A bit about my recent Module - ALT interventions

I am just on the cusp of completing this module, if you see the link on the right hand side of this page  and you are interested in the further use of Second Life, then I continued its use with the next module which was applying learning technology to a "real educational deployment.. " I thus continued with my Furniture theme and built a virtual woodwork first principles lesson as a seminar and workshop room.

The idea is that all the first priciples are embedded as a multimedia formative experience, and the summative result is two physical test pieces built in the real world.. follow the link and see whether it holds water...

My Tutor Charl Fregona liked it so I am rather pleased, I was trying to put Wenger, Constructivist and cognitive theories into practice, which turned out rather well.. the gentleman who most inspired me was Professor Randy Garrison from the Unversity of Calgary; I put a quote from his faculty objective statement which while was referring to Higher Education, I think it really works well with vocationallly based education which usually remains firmly attached to further Education or CPD (continuing professional development ) ...

So I guess I am trying to build virtual cognitive apprenticeships..

so I have taken the liberty of putting it in my SL intervention slide... I'll have to email to thank him...

some good woodwork videos

This is an essential video for sharpening Mortice Chisels

The Tenon Saw and its use.....

The Woodwork Discussion Blog

Use this area as a discussion and comments zone

and just because the last post was not pictorial

Wellcome the the Virtual Chair Museum a working VRLE prototype

I have submitted the project thoughts on empirical lifecycles working hypothesis and functionality...

Well I hope it hits the spot... Ive also presentedrationale as well just to make some of the colloquial approach in this blog more formal..  also I mapped a real LE to the equivalence of a VRLE, (see below) dont anyone  wanted me to explain a classsic empirical lifecycle methodology in this project as thats quite instinctive and a bit dull though is obviously followed the classic exploration/ interview/ synthesis/ build change iteration/ and delivery...

 

heres some gems I came up with heres my VLE/VRLE definition - I think they inform each other:

 

A set of online tools or a dedicated system that offers resources designed to support teaching and learning that facilitate various aspects of an education experience online… This should include (if not all) a majority of these: forum, assessment, content sharing, pertinent source information and source upload, now it is also acceptable that informal learning should also be supported via social networking… and any other technology that is appropriate

heres my mapping of a real World LE and a Second Life equivalence

Below is a mapping of facilities or qualities associated with the existing functionality within Second Life and what other applications has the possibility to be embedded and improve the offering

 

Real World LE	Second Life VRLE
forum	Inter avatar conversation, linked screen blog via URL IM
assessment	Inter avatar and peer review tutors can be avatar based, formative assessment can be quiz or seminar based
content sharing	URL screen based, other SL locations
pertinent source information	URL based primary source 3D rendition of historical environment component based scalar representation embedded video and animation
source upload	Use URL blog and interavatar IM and email
informal learning	Inter avatar browsing   a propos to Communities of Practice Wengar: a connected passion amongst a population who share interests and improve  as they interact – dedicated hobbyists

Additional realism for the workshop

Im working on my rationale today and amongst my various points I made I suggested more environmental realism.. and I realised the Workshop looked far too tidy - so more tools required... Shame about the Dalek outside the window... hahaha

Framing the background to building valid Virtual Learning environments in my presentation.

Just to add a few more strands to back up the presentation I realised that I mentioned so things that I had not logged here in the blog...

I mentioned that earlier successful attempts of the use of a VR learning tool seemed to be prevalent in Military and Medical applications, early combinations of this (prior to simulated vignette base Afghanistan and Iraq theatre mentioned earlier in this blog) are best exemplified by.

Anatomic VisualizeR is a virtual reality (VR)-based environment for teaching and learning of clinical anatomy initially developed by the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine under a grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA http://www.nlm.nih.gov/research/visible/vhpconf2000/AUTHORS/HOFFMAN/TEXTINDX.HTM this was a virtual dissection tool that had field hospital training in mind.


In SL it is easy to put primitives into “our world” or VLE, they can be mutated and linked together. But the ratio of work to producing something meaningful requires considerable skill and diligence. Objects need to be named, then linked and theses in turn renamed and linked to create larger more interesting elements, then the qualities associated with these use an event driven scripting that requires good logic and semantics

Considered introduction of scenario based subject matter into the VLE is a comprehensive skill; by the nature of the materials just being there doesn’t necessarily motivate the learner into using them, its about engagement, ergonomics, and if we can build an “Attract Mode” akin to arcade games to entice the student all the better.

How we learn is based on gained knowledge from environment, pedagogy, how our interactions physically and mentally adjust these parameters into a repository for use. We can emulate most of this in a VLE, I guess it’s the age old natural processes being combined with theoretical metaphors in Objectivism and Constructivism, the learnt and the perceived.

http://www.cardet.org/vrasidas/pubs/continuum.pdf

CONSTRUCTIVISM VERSUS OBJECTIVISM: IMPLICATIONS FOR INTERACTION, COURSE DESIGN,AND EVALUATION IN DISTANCE EDUCATION.

http://community.flexiblelearning.net.au/TeachingTrainingLearners/content/article_5233.htm

Constructivism and Objectivism: are they mutually exclusive?.


I guess that if a VLE makes the light bulb glow a bit brighter then it’s a good thing, the jury may be out for some time…

Multimedia has demonstrated its capabilities of motivating users and capturing their attention, which are important characteristics when we want to provide a higher degree of immersion and learning capabilities inside Virtual Reality applications

Applying Multimedia and Virtual Reality for Learning Environments.

International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning, 2009 by Paulo N. M. Sampaio, Roberto Ivo C. de Freitas, Gonçalo Nuno P. Cardoso

Perhaps the last word to bring us down to earth is Ofsteads approach

http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/Ofsted-home/News/Press-and-media/2009/January/The-virtual-reality-of-e-learning


from the virtual reality of elearning Ref No: NR- 2009-01 Date: 13 Jan 2009

Despite expectations, the use of Virtual Learning Environments across schools and colleges has been slow to take off. Enthusiasm and peer support from teachers and learners should help the initiative develop more widely...