Tuesday 14 December 2010

Research, reading, ideas etc : The Project Brief

The concept of linking three chairs from the Parker repository is not quite as simple as it looks, I have to chose chairs that are significant (one of which has to be a Windsor chair as they are ubiquitous and it is also useful as there are many resources online that can be tapped).

This also has to be recreated in Second life, I also have to collect learning materials that enables the SL elearning application tool to be valid. I really want a modernist contemporary chair and an early chair from the Parker Collection that demonstrates significant groundbreaking techniques that are still used today... I will have to liaise with John Cross at Sir John Cass to make certain my inital three chairs are the best choices, this will have to be counteredd with Stratford College to qualify pertinence for the existing fine furniture course...the intention would be to add chairs and contemporary workshops as the project progressed. So I am currently reading books on Second life coding, trawling through furniture books, ornamentation books and architectural books to make certain the environments are correct..

Whilst I think imersion in the VR environment with the kind of detail that will be necessary will make the material come alive, it will hopefully push the learner towards a vocational curriculum, it may also serve as a transition tool to enthuse students to get involved with fine furniture fabrication. Trying to find a particular pedagogical hanger to hang this on is tricky, I would like to investigate one of my contemparies modus operandi with her Roman learning environment with regards to justification.

The specification is essentially this:

An open plan museum with open access with chairs as exhibits, the avatar sits in any one of the chairs and is teleported to a contemporary workshop, where the chair was made, and is being made and componentised, there will be a virtual blackboard that embeds video, learning materials, blueprints, history, links and a quiz with learning outcomes, the avatar can then teleport back to the museum and sit on another chair...

This enables engagement, a certain amount of drilling in gathering information and a check of learning outcomes for reinforcement, perhaps the reward could be an apprentice toolkit ?

Should the Student be given contemporary workshop clothing?  ah dilemas....

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