Lets Virtually Recreate Collaborative Education Dean L Zeller
Let’s Virtually Recreate Collaborative Education Dean L. Zeller dzeller@cs. kent. edu Dr. Paul S. Wang (advisor) Department of Computer Science Kent State University
Inspiring Novels • The City and the Stars – By Arthur C. Clarke (1956) – Books have been replaced by an immersive environment where students meet with other students to solve “quests. ” • Snow Crash – By Neal Stephenson (1992) – The Internet has been replaced by a virtual reality called the Metaverse. 2
About Second Life • 16, 000 unique accounts. • Business conducted through Linden Dollars (US$1 L$300). • Instant messaging and item sharing. • Virtual meetings and classrooms. • Is not a game. 3
Popular Culture References • The Office episode: Dwight Shrute creates a virtual world within Second Life, called “Second Life. ” • Second Life girls rated #95 on Maxim’s Top 100 Hottest Females of 2007. • CSI NY episode: Mac used Second Life to locate a suspect in episode “Down the Rabbit Hole. ” • The Darkest Evening of the Year, by Dean Koontz. One of the antagonists is a private detective who lives vicariously through his Second Life avatar. 4
Advantages of Virtual Worlds for Education • • Immersive 3 D environment Communication Collaboration Enjoyable Encourages imagination Motivates learning Visual modeling 5
Virtual World Comparison Not all virtual worlds are alike! • Advantages of Second Life: – Easiest to use – Established user base – Potential for real income • Disadvantages of Second Life: – Cost (accounts, graphics, owning land, etc…) – Inappropriate information – Runs on Linden Labs’ server 6
Using a Virtual World for Education 1. Traditional skill and drill • Freezetag game, where players must correctly answer a question to get a reward that will help with the game (unfrozen, ammo, weapon) • Can be used for any topic • Prepare students for standardized exams 2. Solve quests • Use the virtual world as an immersive environment for problem-solving and learning. • Create quests in a virtual world that students would conquor. 3. Have students write own quests • Teach students how to use, build, and script in a virtual world. Have them create stories, quests, or whatever they want. • Allow students to go their own direction. 4. Virtual training centers • • Nurse training simulations Firefighter training simulations Virtual genetics labs Virtual theater 7
Future Work • SLML • Second Life Markup Language • (Pronounced “slemmel”) • Second Life textbook • Negotiations with Pearson Textbook Co. 8
References • Zeller, D. “The Future of Internet-Based Education through Virtual Worlds. ” The International Journal of Learning, Volume 15, Issue 10, pp. 45 -56. • Weber, A. , Rufer-Bach, K. , Platel, R. Creating your world: the official guide to advanced content creation for Second Life. 2008 Wiley Publishing, Inc. ISBN 978 -0 -470 -17114 -1. • For other lessons in Second Life, see the following wikis http: //squirrel. cs. kent. edu/wiki/index. php/Lessons http: //capstone. cs. kent. edu/mediawiki/index. php/Capstone_Fall_2008 9
Funding This research is funded by the Research Center for Educational Technology (RCET), the Web-based Mathematics Education (WME) team, and the Graduate Student Senate at Kent State University. 10
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