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...

and the workshop is now starting to look like a workshop...

I guess Ill have to make some more tools as well...

And finally..a teleporting 1790 rush side chair...

I have edited the side spars so it is now the same as the chair in the Parker Collection (see the original VADs picture in an earlier post...), and it now teleports curious avatars  to the period workshop, and the modern chair teleports back to the Virtual Chair Museum... however the You Tube link does not seem to work still - which is a pity... I have added it as a link to the blog so that if it comes online we get an opportunity to view rushing work and side struts and spacers pole lathed and spoon gouged... lovely work from my friends Robin Fawcett and his partner Vanessa - its a stool but the technique is the same and time in memorial..

Problems mostly rectified with the build and the first chair as it should be

After discussion with my senior Tutor Alan Hudson, we discovered that if my avatar was in the workshop and I was building  in the museum using the close up function then drag shift copy and other copying does not work properly - so it was not prim overhead... ah well...You Tube still does not want to work- this was a universal so perhaps there a server side issue...

and here is the first Chair as it should be:  a rush chair from the Frederick Parker collection

and the original from the collection:

the leg spars on mine require reconfiguring and the upper back of the chair could do with a pull back.. but all in all its fairly similar.. phew....