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Large international conferences always create a buzz, feeling of excitement and lots of talk about “where do we go from here?” Often it dissipates over the following weeks, not with ISTE’s SIGVE. The ISTE SIGVE 2012 Playground at the annual … Continue reading
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On June 26th the SIGVE EDuMachinima Fest was held in the San Diego Convention Center as well as in Second lIfe at the new SIGVE Drive In Movie Theatre. Attendees watched all entries and heard the names of the winners. … 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
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The Internet is changing the world of journalism, publishing, the music industry, education, storytelling and moviemaking. Video capture and editing tools provide an opportunity for anyone to create, entertain and inform using video and audio. Machinima, originally used to capture … Continue reading
The students in “Norma Underwood’s” class in an Arizona public school are building and scripting in a 3D environment, sculpting in Rokuro, collaborating on projects, and communicating with their peers and interested visitors. I had the opportunity to visit Norma’s virtual class space on Reaction Grid, never having to leave my home state over 2000 miles away. What a treat to see 12 and 13 year olds assembling, communicating and cooperating in a medium that many are completely unaware of.
The class is an art class, lucky for these students they have a teacher who acknowledges and has taken the time to learn an art medium for the future. The young architects and 3D artisans have used floor-plans to build 3D homes, decorated them and added items like video games and chess sets. Learning objectives focus primarily on standards in the area of art and mathematics. Additionally, Norma is incorporating 21st Century objectives like collaboration, communication and problem solving. These are not as easily tested in the traditional assessments required by the state but obvious in the products the students have created and obvious as well when you watch them engaged in their work.
The First Machinima 4 Educators Appreciation Contest finalists are grouped into 3 categories with a fourth being the “People’s Choice”. VWBPE participants will be able to cast their votes for this last category during the VWBPE Conference beginning on Thursday March 17. Screening of all submitted videos will be on Friday, March 18 at 8 pm SLT on Machinima (East 1) East 1/2 http://slurl.com/secondlife/VWBPE%20East%202/56/116/32. You can see ALL the entries and cast your vote for the people’s choice on the electronic Ballot.
Each of the following three entries uniquely demonstrates educational media. Muinji Becomes a Man, written by Chief Mi’sel Joe is aimed at preserving and sharing the history and culture of the Miawpukek people of Conne River in Canada. SWIFT Virtual Genetics Lab is a product of University of Leicester and depicts the use of a genetics lab in the virtual world used to orient first year students in the safety and best use of the lab to prepare them for the use of the actual lab. The lab also provides opportunities for students to use the lab for what is impossible in the real world. Kansas to Cairo Projectis a blend of Machinima and traditional video and allows the viewer to become acquainted with both the real-life participants and their avatar representations in this depiction of cross-cultural collaboration between university students in Los Angeles and Cairo solving real world problems.
Machinima production incorporates traditional as well as new digital and animation techniques in both capturing action and in the editing process. Click: Immersive & Interactive Art, written & edited by Lori Landay for University of Western Australia Imagine 3d Art & Design Challenge, zooms in and around stunning examples of virtual art that is immersive or interactive. Munji’j Becomes a Man is a beautifully crafted Machinima with traditional language and music of the Miawpukek people, English subtitles translate much of the dialogue. The build eloquently depicts the habitat, the animation and color provide a sense of being, and the voices of the young boy and his mentor are realistic and well synchronized. The skillful blend of cinema and machinima in Kansas to Cairo Project allows the viewer to see architectural students and their avatar representations in their collaborative work in a virtual world.
Each of these machinima entries had a compelling story. Muinji’j Becomes a Man is a story about a Miawpukek boy coming of age. WB Yeats – An Irish Airman Foresees His Death is a narration of the story of the Yeats poem with the same title, filmed on the flight sim, Rise of Flight with vintage war planes. Time Travelers – Episode 1 – The Time Machine is an adventure story about teenagers, a time machine, and fighting evil in the future with sequels to describe scholarship and funding opportunities for college.
Be sure to attend the screening and vote for your favorite.
The VWBPE Conference has a number of events to support machinima endeavors for both novice users and experts. The sessions are being held at different locations on the VWBPE 20 sims built in a Steampunk motif, just for this event.
20 Sim site on SL built specifically for the event 3/17-3/19.
March 17, 2011
March 18, 2011
East - Location of Screening of the VWBPE Machinima entries (popcorn is included)March 18, 2011
March 19, 2011
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Environments in virtual worlds can be realistic or fantastical, each has benefits for students both as visitors and as creators. National and state educational standards require that students can identify, describe and understand the differences in both land and water-related … Continue reading
Remember the clubhouse in the woods you built with your friends. It was your clubhouse. You and your friends thought of it, planned it, gathered materials, constructed it, fought about it, fought in it, plotted in it, pretended to be super-heros or knights in it, and then probably tore it down because it seemed like a good idea and it was yours to tear down. Remember the playhouse that the little girl down the street had. Her father built it for her. It was a beauty; A door with hinges and a door knob, heart-shaped shutters, flower-boxes, shingles, matching curtains and furnishings. She had a birthday party and everyone got to go into it but you couldn’t “mess it up”. Nobody really played there much, it collected spiderwebs. It sat forever – a monument to adult intervention.
As I listened to the ISTE Speaker Series on SL Tuesday night, Knowclue’s message was most profound. She said she is a stickler on students building and making their own environment in SL Teen Grid and now on Reaction Grid where she provides instruction. I sat in the audience and asked “what evidence do you have of student achievement?” My thoughts were focused on what so many educators are thinking about: test scores, numbers, Adequate Yearly Progress, achievement data, standards. Of course these are important quantifiable data points and so is the remarkable build that her students created.
A student build in a virtual world - minimal adult intervention.
The evidence is that children built a community based on a unit of study. The student Build required the use of communication, collaboration and problem solving (those 21st Century Skills). It required the use of mathematics and integration of an artistic sensibility. The students had to read/research and take notes, write, and compute. Knowclue has a clue and she also has evidence. The student product is the evidence. The students will be tested in the standards at the end of the year and those scores too will be reviewed – together they form the picture of evidence. My hunch is the students who build will demonstrate more learning gains than the students who have it built for them, look to the evidence.
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