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A group to support the development and use of machinima in education will begin meeting bi-weekly, starting on Monday September 16 at the Front Range Sim in Second Life. The SLURL for the meeting is http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Front%20Range/108/26/35 and the meeting will begin at … Continue reading
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The annual SIGVE EduMachinima Fest is unique in that it is for both students and teachers. Those who enter their work will have the opportunity to create and share their manipulation of images, sounds, music and words effectively to convey … Continue reading
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Teachers are generally a creative and resourceful bunch, and though we do make use of commercially produced materials, we often customize them for our students. Unusual, humorous, poignant and the relevant materials (pictures, artifacts, movies, stories) help us to … Continue reading
Teachers attend Machinima Monday at the Montmarte Theatre in Second LIfe.
The second week of the 4-week VWBPE Games and Education Tour MOOC had a Machinima focus. What fun to watch and participate with fellow educators as they crammed an incredible amount of energy, curiosity, intellect, humor and talent into developing machinima to help us all learn to do it better and to help our students with machinima as a learning strategy. The word that kept cropping up was FUN…and fun it was, sometimes funNY.
The week started with a Second Life Machinima Monday meeting with non-educators, an introduction to some machinima created by artists using this medium to relay emotions and ideas. There was much discussion on technical issues…aspect ratio, capture tools, in world camera devices, editing software, special effects, space navigators to name a few. Always a benefit to get a different perspective. Our Hostess, the gracious and talented Chantal Harvey facilitated the conversation and welcomed teachers to join the digital artisan group.
Discussing a possible script with an alien avatar – the alien ended up in the movie Sand Surf Saloon.
The remainder of the week consisted of working groups, and some individual work on machinima with the of using the medium for teaching and learning. The MOOC participants were all comfortable in virtual environments and some, though not all, had significant comfort with creating machinima. The week was an opportunity for educators to work together on a machinima project and reflect on the potential use with students and in delivery of instruction. K-12 and higher education educators worked side-by-side, incorporating strategies, taking on a variety of roles (script development, actor, director, machinimatographer, builder, costume designer, sound editor, video editor, stunt actor, special effects editor), and collaborating to complete a project in less than 1 week.
Attendees enjoy teacher created machinima at the Gaity Theatre on Second Life.
The exercise served to help us understand what we can expect of your students and what skills our students will need and will develop as they participate in this kind of learning activity. The culminating activity was a Premier held at the Gaity Theatre on Caledon in Second Life, a tour destination from week 1 of the MOOC.
As the ISTE Conference this summer draws near, this talented group of machinima educators will continue to polish off their work and encourage colleagues and students to submit their digital creations to the ISTE EDUmachinma Fest. No doubt we will have entries form the growing number of virtual worlds and from a growing number of participants.
The VWBPE Machinima developed last week:
Sand Surf Saloon; Cowboys and Aliens
http://staff.tamucc.edu/jdoan/MOOC/Cowboys and Aliens.mp4
VWBPE 2012 Volunteer Appreciation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LT9awygCNWk&feature=youtu.be
SIGVE Machinima Promo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxAOVridPhA&feature=youtu.be
Mosel SL machinima
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TYn35BZPpM&list=UUsmGs7RECdj5gYym7t4ohVQ&index=2&feature=plcp
They Came for the Cavorite
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzj6oDfq8T0
Tours in Second Life began at the Aether Education & Travel sim on Second LIfe – Jaguarland’s Bay Boat Welcome Center deck.
Week 1 of the VWBPE MOOC involved touring a variety of sites and grids appropriate for education at various levels. I went to some places I had visited before and some I had never visited. Having a guide certainly helps as the highlights are quickly pointed out making self-exploration, at a later time, easier. Our tour guide, Aevalle Galicia, is an adept tour guide running tours across the metaverse, out of her location on Second Life, Jaguarland’s Bay Boat Welcome Center deck.
Tour participants could not resist getting on stage and performing at Caledon’s Gaity Theatre.
The first tour of the MOOC was a trip to theatre venues, Ballet Pixelle Theatre , Gaity Theatre and The Rose Theatre. The Rose Theatre is a beautiful place to walk around, including grounds and multiple rooms for performances, visiting and dancing. Ballet Pixelle is currently “dark” as the virtual ballet is in rehearsal for an opening on April 15. If you have not seen a show here, it is well worth the visit. The Gaity theatre was a fun place to visit and we all could not resist getting up on stage and performing. I am looking forward to another visit when there is a show planned. Gaity is a “Theatre of Varieties! Fine Family Entertainments comprising Musical, Dramatical, Rhetorical, Terpsichorian, Vaudevillian and Burlesquian attractions under the personal direction of Miss Persephone Gallindo.”
Gulliver is all tied down and visitors can join the villagers in climbing on top of him at this InWorldz sim.
Tour 2 of the MOOC required registering on another Grid, Inworldz. Due to time zone issues I had to make the trip alone but the avis at the Inworldz entry point were friendly and helpful. Someone gave me the address of the Gulliver’s Travel Sim, as well as some spots where I could “de-ruth”. The Gulliver’s Travel sim is a great spot for anyone reading the work.
JoKaydia offers immediate help for newcomers into the Grid.
Tour 3 was again on another grid, Jokaydia. This is a nicely planned Grid and though I had to visit alone due to timezone and physical world requirements, the guide left notecards with landmarks. Synchronous time is great, but when schedules make it impossible it is nice to have strategies to catch people up.
Playing with a pile of gold in an old Roman Building.
On Thursday tour embers traveled in time in SL to visit Ancient History sites. ROMA’s multiple sims, a very large build with interactive locations. A 30 minute visit is not sufficient to see it all. The historic visit continued to the Acropolis sim. Here there is typical Greek architecture and the Parthenon up on a hill, overlooking the village. A note-card provided upon arrival gives the history of the ruins and describes the current state and efforts to preserve. This sim give both a historic and modern perspective. The sims are both rated mature so visits to these sims have restrictions. The concepts however, are worth recreating in other locations and they are examples of using the environment for the teaching of history.
Trying to keep up with my in-world friends in my flying machine on Caledon.
Fun Friday tour “play date” was to the Iron Cloud high above Caledon Middlesea, and fun it was! Tour participants had a great time with flying machines. This is a potential machinma location, once you learn to control your ship. Avatar flying is not allowed so you have no choice but to use a ship. The activity lends itself well to map-reading as you have to use the map and know directions to keep up with others as you zoom around the sims.
Dressed in Mayan attire at a temple at the welcome area of Mayan Island in Second Life.
Although I missed the Maya Island Tour on Saturday, I went back on my own, got my Mayan outfit for free, and looked around at this amazing build. The Mayans won multiple awards at the VWBPE Conference, including best poster and educational machinima. It includes quests and challenges for visitors that inform about this culture. The University of Washington’s Certificate in Virtual Worlds Class of 2011 built the Mayan Island experience.
The PTSD sim has participants walk through a mall as “visions” pop up at certain times explaining how and why a trip to a mall can be difficult for individuals suffering from PTSD.
The last tour of this MOOC week was to the T2 PTSD Experience to see the tiered simulation as well as visit the area of the upcoming May stream of the Federal Consortium of Virtual Worlds. Although I had read about this use of Virtual Environments, it was enlightening to actually participate. This was a serious sim to visit and demonstrated that use of the environment. The visit required several uniform changes and included an anxiety HUD. The sim builders do recommend physical word counseling from a professional to those suffering from PTSD, but the sim is a potential supplement of that counseling as well as providing an understanding of the issue, for family and friends.
The MOOC Tour provided a variety and offered additional landmarks for those wishing to investigate more. You can view additional pictures on the MOOC Tour Flkr, or better yet visit on your own. The VWBPE MOOC site on P2P has more reflections, ideas, and links for more educational sites.
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A virtual world avatar wielding a sword and dropping unconscious is not unusual, more subtle movements sometimes are. Standing at a podium and moving hands during a speech, nibbling on an apple or just sitting in a natural pose bring an avatar to life and make for a more engaging experience for participants. Virtual worlds supply your avatar with standard poses, these can be adjusted or you can make your own using Poser (for purchase) or Qavimator (PC) or (Mac) , a free animation creation software application. I highly recommend Danish Visions on Second Life classes at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Danish%20Visions/126/119/24). Tempest Jarman teaches the QAvimator class in voice in a patient, organized manner. She is clearly an expertise in the use of the QAvimator software.
I conducted a webinar in Adobe Connect recently and a participant gave me feedback saying that I “neglected to use the video capabilities and that would have provided some connection, audio is not enough”. In a virtual environment there is potential for auditory, textual, and visual cues to impart a message. Creating animations and then making them available provides natural movements for students and instructors on a virtual world. Adding the animations to a HUD gives the participant the ability to change an animation for emphasis and realism at a specific time. Subtle animations like raising a hand, applauding, leaning back in boredom or nodding can help to convey a message to others participating in an event. I am considering filming my virtual world avatar for the next webinar I facilitate, I figure it may help get their attention and it could be fun.
You can download the free QAvimator software at
(PC) http://www.qavimator.org/
(Mac) http://referencethis.com/QAvimator-osx-universal-svn-2008-12-06.zip
As I walked down 6th street in Austin Texas recently, I was met with an array of live musical performances, with the exception of the 104 degree weather it was not unlike teleporting around the musical venues in a Virtual World. On multiple grids professional musicians, hobbyists, students, career changers and potentials all perform for an appreciative live audience. Setup in a virtual venue includes plugging equipment into a computer to provide a live stream and logging into a virtual environment. Virtual worlds offer easy to access venues so the novice band playing in a garage or the professional blues singer and guitarist in a practice room are able to logon and perform for a live audience from the comfort of their home or studio. Musicians even perform with colleagues from another geographic location, appearing together inworld.
The Arts are experiencing cuts in education spending and students hoping to pursue a career in music, drama, or art related areas may need to access alternative arenas for exploring, practicing, and performing their talent and related skills. Accomplished musicians perform in virtual venues, across virtual grids all times of the day, every day. Perhaps “virtual performances” will become a mainstream outlet for entertainment, at the very least it is a potential learning ground for aspiring performers.
In addition to performing, song-writing and employing technical tasks, aspiring musicians can practice skills necessary in the music business such as working with an agent and dealing with bookings, public relations, promotion, marketing, and even managing finances. As the mode that we access music is changing, so is the way we provide and access entertainment.
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