Making it work!

At first I was afraid that my Open Sim issues (not being able to upload anything), would hinder my ability to contribute to my group build.  We even discussed asking if we could use SL given my problems, however we decided to give it a shot.  Happily there was quite a bit I was able to do despite my limitations.  

One of my main areas of contribution was in finding and copying objects from other places.  I did quite a bit of teleporting and got the chance to visit some really unique and interesting places.  Many of them had objects which I could copy and place in our VWLE build.  I was able to find a lot of foliage, trees, plants, and natural features. I ended up doing a lot of the landscaping on our build. I also found a good number of the target words and some distractor items as well.  

In terms of building I was able to build and modify objects like the steam roller, survey collector, and ‘umeke survey provider.  I was also able to copy and add scripts, though I could not upload sound files or pictures.  Overall, I feel I was able to help my group and contribute despite my technical issues.  It just goes to show you that just like in the real world, in virtual worlds there are always workarounds.

Mayan Craft

I have long been fascinated by Mexican history, particularly its pre-Conquest history.  In fact, I was ever so close to becoming a History major in undergrad and focusing on Latin American history.  Alas, that was not the path I chose, however it definitely remains an area of interest for me.  As you may know, my husband is from Mexico and fortunately I have been able to visit there many times with him.  Whenever we go, I always do a bit of research and make him take me to the “zonas arqueológicas” or archeological zones.  One thing that you may not realize is that there are TONS!  Apart from the big famous ones like Chichén Itzá and Teotihuacán, there are a myriad of smaller or lesser known ones in cities and towns all over the country.  Two of my favorites are El Tepozteco in the tiny, charming town of Tepozlán, about 2 hours from Mexico City and El Tajín in my husband’s home state of Veracruz.  However, when it comes to truly spectacular architecture, the Mayan archeological zones in the Yucatán  really stand out.  So naturally, when it came time to design my mini-build lesson, I knew I wanted to focus on Mayan architecture.

In addition to teaching languages, I sometimes also teach Latin American and Iberian Studies courses, which are in English but focus on the history and cultures of the peoples of Latin America, Spain, and Portugal.  Though I have not taught the course, I envision my mini-build lesson being part of the LAIS 372 Indigenous Peoples of Latin America class.  Now as I have mentioned previously, I am not a gamer.  In fact whatever talent it takes to be good at video games, I think I severely lack.  In survival mode, I don’t think I lasted more than two Minecraft nights without being killed by spiders or zombies.  Prior to building the Pyramid for my lesson, I had really only built a few haphazard, rudimentary shelters.  This said, I watched several tutorials on pyramid construction and was off and running.  It took a  little over two hours in total to build.  Surprisingly, it didn’t really feel tedious, rather it was kind of relaxing.  I would get into this little building “zone” so to speak and actually enjoyed it.  While it wasn’t perfect and towards the end I realized my door calculations (I should have started with a two or four block door instead of a three block door) were a little off, it wasn’t bad.  In the end, I was quite pleased with how it turned out.  I think Minecraft is a very neat learning environment and I hope that I really do get to teach the LAIS 372 course one day and use Minecraft.

Minecraft for Kids with ADHD

Minecraft for Kids with ADHD

I found Shane’s lessons really inspiring and it made me wish that my son’s school would adopt a similar curriculum.  On a personal note, my son has ADHD, so school is often challenging for him.  He is very active and has trouble sitting still and focusing, except when he’s playing Minecraft.  This made me wonder about Minecraft for children with ADHD.  

I found an interesting blog post by a fellow parent of a son with ADHD who plays Minecraft with his son and sets up small tasks to help deal with some of the challenges that children with ADHD face related to executive functioning.  I think it’s an interesting approach and definitely want to try out some of the ideas with my son.  As I have mentioned, there seems to be something about Minecraft that helps him focus and sustain attention.  I’m not sure if the movement in the game helps satisfy some of his need for movement, but he is able to sit and focus for much longer periods playing Minecraft than doing other things like reading or homework or even legos.

In researching Minecraft and ADHD, I also found this study being conducted from the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy looking for children with ADHD who play Minecraft to participate in their study. So apparently this is something that is being noticed by behavioral health professionals.  

On the other hand, there are some negative articles out there about Minecraft and ADHD.  Some warn of Minecraft addiction and tantrums associated when it’s time to stop playing.  This sometimes happens with my son, however not just with Minecraft, it can be stopping anything he enjoys doing.  So, at this point I see more positives than negatives to his play.  I love the creativity it allows him and how interested and engaged he is.

I will survive...okay maybe not.

I had build a rather eclectic, yet functional shelter/house.  It wasn’t exactly pretty, but it worked and kept me safe my first two “nights” in Minecraft survival mode.  It had a door, a crafting table, torches, and a furnace.  I spent the first night making a pick ax and shovel.  During the day I wandered around, but stayed close to my house to gather wood blocks and food.  I killed a few pigs and chickens.  My second night I spent cooking meat in my oven.  I had decided that I would go mining the next day, because I wanted to get more stone to add to my house and also some ore to make armor.

It was a lovely Minecraft day and I wandered for a bit until I could find a good place to start mining.  I went at it with my pick ax and was able to go pretty deep. I was finding lots of coal and ore, so I kept at it.  I was mining a little longer than I had intended and as I was leaving the mine it was getting dark.  On my way back home a spider attacked me, but I fought back with my sword, as I was attacking it another spider came and attacked me and...I died.

Immersive Learning

I think the semester is catching up with me. Last week everyone in my house was sick and it took a while for me to shake it.  Unfortunately, since I was still not quite myself on Saturday, I missed our face-to-face session.  I had been really looking forward to bringing my son and trying out the HTC Vive, alas it wasn’t meant to be.  Fortunately, I had the opportunity to join Dr. Peter’s 643 class last semester and play.  Here is a bit about that experience

Last semester, I had the opportunity to try out the Hololens at Dr. Peter’s Immersive Game Play and Talk story session.  Though I only got to use it for about 15 minutes or so, it was quite engaging and lots of fun.  It also made me think about how AR technologies can be used in the language classroom.

Interest sufficiently  piqued, I decided to look for studies on AR technologies and second language (L2) vocabulary learning, which is a particular area of mine.  I was surprised by how few studies have been done on AR-enhanced vocabulary learning as they seem somewhat of a natural fit.  One interesting article that I stumbled upon by Marc Ericson C. Santos, Arno in Wolde Lübke,Takafumi Taketomi,Goshiro Yamamoto, Maria Mercedes T. Rodrigo, Christian Sandor and Hirokazu Kato was entitled Augmented reality as multimedia: the case for situated vocabulary learning.  It is about several usability and effectiveness studies on using AR technologies for German and Filipino language vocabulary learning.  They found a significant difference (p < 0.05) in the immediate post-test, with the non-AR group outperforming (M = 86, SD =20 ; M = 71, SD = 20)  the AR group, however in the delayed post-test no significant difference was found (M = 70, SD =18 ; M = 68, SD = 23).  This is interesting, however, I think that the significant difference found in the immediate  post test may be somewhat artificial.  Firstly, there was a very small number of participants (N=31) in the study and secondly, there was no true baseline measure (or pre-test), so it is hard to know if the groups were indeed the same to begin with.  

I think larger and more carefully controlled studies on the use of AR technologies to aid vocabulary learning are needed, it would also be beneficial to examine participant perspective as well.

Pleasantly? FRUSTRATING

Overall I’m getting ( a little bit) better at building and not feeling quite as inept or lost, however, I have been running into a not so pleasantly frustrating problem on OS.  Every time I try to upload a file, OpenSim crashes...every time! After learning how to add sounds to objects during last week’s build, I had the idea of creating flashcards with pictures, text, and audio (I’ve been reading a lot on Mayer’s Multimedia Learning principles for another class). My idea was that students could use the cards to quiz each other on vocabulary words in pairs or use them alone to practice vocabulary and/or pronunciation. So, I tried and tried (in vain) to upload picture and sound files, but each time the results were the same--crash!  I looked on a few message boards and forums, but couldn’t find an answer.  Ty was very kind and took time on a Sunday night to trouble shoot with me, but unfortunately I continue to have problems.  

I do have a workaround, which is creating very short videos of the words and images, publishing the links to them online and then using them instead of the uploaded media.  It’s okay, but they end up being more like 2-sided posters rather than flashcards.  So, while overall I’m becoming much more comfortable in virtual worlds, just like the real world there are unforeseen setbacks we all have to deal with.

Connecting through virtual worlds

This post is a bit more about my personal life rather than my virtual world life, yet I think it underlines an important feature of virtual worlds and video games.  I recall Dr. Peter mentioning that his interest in video games and virtual worlds stemmed from interactions with his hānai nephew.  Gaming allowed them to connect and find common ground, it inspired a rather quiet young boy to come out of his shell, interact, and engage.  In my own experience as a mother, I am finding similar patterns with my son.  When children are very young, you are the center of their world and they look to you for everything, yet this changes a great deal (as it should) as they grow older.  My son, Keahi, is still relatively young, but old enough to think that mom is uncool and interacting with her is a chore.  If I ask him what he did or how school was, I generally get one or two word answers.  That is unless I ask him about ...Minecraft.

Keahi loves playing Minecraft.  I often use it as a way to motivate him to do other things like homework.  He's learning to read, however is pretty uninterested in the books he brings home from school, except for the book I bought him about Minecraft.  While it's still a little above his level, we practice reading with it.  It's kind of funny because I have never actually played Minecraft, yet I have daily conversations about zombies, creepers, endermen, lava, pick axes etc.  In fact my first exposure to Minecraft was not from my son, but from Dr. Peter's LTEC 643 class.  During that semester Dr. Peter organized a Minecraft Feast event for homeless keiki on the Leeward side.  I volunteered at the registration table and was amazed to see how enthralled these kids were.  Later when I got home, I installed Minecraft on my tablet for my son to try.  He wasn't too interested at first, however several months later he got more into it.  These days it's pretty much all I hear about.

The teacher in my tries to look for ways we can use Minecraft for other opportunities, counting block, practicing writing character names, drawing the characters etc.  A few days ago I was working on the annotated list and watching some Minecraft tutorial, needless to say my son has never been more interested in my homework. While I still have not played Minecraft (and will probably be as bumbling and inept at it as I am in SL and OpenSim), I appreciate the way it allows me to connect with my son.

Our Minecraft drawings

Educational Design Tour

I am admittedly a bit slow at Second Life, so the 45 minutes in class wasn’t really enough for me to fully engage in the sims I visited.  Luckily, on my subsequent visits, I was able to have a much more engaging, immersive  first person experience.  

I will start with Beowulf & King Arthur’s Literature at Camelot.  It was a very engaging, albeit text heavy sim.  I liked the quest and quiz features, though I admit I was not able to complete many of the tasks.  This said, the sim was very impressive.  I think what first stuck me was the immense size and complexity of the castle.  When I entered it had a certain dark, medieval feel which I enjoyed.  I liked going into the Beowulf Hall and clicking on the bloodstains to learn more about the story.  Richter et al mention, “The way in which assessment is built into the learning environment may be of special interest to SL educators” (2007, p.25).  This certainly proved to be true for me, the quizzes embedded in the treasure chests were a nice feature, while they are essentially an assessment tool, they don’t feel like one. I did feel small jolts of excitement for the questions I answered correctly and the ones I got wrong I often Googled and answered again.  This is an important consideration in assessment, if we want to think of assessment as a learning tool, why do we often give students only one chance?  We learn from our mistakes, so being able to go back, research, and answer the question again provides a powerful learning opportunity.

I very vaguely recall reading Beowulf in middle school or high school, but didn’t remember much about it.  I feel that visiting this sim made me much more interested in the story, it also did an excellent job of giving the historical context and symbolic meaning.  I think if my English teacher had taught us Beowulf through SL, I would have remembered much more.  

As a language teacher, I was very excited to visit Monash University’s Chinese Island.  When visiting this sim, I was first struck by the extreme attention to detail.  On my first visit I went to the museum and looked at the exhibits.  I noticed that unlike many of the other sims I had visited this one had a lot more audio features.  I was able to click on the artwork and hear descriptions in both Mandarin and English.  

During my second visit to the island, I was able to do quite a bit more.  On my second visit I started in the restaurant, I liked how you could click on the dishes to hear about them or on the menu to hear how to order in Chinese, however, the audio on these items was very soft and there was Chinese pop music playing in the background which made it difficult to hear.  I couldn’t figure out how to turn down the volume of the music.  It was a little frustrating. As a language teacher I did appreciate the efforts made to teach contextualized language, for example the “number of” phrases while ordering in a restaurant.  

 One of the memorable details from the restaurant was the bathroom.  I have never been to China, but I have been to Japan and have many not so fond memories of the squat toilets there.  Well, the bathroom in the restaurant had squat toilets, it’s small details like this that show how much careful thought and attention to detail went into creating this sim.  

After I left the restaurant, I happened upon a street vendor.  I greeted him in Chinese and he gave me a phone HUD.  At first I did not understand what it was, but then (more or less) got the hang of it.  The Google maps function on the phone allowed me to travel to locations or do activities on the sim.  I thought this was a pretty cool feature and once I had sort of figured out how to use it, it made the experience more enjoyable.  I decided to see the dragon boats, however when I got there the video wouldn’t load. It was a bit frustrating, but I was able to learn about the dragon boats from the notecard and start the quest (though I haven’t finished it yet).  

Experiencing these sims gave me a deep appreciation for the amount of thought and work that must have gone on in their creation.  I think on my initial visit I was wondering and a bit lost, but on my subsequent visits I was able to more fully engage and enjoy the experience.  This brings me back to the idea of letting students re-do, relearn, and explore.

Building

There are pretty much two things I'm good at making: a. people laugh, and b. a mess (through not always in that order😉).  I have always been really terrible at making things.  I've never been artsy crafty or good with my hands.  In metal shop in high school I had to make 4 metal boxes just to equal the points we were supposed to get for one box.  In home ec I actually cheated on our sewing project and had my mom sew (well more like fix) my project for me.   Considering this, I am a little intimidated at the prospect of building things in SL. I'm not good at building things in real life.  I played around with it a little and was able to make shapes, color them, and manipulate them to some extent, which for me is no small victory. I also realized  that not all islands allow you to build, so that's something to consider.  I tried (in vain) to copy and edit the gift bag, but was unable to do so.  My guess is that maybe there were restrictions on the object itself, but I'm not totally sure. It could also just be a second life continuation of my real life ineptitude.

On a slightly related note I did buy some Lindens, but have not actually bought anything or used them yet. Baby steps.

Adventures in Second Life

I am by no means a gamer and must admit that I am a wee bit intimidated by the virtual world aspects of this course.  This said, I definitely see the potential of virtual worlds as rich, complex learning environments (especially for language learning), so while a bit reticent, I am curiously drawn to them. I think as teachers we have to push ourselves and step outside of our comfort zone to learn, grow, and evolve.  We constantly ask our students to do so, but rarely do so ourselves.

So far it hasn't been too painful and I've enjoyed exploring and poking around.  I haven't really had the chance to interact with anyone outside of class which is a little disappointing.  As a language teacher, I think one of the most intriguing features of virtual world's is the ability to interact with other, however as of yet I haven't had the chance to do so as every island I have visited seems to be empty.