Virtual Worlds Education Roundtable March 9, 2010
Topic: Faculty Panel. Special Guests: Lee Carleton (U Richmond) (SL: Beeble Baxter ); Dan Holt (Lansing CC) (SL:Profdan Netizen); Paula Selvester (CSU Chico) (SL: Cotton Dover ) & her student Maximum Goldshark
Thanks to Lolly for the photos. Join our VWER group at Flickr and add your own pictures!
Links to Course Materials:
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: Hi everyone, and welcome to our weekly Virtual Worlds Education Roundtable meeting.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: If you are sitting in the amphitheater seats, we ask you to come down and join us around the roundtable. There is always an empty seat closest to the ramp.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: Our meetings are made possible by the Office of Information Technology at Montclair State University. We meet here each week at 2:30pm SLT for an hour.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: The Virtual Worlds Education Roundtable is a forum to educate and inform the community about issues that are important and relevant to education.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: Our meeting today is A faculty panel, our first of 2010
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: The views and opinions of any of our special guests or visitors do not necessarily represent those who volunteer or organize these meetings,
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: or of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Office of Information Technology , or Montclair State University.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: This is a public meeting, so we do keep a transcript of what is said in local chat. For a copy of transcripts, please visit http://www.vwer.org
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: Some of our transcripts are now available transcribed into a sound file. You can find them in iTunes Podcasts by searching for VWER.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: The Virtual Worlds Education Roundtable meeting happens each week and we are looking to develop a community of educators from around the world with a variety of thoughts, needs, and ideas.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: Please join the Virtual Worlds Education Roundtable group here in SL. You can also find us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Flicker, and KoinUp, as well as on Twitter as VWER.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: Finally, if you have Mystitool on, or other similar tool, please put it to sleep or detach it for now. :-) It tends to lag things.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: I'm pleased to introduce our panelists, who will answer a few questions
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: I put to them in text chat. Then we'll open the floor for questions.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: Paula Selvester (CSU Chico) (SL: Cotton Dover ) is a colleague of
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: the VWER's Olivia Hotshot;
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: Dan Holt (Lansing CC) (SL:Profdan Netizen) is a regular at these meetings and first taught courses in SL last semester;
Maximum Goldshark: -cheers-
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: Lee Carleton (U Richmond) (SL: Beeble Baxter ), is the Assistant Director of Richmond's Writing Center--and hence must suffer me as supervisor. He's taught with or about SL since 2008.
Olivia Hotshot: \o/ Dan!
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: I'm Iggy, the scribe for this group, and I'm hosting today for AJ Brooks. If you've not seen the transcripts I run, you should check them out - they are a great information asset.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: Why don't we get started they way we usually do, by introducing ourselves. No need to wait, go ahead and type who you are, where you are, and your ties to education into local chat.
Olivia Hotshot: Ann Steckel, CSU Chico, techie, educator, bad typist
Profdan Netizen: Dan Holt, Lansing Community College, lansing, MI, teach first year comp and creative writing.
Maximum Goldshark: Maximum Goldshark, CSUC student
Kali Pizzaro: Eve;yn McElhinney RN, Lecturer in Nursing
Ricardo Pessoa: Ricardo Cruz, University of Porto MA communication sciences student. Portuguese and English teacher.
Grinn Pidgeon: Dr. Barbara Pittman, Cuyahoga Community College, Cleveland, Ohio. Faculty Development/Instructional technology/English teacher
Jimmie Veeper: Jim Fullerton, Southern Lehigh SD,
Cotton Dover: I am Paula Selvester (Cotton Dover) from the Department of Education at CSU, Chico
Firery Broome: University of Delaware
Kali Pizzaro: Glasgow Caledonian University
Lolly Dovgal: Laura Sederberg, from CSU, Chico, manager of the Technology and Learning Program where faculty get their tech and pedagogical support.
Margaret Michalski: Margaret Czart, Research Information Specialist University of IL at Chicago
Soleil Lemondrop: Soleil=Janet Salmons, Capella University graduate School of Biz and Tec, and author Online Interviews in Real Time
Mary Roussel: Maria Pinto, Venezuela, eLearning
Ahlan Oh: Alan Epstein, Watertown Public Schools, MA, USA
Birdie Newcomb: Birdie Newborn, publisher
Callista Silvansky: Kimmy Hescock, visual information designer at Oregon State Unievrsity
Shaw Checchinato: James Shock, HCI graduate student with Iowa State University and a technology writer for Examiner.com
Jarrad Voom: Willie Jackson, with Pierce College Military programs on the lower Puget Sound
Ju Roussel: J. Stanaityte, Stockholm Univ., Sweden
Rumi Saeed: Rumi Saeed, Associate Professor of Health Science, Valencia Comm. College, Orlando Fl
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: anyone else?
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: going once,
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: twice....
Logos Sohl: Niamh O Riordan. Virtual Worlds researcher in University College Cork Ireland in the area of Business Information Systems
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: sold! to the crazy educators who make this place happen!
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: I'm pleased to host this event...it means a lot on a day that might otherwise
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: demoralize us educators
Rumi Saeed: okay if i take a snapshot of the group assembled?
Viv Trafalgar: develops interactive and immersive environments for Rezzable, Inc., and was recently Visiting Fellow in Virtual Worlds with The University of the Arts, Philadelphia.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: because as you may well know, Pathfinder Linden is leaving SL
Olivia Hotshot: Those in the stands please come join us at the table- seats are on the left by Iggy
Birdie Newcomb: Oh, hadn't heard
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: @Rumi-please do take photos
Birdie Newcomb: any reason?
Profdan Netizen: Very disappointing.
Margaret Michalski: @ Iggy when did this happen
Margaret Michalski: missed it
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: the announcement is here...https://lists.secondlife.com/pipermail/educators/2010-March/038468.html
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: We'll discuss it eventually today, I'm sure
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: but first
Eluzielle Mistwalker: Theresa Dember-Neal RN Farmingdale State college NY
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: I want to put a few "getting started" Qs to our panel
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: then we'll open the floor to your questions
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: Panelists, I'd like to know
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: How did you learn about SL?
Cotton Dover: I had selected to teach a fully online course called Access and Equity. It is a multicultural education class for teacher candidates. I had always thought it was not a topic that should be online as it deals with teaching students to learn how to have difficult conversations about their beliefs and their understandings about race, religion, language, age, and gender. I was working with a technology consultant who is well known in SL, Olivia Hotshot and lamenting the face-to-face contact that was missing in VISTA our learning management system. She said, "Have you ever heard on something called, Second Life?" When she showed it to me, I knew this was the bridge to student contact, to a more multidimensionality.
Profdan Netizen: The Office.
Beeble Baxter: I first heard about it in my Media, Art and Text graduate program..
Ignatius Onomatopoeia wonders why Dan *ever* came over then :)
Profdan Netizen: lol
Profdan Netizen: I always liked Dwayne.
Kali Pizzaro: hi have a seat Jackie
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: well, you did all come over to look :)
Beeble Baxter: I can remember that the teacher who demonstrated it had actually changed her RL look to reflect her SL avatar.
Cotton Dover: Olivia has been our point person at CSU Chico
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: but why did you decide to *teach* in SL?
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: @Cotton, Olivia is a wonderful recruiter, I'm sure
Firery Broome: I heard about it at an NMC conference when they first started their project here.
Profdan Netizen: I took a sabbatical in fall 2008 exploring web 2.0 for online ed--when I first began to explore SL seriously.
Cotton Dover: I chose it to open up a more interactional space for myself and my students. It allowed us to interact in a more personal way and in some respects a more traditional yet very untraditional way. We were meeting face-to-face virtuallyâsometimes in Hawaii, sometimes in France.
Ricardo Pessoa: Because in my field it provides a unique environment and develops linguistics tools
Josain Zsun: I stumbled onto ISTE & SL in search of science, Tech, & Environmental resources last summer.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: I know I should have waited a semester to have taught in world
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: but fools like me rush in
Beeble Baxter: I think it is important for educators to be experimenting with new media with an eye to possible pedagogical application.
Ricardo Pessoa: using voice AND text at the same time is a unique way of teaching a foreign language. That's my main argument to VW and SL
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: Cotton, how did the students react?
Kali Pizzaro: Hi Marc
Cotton Dover: Well, they are generally very interested and supportive
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: Dan and Beeble, how about your students?
Cotton Dover: In fact one of them is here now
Cotton Dover: His name is Max Goldshark
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: wow! That's impressive. Nice to meet you, Max.
Maximum Goldshark: ty
VISTAZHAO v1.4 fem: Could not find animation 'posetest4M'.
VISTAZHAO v1.4 fem: Could not find animation 'posetest4M'
VISTAZHAO v1.4 fem: Could not find animation 'posetest4M'.
Cotton Dover: Max is very competent at Second Life and was only introduced to it this semester
Olivia Hotshot smiles over to Max, and thanks him for coming
Profdan Netizen: My students have really enjoyed using SL when their computer cooperates. Get frustrated when it doesn't.
Cotton Dover: He has been doing my assignment along with some others
Logos Sohl: Have you folks seen Joe Sanchez' you tube vids about student reactions? I think they're very to the point
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: I had two hear a year ago...some, though, did not get into SL all that much.
Beeble Baxter: Most have not heard of it, but of those who have there is some interest and appreciation for the possibilities
Beeble Baxter: I think people get scared by the learning curve.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: @Beeble--agreed. I had to do a lot of one-on-one orientation
Profdan Netizen: Students also get scared of enjoying it--afraid of being addicted.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: about one hour per
Cotton Dover: They generally need to be supported quite a bit in the beginning
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: addiction is supposed to be EASY
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: LOL
Kali Pizzaro: yeah i did that too but it was worth it
Cotton Dover: They need lots of time with orientation to tools and locations
Beeble Baxter: It is interesting how media coverage shapes student perception. Fear of addiction and fear of porn are frequent concerns.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: Can our panelists describe a current project they are doing in SL with or for their classes?
Kali Pizzaro: some seats at the side here folks
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: @Beeble--true. That's why the Office ref surprises me!
Firery Broome: We are in the Sims generation of kids at the moment, or at least that is what I see at Delaware.
Cotton Dover: I have an assignment in which students investigate gender and social roles which is a part of the objectives of the course. They go in as the gender they most closely identify and visit at least three locations (social, shopping, educational or professional). Then, they switch genders and do the same. They have a travel itinerary to follow that gives them times and dates they should be doing the explorations. They can go in pairs, in groups or alone. They must read four articles on gender and read a chapter in their text, watch several videos about male, female roles transgender perspective and intersexuality. They then keep a journal about their travels and using a snapzilla account they take pictures of themselves in the locations they have visited and post them so I can and others can see where they have beenâ a kind of travelogue and photo album. At the end they write a final paper.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: BTW, if you have URLs, put them in chat for the transcript
Kali Pizzaro: fab
Ju Roussel: Update to Misty wanted: empty seats highlighted in different colour! :)
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: 46 on the sim, btw
Beeble Baxter: Cotton, I love that idea. Our Women Studies program could use it to good effect.
Cotton Dover: Yes it has been very effective
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: more of my students chose to switch race than gender
Profdan Netizen: In my creative writing class, last week, I had students do a chat and go on an SL excursion: http://web.lcc.edu/personal/holtd/writ260/oasp10week8.htm#chat
Ricardo Pessoa: We are running a focus group with European Erasmus students. Portuguese as a foreign language for Erasmus students who come to the University of Porto for the semester. The first in-world class will be in two weeks time.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: it is very uncomfortable for the guys
Soleil Lemondrop: I just developed a new graduate course called Leadership Communication and New Media. They can do a project in SL, and in one unit we will have a Scavenger Hunt in world
Cotton Dover: I think they also have some real eye opening experiences
Beeble Baxter: What an interesting variety of assignments...only a sliver of what's possible, I'm sure.
Logos Sohl: Joe Sanchez is doing a VWBPE keynote and his students talk about their experiences (they created their own projects as they saw fit) at http://educatorscoop.org/blog/
Soleil Lemondrop: my learners will!
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: indeed. Several report that they learned a RL lesson or two about how they treat women
Kali Pizzaro: i use problem based learning for nurse practitioners
Cotton Dover: Yes
Kali Pizzaro: it is going well 1st semester
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: links please! This will be great to have up before VWBPE begins
Arielion Clawtooth: Sorry I'm late.
Kali Pizzaro: np
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: I'll be sure to put up the transcript ASAP
Cotton Dover: My students sometimes travel in pairs and experience what it is like to be two women (even if they are a woman and man) or a woman and a man etc.
Arielion Clawtooth: Especially to hear how shocked everybody is about Pathfinder. ;o)
Olivia Hotshot: welcome Ariellon
Cotton Dover: They notice the different way they feel in these social configurations
Logos Sohl: My students have to create and defend vw business models and a set of strategies to promote and differentiate those businesses in SL. There is a limit to the amount they can learn about the mechanics of vws in order to do this but they have so far managed to impress me with their ideas
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: Hi Arielion!
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: I have one more Q for the panel, and it's a biggie
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: In your opinion, is it ready for mainstream faculty at your school? Why or why not?
Olivia Hotshot: voice is for the 1st meeting of the month
ffeldon Mint: The new Viewer will help put SL more in the "mainstream"!!!
ffeldon Mint: With the new viewer
ffeldon Mint: you can stream flash and websites !
Olivia Hotshot: chuckles
Eluzielle Mistwalker: no
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: ffeldon, it's a good point, once the bugs are gone
Olivia Hotshot: We have a meeting about that coming up ffeldon
Ricardo Pessoa: I think not. Too many prejudices. People consider it a game and a waste of time. Nothing to learn or study. it's sad.
ffeldon Mint: right, there have been a few bugs.
Olivia Hotshot: today though is about faculty and their lessons
Rumi Saeed: I am already exploring the interactive media and i must say the possibilities are awesome with that
Beeble Baxter: Is video capture available again?
ffeldon Mint: yes video capture is available
Profdan Netizen: Well, I'd say it is ready for experienced online educators, my main focus. But the key to getting a wider use at our campus is to obtain fuller support, to have technical back up. Right now, only a couple of us, and we're on our own.
Arielion Clawtooth: It looks like LL is moving less education than they were which wasn't much, so that's not helpful.
Cotton Dover: I think mainstream faculty have trouble with the time it takes to feel comfortable with the tools
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: @Beeble, not for Mac as far as I know :(
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: but I've going to test SL 2 with an ALT
Olivia Hotshot: coughs
Arielion Clawtooth: Looks like they're changing their business model to sell SL as fun, not useful innovation
Kali Pizzaro: same here Prof
Cotton Dover: They also need to spend more time assisting students in world than they would teaching face-to-face
Arielion Clawtooth: I see gray people
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: it seems, though, that more impediments to mainstream adoption exist
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: than the viewer
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: the first hour experience, learning curve
Cotton Dover: We are currently furloughed 10 percent this year
Cotton Dover: Faculty are resistant in my department to a certain extent
Ricardo Pessoa: we need more experiment with students to prove it works and it's beneficial
Lolly Dovgal: I think we all agree there is a steep learning curve.
Arielion Clawtooth: It's perception most of all. If folks were interested in the concept they'd learn the technology.
Arielion Clawtooth: They've got to be invested in the dream/concept.
Beeble Baxter: I think that most teachers would catch on if given an afternoon of hands-on training & experimentation.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: I'm not an evangelist for SL so I don't know how to tell colleagues to take the time to learn
Cotton Dover: However, the administration here is very interested in using technology so there is currently a lot of encouragement to experiment
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: Dan, at your school you had some luck
Kali Pizzaro: if you can link it to a research project it helps
Rumi Saeed: if i may interject...and im very biased in favor of the new technologies...when you come into 2l, you either see the enormous potential or you dont...there are some faculty who are always going to want to stay in the classroom with there old lecture notes
Profdan Netizen: Yes, Iggy, I have an instructional designer,
Profdan Netizen: who is excited about SL,
Kali Pizzaro: or an pTrue Rumi
Profdan Netizen: and is designing criminal justice crime scenes
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: Some schools are doing very well in SL. It seems that the community colleges and smaller colleges are the risk-takers
Profdan Netizen: to be used in SL.
Profdan Netizen: And he is getting administration interested.
Rumi Saeed: i get excited here...and see all sorts of possibilities that i think are going to get my students excited about learning
Kali Pizzaro: a UK uni has done that Prof
Logos Sohl: I will be talking about my own research at a VWBPE roundtable but the emphasis is more on the doing of educational projects than the pedagogy aspects. I haven't published or written anything about my teachin here yet as it is ongoing.
Kali Pizzaro: they collect finger prints erc
Kali Pizzaro: etc
Profdan Netizen: That's cool,
Profdan Netizen: he would be very interested, Kali.
Profdan Netizen: He was here last week, don't see him today.
Kali Pizzaro: yeah tell him to Im me and I will try to put him in contact
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: It would be good to know what exactly could recruit more faculty to try a semester in-world
Rumi Saeed: if you've seen any of the Did you know vids, that reflect what today's students are looking for, 2L is a natural place to bring them.
Kali Pizzaro: seeing is believing
Olivia Hotshot: not sure what 2L is
Kali Pizzaro: show them what you can do and make it as simple as possible
Rumi Saeed: Second Life
Logos Sohl: I think the wisdom to teach here effectively does exist within the community but it's hard for newcomers to acquire the insider knowledge, the tips and tricks, that are needed to be effective in SL
Kali Pizzaro: to use
Olivia Hotshot: ok thanks
Profdan Netizen: That's a key, Kali,
Profdan Netizen: making it simple,
Ju Roussel: I've been so far mostly testing the waters (won't start seriously considering teaching in VWs until done with my degree), but learned a lot by comparing rationale of educational use for higher ed., K12, nonprofits... they ARE very different.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: I like that abbreviation--2L
Profdan Netizen: making it relatable to what they do now in RL and in online coursework,
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: Olivia brought some of her deans to the Usher Simulation yesterday
Kali Pizzaro: and make sure you have a strong reason and pedagogy
Profdan Netizen: but to show the added dimension brings to classes.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: Lolly was there--didn't see you! But what did they think?
Olivia Hotshot: and Lolly too Iggy.
Olivia Hotshot listens closely to Lolly - as i have not heard
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: It was a great idea to let them "shoulder surf" over your avatars' shoulders
Rumi Saeed: the potential for 'immersion' into learning activities is so great here...if done right..
Olivia Hotshot: Thanks Iggy
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: they projected it on a big screen at CSU Chico
Ignatius Onomatopoeia thinks that demos like that could work well to woo the right folks
Kali Pizzaro: we played a video for Princess Anne she was impressed haha
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: @Kali--does she have an avie?? :)
Kali Pizzaro: didn't like to ask
Kali Pizzaro: ;-)
Lolly Dovgal: Sorry, folks, was distracted from conversation by a phone call.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: Np Lolly. I'd love to hear what they thought of SL
Lolly Dovgal: Chico is very impressed by the presentation made to us by Iggy and Viv yesterday
Ignatius Onomatopoeia high-fives Viv
Kali Pizzaro: well done
Olivia Hotshot: grins like a Cheshire cat
Lolly Dovgal: They sat up tall in their seats and paid attention.
Viv Trafalgar: hah!
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: I wore my good suit, too
Viv Trafalgar: Thank you Lolly!
Lolly Dovgal: You looked very nice.
Lolly Dovgal: I teased them after they were charmed by you, and hopped on my horse.
Lolly Dovgal: Made them laugh
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: Seriously--for non-SLers you have to play it professional. I could not bring Pappy Enoch, my hillbilly ALT, to a meeting where I don't know folks
Lolly Dovgal: Yes, impressions count!
Kali Pizzaro: my students are keeping diaries for me so i will share their thoughts at a later date
Kali Pizzaro: should be interesting
Kali Pizzaro: hehe
Lolly Dovgal: The visit to Sigmund Freud, was especially closely listened to.
Lolly Dovgal: We had psychologists in the audience.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: have the rest of you had luck recruiting folks?
Logos Sohl: I thought it was wonderful that Intellagirl said not to request funding for "land" but to ask for funding for "server space". I think that says a lot really.
Kali Pizzaro: we have a small team of pioneers
Logos Sohl: Projects do seem to be small.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: @Logos--true. Speak in terms our audience understands
Olivia Hotshot: yes, the land/server question comes up frequently
Kali Pizzaro: but i am probably the most active in my School
Logos Sohl: There is usually an evangelist with power or connections to power who can drive these projects through
Logos Sohl: That's my impression
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: my English colleagues are actually interested when I say "simulation" and not "game" or even "world"
Marc Rexen: Central campus supported with training, research, and Instructional Design -- SL is like the Learning Management System, a choice, when appropriate with the teaching need.
Profdan Netizen: That makes sense, Iggy.
Kali Pizzaro: clinical simulation is a big thing for healthcare
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: well, shall we turn to what does NOT work for faculty in SL?
Kali Pizzaro: we need lots of avenues to practice things safely
Callista Silvansky: our department hold hands-on demos to faculty and staff at our lab - been a lot of interest but no one really willing to try it out
Beeble Baxter: Iggy, have you described Usher yet?
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: not yet
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: give it a go
Logos Sohl agrees with Marc
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: I hope we'll have an open house there soon
Callista Silvansky: I know our ecampus dept. has dabbled with using SL in distance learning application though, but I dont know how successful that has/hasn't been
Eluzielle Mistwalker: Not really. A couple of faculty have gotten there feet slightly wet but ran into a glitch or two and stopped. I am working on putting together a document to help them to find resources. I will do all of the search work and find things for them to do with the students.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: if you wish to wander, for now the visitor center has a teleporter balloon to the House of Usher at
Beeble Baxter: My collaborations with Iggy on the virtual House of Usher have been exciting. Poe's tale âThe Fall of the House of Usher http://etext.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/PoeFall.html
provided us with a great model.
Profdan Netizen: We should do a VWER field drip Iggy.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Richmond/128/128/2
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: We can, and have the Ushers as actors. Viv designed free Victorian clothing for visitors
Beeble Baxter: The nugget of the story is that narrator receives a desperate plea from his boyhood friend Roderick Usher to come visit for an extended period. Roderick and his twin sister Madeline are the last of a long, eccentric and talented line and both have secluded themselves in the house for years, paralyzed by fear. Both the description of the house and Roderick's psyche suggest labyrinthine darkness.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: We'd thought of bots for the Ushers, then decided to employ volunteer actors
Olivia Hotshot: welcome back Cotton =)
Olivia Hotshot: Iggy i love the idea of "actors"
Profdan Netizen: Definitely
Beeble Baxter: Yes, and our lack-o-bots actually makes the project stronger for student learning
Beeble Baxter: Iggy built the house and I suggested we start populating it with significant connections to the text. For example, when the narrator tries to comfort Usher by reading to him, the texts he lists from the library are obscure but contain a wealth of suggestion about Ushers psyche. For example, in the virtual Usher library we have an image of Immanuel Swedenborg whose 1758 text Heaven and Its Wonders and Hell from Things Heard and Seen is one of the books mentioned.
http://swedenborg.newearth.org/hh/hh00toc.html
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: our wiki on the project lives at: http://www.virtualworldsedu.info/houseofusher/HomePage
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: this was a giant undertaking--pun intended :)
Lolly Dovgal: ha, ha
Beeble Baxter: This book alone offers much to research and contemplate in terms of the meaning of the storyâ and then there is the connection to William Blake!
Olivia Hotshot: One of the effective practices Viv mentions in her article - a web connection to the virtual project
Kali Pizzaro: folk are amazing in this world. such talent
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: we had a student builder work with us to begin it.
ffeldon Mint: callista silvansky -- Our college has two distance learning math professors who do activities in SL. I'll send you an IM. ffeldon Mint
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: The teaching issue is--you need to have a project like this for more
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: than one class
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: that's one lesson of what does not work: one-off projects that take a lot of time
Kali Pizzaro: Iggy are your students off campus when they do this
Beeble Baxter: Our biggest challenge is working with a generation that has been so 'led by the nose' that they find self-direction nearly impossible.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: @Kali--no
Rumi Saeed: my online students are calling...very nice to meet y'all....hope to see you this week end at the conference and return here as well
Rumi Saeed: be well...
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: thanks Rumi!
Logos Sohl: *hates being disconnected*
Cotton Dover: By Rumi
Kali Pizzaro: ah so they are in a lab
Olivia Hotshot: ffeldon - we have a prof in SL teaching calculus - will connect you two
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: Cotton, Dan--are your students mostly off campus? Beeble's and mine are not.
Profdan Netizen: MIne are all off campus, fully online this semester.
Margaret Michalski: @ Iggy do you see it working well off campus?
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: and I agree with Beeble's last remark 100%
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: the students we have need constant and painfully clear guidance
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: or they are lost all the time
Kali Pizzaro: mine are off campus but some of my fellow slers are not
Profdan Netizen: Very true, Iggy.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: @Kali--not a lab--on laptops and wireless. They won't plug in
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: they refuse. If it's not convenient, they won't do it.
Kali Pizzaro: i think it is different if your students are full time
Lisa Listern: My students enjoyed doing statistics projects through SL.
ffeldon Mint: Any MATH folks here? Please offer friendship to ffeldon Mint. Let's talk!
Olivia Hotshot: grins
Beeble Baxter: What about History or Psychology?
Logos Sohl: When I first enquired, the security "chief" sent me link to videos walking through all of the security issues in and around vws. I didn't nap him about it for another 12 months. But I did finally get my way.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: so, to recap a bit
ffeldon Mint: Thanks Olivia! One of the few one of the proud
Marc Rexen: The WWI poetry in the trenches exhibit was good.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: all of us cited some reasons its hard to recruit faculty
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: but what about in the classroom? What are some big impediments to teaching with SL?
Ju Roussel: We could all use STATA/SPSS refresher ourselves, that would be a dream come true.
Profdan Netizen: clunky computers
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: by "in the classroom" I mean related to class
ffeldon Mint: Big impediment: No one's heard of SL
Olivia Hotshot: Faculty feel up to the brim here at Chico, learning something as new as immersive ed is just another item on the pile
Rachelle Munro: access :)
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: in my case, it's the slowness of the client on wireless & laptop
Kali Pizzaro: agree Olivia for some
Olivia Hotshot nods to kali
Kali Pizzaro: we cant use it with wifi
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: incentive and rewards are lacking at Richmond for this
ffeldon Mint: In our case it's the difficulty of communicating MATH on a keyboard
ffeldon Mint: but the new viewer is offering some hope
Kali Pizzaro: we have it on all the uni computers
Marc Rexen: One instructor I know, subtly edging the rules, takes her 8th graders on guided tours of sims (weather, NASA, etc.) -- well received.
Olivia Hotshot: is on wireless all the time
Ricardo Pessoa: ports are blocked to media and voice. useless for language teaching. wifi access is blocked to sl too
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: @ffeldon, I'd think some of the 3D simulations would make math come alive in SL
Marc Rexen: She drives, they just watch the LCD screen.
ffeldon Mint: thank u Ignatius
Jimmie Veeper: I'm working with 55 students in a middle school setting on three different projects dealing with the economics of TSL.
Beeble Baxter: Incentive and rewards are missing at our school, but in the wider academy there is general suspicion and dismissal of a technology that is complex and full of potential for intellectual stimulation.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: @Marc, I'm going to do that with Heritage Key next year for my wife's K-5 students as they study Egypt
Logos Sohl: @ Iggy I think some people have had problems designing white boards for collaborative maths work for students but the new viewer should hopefully make all tha easier
Profdan Netizen: Olivia, do you use wireless on campus or at home with SL?
Olivia Hotshot: both Prof.
Cotton Dover: I like to use voice and often times students cant use the tools, their dont have the equipment ; However, our site (come visit) is very user friendly.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: Have you all seen Sarah Robbins' Slide Show on Faculty and Tech?
Viv Trafalgar: @Iggy - grins
Kali Pizzaro: i use text only
Jimmie Veeper: We're collaborating with Markets Truths to create authentic project results
Kali Pizzaro: at the moment
Profdan Netizen: What would you say is the key to making wireless work well with SL, Olivia?
Logos Sohl suspects it is graphics cards rather than network issues that are mainly to blame in terms of accessing vws right now...
Kali Pizzaro: it allows me to cut and paste and send back to students to reflect and make the next decision on the management of the patient
Profdan Netizen: Agreed, Logos, and old CPUs and lack of RAM.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: I'll get the link--it's killer good: http://www.slideshare.net/intellagirl/purdue-tlt-09-robbins
Olivia Hotshot: Prof, a good strong connection and avoiding all wireless that requires line of sight. i use the iMac in my home as my wireless connection
Kali Pizzaro: some of our faculty can t use it
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: she compares faculty to the French nobles at the Battle of
Beeble Baxter: Do most of us use text primarily? Any regular voice users?
Olivia Hotshot: <-- reg voice user
Kali Pizzaro: for meetings yes
Lolly Dovgal: I prefer voice.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: Agincourt--nobles who do not understand the changes tech brings
Jimmie Veeper: me
Beeble Baxter: I think there is much potential in exploring the voice/text nexus.
Olivia Hotshot: If one needs a transcript - voice can be a sticky proposition
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: @Olivia--thank God for Margaret's podcasts!
Profdan Netizen: I've been trying to bring more voice into SL classes, but it's a problem when not all students can get it to work.
Beeble Baxter: True, but how hard could it be for LL to design some kind of voice capture?
Kali Pizzaro: agree Olivia
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: @Beeble--has to fit their business model
Logos Sohl: I think voice is more "real", closer to the conscious mind, but many argue that its quality rather than quantity that matters and that in text, they can be more articulate.
Olivia Hotshot: Beeble - there are apps out there for that - audio hijack i sone (think that is the name)
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: and now, it's all biz at LL. That's why I think Path left
Lolly Dovgal: One can always supplement with text chat, too.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia puts his cards on the round table
Beeble Baxter: Good point Logos. We communicate quite differently in each medium.
Kali Pizzaro: not useful for me when i am plating a male patient
Profdan Netizen: Voice--very important for writing and foreign language classes.
Kali Pizzaro: playing
Cotton Dover: Iggy? Could I ask something?
Shaw Checchinato: if you are using wireless technologies to access SL it might be to your advantage to look into femtocells.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: Sure!
Profdan Netizen: To be able to hear language...
Kathryn Pleides: I prefer text to voice. Much easier to keep a record to refer to, short distractions can be overcome by back-scrolling, and no issues with accents or hearing problems
Cotton Dover: I would like to turn the conversation to one of my students
Cotton Dover: Does anyone mind?
Ricardo Pessoa: voice and text is crucial for me... foreign language teaching
Beeble Baxter: At first I was excited for voice, but when I heard the voices of strangers inside my head I got creeped out - quite surprised by my reaction.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: okay everyone...hold on a sec
Kathryn Pleides: LOTE classes excepted, of course
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: Cotton, go ahead
Cotton Dover: I would like to introduce one of my college students who is in my class
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: I'd love to hear from a student
Logos Sohl: @ Beeble, how do you feel about phones?
Cotton Dover: His name is Max
Maximum Goldshark: Hey!
Cotton Dover: Max?
Viv Trafalgar: Hi Max :)
Cotton Dover: Could we ask you some questions
Maximum Goldshark: Hello everyone.
Lolly Dovgal: Hi Max
Rachelle Munro: Hi, Max
Profdan Netizen: Hi, Max.
Shaw Checchinato: Hi.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia tips hat to Max
Maximum Goldshark: Thanks.
Cotton Dover: what was your impression when you first started to do the assignment in SL
Olivia Hotshot: 39 people on sim for the record
Cotton Dover: When you were first introduced to SL
Eluzielle Mistwalker: Hi Max
Maximum Goldshark: I was amazed at the richness of the environments.
Cotton Dover: Did you see it as a viable means to teach and learn?
Maximum Goldshark: and the vast array of av/people to meet
Cotton Dover: what was your learning curve like?
Maximum Goldshark: It is vast, there are many avenues for learning.
Beeble Baxter: How much previous virtual world or gamer experience did you have prevously?
Free Radar HUD v1.1 by Crystal Gadgets
Maximum Goldshark: I'm a quick study, I picked it up fast
Maximum Goldshark: but I found a mentor as well
Cotton Dover: Who helped you?
Profdan Netizen: Also, what's your major and year in college?
Maximum Goldshark: No past vw experience
Maximum Goldshark: A furniture designer we share a sim with.
Cotton Dover: I see so the furniture designer helped you
Maximum Goldshark: Biology, graduated in 91, back in for teaching credential.
Maximum Goldshark: She helped a lot.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia:
Maximum Goldshark: "to blow off the noob dust" as she says.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: SpeakEasy HUD detaching...
Logos Sohl still looking for her mentor. Everyone in here has one.. Sniff
Profdan Netizen: Fastest growing pop group using VW--10-14 years old.
Cotton Dover: What has been difficult and easy about learning in Second Life
Maximum Goldshark: NO KIDS ALLOWED!!
Kali Pizzaro: i'll be your mentor r Logos
Maximum Goldshark: The format is new, so its hard.
Ju Roussel: non-gamer here (stood strong even when my Mom got into games), got all involved in SL after joining Metanomics.
Maximum Goldshark: The lessons are universal, they came quickly with some introspection and guidance.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: @Max, is it the user interface here, when you note the format?
Maximum Goldshark: Of course. All the tools are new.
Maximum Goldshark: for me
Beeble Baxter: Max, what did you mean by universal lessons?
Logos Sohl smiles at Kali
Maximum Goldshark: Some people are good, some not so much
Cotton Dover: Yes what advice would you give to faculty
Maximum Goldshark: there are places to see
Cotton Dover: preparing to teach in SL
Maximum Goldshark: things to do
Maximum Goldshark: history to learn
Cotton Dover: Are you saying that you met people who put you off ?
Maximum Goldshark: Tricky question. Some will not get it. No matter what.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: yes, there's a culture here that some of my students found overwhelming--so much to learn
Cotton Dover: Some of my students were shocked and dismayed
Kali Pizzaro: agree Max
Maximum Goldshark: But to come at it with an open mind and try to see it for the value rather than for the difficulties, matbe.
Cotton Dover: They were afraid to talk to the strangers
Beeble Baxter: shocked and dismayed at what Cotton?
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: how "shocked and dismayed?"
Shaw Checchinato: can you specify regarding what they were shocked and dismayed about?
Olivia Hotshot: yes, would like to hear this too.
Cotton Dover: Well, this is kind of funny
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: popular Q
Cotton Dover: My students are young usually
Cotton Dover: Between the ages of 21 and 24
Cotton Dover: They are generally women going into teaching elementary school
Cotton Dover: they come from smaller sized towns
Cotton Dover: they dont usually use gaming technology
Cotton Dover: They said Paula do you know wht people are doing here?
Profdan Netizen: or trust it?
Cotton Dover: What we are seeing?
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: interesting--not much broadband in VA rural areas. I don't know about CA
Cotton Dover: And I said well
Cotton Dover: it is like the internet
Cotton Dover: I dont tell you to avoid pornography
Cotton Dover: or places that disturb you
Cotton Dover: They sometimes found places they were surprised by
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: I had the last class sign a waiver. Did you do this?
Cotton Dover: and wanted me to know they had come upon disturbing things
Cotton Dover: I am going to do this next time
Cotton Dover: and I did give them a disclaimers
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: I'll e-mail you my copy later, Cotton
Kali Pizzaro: i keep my class in a private area during class time
Cotton Dover: Please!
Profdan Netizen: I didn't, Iggy, but I do have a sex and violence warning for all of my classes.
Cotton Dover: Mine are required to travel
Profdan Netizen: Same here, Cotton.
Cotton Dover: It is like they have been set out into the world
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: I find that the move of X rated stuff to Zindra helped a lot
Kali Pizzaro: do you do that if you use youtube?
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: @Kali, it's different
Cotton Dover: yes
Rachelle Munro: Iggy...would like the disclaimer too
Cotton Dover: the move really helped
Kali Pizzaro: ok
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: they use YouTube for specific URLs when I teach with it
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: they don't "wander" as part of class
Logos Sohl: I dcided our lab usage policy would suffice
ChiSquare Silversmith: Cotton what course do you teach to students studying to be elementary school researchers?
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: I may have the waiver online..hold on
Logos Sohl: Also I supervised the sessions and told them where to go etc
Lisa Listern:
Cotton Dover: I have written into my assignment that the work they do if they select the assignment may lead them to think things they have not thought about before
Logos Sohl: But I do also want a waiver for next time
Cotton Dover: Some of the stuff that comes up is pretty heavy
Kali Pizzaro: our student yeah it is just that sometimes i link them to a health youtube but they see other videos down the side
Cotton Dover: Disclosures about being bullied
Shaw Checchinato: When I had peers and faculty judge my final project here for my first masters, I frankly told them that they might experience objectionable situations; however, some of this stuff is a part of real life as well.
Profdan Netizen: I have students visit places that they discover through searching.
Cotton Dover: etc
Marc Rexen: It's an example of the impact of the greater emotional bandwidth of SL Vs. the flat Internet. Sort of "proves" the place is engaging if they react strongly to what they bump into.
Cotton Dover: Yes Marc
Eluzielle Mistwalker: I would also like the disclaimer please
Logos Sohl: When I studied the sociology of development we were warned that the content of the course would be upsetting. And it was. But we were 18+ and adults. And it was an elective. Just like the module I teach...
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: I'll put a link to the document in this transcript later
Rachelle Munro: thanks, Iggy
Olivia Hotshot: Considering Cotton's topic, which can be perceived as provocative, i think the students have been very mindful about the objective of the lesson. Only one to my knowledge strayed off and completely took the assignment off course.
Cotton Dover: Yes Logos my assignment is also elective
Kali Pizzaro: i am not arguing just interested thanks
Cotton Dover: They can choose from a few different assignments
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: well, group, we have 3 minutes left
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: questions for our panel?
Kali Pizzaro: i do warn them need to think about the disclaimer thanks
Olivia Hotshot: All SL activities here at Chico are currently optional assignments - the heavy tech load prevents us from requiring it.
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: here's one: what could LL do to help you teach better?
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: Beeble mentioned video capture & voice recording
Olivia Hotshot: I would like to thank Cotton for coming out yet again to talk about our project. Thanks Cotton.
Logos Sohl: Change mindsets of people who don't understand it, lol
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: LOL Logos
Cotton Dover: Thanks to everyone
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: yes, thanks Cotton
Rachelle Munro: Thanks, Cotton
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: and Max!
Kali Pizzaro: Do you feel your students engage more with SL compared to other technology based learning
Shaw Checchinato: thank you cotton.
Olivia Hotshot: and Max. =)
Cotton Dover: Yes thanks Max
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: @Kali--no sure..so many resist it
Kali Pizzaro: thnaks Cotton and all
Margaret Michalski: Thank you to the panel and Max for sharing
Kali Pizzaro: ok Iggy
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: thanks to my colleague Beeble!
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: and to Dan for joining us!
Profdan Netizen: I think students experience much more a sense of presence of others in SL, than in 2d online LMS.
Profdan Netizen: Also, a sense of place.
Lolly Dovgal: You make Chico State proud, you two!
Kali Pizzaro: indded Prof
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: @Dan, I agree--but it takes a lot of time in my experience to get them comfortable
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: folks, next week, we have our Reading meeting
Beeble Baxter: A few final relevant theoretical connections,
Profdan Netizen: Agreed--but I think a big part of that is tech, Iggy.
Cotton Dover: Thanks Lolly I couldnt do any of it without your support and Olivias
Maximum Goldshark: Mentors for all!!
Cotton Dover: Exactly Max
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: cool article "Children's Participation in a Virtual Epidemic in the Science Classroom: Making Connections to Natural Infectious Diseases"
Beeble Baxter: , just a list of names & terms really novels like Snow Crash and Neuromancer, Walter Ong's book Orality and Literacy, McLuhan's Understanding Media, Jean Baudrillard's Simulacra and Simulations http://www.stanford.edu/dept/HPS/Baudrillard/Baudrillard_Simulacra.html
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: hobbs Constantine will lead us next Tuesday
hobbs Constantine: Yay Me!
Kali Pizzaro: check out the facebook page we have a few meetings up there
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: woop woop hobbs
Zotarah Shepherd: Yay Hobbs!
Logos Sohl: I think everything we need is here. What we need is a way to systematize the info that's out there
Kali Pizzaro: if you are not in it join us please
Cotton Dover: Good bye all. Thanks for having me.
hobbs Constantine: Get your lit review skills ready
Kali Pizzaro: cheers
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: thanks again!
Logos Sohl: At a torley meeting last week every second thing he said to the group was "yup, that's already documented here"...
Lolly Dovgal: I've uploaded photos of today, already to Flickr
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: I'll report on the SL panel at the CCCC meeting next week, too
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: one panel of about 200!
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: sigh...
Logos Sohl what? over already? okay i'll save it for next time...
Olivia Hotshot: Don't forget our Reading Meeting is on the 16th
hobbs Constantine: Go Iggy
Lolly Dovgal: No, upload more...
Ignatius Onomatopoeia: foks, I'll have to run in a moment, but thank you again for being here
Logos Sohl claps
Logos Sohl: Thanky Iggy
Eluzielle Mistwalker: Thank you for sharing Max and panel
Olivia Hotshot: Children's Participation in a Virtual Epidemic in the Science Classroom: Making Connections to Natural Infectious Diseases is the topic
Lolly Dovgal: Great session, all
Beeble Baxter: adios!