I knew that I needed to just take a rest from trying to fix my flickr plugin.  It took awhile but I cleaned out all of the files associated with that plugin from my server, I think that the cache files (all 2 million of them) were causing the unresponsiveness I complained about before.  The new version of the plugin allows you to hide certain albums or pictures!  This is great – I do not mind sharing my scenic vacation pics, puppy pics or SL images but I like to keep the family pics private.  The new version of the plugin can be found at http://tantannoodles.com/toolkit and the instructions for the API are on the TanTanMoodles Flickr group.  So happy

 On a side note be sure to check out the new sculptures and items that have been added to the NMC museum space.  There is a new curator for the museum, whose name I would have to look up, so check back often to see exciting new additions.  There are even pumpkins, each with a spooky design and luminous center, just in time for Halloween.  Do avatars dress up for Halloween?  Maybe we can host a party at the NMC campus –  I have a feeling some people are already in disguise.

A special thanks must go to Ramesh for taking the time to show me the biohazard simulation that he has built in Second Life.  The Play2Train project is part of the Idaho Bioterrorism Awareness and Preparedness program.  The program is described as:

The program’s objective is to enhance the knowledge and skills of health care professionals to meet the public health preparedness and emergency response demands resulting from acts of bioterrorism and other incidents. Training will assist and facilitate understanding of the needs and response measures as they relate to the following: Recognizing indicators of terrorist events; Meeting the acute health care needs of patients and victims, including pediatric or other vulnerable populations, including those with mental health needs; Participating in coordinated, multidisciplinary response to terror events or other health emergencies; and Rapidly and effectively alerting the public health system of such an event at the community, state or federal levels.

 
Ramesh making a building explode!

I hope to be able to allow my students to experience a virtual training simulation as part of our discussion on training and development.  Stay tuned for some ideas…

Machinima seemed like such a mystery to me before doing some research on how to produce such movies.  If you are looking for some good resources check out my machinima tag in delicious – if you know of any other resources please let me know.  Hopefully I will find some time to play with making a machinima soon (hopefully both Second Life and my tablet PC will cooperate).  If you have not already seen NMC’s Seriously Engaging video I have included it here in this post.  Enjoy!

“Teacher’s Lounge” hosts prominent researcher John Bransford in-world in two weeks:
Dr. Bransford is a prominent education psychology researcher and edited the often cited How People Learn book. He agreed to chat in-world about his work with the L.I.F.E. center. He and several graduate students who read this list are doing research in SL.

EVENT DETAILS:
Monday, Oct 2nd
12 noon-1pm, SLT (San Francisco time)
SL: At the intersection of Rhodium, Palladium, Iridium, and Platinum
See: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Platinum/0/256

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“Teacher’s Lounge” hosts Sasha Barab of Indiana University to speak in-world next month:
Professor Barab is a leader in MUVE education and created Quest Atlantis using the Active Worlds platform See: http://atlantis.crlt.indiana.edu

EVENT DETAILS:
Tuesday, October 24
5:30pm-6:30pm, SLT (San Francisco time)
SL: In the Campus: Second Life sandbox.
See: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Campus/150/100

Hope to see you all there

I am sitting here at a conference in Colorado waiting for my turn to present (toture) so I decided to check up on the NMC SL blog.  In case you have not heard a Harvard Law School professor is bringing a class in SL.  I really like the idea of having the short movie clip and Heidi and I are going to explore making a movie for the class that we are bringing into SL.  Here is the clip:

I finally got a chance to visit Aura Lily’s ancient Egypt sim in Second Life.  Pathfinder sent a link to the SLED listserve awhile back but I got busy and forgot about it until tonight when I was preparing a presentation on Virtual Worlds for tomorrow.  It was a real treat to meet Aura – she took me on an extensive tour of the space including a throne and secret tomb complete with a mummy.  It is such a wonderful experience and the work that was done on this project is absolutely incredibly.  I do not want to blog too much about it since I would like ot return for a slatenight interview.

You can see more photos as a well as a more complete description of the site on Pathfinder’s Flickr account.  Here is a little blurb from Pathfinder’s visit:

Aura’s work is simply amazing, and I think the educational potential to use Second Life as an immersive way to explore ancient architecture and culture is limitless. She has no formal training in 3d modeling, yet she has a true passion for this ancient era and has done all of this work completely on her own. Simply incredible. Visit her amazing space in Second Life and experience it firsthand!

Be sure to visit her gift shop as well.  I am going to save some lindens for a purchase when I return

What a day crazy day!! Tomorrow starts three days of non-stop faculty workshops but luckily I had some time to join the NMC Teachers’ Buzz Session. I give CDB and Corwin a lot of credit – it is not easy to manage a large crowd with many threads of conservations going at once. Their goal is to host a session once a week to support teachers working in SL – one a week might be hard to keep up with as we found out with the SLED/Grad student group. I even got to show off the new in world edition of SLATENight which rezzed a giant book (smaller one was requested for the NMC library) while having a cup of coffee.

Another great surprise was seeing AngryBeth’s Flicker script at work. Pretty Cool!

Appalachian State University & Purdue University were awarded the 2006 Campus Technology Innovators award for their creation of a 3D virtual space using Active Worlds technology.  Appalachian state describes their students as “a mid-career educator who is not familiar with immersive learning environments, has only a basic understanding of traditional web-based learning systems, and has access to rather modest technology”. 

Online instruction may have been an obvious choice to serve these geographically dispersed students, but ASU had specific objectives to meet before it would call the program a success. The stated challenge was to “create an online learning environment that: maintains fidelity to our conceptual framework; supports our social constructivist teaching methods; allows for serendipitous, non-structured interactions between students, instructors, and others; and supports participants’ sense of presence/ absence of others.” Their solution is AET Zone, a 3D, immersive world for learning that serves as the social, curricular, and pedagogical hub for all content and most interactions in the Instructional Technology program.

ASU has since opended the AET Zone to the wider educational community, allowing researchers, students and educators from all over the globe to use this environment.  These visitors are encouraged to plan meeting and build spaces of their own.  What is interesting is that the article describes the integration of discussion boards, voice-over-IP and a “group-oriented custom course management system built in-house”.  I cannot wait to check it out!

 The end of the summer is always a tough time – lots to do at work, prep for teaching and dusting off that pesky literature review.  I have been making a big effort to try to keep up with the SLED list especially since the weekly meetings seem to be on a break (although NMC is going to start a weekly Monday meeting).  Recently there was a post about a new group being started with weekly meetings on Tuesday night at 10pm EST – the Synthetic World Initiative at Indiana University.  It seems that this group started out of the work/research done by Ted Castronova in World of Warcraft.  The group is named the Kuurian Expediton after the original World of Warcraft guild.  The group is open to more then just educators – journalists, industry people, etc are involved.  It is not clear if this group is open to everyone but more information can be found on their wiki.

  On a another note – SL partner in crime, Heidi TeeCee, has a bought her self some new hair and skin.  Its about time – thank you Baccarra for convincing her!!!

Now all we need to do is get her some new clothes

Is it possible that I could go on vacation in SL and stay at a swanky hotel?   The article Second Lifers get first look at new hotel chain describes the project undertaken by Starwood Resorts to build a 3D replica of the real-world Aloft Inn scheduled to open in real-life in 2008.  The SL version is being contructed by the Electric Sheep Comany, the same development group that built the NMC Campus.  It is interesting to consider why the hotel chain would consider replicating a hotel in a virtual world.  Electric Sheep’s Constable stated:

“It’s one thing to go to a Web site and look at some pictures of a design, but its another thing to be able to walk into a space, immerse yourself in the space, and then to walk into it with a friend and have a debate and talk about what works and what doesn’t work.”

What strikes me as interesting is that this statement is so similar to a converstation that we had this morning with a faculty member.  The question was “Why use virtual worlds for education?”  For much of the same reasons that Starwood is looking for an immersive experience for potential customers, educators want to create an immersive space for students.  How many of our students just clicked through the content we created on the web just to get through it?  How many of use skimmed a chapter in a text or read the last page of the book first?  When carefully contructed, activities in virtual worlds can be much more engaging and time on task can increase (among lots of other benefits).  Looking forward to more innovative spaces being accessible to SL residents.