WikiBook Beginner's Guide for Inform 7

I thought to look on the web for some Inform 7 Beginner Guides, and stumbled upon a Wikibook Beginner's Guide to Inform 7. It has some sample code for stories, AND it gives lots of examples and explains what language structure Inform needs in order to translate properly.

Could've come in handy a few weeks ago!!! A good resource to have anyhow, right?

Beginner's Guide to Interactive Fiction with Inform 7 Wikibook

Second Life: The Official Guide

In the Second Life project, I have to say that I can not live in SL without Cathy and Peggy's coaching. The new participants in SL indeed need coaches or job aids to explore the fantasy world . Here is the official guide of Second Life that Bernie mentioned in the class.



Book Description Link to Amazon

The first part of the book, “Getting a Second Life,” acquaints potential and new players with the Second Life world. It describes the metaverses geography as well as its society, explaining the written and unwritten rules.

The second part, “Living a Second Life,” deals with the practical and economic aspects of Second Life: creating and customizing an avatar, building objects, scripting, and making money.

The third part of the book, “Success in Second Life,” discusses ways to enjoy Second Life more. This section includes profiles of successful Second Life residents, discusses fascinating in-world events, and examines how some are using Second Life for business, training, and other purposes.

Do you know Wii yet?

A Wii bit dangerous
Wii is a bit dangours if you see recent news.This is a blog with videos talking about "Never play Wii with sweaty hands."

What is Wii? (reference:wikipedia)
The Wii is a video game console released by Nintendo.The console was previously known by its project code name of Revolution, and is the successor to the Nintendo GameCube. Although the Wii console primarily targets a demographic different to that of Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3, as part of the seventh generation of gaming consoles it competes with the other two on some levels.
Why Wii different?
A distinguishing feature of the Wii console is its wireless controller, the Wii Remote, which can be used as a handheld pointing device and can detect motion and rotation in three dimensions. The console also notably features WiiConnect24, which enables it to receive messages and updates over the Internet 24 hours a day while consuming very little electrical power.

Training for 'PlayStation medics'

A training system has been developed for doctors raised on computer games on consoles like PlayStation.
Read more

Online nation simulation game

Perhaps someone's stumbled on this already... Sounds interesting

Cyber Nations
"Welcome to Cyber Nations, a nation simulation game. Create a nation anywhere in the world and decide how you will rule your people by choosing a government type, a national religion, ethnicity, tax rate, currency type, and more in this new geo-political, nation, and government simulator. Build your empire by purchasing infrastructure to support your citizens, land to expand your borders, technology to increase your nation's effectiveness, and national improvements to build your nation according to your choosing."

Games for Health Competition

Monies to had.

http://www.gamesforhealth.org/competition/

Wells Fargo

I found this article interesting. It is about a video game that helps young people learn financial responsibility .Wells Fargo Bank has introduced a pilot project of an online video game built inside Second Life. The pilot project, known as Stagecoach Island, invites groups of people to help them learn something about money management in a fun and engaging way. Although Second Life is open to everyone, the Wells Fargo islands are accessible only by those who have received invitations from the bank, so it is branded entirely as a Wells Fargo environment.

“Stagecoach Island players are given $30 in imaginary money with which to buy clothes, pay for rides and the like. The idea, though, is to teach the players to save money--they earn 10 percent per day on "deposits"--and to learn new things about money management through a series of quizzes that, when completed, reward players with $5 of new funds.”

Dr. John Bransford Presentation inside Second Life

I was certain that someone had already brought to our attention the presentation of Dr. John Bransford in October inside Second Life, but after checking all the blogs, I did not see an entry. The presentation is a great example of learning inside Second Life. He combines the immersive direct experience of the 3D environment with a reflective, colloborative, descriptive exercise that follows. The direct experience inside Second Life was captured as a video for us who were not involved at the time of the presentation, and it works very well. Here is a link to the transcript of his presentation that includes another link to the video segment which he describes in his discussion.


http://www.simteach.com/wiki/index.php?title=John_Bransford_Transcript_2_October_2006

Health Info Island

Health Info Island
Here's an interesting podcast about Educational and Non-Profit uses of Second Life. Carol Perryman, a PhD candidate at UNC, is developing the Health Info Island project, a medical library and virtual hospital in Second Life. There is a vast amount of medical info on the web that can be overwhelming to sift through and may not be the most current or valid. The project aims to support virtual reference services for an underserved population looking for medical information by creating a welcoming, trusting, and guided experience. Virtual patients will be interviewed by health professions to assess what information they will need and deliver the information using simulation. The project is under development, but once complete, medical consultation will be available for free to a global audience.

Learning and Fun for Toddlers

I try to not let my 3-year-old watch too much T.V., but when I do it's almost always a PBS kids show. She loves all the characters like Clifford, Caillou, and yes, even Barney, the big purple dorky dinosaur. We have discovered a new realm of PBS and their online resources for parents and kids.
At pbskids.org every show has his own page filled with music, games and coloring. My favorite right now for my daughter are the ones that have her drag and drop letters to spell simple words. They are just right for her and she loves playing.

Find Out your Favorite 5

On T-mobile website, I saw the latest promotion plan- my favorite 5 , and there is a performance support tool called My Faves. By answering the questions step by step, you can find out who are your 5 favorites in the daily ife. This makes me think about the performance support tool example-the best dog breed for you in Edtec540. The questions they asked are designed like some psychology quizes. I don't think it is educational but it definitely attracted me to play with it.

*This is not an ad ...I don't work there!! :-)

Content Meets Virtuality

What could be cooler? Two things I'm very interested in are combining. It's like chocolate and peanut butter. I'm devoting part of Christmas break to mastering Drupal, a content management system and generalized toolkit for making all kinds of online things happen. And of course, I have a longstanding interest in Second Life. So today I learned about a SecondLife group devoted to marrying the two. So cool!

Location-Dependent Gaming

Long road trip with kids? Avoid complaints of "Are we there yet?" without numbing their minds with music or videos or the standard handheld video games. This New Scientist article discusses Backseat Playground, where the players interact with the game through a handheld computer and a GPS. The gameplay changes based on the car's position, and players interact with real-world objects - all from the back seat of the car!

Gaming With a Social Conscience

One of my student’s parents who works for the United Nations here in India, recently told me about a game that the UN Food Programme has developed. Called Food Force it is a free game whose purpose is to teach middle school students about global hunger. In the game, you take the role of a relief worker who as part of a team races against time to feed the starving inhabitants of Sheylan. The game play is very engaging and the graphics are excellent. It has become so popular that since it was launched in April 0f 2005 the game has been downloaded over three million times and translated into six languages other than English.

Military Games

Future Force Company Commander
The U.S. Army has paid for the development of a high-tech warfare simulation game to gain the attention of potential recruits. The game, Future Force Company Commander, takes place in 2015 and puts players at the controls of weaponry the military is currently using or developing. Reviewers of the game say while the game "creates strategic thinking and tactical thinking...it presents an artificially rosy view of warfare". I remember when the first-person shooter game "America's Army" was available for free download a few years ago which tracks player's performance. The game also presents realistic tactical deptictions of combat but I still think the game leans toward a misleading representation of what military life is truly like. Sure, these are only games, and shouldn't be expected to truly capture what it's like in combat but I think they are being promoted as such. In particular, this more recent game suggests warfare can be directed from the remote safety of a joystick when in reality most new recruits will likely find themselves fighting on the front lines.

Games of the future...

I just read that today's high speed elevator has more computing power than the Apollo spaceshuttle that brought first brought man to the moon. The amount of Internet content also grows by over a million pages a day! Here is a really interesting article I found about the future of games. It gives a unique perspective by showing what game aspects were prophesized by experts of yesterday to finally become reality. Some were pretty far off!
http://www.mud.co.uk/richard/tfog.htm

-Nelly Aragon

MIT-GHOST

It is always challenging for new students to adapt to a new campus environment in many aspects. The challenges range from finding the buildings on campus to understanding the cultural background of campus, department, dorms, and even potential roommates.

I have seen an article on a project “MIT -GHOST” initiated by Comparative Media Studies and MIT’s Information Services & Technology department. The purpose of this project is to make MIT cultures accessible online by the prospective students.

In the article, it is claimed that the project is inspired by multi-player online games such as Second Life where users can generate content and represent their own cultural identities.
Likewise MIT Ghost provides the basic representation of the campus and the corresponding buildings. Via using the APIs and modtools, users can extend the representations using their own imagination and artwork.

Dilek

Disaster Training and Katrina

I recently returned from a week of volunteer work in New Olreans. While there I had my eyes opened wide to the fact that there is still so much work that needs to be done and that there were so many things that went wrong during this disaster. I am not sure if the city of New Orleans had a disaster plan or training for their responders if something like this was to occur but there should have been. We have discussed several times in class and on this blog about how games could be used for disaster training and Katrina is a sad but true example. The situation with Katrina went wrong on many levels but there are lessons that should be learned from it. The picture you see is of the first home we worked on removing debris and gutting the house to the studs. You'd think there would be more rebuilding but sadly many people aren't even to that point yet, many have just returned their homes and need them gutted so the mold treatments can be done. New Orleans is several years off of recovery, don't let the downtown tourist areas fool you.

The World of AI and Games Pair Up to Help Patients

I found this article extremely interesting about how robots and games are being used to help stroke victims regain the use of their limbs. The work looks to be moving to also help MS patients and autistic children. The use of games helps build physical dexterity and allows patients to regain their movement and motor skills with the use of robots or robotic pieces. It's truly amazing how far we have come and the hope that we can now provide people who have been injured or suffer from a dibilitating disease.

http://www.topix.net/content/ap/2121147013192772149231162595061436072885

Home schooling and unschooling

Indirectly related to gaming, is the trend towards unschooling. I am curious what others think about it. I have mixed feelings. I suppose it's like anything, there are good and effective games and not so good ones. And there are good schools and teachers and not so good ones. And there are parents with good ideas and not so good ones. To say "it depends" isn't a cop out, I really do think it depends on a lot of stuff.

Read more

Croquet Project

The Croquet Project is an international effort (including Duke University, Carnegie Mellon University, UCLA, Hewlett-Packard and Apple Computer) to promote the development of Croquet technologies in research, industry, and education.

Croquet is an open source software platform that supports communication, collaboration, resource sharing, and synchronous computation among multiple users.

Croquet's advocates argue that it can be used "to construct highly scalable collaborative data vizualizations, virtual learning and problem solving environments, 3D wikis, online gaming environments (MMORPGs), and privately maintained/interconnected."

Croquet "is also more extensible than S.L. in that it is free to share, modify and view the source code (due to a liberal license), it is not hosted on a single organization’s server (and hence governed by that organization), and it provides a complete professional programmer’s language (Smalltalk), IDE, and class library in every distributed, running participant’s copy."

We should keep our eyes on this...

Musical Performance Simulation Software

InTheChair

A new musical performance simulation software is available that allows music students to virtually play along with professional symphonies. Right now the software only supports students playing a handful of symphony instruments such as the flute and cello. However, they are currently developing a version that supports guitar students. Similar instructional products have relied on MIDI equipment to interface with software; often sacrificing the 'feel' that is so important in music. “In the Chair” allows students to use their own instruments which they play through a microphone plugged into their computer’s soundcard. This provides a practice environment that more closely resembles playing an instrument in the context of a real, live performance. The software’s recognition engine can detect a multitude of musical characteristics from a student’s playing. It provides them with immediate feedback on the timing, dynamics, tone, and pitch of every note they play.

Second Life Worm?

I found this article this week while cruising for some Second Life info. It presents the issue of a tool called copybot which allows people to replicate others' virtual identies and belongings without paying for the intellectual property. Which is something interesting that I hadn't known to be an issue in the VR world. I also learned that Adidas, Reuter's and Big Brother are using Second Life within their organizations which is very intriguing!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6164806.stm?ls

More efforts to incorporate video games in the classroom

The vast majority of primary age students and high schoolers are hooked on video games. There is no question that these individuals see the value and entertainment that video games have spawned on their daily lives. With this in mind, researchers from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and MIT have developed a virtual reality game that goes into the Revolutionary War into great detail. These researchers see that potential impact that video games will have in the classroom. They have already developed a game entitled "Supercharge" which explores chemistry and provides students with an extension activity regarding atomic particles. Why not make learning fun? Teachers will be pleased and students will look forward to being in the classroom.

Serious Games

Is that an oxymoron? Apparently not, since there was a
Serious Games Summit in Washington DC.
Since I've been taking this class and playing around on SL and Lemonade Stand, to name just a few, I've also been blogging about my fascination with gaming as a leisure activity as compared with watching TV. Most of my peers do the latter. I found myself feeling a bit guilty for "playing," even in the context of a class. I blogged about it, pointing out the cognitive underload of TV to justify my choice and wished more "adults" would losen up and play online PacMan.
With so many serious games being created, I wonder if those less serious games won't be quite so snickered at.

Using Virtual Reality to Practice Surgical Procedures

For years, those training to become surgeons have had the grueling task of learning how to make incisions or stitch up an open wound. Much of these surgical procedures have been performed on animals and cadavers. Although surgical simulators have been implemented just recently, a break-through technology has been discovered and will undoubtedly impact the medical field.
Suvranu De, a professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, created a virtual reality simulation that allows the intern surgeon to perform surgical procedures in real time. Having such a medium will allow the intern to practice common procedures with confidence, not having to worry about any mistakes or mishaps that may occur.

Simulations & Learning Games Website

Here is a link to a website about games and simulations. This is a useful resource that provides names of and links to relevant books, magazines and articles, as well as information about organizations that focus on games/simulations and companies who are building tools and games for training and education. Check it out!

Online free educational game

www.sheppardsoftware.com stores a variety of free educational games. These games involves various topics, such as vocabulary, geography, science, history, math, health, animals, etc. It provides games of different level that suits for different level learners. These games are suitable for Adult Basic Education, ESL and Literacy education. There are also games for students preparing college admissions and exams, such as SAT / GRE exams.

Fantasy Congress

Fantasy Congress "where People play Politics"

Fantasy Football. Fantasy Baseball. Fantasy Congress??? In Fantasy Congress, citizens "play politics" by drafting a team of real-life legislators from the U.S. Congress and score points as the legislators push bills through the steps to create a law. Your team is formed from a group of 16 legislators based on their seniority: 2 senior Senators, 2 junior Senators, 4 senior Representatives, 4 mid-range experience Representatives and 4 junior Representatives. Players have the choice to create a league of their own to play with family and friends or they can play against other citizens of the U.S. Each member of Congress has their own "bio," (as would the football or baseball players) along with their latest actions. Representative Henry Hyde, for instance, recieved 120 points because of a law that became public. Your next question would be, "well, what law became public?" You can then click on the legislation information to see a description of the legislation.

I think this is a great way to get the public educated and involved in politics. Educators can also create a fantasy Congress league for their classrooms to get more students involved in what could be a "dry" subject.

Book you have to check out

http://www.iam8bit.net/

This is a book I found at the museum in Balboa park I went to this weekend. It really made me think of how artistic some games area and how much they've integrated into our culture. I really loved it, here's a little more desription:

I am 8-bit: Showcasing the talents of over 100 artists who provided their memories of pre-1995 video games on paper, canvas, wood, or somewhere in between.

Video game development boot camp

With a $1.2 million grant under their belt, the University of Denver is giving both low socio-economic students and high school classroom teachers the opportunity to learn the development of video games. Through a 2 week summe boot camp, the participants will learn how to create 2 dimensional video games such as Pac Man. From this training, these teachers will have the opportunity to teach video game development throughout the course of the regular school year. University of Denver realizes the popularity of gaming amongst teenagers. Surely mathematics and sciences are the core subjects linked to developing video games; the University of Denver provides video game development boot camp to lure students into these disciplines and gain an interest when they enter college.

Virtual Technologies for Autism

Dr. Dorothy Strickland heads a government funded research group that focuses primarily on using Virtual Reality (VR) to teach children with Pervasive Developmental Disorders such as autism.
http://wwwx.cs.unc.edu/Research/assist/et/notes/strickland/index.shtml

During her research she developed this clever VR java applet to help children with autism associate facial expressions with emotions.
http://www.do2learn.com/games/facialexpressions/face.htm

Also, second life is being used as a platform to practice socialization for people with Asperger's Syndrome (also from the Autistic spectrum of disorders).
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7012645/

Virtual reality and the human limbs

A recent article in Science Daily notes that virtual reality is giving amputees the opportunity to regain any missing limbs. Through the use of a headset, patients are placed in a virtual world where they have 2 limbs. They control their missing limbs with any limbs that physically remain on their bodies. For example, in the virtual world, an amputated left arm movement can be manipulated by the amputees right arm.

Most amputees suffer from physical discomfort known as Phantom Limb Pain. However, using virtual reality and making one think s/he has and can move a missing limbs diminishes the pain. See virtual reality and amputees for more information.

Nobel Prize Educational Game

Do you want to understand the work of the Nobel Laureates? You worry that you can not understand? Here is the Nobel Prize Educational Game. By playing those games, you can increase knowledge in economic rules, physics, chemistry, etc. All these games were build on Nobel Prize-awarded achievements. It is fun! Games really makes difficult and boring learning to be fun.

Christmas gift for the brain

An article in CNN suggest Brain Age as one of the ten best gifts for gamers. Inspired by a Japanese neuroscientist Dr. Ryuta Kawashima, Brain Age features activities designed to help stimulate your brain through mental exercises. You solve simple math problems, counting people going in and out of a house simultaneously, drawing pictures and reading classic literature out loud. It's for the Nintendo DS and the claim is train your brain in minutes a day. It is designed to get the most out of your prefrontal cortex and they have MRI images on the web site to prove it. The design is supported by a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association which surveyed 801 older Catholic nuns, priests and brothers. The results linked reading newspapers and participating in other brain-stimulating activities with a reduced risk of Alzheimer's. I thought being celibate might play a part, but then I realized they were talking about Catholic priests. So you have the choice of either buying the game, become a devoted Catholic or forgetting who you are by age 80.

Educators explore 'Second Life' online

Educators explore 'Second Life' online

This article is about educators using Second Life. It features Rebecca Nesson who teaches a class offered by Harvard Law School and Harvard Extension School. Nesson uses SL for class discussions, office hours and to introduce international perspectives from distance students all over the world. The article continues to discuss common benefits and drawbacks for using SL in an educational setting. "Second Life on it's own doesn't force anyone to do anything....it's a blank slate and whether it develops into a useful tool depends on what sort of structures are created within." -Marc Prensky

Making Physics Fun

I slept through physics in high school because it was sooo boring, and in college physics seemed very "plug and chug" - memorize a formula, apply it to a few textbook exercises and canned labs, then regurgitate it on the test. Obviously, Richard Feynman was not my instructor! I couldn't relate physics to real life, since I had developed a bias against the subject. Perhaps I would have been more engaged if I learned about physics through videogames.

The Wall Street Journal Online has a free article about how physics make videogames fun by making games seem real, but not too real, thus giving the player a plausible escape from reality. Basically, physics drives the gameplay, and not just for shooters - it is used in creating the look of flowing water, trees swaying in the breeze, and don't forget gravity! There is a reference to the blog Fun-Motion.com, which reviews and lists physics-focussed games. (One is Line Rider, referenced earlier this month in the EdGames blog.) There is also a startup that is developing a specialized physics processing unit (PPU) which promises to further enhance gameplay - read a preview of the PhysX PPU at PC Perspective.

Game in training

Many companies and organizations are now using game in training. Such as GametoTrain, it does learning and training based on game-base learning approach. www.thiagi.com
aims at performance-based training, but it also realize the game effect in training and developed games for training. There are also many such companies and organizations, such as Virtual U.

It has showed that games not only work for kids but also for adults. It adds fun and relieve learning stress. Why it works discussed several effect the game in organization training. It states that game not benefit learners but also benefit the trainers. Trainers use it to figure out what parts of their course content need adjusting and what topics need to be reviewed. However, does game and simulation really increase the learning effectiveness? Games and simulations in workplace eLearning is a study that tried to answer the question by explore following question:

• How games and simulations can be used to create an effective eLearning product?
• How does the use of games and simulations succeed in offering the user an engaging learning experience?

It included the market research of the US for games and simulations in eLearning. And it also had case studies for three elearning games, The Business Challenge, The Monkey Wrench. Conspiracy,The MoneyMaker. According to the authors, it is difficult to find quantitative evidence on learning effectiveness of elearning with game and simulation. But apparently game and simulation can spark interest for learning. And engaging the users is a condition of effective learning. However, to maintain engagement throughout the learning process and ensure effective learning, relevant content and design is also important. In addition the authors mentioned that flexibility and storytelling are also important engagement features.

Do You Have A Future In Second Life?

You might...

Reuters reports that IBM is ramping up its push into virtual worlds with an investment of approximately $10 million U.S. dollars over the next year. Big Blue will increase it's presence in SL (already over 300 employee avatars) and develop its own 3D intranet. Hmm... wonder what a proficient instructional designer with Second Life experience would be worth?

Second Life in New York Times

Matt Gross recently wrote an article, “It’s My (Virtual) World,” published in the New York Times. The article reflects on Gross’s weekend spent in Second Life’s virtual reality. Gross describes Second Life (SL) as a “casual travel destination” that is not really a game in the sense that we usually understand them; it’s not like the multiplayer online role-playing games with the primary object being winning a competition. Gross adds, “The goal is simply to interact with the million-plus other residents, explore the planet and, in a unique twist, create new parts of it.”

The article also enables neophyte Second Lifers to slightly understand the technical side of the virtual world as well as various business implications; in particular, growing attention from companies like American Apparel who are looking to advertise and sell their products in the virtual world. Additionally, Gross mentions events he attended based on recommendations found at http://www.secondlife.com/events.

This is a useful resource for our class and others interested in the vast opportunities within SL. At the end of the article Gross even lists his own recommendations for places to visit, shop, see, and do. Furthermore, Gross writes vividly about his experiences, making this article an interesting read.

Simulation Game Used for Disaster Training

This article "Games Tackle Disaster Training" was very encouraging to any of us who know that disasters do occur. Basically, the CDC has started creating simulation games to train health care workers on how to deal with disasters. There are many benefits to this type of learning...saves money, people can train on their own time schedule, creates more realistic scenarios than other types of training, they can cross train for different jobs. The first game was developed to train health care workers and first resonders on dealing with an Anthrax breakout. Trainees learn how to distribute meds and how to notify the public without causing panic. They are scored on their speed and appropriateness.

I think this is a great use of a simulation type game. Obviously, they can't create a real breakout and when simply discussing a scenario or even role-playing, a trainee does not get the full effect. But now they can respond like they would in a real situation and figure out what they need to work on. What a great idea!!

Serious Games Conference

Did you miss the Serious Games Summit in Washington D.C. on October 30th and 31st? Fear not! The presentation materials for most of the sessions are freely available for download. The audio files however are $7.95 a piece.

The Serious Games Summit D.C. gives professionals from the public and private sectors, policymakers, contractors, military personnel, government administrators, educators and experts in the game development arena an opportunity to meet and learn from successful serious games applications, as well as forge links between the traditional videogame industry and program managers for homeland security, state and local governments, military agencies, and educational institutions.

While performing my content analysis for our eGame project I found useful material from this conference and discovered a SecondLife alternative called There.com

Finding two useful things from one site... you've got to love the Internet!

Video Games & The Classroom

I'm always up for finding new ways for students to learn. For the most part, I've seen teachers spending half their time with classroom management as they try to cover material for their students to learn. I think a working academic environment is one where students are engaged in the learning. They need a hook, something that will capture their interest and attention.

Video games are the hottest trend among primary students and middle schoolers today. After doing a search on learning and video games, I found this article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/1879019.stm

The article discusses the option of integrating video games/simulation into the school curriculum. I think such an idea would be effective because 1) computer graphics/animation is hot commodity among kids and 2) students will be engaged to learn.

Educational Games by Kids for Kids

A group of Brooklyn teens at South Shore High School with help from Global Kids (a non-profit group that strives to prepare urban youth to become global citizens and community leaders. ) and Gamelab have just developed and released Ayiti: The Cost of Life.

Ayiti is a role playing game that allows you to take responsibility for a family of five in rural Haiti. The player can experience the struggles of a family on the edge as they try to stay healthy, stay out of debt and become educated.

The game play is fairly simple and straight forward which coupled with the excellent graphics and solid thinking make this simulation one that kids at a variety of grade levels could enjoy and learn from. As an instructional tool it has excellent potential for initiating discussion and thinking about a variety of issues including human rights, poverty, and population issues. Very cool stuff. Apparently the groups next foray is to develop a Global Kids Island in Teen Second Life.

Edutopia Article on Second Life

Edutopia is a magazine/interactive website created by the George Lucas Foundation that emphasizes using technology in schools. This article from their most recent magazine is a general overview of Second Life that tells us little we haven't already figure out. The end of the article however, sends you to the Global Kids' Digital Media Initiative which is a blog dedicated to technology used by and for kids. It includes diary entries and wonderful real life experiences using programs such as Second Life. (Plus the URL is www.holymeatballs.org how great is that?!)

Alice-Learn to Program Interactive 3D Graphics

I found this happenedly. I think it is very interesting. Alice is is a 3D interactive graphics programming environment created by the Stage 3 Research Group at Carnegie Mellon University. Novices can easily use Alice to create a 3D world with 3D objects. Here is its gallery.

The Educational Possibilities of a MMVW

The Educational Possibilities of a Massively Multiplayer Virtual World (MMVW) in Open Content explore the educational possibility of MMRPG, especially Second Life. In the article, the authors state that learners cannot be passive in a game or simulation. “Students engaged in educational games and simulations are interpreting, analyzing, discovering, evaluating, acting, and problem solving.” They think this learning approach to learning reflects constructive learning, where knowledge is constructed by the learners as they are actively problem solving in an authentic context. As the authors state most modern games provide a community for player to interact socially. This is consistent with the concept of constructive learning that collaboration is important. In a multiplayer game, players are provided with social experience within the game itself. In a massively multiplayer game, hundreds or even thousands of people can be playing at the same time. This surely increases the social interaction level, but at the same time, it may also increase the complexity and uncertain level.

Sneaky Teaching

Want to make some money? Hidden Agenda is a contest that seems to be right up our alley:

"Welcome to Hidden Agenda—a contest designed for the college student with a penchant for video games, a passion for innovation and a hankering for $25,000. If you think you’ve got the skills, pull together an ace design team and build a fabulous new video game. The winners will get it all—the fame, the fortune, bragging rights and maybe even a date with that hottie in economics.

So what’s the hidden agenda? Well, you can’t build just any game for anybody. It has to be a genius game for a middle school crowd. So fun, in fact, that they don’t notice it ‘s also teaching them something. That’s the “stealth education” aspect. Shh!"

At the very least, we should look closely at the winners!

Interactive Fiction Example

This website is part of a class offered through the open courseware section of Utah State University. The class is part of their Educational Technology program and is taught by Professor Brett Shelton, Ph.D. The website offers examples of Game Design Projects including an interactive fiction game called Voices of Spoon River.

Games: Does simple mean better?

From Wendy Wickham I found this post featuring a discussion with Professor Daniel Gopher on the fact that more realistic simulations may not necessarily be more effecitve for training.

"The need for physical fidelity is not based on research..."

"...a simple environment may be better in that it does not create the illusion of reality."

Simulations can be very expensive and complex, sometimes even costing as much as the real thing, which limits the access to training. Not only that, but the whole effort may be futile, given that some important features can not be replicated, and even result in negative transfer, because learners pick up on specific training features or sensations that do not exist in the real situation.

Grading the Educational Value of Popular Video Games

This is a MERLOT Resource. MERLOT can be thought of as kind of clearing house for educational materials which are peer reviewed and passed on. The review process is slow, but there's alot to be found there.
Read More about the what this MERLOT contributor wrote

Go to the site directly,
ArtificialWisdom

News at Seven

News At Seven is a system that automatically generates a virtual news show. Once it has assembled and edited its material, News At Seven presents it to the audience using a graphical game engine and text-to-speech (TTS) technology.

US Government Agency in Second Life

Who would have thought the US government was hip enough to use Second Life for spreading educational messages? The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has set up a presence in SL (217, 220, 61) for the express purpose of extending it social message online.

Here is an interview with the John Anderton from the CDC who leads "an initiative to advance public health using new media, to recruit new persons into public health careers, and to reinvigorate old public health brands that have fallen by the wayside." Kudos for someone in the US government who knows how to use the Internet beyond using "THE GOOGLE".

Corporate Training Simulations & Blogs

I recently received ASTD’s “The Buzz: Training News from around the World” and some interesting headlines and abstracts caught my attention in relation to this course. The first headline/article reviews the growing interest in using simulations for training among many corporations. A couple of the popular simulations are similar to ideas the class posted to the Moodle forum for Inform 7 and Second Life. The second headline/article explains how organizations can use blogs for their benefit, especially when they have made mistakes and need to publicly own up to them. I have included the headlines and abstracts that I originally read and links to the full articles.

"Business Simulations for Corporate Training
WebProNews (09/26/06) - Adams, Gabriel
Companies are increasingly using business simulators as training tools. These computer games recreate an aspect of the industry to help employees learn new skills or sharpen existing ones. Role playing simulators are suitable for customer service representatives and call center employees, as they mimic phone interactions. There are also leadership training simulators that enable employees to use leadership skills to make decisions and employment simulators that help those in charge of hiring assess recruits. Additionally, there are simulators for product development, legal compliance, and nearly all other aspects of a business."

Link to article: http://www.webpronews.com/expertarticles/expertarticles/wpn-62-20060926BusinessSimulationsforCorporateTraining.html

"Mistakes Were Made
Inc. Magazine (10/06) Vol. 28, P. 65; Freedman, David H.
Blogs are often used by companies to tout the latest innovations at their factories or as an internal communication device between managers and employees. However, experts note that these communications tools could be used to admit mistakes publicly in order to stave off scandal, fines, and reputational damage. Executives could also use the medium to foster open communication about mistakes throughout the company, fostering a more ethical culture. Mayo Clinic, for instance, has developed a blog system in which its residents issue complaints about errors and other problems at the facility, workers admit their mistakes, and logs are made of what changes were made as a result. The clinic claims that the blog has helped improve care at the facility, and many experts agree that logging mistakes can help the entire firm learn from them and become more efficient. The one downfall of these confessional blogs would be that executives or managers opt to bring down those that confess honest mistakes, rather than use those confessions as a learning tool to improve the firm overall."

Link to article:
http://www.inc.com/magazine/20061001/column-freedman.html

SL experience

I've had a variety of reactions to the time that I've spent in SL. The first was, "What is this and what the heck is going on?" The second was "Well this *IS* kind of cool". This must be what it's like to be stuck in new, foreign locale and not knowing much of the culture, none of the directions and having no one to rely on or lead you around to show you the ropes.

Although I did find a couple of people who were very friendly and helpful...and several Germans who kept asking me how they could get a job.

SL on Flickr

This is very cool. Photos from Second Life on Flickr. Check out Second Learning's photos which are specific to SL and learning.

SL in Business Week

Business Weeks has this article "How to get a Second Life". It is a great tip sheet that gives you some insight on things such as designing your avatar, buying real estate, understanding the culture, etc.

The Newest Time Waster: Line Rider

The Newest Time Waster: Line Rider

It all started as an assignment for an illustration class. User ~fsk created a simple flash game where "...users "draw" their own ramps, hills and slopes with a pencil tool and then send a virtual sledder along the route until he swoops, swerves and crashes." According to deviantART.com, who hosts the game, more than four million people have viewed the game so far and over 325,000 have downloaded it. Interestingly enough, user ~fsk says Line Rider is not a game because there are no goals to achieve and there is no score. Yet, millions of people are creating unique paths that are showing up on YouTube and various video blogs. Paths range anywhere from 45 degree angles to a detailed roller coaster ride with obstacles, bridges, and tunnels.

After I read this TIME article, I decided to try it out myself. I basically view this as a constructivist approach to physics. You eventually learn how to create lines and curves that will make the virtual sledder keep sledding instead of falling over. If a line is too steep, your virtual sledder will topple over and its back to the drawing board with your newfound knowledge. It is all about predicting where the sledder will land after going down the line that you drew or after a loop you created. It's fascinating just watching the sledder and seeing what he'll make of the path you created. I can see how you can get lost in something like this!

I went on to You Tube and searched for Line Rider and there were 2,174 Hits. It's pretty amazing what people are doing with this simple interactive Flash game. Here are some examples that I thought were pretty cool: Line Rider and Half Pipe

Political and Social Games

After receiving the 1000th political phone message, I starting looking for articles and came across this from the BBC about online political games from the 2004 presidential elections. I did a Google search to see some current games and found some interesting topics. For example, 3rd World Farmer challenges players to keep themselves and their families alive while managing a farm in Africa. Along the same lines is "Darfur is Dying" a glimpse of what it's like for the millions who have been displaced in Sudan with the idea of showing how to help end the genocide. There is certainly a large variety ranging from drugs to religion. One I found particularly disturbing was "Ethnic Cleansing" the player can choose either a skinhead or a Klansman and runs through a ghetto murdering black people, before heading into a subway to murder Jews. When the player reaches the "Jewish Control Center", they must kill Ariel Sharon to win the game. Finally, I found one in Second Life "Exchanging Cultures" each player becomes a diplomat who must attempt to understand the cultures of the people that he/she is building relationships with, as well as share elements of his/her own culture. A refreshing alternative to "Ethnic Cleansing". Why does it seem like the people with the worst agenda's are the first to get their message to the masses using new technologies ?

Even the Nobel Prize Foundation Uses Games!

I was looking for some science activities when I came across the Nobel Prize site. Surprisingly I found a link on the site that has games so kids can learn about the work of Nobel Laureates. It was really quite interesting, I learned quite a few things I didn't know!

http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/

- Megan

Will Buddy Builder Make Kids Safe?

While pointing to this: ITworld.com - U.S. FTC's Buddy Builder game teaches social-networking safety, someone on SlashDot had this to say:

"Your tax dollars at work. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has launched an online quiz-show style game called Buddy Builder to test young users' abilities to spot potential threats on social networking Web sites. Naturally, the teen audience this is intended to reach is not going to go near the game except as a joke."

It's an interesting challenge. How do you reach this audience on topics like net safety (and drinking, smoking, drugs, etc.) without coming across as lame?

The Serious Business Of Serious Games - Forbes.com

Those of you working in corporate training shops might point your boss to this article. Forbes is about as close to The Establishment as one can get, and they're taking games seriously. Many good links from the article to the conference web site and elsewhere.

Second Life Thoughts

My first reaction to Second Life was that it was very frustrating to figure out where to go and how to get there. I actually had to get help from Dilek in order to end up at the SDSU campus. However, despite the initial frustration, I did think it was a pretty neat program and a great idea to create a campus where students could interact and collaborate with one another and other instructors.

I did find it difficult to walk around and look at things while I was trying to read the text that people were typing. I just had a very hard time trying to figure out what to do next because I was trying to do the last instruction I was given.

I did enjoy teleporting to different places, though I found some of them to be a little sketchy. I got a little nervous when there were lots of people around me in a certain world because I didn't know how to interact with anyone. I didn't know if there were certain "rules" that were supposed to be followed. Anyway, I still enjoyed some of the places I visited and I thought it was amazing how much detail there was in some of these worlds. This picture shows one of the places I visited. It actually had a place where you could sit and meditate which I thought was very cool. I enjoyed exploring this world.

beginning in second life

If you're doing some more exploring in Second life and considering that as your program of choice for the final project, I thought this was a good article about information you should start out with. I was overwhelmed and confused at first so I thought this was pretty comprehensive. -Nelly Aragon
http://sliki.info/wiki/Gwyn's_Beginners_Guide_To_Second_Life

Frustrated

Talk about frustration. . . I keep running into things and I can't seem to get to all the cool places that you all have been to. Mary - Where is the water slide???

One of the coolest experiences that I have had so far is flying! I frequently have flying dreams, and the sounds that Second Life makes when you fly are just like I would imagine. I know, it sounds dorky. I was flying over Korea this morning, but in Second Life the sun was setting, so I took a picture of me flying into the sunset.

Everyone that I have encountered in SL has been nice and helpful. I initially was nervous to talk to people and ask questions, but not anymore. I definitely need to explore more though. I really haven't figured out how to go places that are populated. Every place that I have teleported to has been pretty deserted.

Middle schoolers in Second Life

Here's a blog I came across of a teacher who has set up three islands in Teen Second Life for her middle school. She talks about the process she took to get approval through her district to set this "second life" up for her school. For her three islands: she plans to use one to orient them, one as a place for student work to be displayed, and one as a recreational/entrepeneurial island for students who have successfully completed tasks on islands 1 & 2. The 2nd island will be collaborative with other teachers. She plans on having students in other classes create and post the "new" style of book reports, projects in a museum-like atmosphere. Pretty cool.

http://rampoislands.blogspot.com/2006/07/proposal-passed-islands-are-up.html

My Second Life Exploration

My Second Life (SL) experience was intriguing and frustrating. After exploring the EDTEC campus and the International Spaceflight Museum in class last week, I couldn’t stop thinking about the endless educational opportunities SL could accommodate. I assumed that there must be other museums of equal value as the International Spaceflight Museum; however, after perusing the “places” I noticed that there were few other places designed with such an educationally validating focus. Two of the most interesting places in which I explored were the “Friends of the Urban Forest” (FUF) and the “Science Center.”

The “Friends of the Urban Forest” is a unique landmark where you are can buy a virtual tree (for L$5000) to receive a real tree planted by “FUF” in San Francisco. You can plant the tree in their virtual forest or on your own land. Although there is minimal educational content on the “FUF” land right now, I can see the various possibilities that could be interweaved in these types of environments (i.e. informational kiosks on the organization and its mission, note cards with the tree’s identifying information, interesting facts and realist pictures of the leaves, etc.). I am also intrigued by the multitude of opportunities to explore the implications of proactive virtual realities and others with similar goals (such as the impact of the integration between online games and real-life business, politics, social responsibility, etc.).

The “Science Center” states that its mission is to “1) facilitat[e] networking opportunities for those interested in science and science content in Second Life, 2) [use] exhibits in the Science Center on Info Island II to create a directory of science content, and 3) provid[e] learning opportunities for those interested in understanding science and creating science content in SL.” Interacting with all the “Science Center” content would take hours, and it makes it easy to understand and empathize with players who are enwrapped in virtual realities for hours on end, day after day. Some of the interesting features the Second Life “Science Center” includes are: clickable icons that deliver the latest Slatenight magazine, an informational art gallery with areas of sculptures grouped by artist, web links to science-related organizations, and molecule structures that double as note cards explicating the molecule and its history. Here is a picture of the entryway to the art museum:

There seem to be infinite amount of educational opportunities for Second Life. I was disappointed by the lack of popular museums and educational places; for example, it would be interesting to go through the Louvre and see and read about paintings and artwork. The most important opportunity I recognized is that Second Life can afford contextual learning in realistic environments, which generally provide rich educational experiences. I am also fascinated with the social and collaborative capabilities and the concept of virtual campuses. It seems like a viable and obvious option for distance education and I bet it will eventually replace programs like Macromedia Breeze because it is free to use (although, I’m assuming you don’t have to pay to create a “place”). Of course, we would need to consider the implications of providing class in these environments (i.e. accountability, attendance, attention-span, unwanted guests, etc.).

my second experience in SL with Mari

This morning I was in SL and to try to go around in different places (teleports) and explore SL. First I visited German Castle Ruin. I saw bunch of people talking German. I understand that I am in the wrong place :). I try to speak them English, some of them responded and they said they know little English. Luckily I met Mari and she invited me in a teleport that we traveled through in history, which was England castle (I am not sure). We discussed several things that I was curious about SL; such as how people teach in SL, applications (distance education, conferences, etc), little bit its history, how can we design a teleport in SL, etc. When we were talking we heard some animal noices (lion and sheep). We discussed how these types of noises could affect on people learning during the class. It was a beneficial conservation for me. Thank you Mari again. Here is my snapshot with Mari, sitting together next to a waterfall.

Great ideas for using Second Life

I found this post (via Robert Scoble extremely interesting. It's about John Hartman (he blogs about Second Life and virtual worlds on his Thought Plasma blog)
is using machinima (which is a recording of Second Life’s environment and avatars) to do corporate training. This seems to tie in perfectly with the types of things we are looking at and discussing. Sound like he has some great ideas for using Second Life.

What do you think?

Prices rising in Second Life

Linden Lab is increasing prices for new Private Island sales except for qualified educators and non-profits. This must mean it's getting that much more popular.

Official Linden Blog » Price for New Private Islands to Increase

Real life education in Second life

I found this article quite interesting. The paper in general explains what the second life is, its importance on education, tips for educators to create their own land, strategies to use SL in education, etc. When I was scanning through the paper, I read several case studies that teachers experienced when using SL such as opportunities, motivation, collaboration, or on the other hand barriers, and difficulties. One of them was about student project and they designed a plan for using SL as a tool for introducing Morocco (Casablanca island). The project also explains how SL helped communication and collaboration.

Second Life experience

This is the first time I heard about SL and experience SL in this class. I was confused at beginning and I think information in this virtual world is really overwhelming. But later I found it was not that difficult as it looked at beginning. It just takes time to practice. Hanging around in different places, talking with others, singing in a team, it is interesting. And I seem to understand why it is called second life. It is really a proper name for this game or this virtual world. Everyone can experience a different life or a life that they can not have in real world. I am thinking it may be used to do psychotically consulting.


I tried to go to different places, including the Help Island, Iris, and SDSU. It is so cool that I can fly in SL, that is my dream in childhood. One funny thing is when I sat down and stood up again, I do not know why I flied up. And when I tried to land on the ground, I found I can not land down. Keeping press the page down button, I was just hanging and struggling over the ground. Somebody near me told me that it seemed I was hanged up. And another guy told me it seemed that I was animated and I can go to Tool menu and click the stop all animation button. It seemed work. Teleport is a function. I can use search function to find any place I want to go and teleport directly to that place. And I found when I greeting somebody near me, some of them greeted back and some of them just run away.


This guy is called Earfull. I met him in the Halloween store. He is interesting. I talked with him for a while. He asked me how to run. And he was so excited when he flying. When he saw I can also fly, he was surprised like a child. He called himself superman. And he taught me how to build things. He is nice. Following are two snapshots of the Luxor in Las Vegas and the House of Zen.

Tsunami

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) uses Second Life to present interactive educational demonstrations about oceans, climate, weather, etc. Some of the examples are tsunami, submarine ride, hurricane, and melting glacier. I watched the tsunami simulation. It was both amazing and scary. I think using SL as an educational tool for this type of topics (which cannot be experience or cannot be taught in real classroom environment )is great for both students and adults.

The NOAA's sim is called Meteroa. I teleported there, I could not find anybody to talk.

Reality Bytes - article by Henry Jenkins

Interesting article posted by PBS and written by MIT Media and Comparative Studies professor Henry Jenkins debunks eight myths about video games. The myths include game availability and youth violence, violent game play and youth aggression, children as the primary market for video games, girls playing computer games, impact between training soldiers to kill and kids playing games, games as a not a meaningful form of expression, how game play is socially isolating, and finally how game play is desensitizing. The article also includes interesting links to articles and websites under the Sources at the bottom of the article. Jenkins' website is also worth a glace.

Water Slides - SL

Found a couple of cool places and even had a Corona at a little hut beside a beach. Very cool. I then traveled to a place called Maryland (a relative or kindred spirit maybe?) anyway...it was a "prop" place where you could try on and try out different s&m clothes and props. Hmm...I no longer believe it was a relative!
Then I found a water slide and actually got to slide down it. Much more my speed!
I think SL could be used to explain all sorts of hypothetical science materials, let alone the capabilities of self-paced instruction in anything where the student moves through space/time as they conquer and understand material.

Video Games in Education

Group: Video games can reshape education is a MSNBC article on a yearlong study by the Federation of American Scientists that researched how video games can be converted into learning tools. What they found was that video games don't lose patience with kids and they teach skills such as: analytical thinking, team building, multitasking, and problem-solving under duress. They determined that future research was still needed on the features that promoted learning and how to test the skills students learn while playing video games.

My thoughts on this article are two-fold. One, I love that they are doing research into whether this is a viable option for schools and teachers to incorporate another technology into their classrooms. The students of today's world are technologically savvy which makes incorporating technology, such as video games, into classrooms much easier. On the other hand, I'm not so sure that video games would teach the skills above better than interacting with peers and teachers to solve problems and increase analytical skills. I am sure that video games can teach these skills, but I'm not convinced it's a better or more effective solution.

Harvard Law School - SL

When I was trying to learn more about second life and its application in education, I came across this web page (Sim Teach/ Second Life Education wiki). I found comprehensive educational projects in second life. Some of them are; Idaho Bioterrorism Awareness and Preparedness Program, Harvard Law School's CyberOne: Law in the Court of Public Opinion, NOAA Comes to Second Life, etc. I found Harvard Law School Cyber One class pretty interesting. Here is the video that class’s professor introduce how he can use second life in his class.
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/cyberone/videos/CyberOne.mp4
http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/cyberone/

SL experience

I went to three different regions starting with the spaceflight museum for a presentation about the Hubble space telescope. There were 30 people attending but I not sure if they were real people I didn't try talking to anyone. Next I went to a haunted house that I think was in Meadow Brook there wasn't any one around except a few ghosts. This is when I found how to use the map to teleport and ended up at a night club but I didn't have time to learn how to dance or talk to anyone before the area was shut down because of problems. There doesn't seem to be a lack of things to do. I didn't interact with anyone but I liked exploring the different places and taking snapshots. I think this could be used with the life skills program with middle schoolers. Each room could focus on particular social skills.

Virtually better doesn’t mean safer in real life

It is reported that a security breach was discovered on September 6 and more than 650,000 accounts were affected.

"The exploit was shut down but the hacker could have seen a lot of information, including passwords. This data seen by the hacker included 'Second Life' account names, real life names and contact information, along with encrypted account passwords and encrypted payment information. The hacker is not thought to have gotten away with any credit card information.

In August, AOL fired at least three of its employees because they released private information about 658,000 of its customers. As Dan pointed out in Privacy Breach Affects 650,000 Users of ‘Second Life’ Game, privacy breaches are unfortunately gaining proportions and are becoming more frequent. So with this trend, how to protect players' privacy may be a challenge for Linden Lab. And in a social environment like SL, players also need to learn to protect themselves. Internet safety for kids in such a virtual world also needs to be considered seriously before use a game such as SL in Education.

Thoughts of SL

I was really fascinated with Second Life. To me, it seemed like a chat room with virtual reality capabilities. I do find the commands quite confusing at first, but extensive practice gave me the hang of it. At this point, I'm still trying to understand the whole ordeal of Second Life. I was able to visit some type of museum along with Jerry.

Virtual parenting with Eccky

I think this could have some interesting applications. "Eccky" could be the answer to population control in China. Couples could use it for a compatibility test before they get married. It’s a cross between “The Sims” and “NeoPets” which have Web portals to develop and try out avatars and virtual environments, with casual games. MSN would like to incorporate simulation games into their communications and Web networks. I think that means you would be able to have a virtual baby with someone in Second Life.

How to Teach a Digital Game (Part One)

From Academhack here is a basic write-up, a sort of “Things to think about if you want to teach a digital game". It is the first post in a series on this topic and includes a link to a graduate Computer Games Studies course being taugh at UCSD this fall.

Second Life Experience

Probably I would have never tried this game before this class. I got dizzy and had a big headache after playing SL for 15 mins! But overall, it was a very positive experience; it is amazing to see the cool and interesting things that are being developed in S.L, including the SDSU campus. Mari (whom I met in First Life last May in China) and Marguerite have done a great job. I loved the SDSU t-shirt and the lounge. Since I enjoy hanging around or studying in cafes, i chose to take this snapshot.

My main challenges were moving around in S.L., I got frustrated in several occasions, and understanding the different options available in the game. It is so easy to get lost or confused; and that is one of my main concerns about S.L. I wonder if all newbies experience this and if this could discourage/frustrate learners when using SL as an educational tool.

Alternative Flying in Second Life

While wandering around Second Life I found an airfield with free demo flights using a variety of different aircrafts (from bi-planes to balloons to hovercrafts). You can visit the location by clicking on this SLurl: Abbotts Aerodrome

Make sure to read the instructions on how to fly each particular vehicle or you may end up underwater or parked on the runway. There is also a skydiving area if you are so inclined.

Here's the a shot of me in a VTOL (Vertical Takeoff and Landing) ship hovering about one of the launch areas.

This really isn't much of an educational use but it was fun to fly around Second Life in a more conventional way :)

Video Games as Training Tools

A blog post from Berkun Blog citing a CNN article on the topic and the full American Federation of Scientists report on how games like Quake, CounterStrike and Warcraft teach people basic teamwork and communication concepts.

Interactive Storytelling

I read an interview with game designer Chris Crawford in Dr. Dobb's about the future of computer games and interactive storytelling. With his new company StoryTron, he is betting that interactive storytelling will be used in training and education, as a social interaction simulator. There are three programs: SWAT (StoryWorld Authoring Tool), which is a visual development environment to create a storyworld, the Storyworld Engine, and the Storyteller, which is used to play. It's still in beta.

New Generation Learners and Video Games

The George Lucas Educational Foundation publishes an excellent website and magazine devoted to educational reform. Their October 2006 issue focuses on the new generation of learners and how they will radically change the way we teach. Not surprisingly video games will play a prominent role.

In the article titled Let the Game Begin, Jenn Shreve examines the traditional ideas of how videogames can reach unmotivated students and also challenge gifted students. Beyond that she documents a do it yourself approach to gaming in the classroom in which students in tandem with teachers design games as a way to both reinforce content and thinking skills. Also touted as a another tool for teachers are “serious games” such as the Harvard designed River City and Making History produced by Muzzy Lane. While video games will never replace instruction they will serve a more prominent role in the future classroom.

Video Games Have Educational Value

It’s official! Last week The Federation of American Scientists came out with a statement declaring that video games can redefine education. Citing a years worth of study, the FAS has “discovered” that video games can teach skills such as analytical thinking, team building, multitasking and problem-solving under duress which employers will be looking for in the future.

The article goes on to say that while the audience is obviously there, the gaming industry has thus far been resistant to pouring dollars into R&D as the titles just don’t make money. It also calls for additional academic research into which features of gaming facilitate learning and how to measure the skills students learn in games. The idea being that the federal government would help underwrite the cost of the research. The article ends with a terrific quote from Don Blake, a technology analyst for the NEA. Blake states, “Ultimately teachers need to see games as a way to help — not as a threat.”

Looking for Sim Labs in Second Life

After participating in our class meeting, I went back in and started looking for educational resources. I went to the ICT library which is a good resource of things to find in Second Life. One resource intrigued me. It was called "Social Simulation Cyber-Research Lab: Games", but when I tried to find it, I could not get a hit in the search. Has anyone been there and seen it? or know how to access it?

Game Design & Development

I was browsing the internet for nothing in particular when I stumbled upon GameDev.Net. It's main focus is on game development but there are some interesting resources and forum discussions. It also has a Game Dictionary which I loved browsing through. Here are some examples I found under Game Design:

Avatar: A Buzzword used by the virtual reality community to mean a "'representation of the user".

Design Theory: The underlying and abstract thought behind the simple idea of making games 'fun'. Simple to understand, hard to master. Anybody can write up a design document with countless revolutionary, inventive, and well-documented ideas. It is only a true Design Theorist who can make that design document produce a fun and addictive game.

Critical Path: The necessary route from start to finish in a game. Everything that must be done to complete a game is considered to be within the 'critical path'. This holds especially true in linear games, where a player is forced to proceed along a specified path. Often the critical path is shown to the player with 'primary objectives' or 'main goals' of a level or the game as a whole. Other, smaller objectives or secondary goals that are not required to finish the game are considered “non-critical path."

If you like reading up on game design and development, GameDev.net is an excellent resource to keep bookmarked.

first snapsot and experiece in SL

I took this snapshot yesterday when I was in the class and discovering the second life. It was pretty interesting and amazing. I am not sure how I can use SL in education now, but I enjoyed a lot talking with my friends, using gestures, taking snapshots, and visiting the other teleports. This was my first and favorite snapshot yesterday. I just wanted to learn if any presentation is going on the panel, but suddenly I found myself on top of the panel and looking around the scene with my cup of coffee. It was so funny. The thing that I like most I can change my appearance whenever I want, which I cannot do in my real life.:) However I found it difficult when I want to sit and use the camera control (I was lost). Anyway, it was wonderful experience to me. See you in the SL.

inform 7 tips

I found a good site that gives tips on creating text based adventures if anyone feels like they are leaning that way. Here is one article in particular that shows how to get started and what to look out for:
http://brasslantern.org/writers/iftheory/makingtio2.html

Nelly ARagon

OUr first group photo in the classroom