Independent Focus on Second Life

This week our assignment was to research an aspect of Second Life that we found interesting and wanted to find out more about.  I decided that I wanted to find out more about Machinima and its uses in Second Life.

Machinima is defined as "the use of real-time three-dimensional (3-D) graphics rendering engines to generate computer animation."  Put simply, its making movies in a virtual environment. 

One of the first tools that you'll need is some type of screen capturing software.  Some of this type of software costs money to purchase (like Camtasia) but there are other alternatives that are free to download and use (like Windows Movie Maker or FRAPS).  Upon doing some research into the free versions, I wanted to find out more about FRAPS.  It is free to download and use but if you want the unrestricted version, you'll have to pay for it.  The free version "puts an unremovable watermark at the top of every video, and each video can only be 30 seconds in length."  Screenshots are not watermarked in the free version but can only be taken in BMG, TGA, JPEG and PNG.  Also, in order for FRAPS to work, users have to have DirectX or OpenGL on their computer. 

FRAPS is a benchmarking software that "shows how many Frames Per Second (FPS) you are getting in the corner of your screen."  You can "measure the frame rate between any two points."  Another advantage of using FRAPS is that it has screen capturing software.  You can take a screenshot by pressing one key and your "screen captures are automatically named and time stamped."  There is also real time video capturing software that "captures audio and video up to 7680 x 480 with custom frame rates from 1 to 120 frames per second."  If you are interested in downloading FRAPS, please go to http://www.fraps.com/download.php.

Videoing in Second Life
 Before videoing in Second Life, it is important to be aware of the Linden Lab policy on taking snapshots and making movies using machinima.  Here are the rules:

• Snapshots - if you are on a private island or a homestead property, you must check the covenant and if it says nothing, then you have permission to take snapshots.  If you are on the mainland, there isn't a covenant in the land menu, so you automatically have permission to take snapshots.
• Machinima - is the same as taking snapshots where if you are on a private island or a homestead property, you must check the covenant to see if you have permission.  It is important to remember that there are some places on the mainland where permission must be obtained from the land owner.
• Avatar Consent - If you are just taking a snapshot then there is no permission required.  If you are recording in machinima, you have to obtain permission from every avatar that will be involved in the movie.

For more information on this policy, please go to:  http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Lab_Official:Snapshot_and_machinima_policy.

The advantage of using machinima is unlike making movies in real life, there is no equipment to gather and set up and no actors to pay to hire.

In the process of doing research on machinima, I came across a guide that listed how to record a movie in machinima in 19 steps.  I thought that these steps were useful and very thought provoking and wanted to share them:

1. Decide what type of movie that you want to make.  Think about the genre.
2. Do you want to use dialogue or narrative?
3. Where will your source text come from?  Will you be using your own written text or use text from a coursebook or story?
4. Write an outline of the movie.
5. Write your screenplay.
6. Make a storyboard which includes minute by minute, second by second, or anytime you plan a change.
7. Write the actual text that will be used if you plan on having a conversation in your movie.
8. Find a suitable location and scene to record your movie.
9. Find actors (avatars) and outfits to use in your movie.
10. Decide if you will or will not use voice in your movie.
11. Record a sample scene to make sure everything works.
12. Make arrangements with actors (avatars) about when to show up to record the movie.
13. Record your movie.
14. Convert your recordings and audio files so that you can edit them in a another program like Windows Movie Maker (free) or Camtasia (costs money).
15. Edit, cut, snip and combine.
16. Add voices, music and edit.
17. Add a title, names of actors, etc.
18. Upload your movie to YouTube.  Use MachinEVO as a tag for ease in locating your machinima at a later date.
19. Post in the Ning.

To learn more about using machinima in Second Life, there is a tutorial at:  http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Making_movies

My thoughts on Machinima
I can see the benefit of using Machinima in Second Life for both business related projects as well as educational projects.  Businesses can benefit by not having a lot of cost involved as they would in real life.  Educational institutions could benefit by being able to make short movies to be used in class as an educational tool.  These movies can be uploaded to YouTube so that students could watch them and use as a guide in how to do a project such as how to build an object in Second Life.

Other web sites consulted while reserching Machinima:

http://marisaconstantinides.edublogs.org/2012/01/14/making-a-machinima-in-second-life-in-19-steps/#.UAreRJHhc8g

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Tips_and_Tricks:_Ten_Tips_on_Creating_Machinima_in_Second_Life

http://forums.techarena.in/guides-tutorials/1139661.htm

http://www.vizworld.com/2010/01/life-video-production-machinima/ 

Other Virtual Worlds

This week our assignment was to read some articles written about Second Life and their potential in an educational environment.



Games Like Second Life
http://www.virtualworldsinfo.com/games-like-second-life.html 

This article discussed how Second Life can be considered as a game.  Then there's the aspect of non-competing and no prizes to win, so it really isn't a game.  It is a place to be whomever you want to be and discover what you want to.  Although there is role playing in Second Life, that aspect does not appeal to me.  I am more curious about the educational aspects of it and what it has to offer from a worldwide view.  I think that Second Life provides a "game-like" atmosphere through the use of an avatar, but the possibilities are endless when it comes to what can be learned in a virtual environment.


Army Virtual Worlds Expert Forges Ahead Without 'Second Life'
http://www.afcea.org/signal/articles/templates/signal_Article_Template.asp?articleid=2990&zoneid=353
This article discussed how MiLands has now been moved to MOSES (Military Open Simulator Enterprise Strategy).  I was not surprised at this as any branch of the military would want to work in a secure environment.  I'm not saying that Second Life is not secure just that it appears that branches of the military would have more control over their security by having complete control over their own virtual environment.

Virtual Worlds Are Getting Second Life
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/jul/29/virtual-worlds 
This article discussed the growth of Second life and the amount of users it currently has.  I was surprised at the comparison of how girls that used to grow up with dolls are now growing up with Second Life.  I had never really considered how much of an impact Second Life has with girls.  I would have thought that it was more popular with adults.

Mayo Clinic Explores the Virtual World of Second Life
http://medcitynews.com/2010/05/mayo-clinic-explores-the-virtual-world-of-second-life 
This article discussed the advantages of using Second Life for health conferences, hospital simulations, etc.  I think that this is a great way to educate people about health matters and can see why so many people in the healthcare industry are turning to a virtual environment to teach people about healthcare.  There is also the advantage of people from anywhere in the world being able to access the same information.

Virtual Worlds Give Musicians a Chance to Showcase Music Around the World
http://www.oregonlive.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2011/10/virtual_community_second_life.html 
This article showcased how musicians are taking advantage of what Second Life has to offer when it comes to playing music in a virtual environment in real time.  I do believe that playing in a virtual environment truly has its advantages over playing in a real environment.  In a virtual environment there are no instruments to drag to different locations.  Music can be played from the comfort of your home.  Building a fan base is also easier due to performers being able to interact with every fan instead of hoping to meet a performer in real life.

After Frustrations in Second Life, Colleges Look to New Virtual Worlds
http://chronicle.com/article/After=Frustrations-in-Second/64127 
This article discussed how colleges seem to be abandoning Second Life in search of other virtual environments to educate students in.  Although I can understand why they would want to find another virtual environment, no matter where you go, there are always bugs and these bugs will have to be worked out.

My exploration of another virtual world
I tried to find another virtual community to join to compare it to Second Life.  I came across a virtual community named, "ActiveWorlds."  I joined as a tourist and found that you had to be a citizen to take advantage of all that it had to offer.  It costs $6.95 monthly to be a citizen.  I did not want to pay to be a citizen so I quickly looked for another virtual world to join.


I came across a virtual world called, "Meez."  I was able to create a user name and password and was then instructed to give my cell number so that they could send me a pin to finalize set up.  I did provide my cell number but never received a pin so I moved on in search of another virtual world.


I found a virtual world called, "Gaia online" and was able to join for free.   Here is a picture of a community that is in my Zipcode.  I did wander around but wasn't able to interact with anyone or figure out anything.

 

Here's what it looks like when you go to town:

One of the first things that I did was to create a fish tank.  You can add backgrounds and fish and feed them daily.  Here is a picture of that tank:

There is also a gaming atmosphere here.  There are several types and kinds of games to choose from.  Here are pictures that I took while playing Blackjack and Jigsaw:

There is also a "car rally" that users can go to to show off their cars.  I did try to interact with other users but received no response.

Overall I was not very impressed with this virtual world.  I think that it would be better served by teenagers as compared to adults.  I much prefer Second Life to this virtual world as it is much more straight forward to me.

 

Creating an Educational Game

This week our focus was to create an educational game and utilize a cloaking script.  At first I had trouble coming up with a topic but that is the usual case for me.  I finally decided to teach students about the Tower of London by creating a visual display that features photos of actual Beefeaters that live and guard the Tower of London.  Once I created my display, my next challenge was coming up with questions to ask and ensure that the cloaking script worked.  I had a little trouble in making the script work but in the end, I figured it out.  Thanks for the pointers Cheryl!

Here are some photos that I took of my display which I titled, "The Beefeater Game."

I hope that you enjoyed my tour of the Beefeater game.  I can definitely see the potential of introducing a gaming idea like this in a classroom setting.  I think that children would enjoy playing this game and they would learn at the same time, which is the overall goal of the exercise.

All photos were free from the web @ http://www.fotosearch.com/photos-images/beefeater.html  and all questions were created using reference material from Wikipedia @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_London.

World of Warcraft

This week our assignment was to play World of Warcraft for 6 -8 hours and then report on our experiences.  I watched the introductory video and began my quest.

I started the game as a gnome named ShortyLucy. Here is a picture of me:

I played as a gnome for about three hours and didn't have the best of luck.  I chose the normal realm and the United States as my realm category.  I was also in the gnome alliance.  I liked the idea of being able to choose the type of skin color, face, hair style, hair color and if I wanted to wear earrings or not. 

My role as a gnome was a a Mage.  A Mage is defined as damage light armor (cloth), deals frost, fire or Arcane magic damage.  Can polymorph enemies or freeze them to the ground.  Can teleport to cities and conjure food and water.  Mages are the iconic magic-users of Azeroth and learn their craft through intense research and study.  They make up for their light armor with a potent array of offensive and defensive spells.  Their primary stat is intellect.  

I must say I did good just trying to figure out where I was going and what I was supposed to do.  I figured out that I had to click on Nevin Twistwrench to receive my first quest.  It took me a few minutes to figure out how to do that.  Once I did, my first quest was to kill 6 Crazed Leper Gnomes.  I managed to kill 4 Crazed Leper Gnomes before I was killed the first time.  My spirit was sent to the graveyard and I had to find my dead body before I could be resurrected.  It took forever to find my dead body but once I did, I was revived and alive again.

  Here I am at the graveyard.

After I killed 6 Crazed Lepers, I couldn't figure out how to find Nevin Twistwrench.  I wandered around for about an hour.  I finally found him in the Old Dormitory 

My next quest was to report to Carvo Blastbolt in Gnomeregan and once I did I was informed that I had to rescue 6 survivors.  I figured out how to rescue the 6 survivors but then was informed that I had to decontaminate myself.  I tried and tried but could not figure out how to decontaminate myself.  I ended up as a Level 2 gnome.

At this point I was frustrated and decided to create a new character.  My new character was as a human and my class was a Paladin.  Here is a picture of my second character:

I named this character RompiStompi.

My role as a Paladin was Tank, Healer and Damage.  I have heavy armor (Mail/Plate and Shield) and am a righteous vanquisher of evil.  I deal Holy and malee damage and have a variety of defensive spells.  I use Mana and holy power as resources.  Paledins are self-sufficient and have many abilities targeted at death prevention.

My first quest as a Paladin was to kill Rockjaw Invaders.  I killed one of them and then was killed and sent to the graveyard again.

 Once I found my dead body, I was revived and brought back to life.  I killed 5 more Rockjaw Invaders and completed the quest.

My next quest was to heal 4 wounded mountaineer.  

 

I completed this quest relatively easy and moved onto my next quest, which was to collect 3 different kegs of beer for the troops.  I wandered around looking for beer and ended up in a cave.  Here is a picture of me hiding in the cave from a Rockjaw Invader:

When I attempted to find my way out of the cave, I was once again killed and sent to the graveyard.  I found my dead body again (I'm getting pretty good at this part) and proceeded to find the 3 different kegs of beer.  Here is a picture of one of them:

Here I am inside Anvilmar looking for the final keg of beer, which I was unable to find.

I ended up as a Level 3 Paladin and this completed my adventure in World of Warcraft.  

As a beginner to World of Warcraft, I found the game to be incredibly difficult due to my lack of knowledge about the game, but also when it came to thinking and problem solving as I tried to play the game.  There are so many different ways and choices to be made and I can see how this game may interest people of all ages.  

Personally, I did not like the game for a few reasons.  I think that my unfamiliarity with the game played a role in my frustration and overall experience.  I also didn't like having to kill things in order to advance in the game.  This game would probably be better suited for kids and teenagers as compared to adults.

ImagiLearning and Tranceformational Learning

For this week's assignment, I utilized the tranceformational learning principles and tried to weave them into my ImagiLearning environment.  The different principles are:

As you can see, each of these tranceformational principles (Authentic, Attention, Together, Emotion, Objectives, Immersion and Learning) are essential to the implementation of 21st century learning.  I feel that these principles are important to ensure that every student has a full grasp of what is trying to be taught in a virtual environment, and I believe that immersion is key to the overall learning experience.

Authentic
I think that each lesson should be as authentic as possible so that students will be able to believe what they are trying to learn.  

Attention
Attention is a two way street for both students and instructors as the students must pay attention to learn and the instructor has to pay special attention to the lesson that they are trying to teach so that it is understood by students.  

Together
Together is also for instructors and students so that everyone understands what is being taught and is on the same page. 

Emotion
There must be some amount of emotion involved with both teaching a lesson and receiving a lesson by the students.  I think that everyone must care about what they are trying to teach and students should care about what they learn.

Objectives
There must be an objective to both what is being taught and what is being learned.  If there is no objective in mind then it will not be beneficial to instructors or students.

Immersion
I believe that it is essential for both students and instructors to be immersed in what they are trying to learn in a traditional and virtual environment.

Learning
Learning is key in the overall success of what is being taught and what is being learned.  

My bird sanctuary
For this weeks assignment, I decided to create an environment where students could be immersed in the same environment that they are trying to learn about.  I utilized the grass template in the Holodeck system and then built the walls, bought plants, uploaded pictures of state birds and built stumps for a class to sit on and discuss what they had learned after each student has had a chance to step on the ImagiLearning platform.  I decided to create questions by giving the name of the state birds and then asking for students to pick the appropriate state that it represents.  

I created several notecards for the good and bad answers and put them into the ImagiLearning system.  Although I have made several attempts, I have been unsuccessful in getting the ImagiLearning system to work as it should.  I will make a few more attempts to see if I can get it working correctly.

Here are some pictures of my bird sanctuary and its contents:

I think that the ImagiLearning environment could be very useful to use in a virtual environment as the possibilities are endless as to how a lesson can be taught.

CED 553 - An Immersive Experience in a Virtual Learning Community

The Logic System

This activity requires the use of a modifiable platform to load questions in so that participants can answer questions that will lead them down different paths based on their choice. Here is a picture of what I used and I'm not sure if it is the correct platform:

For the first assignment I decided to try to teach 6-8th graders about the British Monarchy.  Although the content is minimal, it is a stepping stone that can lead to a larger database of questions. I decided to start with the different names of the families that have been in the British monarchy since it began in 1603 (The Stuarts, The Hanoverians,  Saxe-Coburg- Gotha and The House of Windsor).  The next level would consist of the number of kings and queens from each family, followed by specific details about each of the specific kings and queens in the four different families.  This would lead to branching off and the enabling of question creation based on the number of choices given. 

I decided that using five choices would be best as four would be good choices and one would be the bad choice.  Depending on the choice it would lead the learner to the next level of questions, which would be the number of kings and queens in four different families.  This would then take students to a the third level, which would lead them to specific information about each king and queen in the different families and then it would go from there.

I'm not sure if I went wrong with using too many choices but as I said, this is a first attempt.

I managed to put in the note cards for the good and bad choices for the different families into what I thought was the modifiable platform but could not get it to work.  I tried and tried to no avail.  Hopefully I will gain more insight into where I went wrong in our class meeting tonight and will discover where I went wrong and be able to correct it.

My Final Project Space 

Purpose

My idea started with thinking about how I would teach a class about some form of literature in a fun way. I decided to go with the idea of trying to teach students about William Shakespeare and his play Henry VIII. 

Intended Audience 

 I think that students in high school or college could benefit by learning about a play in a virtual environment like I have created. 

Highlights and Interactivity 

• Being greeted by a Pandorabot named CharlesLife.
• Being able to interact with an object to find out more about CharlesLife.
• Being able to learn by clicking and being taken to different areas of the World Wide Web to learn new information. 
• Being able to identify why objects are placed in a space to recognize symbolism. 
• Having the ability to view the space individually or as a class. 
• Providing an environment where students feel more comfortable, as there is no pressure on right or wrong answers in a virtual environment. 
• Feeling completely immersed as if students are at the actual Globe Theatre. 
• Providing a great space for a class discussion. 
• Providing a path of yellow and red circles to guide students around the Globe Theatre.
• Being able to click on the "Beer and Ale" barrel to get a beverage.

Machinima Commercial

I created the commercial to advertise my final project in Windows Movie Maker and then uploaded it to YouTube.

Here are some pictures that I took that are not in my commercial:

This is a downward view of the seating that I created for the bottom rows of the benches in the stands at the Globe Theatre.  I took a picture of one of my "real" couches and made seat covers with it.

 

If you look at the roofs of the stand they appear to be on fire, which is exactly what happened to the real Globe Theatre during one of the performances of the Henry VIII play.

 

This is an up close view of what the outside of the walls to the Globe Theatre look like.  To create this I painted this in the "Paint" feature on my computer.

 

A picture of William Shakespeare

A picture of John Fletcher.  I thought that it was important to include him in my project as he did assist Shakespeare in the writing of some of his  plays.