Community Source because many of the developers creating Sakai are drawn from the ‘community’ of organizations that have adopted and are using Sakai.

Surfs up, I’m going in.

Cheers.

The recent surge in Internet development is flooding educational blogs. By targeting open source technology in these posts, maybe some focus can be maintained. So much is happening in educational technology.

Two projects that have kept me occupied for days: Sakai and Curriki. More about Sakai, perhaps, in another post. At Curriki, the mission is…

“… [to educate] by building a world class learning environment that is community developed and supported, and publishing it for free on the Web, Curriki works to ensure that anyone, from anywhere can participate.”

Robert Stephenson explains that

“Curriki is now looking for curriculum. A number of projects are underway to create a nucleus of learning materials, such as one with the Africa-based Shuttleworth Foundation (home of the Ubuntu Linux distro) to create and distribute open source textbooks for math, physics and chemistry.”

User generated educational content. Course building tools, forums and a wiki. There is potential there for creating a network of inspired educators and a respectable resource for educators looking to tap what is available. I will soon be submitting my Sessions, once the site’s tools go live.

But here is the best ed tech change: I have a new computer. New to me, at least. Not quite whiz-bang, but the fastest box I’ve ever worked with. My favorite feature: a 19″ wide screen LCD monitor. If you happen to live in the Valley of the Sun, the only thing better than the deal on this computer has been the service they’ve bundled. Thank you, Michael.