Best of VEJ - The Virtual Education Journal, Volume Three by Edovation

Slalom @ Grand Canyon North (190, 203, 115)

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!

There is no day like a snow day! J Second Life snow days are a lot of fun! (see picture above) Snow days in real life, however, cause havoc, close schools, and make traveling difficult, if not impossible, as Atlanta, Georgia discovered a few days ago. Although most of the USA is wishing we had never heard of the Polar Vortex, I love the fact that we have yet another snow day that closed school. Today I am catching my breath and doing my best to get caught up. I am especially thankful for this snow day, because as you read this, you know that I am FINALLY able to find the time to finish editing this long overdue, issue of VEJ! YEAH!!!!!

Across the USA, most preK-20 educators are feeling totally overwhelmed as we struggle to find the time to align and implement the common core standards, prepare students for the new SBAC and PARCC assessments, and deal with the new teacher and administrator evaluation system. Teachers have hunkered down. They are focused on engaging students in text complexity in all core subject areas. They are working diligently to ensure their objectives, questions and learning activities are aligned to the common core and include all levels of Webb’s Depth of Knowledge so their students are ready for the new assessments. Everyone in the trenches knows, there aren’t enough hours in the day or days in the school year to do all of this and do it well.

My job as a principal of an elementary school (rl) has also morphed this year into three full-time jobs: school manager, instructional leader, and teacher evaluator. Each of these jobs by itself is a daunting task for any school administrator – yet, principals across America are living the reality, many in schools where they is the only administrator in

the building. As educators are tweeting throughout the twitterverse, we are flying the plane while it is being built!

Houston, do you think we have a problem?

I share all of this because even under these adverse, overwhelming, and challenging educational conditions, the educators who have written articles for this issue of VEJ and many of their colleagues working with them in schools and universities around the world are still highly committed to exploring the metaverse and blazing new trails. Even during these turbulent storms our public school planes are navigating through, educators still manage to explore new worlds, establish new colonies of learning, design authentic virtual learning opportunities, and share their passion, their vision, and their dreams for a better way of knowing and doing with students.

The articles in this issue of VEJ celebrate the ability of dedicated educators, who are tired and emotionally drained after working all day in the trenches, yet enthusiastically and passionately continue late into the evening hours to pursue their personal quests and Fiero dreams. Through collaboration with each other and their students, they are building the global curricula of the future that has the power to help learners soar above the clouds, beyond the universe, into a metaverse of opportunities and challenges. It has the ability to allow us to teleport through time and space and to permeate borders and walls so we can connect people with people anytime, anywhere. Working together, we have the power to develop the knowledge and skills everyone must acquire to be successful global entrepreneurs and digital citizens. These educators and their students are the hero’s of our future . . .

To educators and students around the world, may you continue to explore these many vast new virtual 3-D environments, establish new colonies of learners, empower collegial guilds, and build the rocket to propel your visions of the future – through space and time – and lead us all – OUT OF THIS WORLD!

Keep Smiling J

Virtual Education Journal February 2014

In This Issue

• Letter form the Editor

• SIGVE 2013/2014 The Year So Far

Cover photo in WoW by Vasili Giannoutsos (rl), Bluebarker Lowtide (sl)

Roxie Neiro (SL)

Rosie Vojtek (RL)

• SIGVE Annual Planning and Program Goals 2013-2014

• Meet Draxtor Despres

• Getting Ready for EduMavhinima Fest 2014

• Improving Daily Schedule Management With Retail Logistics Principles

• UNCP Hospital for Nursing in Second Life: Professional Education and Clinicals in the Virtual World

• Alter Egos, Avatars, and Analytical Writing: Immersive Role-Playing in the Composition Classroom

• VWBPE 2013: Experience The Temple of Horus on Avaualive Engage

• Minecraft and More UnSymposium

• Virtual Pioneers: A Year of Exploration

• Gamifying Professional Learning: An Important First Step

• Alice Academy for Young Entrepreneurs

• Virtual Communities: Second Norway

• Update on The Book Transformed

• Massive Multiplayer Coding: Educator’s Participate in “Hour of Code”

• Join The Digital Storyelling Journey

• Virtual Pioneers Tour: Regency Somerset

• On Walkabout: Volume 5 – Nautilus

• The Recipe of Storytelling

To Read VEJ online visit: http://www.virtualeducationjournal.com/ For more information about ISTE SIGVE or to join the fun, visit: http://sigve.iste.wikispaces.net/ Follow us on Twitter @VEJournal or #VEJournal

SIGVE 2013/2014 The Year So Far…..

By Kae Novak, Lowly High Grand Poob ah

Hello everyone,

I hope you had a very happy and enjoyable holiday season and have had an excellent start to the New Year! As we approach the halfway point, I wanted to provide you all with an update on the projects and progress we've made in the last six months. Below, I've summarized each goal and provide details on our progress and will conclude with a look at our initial plans for the 2014 Annual Conference in Atlanta. I've also included an At-a-Glance reference for our goals and objectives for 20132014 at the end of this article.

I. Give members’ access to individual and collective expertise

We continue to focus on strengthening our communication channels to allow us to quickly send out and archive information on our various professional development and social events. Our Virtual Connected Educator listeserv continues to serve as our primary communication channel and provides useful and timely information every Tuesday.

In an effort to make social media tracking more convenient and consistent to our members, we have also consolidated our social media use to the following channels:

ISTESIGVE Edmodo

https://www.edmodo.com/home#/publisher/ISTESIGVE SIGVE Facebook http://on.fb.me/1cyXxQi SIGVE Flickr group http://www.flickr.com/groups/sigve/ twitter @istesigve; hashtag #sigve

I'd also like to announce a new resource for SIGVE membership. Over the past six months, we have been developing and growing our ISTE SIGVE Google+ community http://bit.ly/sigvegoogle. This is another effort in consolidating our resources and offering more flexibility to everyone. The advantages of the Google+ community is that it provides us with a membership service resource that allows for event registration, email invites, convenient tracking of responses, and automatic email reminders for upcoming events to those that registered.

As always, our leadership and membership continue to support, provide content and promote VEJ (Virtual Education Journal) publications. I want to thank Rosie and Bob Vojtek for all your hard work and tireless dedication to this publication.

II.Increase skill sets through hosted professional development events and activities

We've had many exciting new professional development events and activities since the 2013 annual conference. Tanya Martin (SL: Tanya Smedly) and Vasili Giannoutsos (SL:Bluebarker Lowtide) host Machinima Monday http://sigve.weebly.com/edumachinima.html for those interested in learning about machinima and how it is being used in education. We also continue to offer our fabulous Monthly Speaker Series http://sigve.weebly.com/13-14-speakers.html hosted by Andrew Wheelock (SL: Spiff Whitfield) and Scott Merrick (SL: ScottMerrick Oh) and produced by Beth O’Connell (SL: Beth Ghostraven).

Based on the overwhelming interest in Minecraft at the 2013 annual conference, we are now offering a monthly Minecraft activity. Some examples are:

Minecraft Office Hours recording http://youtu.be/S36YkALBYFo Minecraft Open House July recording http://youtu.be/8fwligI7N-M Minecraft Mobile and More recording http://youtu.be/PiUj2IWev5A Minecraft Open House October recording http://youtu.be/HutBgD6T6Lk

Minecraft UnSymposium Playlist 9 recordings http://bit.ly/1dqtGLR

SIGVE has also had a strong presence during Connected Educator month. We hosted the Connected Educator - Halloween Scary Sim Crawl http://youtu.be/yhHWzrC30GE. Based on its popularity, we also organized the Connected Educator – Holiday Sim Crawl http://youtu.be/Natui3ACK_0 in December 2013. We also participated in an Hour of Code http://sigve.weebly.com/hour-of-code.html at the ISTE SIGVE HQ in Second Life

III. Spark community building and advocacy among members with similar interests and passions

As previously mentioned, SIGVE organized an event for the Department of Education’s Connected Educator Month in October 2013. Please take a look at some of the screen captures from that event and all our events at the SIGVE flickr site http://www.flickr.com/groups/sigve/

SIGVE Leadership continues to encourage members to participate in events and with others that share their passions via the Listserv and the Google+ Community. In addition, many of our members were nominated and became finalists for the 2013 Edublog Awards http://edublogawards.com. The ISTE SIGVE weebly site was an Edublog Award Finalist in Best Educational Use of a Social Network. Feel free to visit the Edublog Awards site to see all the finalists and check out these new resources. http://edublogawards.com/

IV. Sustain an evolving forum of resource and information sharing

We continue to grow and share new resources and updates through the ISTE wiki, Weebly, Google+ Community as well as other shared SIGVE communication channels. The new SIGVE Google+ community http://bit.ly/sigvegoogle has shown the greatest growth and use as we continue to have members join and share.

V. Build volunteers’ leadership skills and experience in a variety of professional skill sets

Our members have volunteered with SIGML to produce Mobile, Minecraft and More sessions. We have worked with VSTE, Virtual Pioneers, Inevitable Instructors and the Games MOOC to produce two recorded Virtual Worlds tours and a two-day online event entitled the Minecraft and More … UnSymposium.

There are additional areas for volunteering in the upcoming months. We will be looking for volunteers to staff the SIGVE Playground at the annual conference, serve on a committee to investigate offering a MOOC, and serve as judges for the annual Machinima event at the annual conference. More details and opportunities will be announced in the coming months.

Preliminary Plans for 2014 Conference

Vasili Giannoutsos ( SL: Bluebarker Lowtide) has agreed to serve as the 2014 Playground Coordinator. Our Playground Coordinator Emeritus, Scott Merrick will aptly be advising him. The Playground will be on Monday June 30th from 1:30 pm – 5 pm so for those attending in Atlanta please come join us!

The EduMachinima Fest has been accepted by the ISTE Programming Committee and the day and time is TBD. We'll send out the information once we receive notice. We'd love to have you attend and see the machinima created by our students and members.

The SIGVE Open House will be held on Saturday June 28, 2014. More details will be forthcoming.

Lastly, please follow us and continue to share articles, events, and other announcements via any of the resources previously mentioned. As always if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at kae.novak@frontrange.edu.

Thank you,

Kae Novak

SL: Kavon Zenovka

World of Warcraft: Konishiki @kzenovka

SIGVE Annual Planning and Program Goals

2013-2014

I.Give members’ access to individual and collective expertise

1. Continue to utilize SIGVE listeserv for weekly virtual connected educator blasts.

2.Maintain existing Social Media forums.

3.Create and grow usage of Google Plus Community and calendar as an event registration and member services supplement. The Google Plus Community will automatically send invites and reminders to registered members.

4. Continue to support and promote Virtual Educational Journal publications.

5.Investigate membership interest in a Virtual Environment MOOC

II.Increase skill sets through hosted professional development events and activities

1.Offer bimonthly machinima meetings where participants learn to create, edit, and publish machinima.

2. Offer monthly virtual world speakers series.

3.Offer monthly Minecraft activity

4.Offer 4 webinars on Learner Analytics and Assessment in Virtual Worlds and MMOs

III. Spark community building and advocacy among members with similar interests and passions

1.Participate in the Department of Education’s Connected Educator Month in October 2013.

2. Continue to forward ISTE Advocacy effort to member via Listserv and Google Plus Community.

3. Encourage membership participation in Connected Educator events and the Virtual Education Journal.

IV. Sustain an evolving forum of resource and information sharing

1. Share updates through ISTE wiki, Weebly, Google Plus Community as well as other shared SIGVE communication channels.

V.Build volunteers’ leadership skills and experience in a variety of professional skill sets

1.Collaborate with SIGML and other SIGS to offer professional development

2.Invite SIGVE membership to volunteer to staff SIGVE Playground at annual conference

3.Send out invite to members to serve on committee to investigate offering a MOOC

4. Invite SIGVE members to serve as judges for annual Machinima event at annual conference.

Meet Draxtor Despres

By Roxie Neiro

I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am to introduce all of you to… Draxtor Despres. He documents the most amazing things happening in Second Life with clarity, accuracy, and fidelity. In order to describe what it is he does, I believe we need a new term – digital anthropologist. I would characterize Draxtor as a quintessential digital anthropologists… a personal hero of mine. I applaud him for capturing the essence of Second Life and look forward to all of his new ventures.

Roxie: Who is Draxtor (in rl and sl), what makes you tick, and what are you doing in virtual environments?

Draxtor: My name is Draxtor Despres and I have been in Second Life since 2007. In real life I am an audio-video guy. I compose music. I produce music for all occasions – film, television, and commercials. Recently we were at Sundance, currently with the METUBE http://metube.at project and we are following that up. I am writing the music and I am recording it and producing it so that is my real life. In Second Life I came in and I was immediately fascinated with what people do in the environment. Initially, I should have probably done the same that I do here, which is music. But I didn’t embark on the music thing. I want to document what people do and push this out into the mainstream. That was clear to me a few weeks in. I didn’t have any film experience background then – other than working in the film industry, in the audio

department. So, (laughing) all my training was from making home movies and vacation movies. So, it’s really learning and doing with machinima. I have to add that I briefly worked in public radio. I ran a news department for an NPR member station http://kazu.org/ . And before that I was in Los Angeles at KPFK http://www.kpfk.org , which is a very well known left-leaning public radio station in the Pacifica Network. So, I have experience in producing for radio, but not for film. Virtual environments to me – Second Life holds the promise of a life in creativity, a life that is enhanced by collaborating.

Roxie: How did you get started in Virtual Environments and what keeps you coming back?

Draxtor: Virtual environments to me, Second Life, holds the promise of a life in creativity, a life that is enhanced by collaborating. The promise that if we find a space where we can express ourselves freely, while collaborating across gender, ethnic, national boundaries, then… that’s what I believe in. I believe that if we find this place, we can make it flourish, and we can survive as a human race. It sounds awfully big and pathetic – sort of idealistic, but I am idealistic. I see the current malaise and terrible state of affairs we are in as a human race, with so many issues. But, I do think that these virtual environments hold a huge promise. Second Life right now is the closest that we have to the metaverse. Of

course, it is owned by one company, which is a problem, I think, in the sense that it is a venture that needs to make money. It would be great if it would be sort of publically owned. If we could all own it and ru n it. . . . but, that is not the case right now. Who knows what is coming. But, Second Life still is – and that keeps me coming back. It’s still a place that is very opposite of the corporate, commercial landscape of real life, where everything is dominated by malls and the pressure to consume is a lot higher. Of course, people consume in Second Life (laughing).

Roxie: (laughing too) And, I am the ultimate consumer! Thank goodness for shopping!

Draxtor: Yes, but it’s different because, in Second Life, people buy from someone like you. You have a trade between two equals. Not, a big corporation that pushes products down to you.

Roxie: I so agree! Thank goodness for all of the artistically talented people who are producing for the ultimate consumers like me. I couldn’t survive in Second Life if it weren’t for them. I think I love shopping in Second Life as much as I do in real life! (laughing) So, what are your favorite virtual environments, what are your favorite sims or interesting places to visit?

Draxtor: I’m continuously baffled by what’s out there. I don’t distinguish. I go from sci-fi role-play sims, for example, InSilico http://insilico.gemini-cybernetics.net/ comes to mind, which has been around for a very long time – I think 2008. It is build entirely with prims. InSilico still has a flare around it, the city, that sort of really teleports you and facilitates immersion in an incredible way. It is a testament to what can be done with the simple prim building capability that Second Life has. I go to art exhibits. Those are my favorite things –

when people really push the envelope in artistic expression - the surreal immersive places. Something that you can’t do in a museum, something that you could only do if you had a huge warehouse and unlimited funds. Then, you could maybe do this in a museum. But, that people can fill these spaces with their vision and then me, the visitor, can actually go through it. I think that has been sort of the focus for what is seen in the Drax Files, although I try to do an overview – of different activities. Some people have said that the emphasis is sort of on art.

Roxie: I so agree – Your machinima series, Drax Files, is very artistic and

creative, especially the way you use photography and cinematography to engage viewers and enrich what your guests in each segment are sharing about their work. On your twitter profile you describe yourself as a “machinima-holic.” How did you get started making machinima’s and what is it about this media that keeps you so addicted?

Draxtor: It is interesting. My son is ten years old. He plays Minecraft and I play Minecraft with him. He has his own Minecraft video podcasts already. We constantly discuss what is the difference between digital animation and machinima. There are a bunch of Minecraft machinimas out there. They call themselves animation, which I think is more accurate because

they are not filmed in real-time in Minecraft. They are, in fact, made in Blender and then really frame-by-frame animated. They recreate the entire environment in Blender and then animate it. So nothing is filmed in real-time. And that is the big difference. In that sense, I am a machinimaholic because I believe that machinima is the democratization of cinema because it enables everyone to have a Hollywood Studio and play around with it. To film in real-time with other actors, avatar actors, is just so different from solitary sitting there and animating it. There is nothing wrong with digital animation, but to be on the ground in a space and film it in real-time is so much more related to Guerrilla type film-making or documentary film-making where you have a little camera and you go into a chaotic zone of whatever it is and you film it with your little camera over your shoulder and then you go home and put it together. But, you are there in real-time and you are observing and you are capturing it. That is what machinima is in the digital realm. So it is much more related. That’s what keeps me addicted. (laughing) The addiction comes from the fact, again, that it holds the promise of opening up the ivory tower of Hollywood and filmmaking which is very exclusionary.

Roxie: How did you get started doing the Drax files?

Draxtor: I got started doing the Drax Files because I saw a void in documenting what people do there [in Second Life]. There is no such format; the format that I’m doing has not been applied to documenting what Second Life residents do in the artistic field. It is a commercial for a creative life. It is a continuous advertisement campaign for creative engagement. It’s not an ad campaign for Linden Lab. I am not advertising Linden Lab as a service. I’m advertising the power of creative thought and practice – how that can make a better world for all of us. That is what I haven’t seen since I did it early on. But then I stopped doing this

REPORTAGE stuff. I did Flufee, with comedy – it was really great. But, nobody has done, really, that kind of mixed reality profile where you also get a glimpse behind the avatar, which I think resonates with the uninitiated pubic. The folks out there don’t understand Second Life. They dismiss it. They haven’t heard of it. You know, there are a lot of people who have never heard of it. There are people who are inherently afraid of

anything in the digital realm or anything that says virtual on it because they feel the matrix is taking over. And then there are, of course, the people who have a negative opinion on Second Life because of the hype or the scandals during the hype days.

Roxie: Yes, and then there are the people who say, “Why do I need a second life when I don’t have time for my first life!

Draxtor: My series http://www.youtube.com/draxtordespres is geared towards that audience to dispel some of these myths and to bring to the fore the positive aspects of that. Nobody is doing it – at least along the mainstream media, which keeps continuing to hammer home this notion that Second Life is a place for losers, or something like that. And that drives me nuts! Somebody needs to create a counter narrative.

Roxie: I so agree with you and it is your mission! That being said, which episode of the Drax files is your favorite? Which was the most fun or interesting to make and why?

Draxtor: I don’t have a favorite. They’re all different and hopefully they all stand on their own. Actually, I do have a favorite. The favorite is the

one I haven’t made yet. The favorite is the one that is in my head – and that can be any one of the hundreds (laughing) that are in my head right now – about people that I haven’t met, about activities that blow me away, and the creative applications of the tools that are given to us by the environment. That is my favorite episode. They are all fun to make, but they are also, because I tend to be a bit of a micro-manager, they are also a little scary to make because they consist of so many moving parts. They depend on the delivery of so many tiny little components from different sources. The managing of those sources across all time zones, getting the deadlines in order is incredibly difficult because it is a hobby. I am not getting paid. So, I have to do this on the side. And, everybody who is involved, who is delivering, for example, real life footage, also has probably a full-time job. It is incredibly difficult to get all of that stuff on deadline . . . because I do produce on deadline, on a calendar at a certain frequency. I am not veering away from that frequency because anything that is in the media has to have a certain frequency to build an audience – otherwise, you can’t build an audience and you will lose it. So, I am putting

myself under too much pressure, but I am approaching it as if I were an executive producer or show-runner of a network show or whatever it is. I take this very seriously and thereby it does cause a little bit of anxiety. I am confident that I can create compelling stories. It would be very cool if I could fly all over the world and shoot the stuff myself, but then again, it’s actually quite exciting that they come to life this way by me sending storyboards and shot lists to the interview subject and conducting what I need in terms of what they need to film on their end to get the story going. Then I fly it all together. So it’s like working with multiple, global stringers that give me material, so that is pretty cool, too!

Roxie: How do you get the ideas and/or decide on who or what you will feature in your Drax file series?

Draxter: The ideas and the subject matters of the Drax File video series depends on the end game or the main goal - which is to weave this quilt, the tapestry of diverse activities in Second Life. My goal is to really capture the diversity that is present in Second Life. . . the diversity in age, ethnic background, and global physical location. Now, this of course, is very difficult because I’ve already featured way to many people from the U.S. Of course, it is easy to get them. It is harder . . . I have friends fr om all over the world in Second Life, but it is very difficult sometimes to convince

people to take that step and present themselves in front of the camera. Not everybody is an extravert. So, that is a big obstacle. The other one is to go into other cultural realms. Japan, for example. I have several friends from Japan. Some of them have declined to be in the show because they are very private. Others, I have communication issues. They are fans of mine. I’m a fan of theirs, but we haven’t really communicated what I want from them. I have a guy from Turkey, which is fascinating to me. So I am trying to get into the Middle East, maybe, and see what is happening over there. I have done some stuff with the “Kansas to Cairo” project, but I want to do this under the umbrella of the Drax Files as well. I want to have African Americans. I have three scheduled. I want the different ages – all this stuff. I want to create this mosaic. That’s the reason or the decision that I make. It’s important to find who has a compelling story. I do believe that everybody has a compelling story. But, it’s also a matter of how can they present that story. These mini-documentaries are very labor intensive because they are based on, sometimes, a two-hour conversation. From that conversation I can glean who that person is. Then, I whittle it down to the essence and put it together. But it is very important

that this is not a formal interview – that it starts with a casual conversation so the people get comfortable and I earn their trust. Then they open up and that is where I get to the story.

Roxie: On your website http://draxtor.com/2013/02/cap-tradeimmersive-journalism/ you have a machinima called “Cap & Trade – Immersive Journalism.” Please tell us about it and what you hope viewers will gain by watching the machinima and visiting the Annenberg Pulbic Diplomacy Island in Second Life.

Draxtor: The “Cap & Trade” is an old piece. I think it is great. But, it is old – old in the sense that it is three years old. I guess it’s not that old, but it is old in digital terms. It was a great project done in collaboration with The Center For Investigative Journalism and my friend, Nonny de la Pena, who is a leader in Immersive Journalism. She also did “Virtual Guantanamo.” But, it didn’t go anywhere. This is one of those frustrating things. You show things like that, and there is no understanding at the level of decision makers. We wanted to have an entire island present there for people to explore. People pulled out. No interest.

Roxie: That’s too bad. You have a really important message.

Draxtor: It’s always a bunch of people pushing and then there is one person that is either above them or gets to that above spot and says, “No, I don’t get it, gone.” Ok, so that’s what happened. You know, viewers will gain by watching the machinima and wanting to go in and experience it, but the problem is, it’s not there any more. That stuff is gone.

Roxie: What about “The VIRTUAL Mine” http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2011/07/deep-down-second-life-virtualmine-emmy-nomination.html ? It received a 2011 Emmy nomination in the category “New Approaches to News & Documentary Programming.” Tell us about this PBS machinima http://video.pbs.org/video/1628364599/ and some of the new approaches to news and documentary programming that were used in this machinima as well as some of the other new approaches you are using in other productions.

Draxtor: The video, “The Virtual Mine Deep Down” was a documentary film – companion project. We got a nomination. This is exactly in the line of Immersive Journalism. You go in there and you experience the story yourself. You can be sort-of a citizen journalist. You can practice that. You can make your own story. That is what we wanted to present with the “Deep Down” project, but again they stopped paying for the island. The island is gone. There are so many possibilities, so many possibilities with these new approaches – because what is more powerful than reading a book? And again, this is not to replace anything. This is complementary. But there is something more powerful than reading a book. Or, reading a great well-researched news article. Or, watching a great documentary.

There is something more powerful, and that is to go in there and experience it yourself –sharing it with other people, like we did with “Virtual Guantanamo. “ Yeah, you can read in the paper. You can read accounts of prisoners. You can watch documentarie. But, how does it feel to be a prisoner? How does it feel to be grabbed somewhere, put on a plane, and put into prison? How does that feel? The 3-D persistent environmental game technology can do that. We are just scratching the surface. Nonny de la Pena is doing a project on Syria right now http://www.immersivejournalism.com/project-syria-premieres-at-theworld-economic-forum/ with goggles that are similar to the Oculus Rift. She is presenting at the Davos World Economic Forum Annual Meeting January 22-24, 2014. http://www.india-at-davos.ibef.org/?gclid=CMv2srRjbwCFYw7OgodFFIAbQ

Roxie: All of your projects sound so exciting! I am in awe watching the work you and your colleagues are doing – especially the Drax Files – they are amazing! What tools do you use to get such high quality resolution, video, and sound?

Draxtor: I am an audio-video editor. That is my day job, so I have a studio here that I built in my garage, which is not inexpensive. The studio total. But the tools – that’s the fascinating thing – the tools today are obtainable

for everyone. Not for everyone, but for people who can afford an Internet connection and have a computer. They can also get those tools and then they just have to practice. And, they have to train their ears. My machinima PC is about $1,000. The microphones that I have are expensive microphones, but I also have microphones that are $200. They now have microphones, even USB microphones that you don’t even have to put through a pre-amp for under $100. If you look up a podcast package on Amazon or wherever, you can get headphones, a microphone, and speakers for $150. Multi-track recording software is free these days on the Mac GarageBand works. I use Pro Tools. You get Pro Tools free if you buy a microphone in some cases. Anybody, and that is really the amazing thing, can put together a recording studio in their home. You can build your own booth to kill some of the reflections when you record your voice. You can build that at home for 50 bucks with foam and stuff. There are tutorials out there on Youtube. But of course, I have an ear for how it should sound. I also want to add that the flow is really important for my shows. Each one of those episodes has underneath an audio multi-track session of at least 20 different tracks.

Roxie: Wow! 20 tracks? I would never have guessed that you had that many. No wonder the sound on your Drax Files is so amazing.

Draxtor: A lot of people don’t realize that. There are about 20 tracks. The different voices, the ambiance sound, the different music, so that totals up to 20 tracks that have to be mixed.

Roxie: Many of our readers are educators who work with students PreK-20 and are starting to use machinima to help their students tell their own stories.

Draxtor: I think this is marvelous and that is exactly the power of machinima.

Roxie: Yes. So, what suggestions, tips, and tricks do you have that can help them to work more productively and effectively with students in this media form?

Draxtor: The simplest thing is to have a task for the students. Go in world. Find a place that you like. Track down the owner or the creator and ask them to do an interview with you. OK? So the task is to do a little REPORTAGE about a creative person. Now, as you know, it is sometimes difficult to have people get back to you. So, you have to tell the students, don’t sit around with one thing. Approach ten people. Maybe two or three will go through, and then you pick one. And then you conduct an interview with them, and then you chalk that up, film, and put it together as a little

3 minute REPORTAGE. That is what I would do, if I were the educator. That creates multiple skills that are being used here. So a journalistic – sort of on the ground – what is interesting? Find these places. Track people down. Ask them good questions and then edit the stuff together. So all of these video editing skills and bringing them to a form that can be enjoyably consumed. Tips and tricks? Keep it exciting like that. And again, the tools are all out there. Video capture is very simple.

Roxie: Who is Flufee and how did that series come about?

Draxtor: Flufee was the first mesh non-human avatar that was on Marketplace. I saw it on the Second Life Marketplace and said, “I want to create my own comedy program. I want to create a comedy program based on a Second Life character and prove that we can do comedy vignettes that are equally as good as what is on TV or the cartoon network right now.” That was the goal. Also, other virtual worlds games like World of Warcraft and other

games have fabulous comedy and Second Life doesn’t have it. Second Life has some pretty terrible stuff. I am honest about that. (laughing) I mean, call me an elitist. Who cares? World of Warcraft has several http://olibith.blogspot.com/ , very, very funny comedy series that are long running. Halo http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_vs._Blue has, of course, red versus blue. Second Life doesn’t have a tradition, and I wanted to create that and that is what we did. Then we cancelled it because the creator of Flufee made a big fuss about intellectual property rights. I felt that I am working with a creature that I didn’t even create. I love Flufee, but I don’t have any rights to him. Flufee was created by Bytegang, a company out of Prague. They liked what we did with him. It was a free advertisement. They sold 20-30 thousand avatars, or something like that. But, I felt like, I want to push this forward, do real life merchandise, and make it bigger. Then I realized, “Hey, wait a minute, I’m doing all this stuff, and I am popularizing a figure that I don’t have any rights to later monetize,” so I stopped doing it.

Roxie: Tell us about the Drax Files Radio Hour and your

future plans for this show http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMGzkzDvgAw&list=PLI0b2jAH3o Fvr6J0AhWroB9lmOXRN2xLV . What do you hope to accomplish with this show? What can viewers look forward to in future episodes?

Draxtor: Again, the same thing as with the Drax Files. We determined there was a need, a void. We needed to fill this void with a podcast to bring the community together – to really bring the diverse community together with news and commentary. You know, this is not REPORTAGE, this is commentary. I would love to do something more investigative and indepth, but I can’t, so we just talk about stuff. But, we’ll make it interesting with sound bytes. I can produce these things because I have done it in the past. I am very confident. We have tons of awesome stuff planned for the

show. We have really big names in virtual world evolution, revolution, whatever you call it. There is a whole bunch of hardware developers that are very young. They are all in their 20’s and the funny thing is they have no idea about Second Life.

Roxie: Really?

Draxtor: Because they were probably too young when it was the hype and everything, you know. And, maybe their parents told them, “No, don’t go there.” But now we have the seal of Oculus Rift tools 23, we have these other platforms – Razor, the treadmill. These people are in their 20’s and they have no idea that there is a world that wants to interface with their hardware. That’s something we can also bring together.

Roxie: Your January 17, 2014 Drax Files Radio Hour, features “The Legacy of Osprey Therian” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQWkJhuToI. Who was Osprey and why did you do this tribute show?

Draxtor: Osprey Therian was an accomplished artist that interfaced with the Linden’s a lot in the early days of Second Life. She was beloved by many and was very inspiring to many. This is something that gave us the opportunity to talk about what the relationship is between avatars and what happens when somebody dies. I wanted to talk about Osprey Therian

and her accomplishments, but moralistically the relationship, how deep these relationships are. That they are more… not more, but they are equally on pare with relationships between people who know each other in the physical world.

Roxie: Yes, I know exactly what you mean. Many of us have lost friends and colleagues that we may not have known in real life, but were so much a part of our Second Life. Friends and colleagues who inspired us and filled our lives with richness. In fact, VEJ has lost people that we

have highlighted in past issues. We will always miss them. What is really strange and continues to baffle me, is how once you sit behind the avatar you have created, you begin to become that avatar, and that avatar becomes more like you, sometimes than you! I am always amazed at how much Roxie (sl) and Rosie (rl) have in common!

Roxie: On your website you encourage visitors (if they dare) to visit Escapades Island in second life. Tell us what we can expect to do or see if we visit the island.

Draxtor: I encourage visitors to visit Escapades Island. Very simple. Because I live there. I just put it, “If they dare.” I live on Escapades. It is made by a friend of mine named Loki Eliot http://www.lokieliot.com . He is in the UK. It is just amazing what he does in Second Life. He creates clothing. He creates games. He runs the island. A very creative person. Loki Eliot is among the top ten people in SL that really try everything that Linden Lab throws out feature-wise. I mean, you know, they throw out some new game in the scripting language that I don’t know where to start with, and he goes, “ Oh, cool, I am going to do something with it.” So, Escapades Island is a great example of what Second Life can present. Escapades is also “G” rated, so I let my son run around there, too, with supervision. But, Escapades is a great example of interactivity that a lot of people don’t know. I mean, it’s fantasy – pirate themed. You go in there and immediately you get little tools, you get tasks to look for rats… to get rid of those rats.

Roxie enjoys Sushi on Escapades Island http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Escapades/193/192/34

Roxie: (laughing) Sounds like fun!

Draxtor: If you are hungry you can go to a Sushi bar, so there is interactivity and playfulness about the place that I really love. So I moved there, and I think that by moving, this is really my home. There are tons of visitors that come there – random visitors because it continues to be on the destination guide. There are also newbies. It’s funny. I am sitting there in my office and sometimes people just come into my office and then they see me. Often times they apologize and I say, “No, no problem.” So, it’s very cool. It is like being a writer, and instead of hermitting in your garage . . . as I am sitting in my physical garage, I am sort of out in the open on this island with a lot of just foot traffic. So, it is kind of cool! It’s like having a studio apartment downtown in a big metropolitan area. It is kind of the same thing, almost.

Roxie: Absolutely. (laughing) I know exactly what you mean. Five years from now, where do you think your work will take you? What do you hope you will be doing? What do you hope the media and the state of virtual environments will allow you to do that you can’t do now?

Draxtor: I hope that I will still be doing the same thing. I hope that maybe some body gives me a budget to do it better or to have less anxiety about getting it done (laughing). That would be very cool. Maybe I will do a kickstarter campaign and have this sort of crowd funded – what I’m doing. I

hope the media will have gotten over its ridiculous ignoring the virtual environment. I’m confident that because we have all these hardware devices coming in – I don’t know if it’s going to be all mainstream or not, but I do hope, also, that people have, maybe by then, forgotten about whatever their opinion of what Second Life is. I hope that Second Life will flourish and bring people in. I really do hope that I can continue to do what I am doing. I hope that I have the financial resources and the time to devote – as much time as I can to this hobby – or somebody pays – but then the catch-22 is that the freedom I now have maybe compromised if somebody sponsors it and wants to have editorial control. I will not give that away!

Roxie: Twitter users can follow you on twitter @Daxtor. Who are the people you follow and what are some key ideas or resources you have learned from them?

Draxtor: I follow a lot of people from media, from independent media. Bill Moyers [@BillMoyersHQ] . I have great respect for Bill Moyers. There’s just a whole bunch of people who are so important in this day and age with corporate media taking over, so I follow “Democracy Now!” with Bill Moyers and Jeremy Scahill [@jeremyscahill] from “Blackwater” http://www.amazon.com/Blackwater-Mercenary-Army-PMAudio/dp/1604861010 book and the DIRTY WARS http://dirtywars.org/the-film Movie. I follow some Second Life folks. Yeah. These are probably more political people, I think, I would say. I don’t know. But, tweeter is a great tool to get interesting links. That’s how I use it. I don’t converse much. But, when I get up in the morning, I scan through and then I pick a few articles from publications that I trust. But, I also read physical magazines, (laughing) paper magazines! For example, “The Nation” magazine. They have a great digital version, but I actually now subscribe to the paper, and the paper comes in the mail, and I sit on the porch, and I read it. So the single tasking, I think, is very important to get a balance going.

Roxie: Who are the people in the world of machinima and virtual environments that you most admire?

Draxtor: Oh, I admire so many people. If I start mentioning names, other people will get disappointed. OLE ETZEL

http://www.youtube.com/user/oleetzel who I did a story about is a friend of mine from Germany and he is fantastic. Natashia Randt http://www.youtube.com/user/NRandt , and Tutsy NAvArAthnA http://www.youtube.com/user/TutsyNavarathna. I don’t necessarily admire the stuff that is technically polished. There is some stuff that is incredibly unpolished. Natasha Rand for example, she can deliver polished stuff, but she chooses not to do it sometimes, and I love it! She has one thing that is called “Trash TV.” That freedom is just such anecdote to the Pixar polish that I hate sometimes.

Roxie: What projects are you working on now? What can we look forward to seeing in future episodes of the Drax Files?

Draxtor: I am working on so much. Coming up on the Drax Files, virtual ability, people with disabilities, people in the educational sector, young people, and African Americans entrepreneurs. These are the three things I can tell you. I’m not going to name any names. But, I have a person who is 21 who has the leading brand and particle effects. http://slmagic.com/about. He’s been in Second Life for 8 years or something. He’s 21 now. He is the kind of young person that I admire who looks at a set of tools and says, “Hey, I’m going to be actively engaged in shaping this rather than just passively consuming stuff. Then, virtual ability, of course, everybody we know – we know who they are, but the people outside don’t know it. I have many good friends there, and I want to do pieces . . . and the mainstream media has done a few pieces that are not bad. By the way they are floating around out there. But, I think I can do a better job. (laughing) Does that sound arrogant, or what? I just think I can do a better because I just know the space better. Right? I’m not a parachute journalist. I don’t parachute in, I live there!

Roxie: What a great term! I love how you say you are not a “parachute journalist!” And I think that is what really makes the difference – it

shows in your work! So, of all of the work you have done, what are the most proud of and why?

Draxtor: You know, I would be very proud . . . Let me twist this a little bit . . . I would be extremely proud if my son in twenty years gets up at an acceptance speech or some sort of keynote for some sort of virtual world conference – and let’s just say he has created an awesome virtual world with zero lag and every problem that we complain about now is resolved. And he gets up there and says, “I want to thank my dad who did some pioneering work in documenting what people do in creative virtual worlds.” And, if that happens, if I live long enough to see that happening, I don’t know. . . But, it’s not . . . pride is such a weird word, and I can talk about this word for hours. I am privileged to be able to be this translator between misunderstood people and the ignorant mainstream. If I succeed in translating – if somebody who rolled their eyes at me for years comes to me and calls me, and says, “Hey, now I understand.” Then I am proud.

Roxie: You should be very proud of everything you are doing now! We are so fortunate to have someone like you documenting the early pioneers who are sharing their gifts and talents through their work in virtual spaces. Thank you for taking time to share your vision for the future and the creative work you are doing in Second Life with us. We will continue to follow your work!

[Follow Draxter at http://draxtor.com/ , http://www.youtube.com/user/draxtordespres , https://www.facebook.com/draxtor and @ draxter]

Dr. Anthony Curtis. Professor, Mass Communication Dept., University of North Carolina at Pembroke (SL: Stone Semyorka) acurtis@uncp.edu

Dr. Judy Curtis, Assoc. Professor, Mass Communication Dept., University of North Carolina at Pembroke (SL: Sage Bright) jcurtis@uncp.edu

Learning nursing skills takes time and practice. With competition for clinical space on the rise, class time in short supply, and traditional clinical opportunities lacking, a virtual approach was explored with the use of Second Life by the Nursing Department at the University of North

A detailed "Hospital for Nursing" where students can work closely with faculty members in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program was constructed on the university's Second Life campus.

The SLURL for the UNCP Hospital for Nursing is: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Dasom/118/240/1101

The virtual hospital provides experiential learning for both prelicensure and RN-BSN students, allowing students to immerse themselves in real-world clinical scenarios in the safety of the virtual world.

Simulations, created and facilitated by faculty, foster student ability to care for diverse client populations across the lifespan.

The simulation includes eight private, fullyequipped client rooms; a nurse's station complete with workstations, storage, client charts, medical reference texts, a medication administration area with Pyxis, computers with Internet and Intranet connections and email and voice capabilities and live video streams into Second Life from real world sources; X-ray lab and examination room; physician's lounge, conference space, sleeping quarters, dictation room; nurse's lounge with conference table, storage for personal belongings, and kitchenette; OB/GYN facility, ultrasound, and incubator; hospital administration suite with meeting spaces; helipad on the roof, and ambulance.

The facilities are available 24/7 so students can practice at their own time and pace in addition to

working their scheduled clinical hours. (Visitors also are welcome to stop by to look around at any time.)

Exposure to practical skills allows students to explore and respond to complex scenarios in a safe, non-threatening environment.

Students and faculty are prepared with a three-hour information session explaining Second Life and working out issues with uniforms, navigating, and using voice in the virtual environment. Scripted nursing practice scenarios mirror those found in a real-world hospital.

Once a scenario has been completed, faculty debrief the clinical group discussing key skills in each scenario.

To evaluate

students' perceptions related to the effectiveness of the Second Life experience, data are collected with weekly self-reflections and a survey tool focusing on the problem-based learning experience, how well the simulation aided in the understanding and application of nursing skills presented in the didactic portion of the course, the usefulness of presimulation preparation, time requirements for the activity, and perceptions of the safety of the virtual environment to explore more controversial subjects.

Weekly self-reflections require students to identify new areas of learning, provide insight into the learning experience, identify clinical objectives met by engaging in the activity, and discuss how the activity added to their understanding of nursing practice.

This constructivist approach to learning fosters critical thinking,

clinical decision making, enhances self efficacy and allows students to make meaningful connections to previous learning, while in the safety of a virtual environment.

The process fosters collaboration and communication between students, faculty and other university departments, effectively modeling teamwork.

The University of North Carolina at Pembroke Department of Nursing is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing

Dr. Dena Evans (SL: DREVANS Restless), an associate professor in the Nursing Department, wanted to teach nursing students about

conflict management in the workplace in a hands-on way so they could identify what’s called lateral violence in the workplace and they could practice how to successfully use skills to resolve conflicts.

Conflict resolution strategies are a core requirement for the Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree.

Scripted scenarios were a good method, and she used Second Life to make the scenarios more real for students and at the same time safer for students. She was able to design complex scenarios that could be acted out in a safe, nonthreatening environment.

What is lateral violence? It’s defined as sabotage directed at coworkers on the same hierarchical level. It can include humiliation, sarcasm, denying opportunities, or gossiping. Researchers have found new graduates may face lateral violence, especially in their first jobs. Studies have found 60 percent of new graduates leave their jobs within 6 months because of lateral violence.

Second Life gives students, under the guidance of their faculty, the opportunities to learn about lateral violence and practice strategies to effectively manage it.

Here’s what Dr. Evans did. Twenty senior, pre-licensure nursing students attended a 3-hour training session and were prepared with avatars for the semester.

The conflict management scenarios were scripted and synchronous. Students divided into groups and had roles to play in the scenarios, such as bullying, sabotage, and withholding information. Scenarios were role-played twice.

She used a survey instrument and weekly self-reflection papers to gauge student perception of using Second Life.

n 72 percent said they were more comfortable exploring conflict in the virtual environment than they would have been role playing in face to face scenarios.

n 89% said they could effectively apply the strategies.

n 95% said the experience represented real life lateral violence situations they might encounter.

She found all the students were able to demonstrate how to successfully implement the skills they had learned in conflict resolution.

About the campus

The hospital is on UNCP's large-scale campus in the virtual world where academic colleagues from the real-life institution use the facilities to teach a variety of RL classes, convene faculty development seminars, and produce grid-wide educational meetings, symposia,

colloquia, and conferences.

SLURL for the campus welcome center: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Dotoorak/227/165/63

The campus regularly entertains visitors from other colleges and universities around the state, nation, and world. It has some 50 buildings and outdoor learning sites. Dr. Anthony Curtis, a professor in the UNCP Department of Mass

Communication, designed the facility and is director of the facility. He assists faculty in hosting classes and a variety of other events in SL. Numerous students and faculty have been provided new learning experiences through courses at the virtual campus.

The campus has a Virtual Accessibility Center designed to meet World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 by incorporating their accessibility features. The site functions on the standard Second Life viewer. It offers free wheelchairs, guide dogs, and other necessities.

Minecraft and More UnSymposium

By Que Jinn (sl), aka Kae Novak (rl)

On December 6th and 7th, 2013, The Minecraft and More ... UnSymposium was hosted by the Inevitable Betrayal WoW Guild, rgMOOC, SIGML, VSTE, and SIGVE. This event occurred in Minecraft and Second Life using Google Hangouts on Air livestreams as the unifying platform. All the following sessions can be found at the Minecraft and More UnSymposium Playlist http://bit.ly/1dqtGLR

The mission of the Minecraft and More…UnSymposium was to continue the discussion that began at the ISTE 2013 Conference at San Antonio. The most popular virtual world or game (depending on your viewpoint) at the conference was Minecraft https://minecraft.net a lego looking, easy to navigate 8 bit digital sandbox.

Our purpose was to bring a group of educators together to discuss, plan and play in Minecraft. That’s exactly what happened. We used mixed media. We livestreamed and had discussions over Google Hangout while we toured and played on multiple Minecraft servers.

At the UnSymposium, we had the following activities:

Friday December 6

First Session: Morrowcraft

We started with a very quick welcome and then on to Morrowcraft. We didn’t know a better way to start this UnSymposium than with a tour of this highly successful Minecraft program. We spent two hours touring and discussing with Marianne Malmstrom, Bron Stuckey and kids and parents of Morrowcraft.

Speakers

Marianne Malmstrom (Knowclue Kidd), The Elisabeth Morrow School in Englewood, NJ http://morrowcraft.wikispaces.com/

Dr. Bronwyn Stuckey, independent consultant in gameful design and community development

Resources:

Video Recording: http://youtu.be/qB4Gcg_Hs6M

Interview with Marianne Malmstrom http://g.a.m.e.shivtr.com/pages/episode2resources

World Peace Game Site https://www.worldpeacegame.org/

Second Session: Science in Minecraft

Dr. Farah Bennani and Lucas Gillispie engaged in a general discussion of Minecraft for STEM, particularly focusing on the use of redstone for computational thinking.

Speakers

Dr. Farah Bennani, Online Chair for Math and Science, Front Range Community College

Lucas Gillispie, Instructional Technology Coordinator at Pender County Schools, North Carolina; Minecraft in School Wiki http://minecraftinschool.pbworks.com

Video Recording:

http://youtu.be/Yvito9Tx5Ic

Red Stone Project 25:00 – 31:18

Computational Thinking

Definition http://bit.ly/1gpRxjK

Third Session: Machinima and Minecraft

Tanya Martin, Vasili Giannoutsos and Kae Novak from the ISTE SIGVE (Special Interest Group- Virtual Environments) and Dr. Chareen Snelson, Associate Professor of Educational Technology at Boise State University (http://tubeteaching.blogspot.com/ ), held an open discussion on Machinima and Minecraft. Also discussed was the possibility of students submitting Machinima to the White House Student Film Festival http://www.whitehouse.gov/filmfestival

Eight Session: Minecraft Challenge

Our participants competed in The Minecraft Challenge that the rgMOOC used for their Rhetoric class. Sherry Jones and Steve Getter from the rgMOOC (Rhetoric and Games MOOC) talked to us about using Minecraft and the Minecraft challenge in a community college English composition course. The contestants were given 30 minutes to build a representation of an iconic game in Minecraft. More specifics can be seen in the rules as to the colors, material and size.

Minecraft Challenge Rules http://bit.ly/1bKvSRk.

While the constestants built, Kristina Thoennes, Media Coordinator, Mooresville, NC, gave us a fifteen minute talk on Minecraft, Minecraft fans and the maker movement.

Minecraft and Makers Video Recording

http://bit.ly/1c40VaW

43:56 -1:01:37

Challenge Designers

Sherry Jones, rgMOOC, Rhetoric and Philosophy Faculty

Steve Getter, rg MOOC a.k.a. TheGameMole

Congratulations to the Minecraft Challenge winner giraffee619! You can see a screenshot of her winning build at bit.ly/1dBsLrV.

VSTE Social on Second Life

Hosted by: Laura Briggs, VSTE Island Faciliator

SIGML Professional Development Chair

After wrapping up in Minecraft we headed over to VSTE Island (Virginia Society for Technology in Education) http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/VSTE%20Island/59/110/24 for a Minecraft themed social in Second Life. This was also be the online pre-conference event for the annual VSTE conference which started on Sunday.

The Second Life Social environment was built by Vasili Giannoutsos (Bluebarker Lowtide in SL) VSTE designer, VSTE member, and Inevitable Instructor.

Flickr sites

If you would like to see any additional screenshot from the Minecraft UnSymposium, please go to the following Flickr groups.

ISTE SIGVE http://www.flickr.com/groups/sigve/

Makers, Hackers and Gamers

http://www.flickr.com/groups/makershackersgamers/

Spring 2014 Mission for Minecraft and More

The Minecraft mission has not ended, instead look for us to be working on these projects and holding additional events throughout the new year.

1)Crowdsource, a one page document that teacher can give their administrators on using Minecraft in their classroom to be distributed electronically and on site at the ISTE 2014 Conference. http://bit.ly/1avcD8a

2)Crowdsource a 5 – 10 page white paper on Minecraft in education to be distributed electronically and on site at the ISTE 2014 Conference. http://bit.ly/19f3bGg

3)Brainstorm the logistics of a virtual and geographically located Minecraft themed Hackathon on Friday April 4 and April 5, 2014. http://bit.ly/1c9rypC

4)Crowdsource an annotated bibliography of Minecraft academic research.

Hello Everyone!

Spring has arrived – FINALLY, and have we got a VEJ issue for you worth gobbling up and sharing with everyone you know! This has to be the MOST FUN issue that we have ever published! Why? Because in this issue we are introducing you to members of the elite AVATAR GENERATION. As we all know, avatars are still foreign to the majority of the population. Yet, in this issue of VEJ we have 10 of some of our best friends and mentors in Virtual Worlds who open up about the person behind the avatar. . . or, is it the avatar that fronts the person? You tell me! LOL

If I wasn't an educator, I would probably have chosen anthropology and archeology as my career (something you probably didn’t know about me). Perhaps that is why I find the stories about who the virtual trailblazers are and what they do and learn in virtual environments so fascinating.

One of the most important purposes for VEJ and a reason I am so passionate about our existence is that we are able to document and archive the culture, the people, and the artifacts – through what I call Digital Anthropology. Whether we are talking about the nomads traveling from virtual world to virtual world looking for a better life, the tribes that have started to put down roots, or settlers that have established communities of practice or built a highly sophisticated metropolis, there is a story to tell.

That is why I am so excited about this issue of VEJ. When we were planning this issue I wasn’t sure if people would open up and share themselves and their avatars with us. As Kraus, Zack, and Striker (2004, http://tinyurl.com/mqbqtc4) write, there is a whole new dimension of social behavior when looking at text relationships that includes what they call disinhibition, or when “people say and do things in cyberspace that they wouldn’t in the face-to-face world.” For example, often people either want to remain invisible and anonymous or believe they are. So, I am thrilled to have 10 educators speaking candidly about themselves and their avatars. It is inspiring to learn how the avatars we know and admire are alike and different from their owners – and what they have learned from each other! Barbara Truman/D’Lightful captures it wonderfully when she writes, “My avatar has made my life rich and blessed with a network of colleagues and friends from across the globe that I can access at almost any moment.” I am confident you are going to love reading all of these stories as much as I have! A HUGE THANKS to our Me & My Avatar authors for sharing themselves with us.

In addition I am especially proud that one of the fourth grade students at my school is sharing his work/play in “Minecraft: An Overview.” I would love to have more students of all ages sharing what they do and what they learn in virtual worlds, so please send those stories our way.

As always, devour this issue of VEJ and share it with your friends in whatever worlds you travel!

Keep Smiling J

Roxie Neiro (SL)

Rosie Vojtek (RL)

Virtual Education Journal April 2014

In This Issue

• An Interview with Gordon Holden by Scott Merrick

• Minecraft: An Overview by Noah Constantine

My Avatar & Me

Cover Photo by Vasili Giannoutsos, aka Bluebarker Lowtide

• Introducing Lorraine Mockford, aka LoriVonne Luster

• Introducing William Schmachtenberg, aka Dae Miami

• Introducing Vasili Giannoutsos, aka Bluebarker Lowtide

• Introducing Trevyn Slusser, aka Aubrey Ghoststar

• Introducing Scott Merrick, aka Scottmerrick Oh

• Introducing Kim Harrison, aka Thunder Insippo

• Introducing Kristina Thoennes, aka Kamoreo

• Introducing Beth O’Connell, aka Beth Ghostraven

• Drawing Out Student Potential Through Live Roleplay and NLP Theory by Fleet Goldenberg

• Reflections on Becoming Delightful by Barbara Truman

• Journey of the Avatar by Trevyn Slusser

• A Minecraft- like Virtual Mining Program by William F. Schmachtenberg

• Backstage @ VWBPE 14 by Bluebarker Lowtide

• The Maieutic Process of Editing by Angela Rizzo

• 9 Hours and Counting: Coding a Virtual Environment by Chris Luchs

• Hello and Welcome to Minecraft by Trevyn Slusser

• An Interview with James OReilly by Roxie Neiro

• Inevitable Betrayal Holds Spring Fashion Show

• Fingernails on a blackboard. .

• . by Matt Poole, aka Cyrus Hush

Coming in Next VEJ Issue – Guardians of the Grid

To Read VEJ online visit: http://www.virtualeducationjournal.com/ For more information about ISTE SIGVE/VEN or to join the fun, visit: http://sigve.iste.wikispaces.net/ Follow us on Twitter @VEJournal or #VEJournal

Classrooms Now Available for Colleges,

High Schools, or School Districts:

An interview with Gordon Holden

Heritage Christian Online School, Kelowna, British

Columbia, Canada

By Scott Merrick

Hi, friends. One Friday afternoon I called my good friend in Courtenay, B.C. I’m so glad we used Skype, not only because it was a free call, but because he could share his screen to demonstrate what we were to talk about – Gordon Holden’s promising work in two 3D, interactive platforms for immersive learning environments. Gordon first shared some exciting news he told me not to share, then we got down to the subjects of this interview Active Worlds and Unity3D. Go-go gadget, Gordon:

GH: So I’m sharing my screen.

SM: Yes I can see it’s beginning to update. There ya go.

SM: So just so I get the context right this is the college campus that you are working on?

GH: Yes, that’s right. We have two P-30 Worlds. One serves as a conference centre, the other for 15 or more individual classrooms, for 15 different concurrent classes.

GH: Okay, so this is our entry place to the conference part of the campus. Here one finds all the necessary information, everything from how to move around to where the conference rooms are. It’s probably a little bit bigger than it needs to be I kind of wanted to create an airport kind of place where people will come in and there will be signs saying what classroom to go to and who’s giving the lecture and that sort of thing.

GH: Let’s go into a classroom.

GH: So here’s the classroom. All these chairs can be filled [this room has about 40 seats]. In Active Worlds there’s a very, very powerful presentation program that no one seems to have been using. I think everyone who has been doing presentations has gone to other platforms and remain unaware of it.

SM: (laughs)

GH: I’m going to go up to the presentation tool and click. I can click on the live screen capture [button] and then click on any window open on my monitor. It’s now displayed inworld in the middle of the screen of each attendee.

SM: I see it. Cool. Yes.

GH: So any slide I want to show I can just display on the fly. There’s no need for uploading or converting or anything else. Within the platform you can also convert PowerPoints to slides, select them for a presentation, and show it. Here’s what that looks like. I’m going to go “Query Server” and “DL Presentation.”

GH: Here, you may have a presentation that you might normally do but only want to use maybe 20 slides from it, or 60. You can just choose. The nice thing about it is you are able to see what you are bringing up, which is always a problem when you are used to dealing with Slide01, Slide02 and you don’t know what they are (laughs).

SM: That’s wild.

GH: You can even click “Browse Images” and navigate to the one you want in a pop-up window on your computer, click it and that’s going to open up, right inworld.

SM: So it gives you a whole set of tools for presenting, and you can even create your presentation on the fly from a folder on your computer.

GH: Yes, and 500 people in the 15 classrooms are viewing and hearing it. Theoretically we could scale that up to 35,000 participants spread across 70 conference rooms, each one of these linked to breakout rooms for Q&A etc.

GH: When it comes to videos, I simply paste a link to YouTube, or any other provider, click on that and it comes up on a Web viewer frame.

SM: The web window within Active Worlds.

GH: Yes, anywhere on the web. The nice thing about it is that students can control this too, so the instructions can be “I want you to watch this

up to two minutes then we will stop and we will discuss it.” So that’s one way to do it if you are doing it to the conference. There is a whole other set of tools in the classrooms that I’ll show you in just a second. But the other thing is that I think is quite interesting, Scott, is that when you show anything in the Web window the links are all live. So you could bring up your lesson plan for the day and the students can work their way through it.

SM: Yeah, that’s way cooler than uploading a PowerPoint in Collaborate (Elluminate) and having all the links die. I remember the ISTE Leadership Symposium when a chief Blackboard officer told us “Our content isn’t very good. Then he added, it’s the best there is, but it isn’t very good [referring to the lack of interactivity]. I found that refreshing.

GH: Yes, despite their resources, they’ve dropped the ball. But moving on, with the many controls available you can lock the room when it’s full so students can’t come in and they can’t go out. We can force zoom for the audience, so that instead of looking around they are all looking at the screen, which of course is going to help with the bandwidth and such.

SM: Yes, sure.

GH: And you can call up the master control panel and show video this way, you are able to pause it and resume for all in the room. The teacher has more control. This is the strength of the second world where you can have up to 500 students spread across 15 classrooms. Each classroom can comfortably hold about 40 students. So between these two worlds you have the opportunity to have a school or conference operating with up to 1000 concurrent users at any given time.

SM: So it’s capped at 500?

GH: Yes, each one is currently capped at 500 but that’s just because of the number of servers that are serving it. If you wanted to increase this cap you could.

SM: Did you attend Philip Rosedale’s VWBPE keynote?

GH: No, I was crazy busy, but…

SM: I was too, and didn’t but I have listened to about the first half of his hour while multi-tasking at work and one of the things he proposed is a SETI-like program that would use thousands of networked computers that would bring thousands of servers to the task of serving up virtual worlds. You really ought to check that keynote out. I’ll actually look up that url while we are talking here.

GH: That would be great.

SM: [opens a browser and finds and copies/pastes into Skype http://vimeo.com/91582926 ]

GH: I had people requesting me to tape it.

SM: Actually I think Mal Burns machinima’d it – he did a really good job.

GH: Love that guy.

SM: He’s an active guy.

GH: Buy you know, Scott, even if Second Life continues to improve its technology, the array of challenges regarding adopting SL for education remains.

SM: And this Active World solution would certainly take care of that, wouldn’t it?

GH: Well, these AW worlds are secured by passwords and geared to being able to present and build. The learning curve is ridiculously easy, and there is no opportunity for nudity or the kind of social interactions that might distract from the purpose of education.

SM: Sounds like a good thing.

GH: Yeah, well, having inappropriate content can end up being a nightmare for the school, the school district, and for the parents. You just can’t have that happening if it’s easily avoided. And over here are

the screens [in carrel-like cubicles) for those who didn’t make your session. You can put all the stuff in there so that if they come in late they can review the session in these booths. The classes can be taped from within Active Worlds and replayed here. We’re trying build to leverage all the advantages of the platform. And when I say “we” most of the credit goes to Scott Miller, the guy who built the great majority of the Quest Atlantis builds.

SM: It’s looking amazing. Do you have a time frame for release?

GH: It’s up right now. All we really need are people who want to subscribe to it. A lot of colleges are going broke. They have to charge exorbitant fees to students and because of that they may only get 10 students to come in to a class and then they have to pay the professor for that class, plus all the overhead for that, building maintenance and such. They’ve been trying to deal with that by doing MOOCs, but there’s some kickback now about doing that and some colleges are turning them down. It’s just not acceptable to register 20,000 students for a MOOC and have 800 compete the course. We can’t go to that kind of model in distance learning. You know, that’s your job Scott.

SM: In some way it devalues the experience, doesn’t it? Until the perceived value of the experience is fairly nil.

GH: I think what they end up doing is taking worst practice and scaling it up. You’ve got your talking heads, right, and you don’t get any of the relationship. That’s the really important part about being part of a learning community. It’s very difficult to do with a MOOC. I know that they’re trying but I think they have just skipped over the possibilities of what I’m showing you right here.

GH: So, I’m hoping some colleges or DL schools are going to look at it and say, man…we can hire the best professors/teachers to run this thing 24/7. It can be international in scope. It doesn’t have to be their hours, there can be a graveyard shift. The cost could be relatively cheap. You get it I’m sure.

SM: Yes I do get it.

GH: Actually one of the things I have to do today is write up a requested two page summary for our Ministry of Education. They are constantly getting requests to build additional links onto their campuses, and of course their big worry is that right now you may have a need for additional space when two years from now you may not.

SM: Yes, it’ll start to look like many malls in the U.S. Empty spaces with tumbleweeds rolling through them. So why not build those additions with 1’s and 0’s?

GH: Yes, shoppers are getting their stuff through Amazon, right?

SM: Right.

GH: So it is with education, too. With distance learning a lot of what teachers do can be done virtually like this.

SM: So why not build those additions with 1’s and 0’s? Right?

GH: Yeah, and actually you could build one campus for an entire school district and everyone could use it.

SM: Yeah, that’s so obvious it can’t be seen.

GH: I do sit and shake my head at times at the myopic view that administrators have. When districts ask me what they should do to enter the 21st Century I tell them to have teachers nominate eleven and twelve year-olds to be the new Superintendent of Technology. They don’t like that, but the truth of it is that most twelve year-olds are going to have a much clearer perspective. In my experience, the biggest roadblock we have to bringing technology into the school districts are the people that are in charge of the technology. The constant roadblocks. They are constantly afraid of technologies that they are not familiar with.

GH: Anyway, I should show you Unity3D. You haven’t seen what we’re doing there have you?

SM: You know, I think you showed me but it was years ago, so show me what you’re up to.

GH: Okay, but of course Scott, I feel almost…well, I feel cheap because what we’re talking about here is direct instruction. I’ve come to a couple of conclusions about making any kind of progress with 3D interactive virtual learning environments.

GH: As a teacher said to me the other day, it’s such a paradigm shift that many teachers can’t get their heads around it. I’ve been trying to take the “baby steps” school’s superintendent has recommended, the reason for taking this intermediary step. All teachers are familiar with direct instruction. That’s what they do and they’re comfortable with. So just by giving them an environment like this, where they can do direct instruction and they don’t have to worry about anything else, it’s a first step. From there we can put teleports on the walls to interactive demonstrations of various simple machines. Now you’ve got active learning, rather than the passive learning. This should ALWAYS be the goal.

SM: Yes, so I sent you the link in chat to the keynote last week by Rosedale, and he said, surprisingly, though I probably should have intuited this, that the major obstacle keeping Second Life from having a billion users is the mouse. So that the new project he’s working on is mainly focused on the development of gesture controllers.

GH: Yeah, yeah, I’ve seen his work on facial recognition. But I think he’s got some other things he needs to work on first before he gets to a billion. I know as some people are saying that he really wants to do the education thing.

SM: He certainly spoke the speech, talked the talk, the other day.

GH: Yeah and now he has to walk the walk. But I think we’re about to see who is really ready to do that. Keep an ear open for upcoming announcements by Active Worlds. I’ve seen first-hand some of the pilot work being done. It’s phenomenal. Hardly a week goes by without updates.

[Gord has been changing platforms during the above discussion and is now in Unity. ]

GH: So this is our Heritage Village.

SM: Yes, that huge town square look reminds me a lot of a project I visited years ago in Second Life.

GH: Yes but this is just one object.

[Pregnant pause…]

SM: Wow!

GH: Yes, and in fact you can delete parts of it, so we deleted the building that’s here and put in the pizzeria. The idea being that you should be able to go into this pizzeria, and talk in French to the person that’s there, and order your pizza, taping the conversation, and sit down and have your pizza. So we’re doing this for language learning, obviously. Unity I call my “baby giant.” The reason why is that it’s not as powerful, it’s not as developed for education as its peers, but it’s just as strong in many ways. When it grows up however, it’s going to be scary powerful.

SM: Yeah, well those high end game designers who are building games with it are doing some pretty amazing 3D and realistic looking things with it.

GH: Yeah, now we just have to get that into education. So in here we can sit in a chair at a laptop and we can put links in there and…[pauses, opening some windows]…

SM: While you were messing with this I’ll mention that we’re about to open a little digital photography class exhibit by students in our small virtual world in Kitely. My Principal is actually quite excited about it and is saying we need to do some publicity around it, some press releases. So we may be on the cusp of a little breakthrough here in Nashville, too. Nothing like what you are doing, but finally…

GH: Oh good! Good. Nice one.

SM: Yeah it’s really a virtual virtual school.

GH: Okay, so now when we go to the bottom we can show the chat, then we can copy and paste into a new tab, and we can show anything we want that way. I’m hoping we will have a Web window like in Active Worlds over here to the right and we will be able to show the video there. Now we have an Elluminate object there so that students can click and a new tab will open where they can login and go right there. So if a teacher needs that additional level of interaction it’s there.

GH: I can put in up at the top of the Unity window a url entry field where I can put in my url for my presentation and just go to it and you will see it on the screen in Unity.

GH: I’m going to go out to the plaza now and after the direct instruction you as a student have a job to do, you are to conduct a conversation and record it in a machinima. And you notice there are no problems rendering off in the distance? It’s all one build. I’m going to go to the amphitheatre, off in the distance. I could fly there but I’ll use the link. Of course in this place here, we have seating for 100 students, so you can have 100 students at a time sitting in this amphitheatre, all listening to the professor speaking, all able to respond.

SM: So is this all your building your work?

GH: I have a few talented people working with me here Scott. People with a great deal of experience in SL who understand that many of the limitations there don’t apply here. I tell them what I need and they do their best to give it to me. I’m truly blessed to have Cynthia Stagner of Aeropine fame in Second Life working along side me on this project.

SM: Do they have students?

GH: No but they’re helping me build a platform that schools will want. This build is 60 times bigger than any Second Life build. And while we’re set up for a hundred here we could scale it for many more.

SM: Since it’s browser based the only limit might be bandwidth, right? Theoretically the server could be crashed.

GH: Indeed, but there are things you can do so that it works. It really does not take a lot of bandwidth. The water is currently being fixed so that when you go down into the water and hear it as it splashes around your feet and sends ripples across the water. As you can see it’s already pretty realistic, but nowhere near as much as it can be.

SM: It is.

GH: So with this new company I’m hoping to start by replicating this build. The basic stuff is here for schools to do meet with and instruct students. From there they can begin getting creative. Whatever they want they would just contract with us to add functionality. We could make many of these, adding on servers as needed. It’s not like Second Life in that way.

SM: Do you already have a pricing model for this?

GH: No, but there is a group in California who called me recently and said, “Gord, our historical sim is down and gone.” We’re rebuilding it for them in Unity3D and will have it running for them at a fraction of the cost in September.

SM: Well, we all know Linden Lab service has never been it strong suite.

GH: I can already tell you it is going to look significantly better and they’ll be able to do pretty much everything they could do in there without the issues. They have a vision of taking this national, which they could do.

SM: They totally could do. It’s just a url. That’s the beauty of it. Well this is just beautiful, man. I did a little work in Unity through ReactionGrid but never got anywhere near this far with it. I’m enjoying Kitely but again that’s OpenSim with at least a few of the same issues as Second Life.

GH: It’s just getting started but the boat in the water can be a ferry service going back and forth. But in addition to the interactivity and the scalability think of machinimas. What would you expect to see as I fly towards the town?

SM: Oh, it would be rendering as you approach.

GH: Exactly. But there’s none of that going on here. In fact as the build becomes more populated, we can turn on a feature that sets things in a prescribed distance as a 2D picture.

SM: And it looks just as good but it’s just more efficient.

GH: Exactly, right now it’s rendering everything in the distance, taking up bandwidth, but once you shorten that rendering distance up…it’s a is a brilliant strategy. And as you can see with this we’ve got plenty of room for movie theatres, restaurants, libraries…

SM: Bowling alleys.

GH: Anything you want we can put it in here. We’ve got room for it. And of course we can change the landscape at will.

SM: Just amazing, Gord.

GH: So anyway I don’t know if that’s enough for this article but between Active Worlds and Unity, we’ve got two platforms that are available for direct instruction.

SM: What is your…do you have a pricing model for your platforms?

GH: They should probably contact me, I have people I need to consult.

SM: Okay.

GH: But I can tell you that through Active Worlds Europe, what I’ve shown you comes out to around $14,000 base cost. If you’re serving 5,000 students on your campus or district, the cost would likely come out to no more than 5 dollars per student annually. That’s with P30 worlds, not with a universe. If we had a universe we could replicate those two worlds many times at a fraction of the cost.

SM: And that might bring your price point down a bit?

GH: Yeah, definitely.

SM: Well get that universe, buddy.

GH: Yeah, that’s my hope.

SM: Yes, I was going to bring up Quest Atlantis but we’re running out of time. Maybe we can add that piece for the next issue of VEJ. That is a complex and definitely promising piece for those interested in education in 3D, interactive, immersive learning environments… To be continued?

GH: Indeed.

You can reach Gord Holden at: gholden@onlineschool.ca 250-334-3676

Skype : gord.holden Twitter: @GordHolden http://immersivetechnology4learning.ning.com/ Heritage Christian Online School

“The axiom used to be ‘When the student is ready, the teacher appears.’ Today? It’s more likely the opposite that's true.”

Gordon Holden

How, when, and why did you get started exploring virtual worlds? What virtual worlds do you find yourself actively engaged in using?

I became interested in virtual worlds after watching a CBC news item about Simon Stevens and his SL nightclub, Wheelies, in Novemeber 2006. I created an avatar right away, and Simon became one of my first friends. Along the way I discovered many persons with disabilities using virtual worlds to play and work.

I remain active in Second Life, and have a presence across other VWs, especially Kitely, InWorldz, and OS Grid.

Please introduce your main/primary Avatar.

SL Rez date: 11 Nov 2006

I work inworld with Virtual Ability, Inc as a voice to text transcriptionist.

I have also been involved with Virtual Worlds Best Practices In Education conference since 2007, currently the 2014 Communications Chair.

I love exploring new places, shopping hunts, and dancing with friends.

If you have more than one Avatar, please share with us another favorite Avatar.

Across worlds I use my SL "numbers" to shape my avatar. I also use the same name. This is my VW identity.

How are you and your Avatar(s) alike and different?

The line is pretty blurry. I do not refer to my avatar in the 3rd person. Being present in virtual worlds extends my interactions globally.

What were some of your most challenging experiences as a newbie and what kept you coming back into the virtual worlds?

My first experiences were very difficult. My computer could not handle the graphics so lag was dreadful. I was not a gamer so had no idea how to move or talk or interact. Mentors were so helpful, and I took every course inworld I could find. I still remember taking a building course and realizing the av next to me was a giant dragon! Totally freaked me out. I eventually became an SL Mentor to give back to the community.

What have you taught your Avatar? What has your Avatar taught you?

I have learned to be persistent and try new things. Through my interactions in VWs I have become more patient.

My meeting management skills have improved and I have learned how to use tools like google docs.

How have you and your Avatar(s) grown/changed over time?

My avatar looks like my idealized self.

What is your GREATEST feat/accomplishment working together and through your Avatar(s)?

The wonderful people I have met in VWs, that have moved into physical life relationships, personally and professionally.

What has been your most interesting and/or exciting moment or experience working with and through your Avatar(s)?

Hard to choose just one, but I would say it is being

involved with VWBPE over the years. You never know who you will meet.

Approximately how much time each week do you spend working and playing in virtual worlds with your Avatar(s)?

2-3 hours per week.

Tell us about the future plans for "You and your Avatar(s)"?

I will continue to look for new challenges and engagements that blur the line between worlds.

Please list your contact information - the best way for us to reach you.

Lorraine_mockford@yahoo.ca

LoriVonne Lustre in SL

LV Lustre in OS Grid

Lorraine Mockford in Kitely

Introducing William Schmachtenberg (rl), aka Dae Miami (sl)

Please introduce yourself in real life (rl).

I live in Rocky Mount, Virginia, USA. I teach high school Earth Science and college Geology. I own a company called Educational Virtual Worlds (www.evwllc.co) and produce apple apps for education.

How, when, and why did you get started exploring virtual worlds? What virtual worlds do you find yourself actively engaged in using?

I originally started playing Myst back in 1993. In 2004, I started playing Uru with my son. By 2009, I was creating worlds in Uru

and even did a sim for NASA in 2010 and 2011. By 2011, I moved to Unity 3d, so I could create virtual worlds for mac as well as pcs. I have been in Second Life since 2010 for professional networking.

Please introduce your main/primary Avatar.

My main avatar is Dae Miami and my rezz date is July 19, 2010. I spend most of my time attending ISTE, VSTE, and VP meetings. I also have a geology museum at the JMU sim.

How are you and your Avatar(s) alike and different?

Dae is a lot better dancer on sl than I am in rl. Aren't we all?

What were some of your most challenging experiences as a newbie and what kept you coming back into the virtual worlds?

I first came into sl in 2009 and did not have a good experience. I did not have such good friends as I do now, and I was not sure where to even hang out. I logged out and did not come back until I had good friends in 2010 when I found ISTE and VSTE.

What have you taught your Avatar? What has your Avatar taught you?

Dae has taught me to expand my horizons and enjoy virtual environments. Dae makes connections in virtual worlds that I cannot make in rl.

How have you and your Avatar(s) grown/changed over time?

Dae is an extension of myself. I can do more with Dae than I can in rl. Dae is more outgoing and social than I am in rl.

What is your GREATEST feat/accomplishment working together and through your Avatar(s)?

VSTE Day during the Summer of 2013. It was my first presentation that I did in rl and sl simultaneously. Only 6 people showed up at my rl presentation locally in Virginia, but 29 people showed up on the VSTE sim in sl from California to Japan. I also did a presentation with a Japanese scientist, Yan Lauria, on a multiplayer unity sim a few months ago. It was an honor to work with him.

What has been your most interesting and/or exciting moment or experience working with and through your Avatar(s)?

A few weeks ago, I gave a tour to VSTE at my geology museum at the JMU sim in sl. I have also enjoyed spending time with my high school and college students in Uru, sl, and my multiplayer unity sims.

The MIWoSE ( Monthly International Workshop of Science Exhibits) with the scientist in Japan. We did an international competition and scientist and educators in North America beat their counterparts in Asia and Europe with a score of 305 to 225.

Approximately how much time each week do you spend working and playing in virtual worlds with your Avatar(s)?

Probably about an hour a day mostly attending ISTE, VP, and VSTE meetings. But it is fun hanging out with friends on sl, too.

Tell us about the future plans for "You and your Avatar(s)"?

My latest accomplish is Voxel editing in Unity3d. In a separate article in this issue of VEJ, I discuss how you can do virtual mining.

I am active in Unity 3D. I am working with my students to create virtual worlds in Unity 3D, and we hope to release that on the web, android, and IOS soon.

Please list your contact information - the best way for us to reach you.

wschmachtenberg@gmail.com www.evwllc.co

Dae Miami (sl)

[The rl picture is me on top of Bald Knob leading a field trip. Bald Knob was an underwater volcano in Virginia. The sl picture is of Dae in front of my geology museum at the JMU sim.]

Introducing Vasili Giannoutsos (RL), aka Bluebarker Lowtide (SL)

Left to right, "Name" - World: "tao_jiunshin_2fur" - Gaia/zOMG, "Roboto" - Champions Online: Free For All, "ColdShoulder" - APB Reloaded, "Bluebarker Lowtide" - Second Life, "Vasili Giannoutsos" - Real Life, "Edgymage" - Final Fantasy XI, "Lowtide" - World of Warcraft, "Bluebarker" - TERA Rising Online, "Bluebarker" – Minecraft.

Please introduce yourself in real life (rl).

I am an Instructional/Graphic Designer that lives on the East Coast in North America. I have dynamic 2D/3D design and modeling experience for print/web/mobile mediums.

How, when, and why did you get started exploring virtual worlds? What virtual worlds do you find yourself actively engaged in using?

I got into virtual worlds back in 2002 with Second Life virtual world and the FFXI MMORPG game. In high school I was fairly aloof, and I was often far too shy to make friends so I found other ways to reach out and socialize in a way that was most comfortable for me. Going into these massive worlds where I had control over my appearance and could go practically anywhere, it was a great way for me to hide behind an avatar and be able to socialize with other real people instead of just getting lost in reading books.

Please introduce your main/primary Avatar.

Well, my first avatar in Second Life was in the fall-winter of 2002 and FFXI was in the summer of 2003. Well, in Second Life I am kind of an inhouse Builder and Facilitator for the educational groups of ISTE and VSTE whom have SL presences and sim lands.

My closet thing to a home would be a sandbox where people can build within Second Life.

If you have more than one Avatar, please share with us another favorite Avatar.

I have a high level Tauren Hunter in the Inevitable Betrayal Guild in World of Warcraft. Well, he probably lives somewhere in Pandaria because he spends most of his time there trying to grind for higher level gear. I like to collect blue colored pets.

If you have more than one Avatar, please share with us another favorite Avatar.

It probably pains me to say this, but I probably have spent more time in Tera Online than I have in Minecraft. I tend to carry the same name/ name variation through my avatars to help identify me more easily. Though at this rate my time for a third avatar is split between looking into lots of different virtual worlds as I explore some of the new things out there, like Everquest Next Landmark, The Secret World (which just became free-to-play), Elder Scrolls Online, Wildstar Online, Marvel Heroes, Team

Fortress 2 and Champions Online. I have also started to look at MOBA Games, which have rich, active communities (such as League of Legends and Infinite Crisis). So to pin down a 3rd avatar at this time would be an injustice.

How are you and your Avatar(s) alike and different?

Well, I'm sure one of the most obvious differences is the visual menagerie that I have gravitated towards. What I mean to say that my avatars tend to be anything else but humans – mostly anthropomorphic animals. I also have robots, insects and aliens that keep me from having an avatar that looks human. Well, the short answer is that I have more creative freedom to openly express myself. But, the truth of the matter is I already am Human. I live and breathe it everyday. In virtual worlds, in these computer-generated worlds, the possibilities are practically limitless. Why would I limit myself to work only within the confines of being human when I can be so much more?

Probably the avatar that I can consider to be my Primary Avatar, because it has the most clocked time and I have the most connection with, is the blue-colored husky that most of my online friends would probably associate with my name. I mean other than appearances I would like to think they all share similar qualities as they do tend to act like me. But they can be much more braver and courageous than I could ever be in real life. They tend to be more outgoing and don't get as tongue tied as I can be. They have probably gone to more bars and clubs then I have ever dared to go to. And above all, they dance way better than I ever could!

As far as favoritism is concerned, I kind of like all of them about the same. I am sure a part of me feels they are all the same thing. Just because I can change the outside, doesn't mean I can change who they are on the inside. Though the one that probably has the most screen shots, the one that is the most well received, and the one that is what I would consider my legacy if I had one, would be the blue husky. They can all be so much more than I could ever be.

What were some of your most challenging experiences as a newbie and what kept you coming back into the virtual worlds?

Well, being a hardcore gamer way back when – I mean you just have to get used to the user interface and learn the terminology. Once you know where everything is, its kind of a cakewalk. I operate under a fairly "No Fear" technology approach, where I am not afraid to try new things so I go right in. Though my hunters would disagree, I am definitely more careful and cautious and when there are signs of things going wrong, Feign Death!

I have a background in computer animation, so building in virtual worlds and the mindset for that just came natural to me. Though to learn some of the more finesse, attending Builder's Brewery classes were a great place to learn the finer points of Building in Second Life. When I first stumbled into my real first MMORPG with FFXI back in 2003, there weren't really a whole lot of videos tutorials or how-to’s at the time. You had to read the forums and explore the different wiki sites that had info on quests and mob drops – that sort of thing.

What have you taught your Avatar? What has your Avatar taught you?

I can't say that I have taught them anything because by extension they are me. My avatars, however, have taught me a great deal. They have helped me to be a better person and have helped me find my voice. I have far too long operated under the whole “flying under the radar” –meaning, if I don't bring attention to myself, people won't think to talk to me. So, I've found corners to hide in to avoid others. But you can't "lurk" through life. It is an empty, unfulfilled existence.

They talk about how being glued to your computer will make you the introvert, but for me I have experienced the exact opposite. I was once the very textbook definition of an introvert; fearfully bashful and socially awkward. But now I am way more outgoing and willing to take charge and able to give my input. I feel I have come a long way from not really wanting to talk to anyone and being afraid of every social encounter I would ever have. It has been a change for the better that has done me a great deal of good.

How have you and your Avatar(s) grown/changed over time?

Well, the more comfortable I got in social situations the more things I was willing to try. I was able to explore more, start conversations with people I would have never have thought I would, and I have made friends with them. I like how Virtual Worlds kind of gives everyone a level playing field. I mean, sure you have the differences in levels, gears and classes. But, the one thing that I have found is that no matter what online environment you are in, all the users share the same common passion or interest of being together and working together to meet a goal.

When you are in the dark real world you find that things are not always as it seems. It’s so hard to judge people. At least in virtual worlds, one can feel that everyone is behind their own avatar to be in place of themselves. A different name, a different appearance; you don't have to worry about telling people about yourself. You kind of have that freedom to just be you. You can connect with anyone from all over because so many barriers have been broken down. As far as material things go, I like having Mesh clothing and objects – though I am learning how to do it as we speak.

What is your GREATEST feat/accomplishment working together and through your Avatar(s)?

Well, I know that I wouldn't have ever been able to reach the end game of an MMORPG without all the awesome help, advice and encouragement that comes with being apart the great Inevitable Betrayal Guild. I have always played games for fun, never to be the best or to prove something. Reaching the level cap for a game is something I had never done before and even playing FFXI I never got to the level cap. So that was a huge deal for me! In general, Second Life has helped me overcome many anxieties I had when meeting new people while being able to put myself out there and find people who I can really connect with.

What has been your most interesting and/or exciting moment or experience working with and through your Avatar(s)?

I think this one goes back to Second Life. I had just created a camera alt for when I make machinimas, and I was going around and collecting some freebie items available only to really new avatars. I walked by a group that I had been too often. There were three people there that I knew and had seen regularly around the sim. I won't say where or who for obvious reasons. But I didn't say who I was and just entered the conversation. We were talking about philosophy and sociology and why the younger generation gaps were having such a hard time relating to older generations. Needless to say, it was a very active discussion with everyone participating. I left out my typing quirks and I found it fascinating that these people didn't know who I was and were still carrying on this conversation with this complete stranger. It was fascinating to see that (depending on where you are/go) that you can be engaged and treated equally, not based or judged on what your avatar looks like or by your avatar name. It was a wonderful experience of tolerance and equality.

Approximately how much time each week do you spend working and playing in virtual worlds with your Avatar(s)?

Oh, that's a good question. Well, usually after work I spend either 5 or 6 hours depending on what I have left to do. I come right home, eat dinner and get online. I usually don't go to bed until a little after midnight.

So probably 38+ hours including weekends in virtual worlds and MMORPGs.

Tell us about the future plans for "You and your Avatar(s)"?

Well. . . I am still investigating different online worlds and communities. I am trying to understand the dynamics of game design and the communities that spawn from them. I am looking forward to the new releases of Elder Scrolls Online (MMO), Wildstar Online (MMO), High Fidelity (VW), and Everquest Next (MMO). Not to mention, getting higher ilvl Tier Gear for my next Goal in WoW.

Please share anything else you would like VEJ readers to know about you and your Avatar(s).

I know people think at first glance that having different avatars can be strange and a little weird, but behind each avatar is a person just like you regardless of how they choose to represent themselves. When I am picking an avatar in second life, I take everything into consideration and emulate how I feel that day – it’s a great indication of the mood I am in. And, I don't pick things at random. Everything has a deliberate reason for it. Though that is just me, it doesn't mean you have to do the same. Whatever the reason is for you to join virtual worlds or any other online environment, know that there are real people behind each avatar and username. They all have real feelings and lives. There isn't any reason to be mean or to judge others based on appearance alone. If you stop and talk with them, you will probably discover you have more in common than you think.

Please list your contact information - the best way for us to reach you.

vgiannoutsos@gmail.com , (RL) Vasili Giannoutsos, (SL) Bluebarker Lowtide

Introducing Trevyn Slusser (rl),

Please introduce yourself in real life (rl).

Hello I'm Trevyn. I work as an Instructional Design Assistant at CCCOnline along with Front Range Community College. I enjoy gardening, reading, knitting, cooking and video games. I read anything from mystery to biographies. I like cooking sweets and savory foods mostly.

How, when, and why did you get started exploring virtual worlds? What virtual worlds do you find yourself actively engaged in using?

My first introduction to virtual worlds was in 2007 when my friends convinced me to start playing on Gaia Online. It was my first social media site as well. I then progressed slowly up the food

chain I suppose. I was introduced to Second Life shortly before I started working in Online learning. From there it was the Minecraft beta version.

I've only been on WoW the last couple years. All of these play a role in my life, satisfying different interest I have. While WoW gives me my need for variety of game play with the various classes and races, Minecraft gives me a sort of stability and freedom. I typically use Second Life for work rather than pleasure. I often find myself playing different mods in Minecraft or a different character depending on my mood.

Please introduce your main/primary Avatar.

I have lots of avatars (23 at my last count) but only a few hold a special place in my heart.

(2012)There is Hexaria, the beautiful Shadow Priestess. The only thing more stunning than her looks is her sarcasm. Having lost most of her memories in the crash she barely remembers her home before coming to Azaroth and searches for any one who may remember her. Some times she hears a voice in her dreams calling to her. Was it a lover, a family member, maybe even a friend? Only time will tell as Hexaria searches the world for herself.

If you have more than one Avatar, please share with us another favorite Avatar.

If I had to pick another avatar with a good story would be my Worgen from WoW. I have found I do favor my Alliance members.

(2012)Adriax, A long living member of Gilneas society from the house of Oleander. Adriax and his family have all been in the service to the king Lord Greymane as his spies and assassins. He kept with tradition even after losing them all to the war. As the last of the house of Oleander he did his utmost to protect the lives of Gilneas. After being cursed as a Worgren, Adriax often thought of his shame. To him the house of Oleander had died the day he was cursed. With the fall of his homeland to the forsaken he now searches to redeem himself and reclaim his honor both as a man and a beast.

If you have more than one Avatar, please share with us another favorite Avatar.

Well next on my list would be Yinchi my Pandaren hunter.

(2012)Yinchi, once a humble pandaren, with little interest in the outside world of the traveling isle. But when adventure called his name he couldn't help but heed its call. Now he explores the world that once held no interest to him, searching for rare companions as well as the answer to a question he fears to ask, such as, "Can I ever go back to that life?"

How are you and your Avatar(s) alike and different?

Similarities are kinda deep. In order:

Hexaria- the search for something lost.

Adriax- something changed us both and not necessarily of our free will.

Yinchi- the question, could we ever go back to what we thought and knew before?

Differences:

Hexaria- I'm less sarcastic. She tends to more gruff to people than I am.

Adriax- He has a lot more angst than I do. He clings to things that make him angry instead of actually moving on. I cling to things that make me happier.

Yinchi- He's a talking panda....yeah that's all I got for that. Well, I'm not a hunter but I tend to find the rare gems that become great friends.

What were some of your most challenging experiences as a newbie and what kept you coming back into the virtual worlds?

I think the challenge for me was not going where I was out of my level. I went anyway, though. Gaming tends to be second nature to me. I grew up with gameboy and nintendos so adapting to controls and strategy wasn't an issue. As I continued, I found dungeons were very hard – as I tend to play alone. I went anyway, though. hehe.

What have you taught your Avatar? What has your Avatar taught you?

I think for this, WoW is again the best example, as you can choose your class and specialties. I feel I taught Hexaria how to push forward and be a well-rounded person when she chose to be a shadow priest. And, she taught me to be me, no matter what.

Aubrey Ghoststar (sl), flying

Going back to the question of our similarities, I feel it's like two stories the cross over when I play. While we both search what it is we lost, we still need to be us.

How have you and your Avatar(s) grown/changed over time?

Certainly time changes everything. They learn and so do you in game play. I already mentioned how we connect and how our lives over lap.

What is your GREATEST feat/accomplishment working together and through your Avatar(s)?

I would have to go with Yinchi on this one. As a hunter, I tend to go searching for rare beasts to join me. I feel a great thrill when I manage to be lucky enough to get my hands (or paws in his case) on one. I guess I find myself to be unlucky a lot of the time in real life so experiencing good luck in any form is enthusiastically welcomed.

What has been your most interesting and/or exciting moment or experience working with and through your Avatar(s)?

I would say learning their different cultures and interests has been the most interesting.

Approximately how much time each week do you spend working and playing in virtual worlds with your Avatar(s)?

A couple hours a week for work (Minecraft mostly)

For regular game play it varies from 6 to 10 hours a week split between WoW, Minecraft, Gaia Online, Star Wars the Old Republic and most recently Spore. Minecraft and WoW are the most heavily played.

Tell us about the future plans for "You and your Avatar(s)"?

I plan to keep exploring! To see all there is to see and do all there is to do. These are literally whole new worlds and they deserve to be explored to the fullest! We will grow, thrive and live and see whatever it throws at us!

Please share anything else you would like VEJ readers to know about you and your Avatar(s).

Not really but thank you for asking. Pretty much everything is up there.

Please list your contact information - the best way for us to reach you.

Email-

Trevyn.Slusser@gmail.com

SL: Aubrey Ghoststar

MC: Oracle250

Please introduce yourself in real life (rl). I'm Scott Merrick. I pushed for founding SIGVE (VEN) in ISTE back in 2009, and we've come a long way since. I work as v-Lead

Teacher, Academy Coach, v-Learning Support Specialist, and what else? Oh, MNPS All-Stars Lead Learner at MNPS Virtual School in Nashville, Tennessee. We are the first public virtual school in Tennessee and one of the highest achieving (and coolest) schools in the state. I fish, I play mandolin, banjo, and guitar. I am proudest of being a parent of two talented, complicated, creative young people. All my connection ability is at http://about.me/scottmerrick, so go for it.

How, when, and why did you get started exploring virtual worlds? What virtual worlds do you find yourself actively engaged in using?

I spent some considerable time in the early Active Worlds (a little known fact) to the extent that I had a home there and led a team of middle schooler's in a Dell Technology Leadership challenge 'way back in 2004, in which their project, to build a virtual rendition of University School of Nashville in Active Worlds, won six Dell workstations for the school. I got into Second Life about 2005, had a romping good time as an anonymous avatar for a couple years, then discovered ISTE in there. I opted for transparency partly to help brand my name and partly to keep me out of trouble (;-) and the rest is history. Wait. That was history. Whatever.

Please introduce your main/primary Avatar.

Just had my 7th Rez Day, April 2 is the date, 2007 was the year. I like to explore lush woodsy builds on my Chatnoir horse. It's relaxing and interesting. And I loved hosting the ISTE Speaker Sessions so remarkably begun by the legendary KJ Hax and carried on after me by the even more legendary Andy Wheelock, aka Spiff Whitfield. Along with the esteemed publishers of this merry digital rag and others I suffered through the rather painful process of the disintegration of ISTE Island and helped with the founding of our beautiful HQ rental at http://tinyurl.com/istesigve. I can still be found there most Tuesday nights, learning from those who are younger.

If you have more than one Avatar, please share with us another favorite Avatar.

Scott Merrick is my Kitely avatar and he's a busy bee. We're opening an art show next week in MNPS VIrtual World I in Kitely and I'm hoping to FINALLY help get some kids in there. I've been just about to do it for a decade, it seems, and now's the time. Get in Kitely and search MNPS and you'll find it.

Scott Merrick wearing hard hat in MNPS Virtual World I (Kitely).

How are you and your Avatar(s) alike and different?

They're pretty much the same guy, only Scottmerrick Oh looks more like Scott Merrick than Scott Merrick does. What?

What were some of your most challenging experiences as a newbie and what kept you coming back into the virtual worlds?

My most daunting challenge was doing that ISTE Island thing mentioned above. It was painful, collaborative, and . . . painful. The final outcome is a testament to compromise in the service of innovation. Meeting friends for the first time at ISTE Island and SIGVE has been the best--truly the best--reward of perseverance. Also, I might add that the closure of the Opensim Reaction Grid

hurt a bunch after spending much time and effort developing in there. Oh well, I learned . . . I came into this live (these lives) with nothing and will leave with same. The SIGVE Playground at the annual ISTE Conference has been a great joy, dating from the time it was the Second Life Playground.

What have you taught your Avatar? What has your Avatar taught you?

I have taught my avatar not to sweat the small stuff. I'm now working with him to learn about sculpy creation and mesh. There's a lot to learn. My avatar taught me that whether one is an avatar or a meatspace human, dedication that is not honest is not genuine, and that that is, is. We continue to exercise that philosophy.

How have you and your Avatar(s) grown/changed over time?

We've gotten older. REALLY older. I don't think my avatar wakes up and goes to sleep with sore muscles and a tired brain every day of his life, and he always seems to be able to get up after a fall, brushing himself off. I have no trouble falling IRL but it's getting harder to get back up. I wish I could fly like my avatar, and I wish he could feel the snuggle of a honey like I do in real life. Nanny. Nanny. Booboo, Mr. Oh.

What is your GREATEST feat/accomplishment working together and through your Avatar(s)?

Founding ISTE SIGVE, morphing it away from its mothership, the Gaming SIG, with the clear and simple argument that this is not a game. I was proud to see that slogan on a tee-shirt at the Leadership Symposium in San Antonio last year (perhaps the last one at an annual ISTE). It's not a game, folks. It's a space comprised of places.

What has been your most interesting and/or exciting moment or experience working with and through your Avatar(s)?

I enjoyed meeting Philip Rosedale at a Second Life Community Conference in Tampa, FL, some years ago. He's truly charismatic and I recommend his biography, whose name escapes me at the mo'. That's where I first read the great story about the Enterprise door he built as a young boy for his bedroom by installing a

garage door opener in the attic over his bedroom. I also enjoyed meeting people there in the flesh for the first time. I had some great fun, and challenges, attempting a startup with two friends met in Second Life, MUVERS, where we attempted to get fair compensation from universities interested in medical simulations. I lost at least one of those friends in that effort and have lost touch with the other. It's not a game, folks.

Approximately how much time each week do you spend working and playing in virtual worlds with your Avatar(s)?

Oh, asldkffd;lsfjk hours or so. It varies, seeming to happen in waves. Been in Kitely a lot lately spiffing up (sic) the school space for the art opening. It's a very modest show, nothing like the immense Artclectic recreation I did years ago in Second Life.

Tell us about the future plans for "You and your Avatar(s)"?

We will survive. I want to learn more about Minecraft and how to tap into my school's students using it, especially since we're moving into 7th and 8th grade online next year. I'm quite interested in the ongoing success of VEJ as well, and immensely thankful for the time and energy Rosie and Bob put into it. Rock

they do. I'm also waiting on the edge of my seat for just what Gord Holden is going to break out soon. You should be, too. [Be sure to read the interview between Scott and Gord in this issue of VEJ]

Please share anything else you would like VEJ readers to know about you and your Avatar(s).

I forgot to mention the what should be a legendary "SLedupotential" 3 hour workshop session that I organized and presented at an ISTE years ago billed as "3 hours with 9 educators from 9 states." It was a true rush wrangling all those talented high-energy, high-maintenance educational innovators. And, I'll never forget it. https://sledupotential.wikispaces.com/is still up. If you google, SLedupotential, there's a buncho stuff, including videos and lots of pics. This was back when ISTE was still called NECC. Yep, we're old!

Please list your contact information - the best way for us to reach you. scott@scottmerrick.net

Students' photography exhibit in Kitely @ MNPS

Please introduce yourself in real life (rl).

I'm Kim Harrison, a computer resource specialist in Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA. I work with teachers, students and administrators at one elementary school helping them with their technology needs. We used to call it technology integration; now it's a part of life.

Teachers have an idea but aren't quite sure which tools are the best to use and I help get the conversation started. They are as likely as I am sometimes to come up with the applications students end up using. I'm the gal with the time and resources to create directions for students, teach the application-based minilesson if needed, and help work out the bugs in our plan as the students carry it out.

How, when, and why did you get started exploring virtual worlds? What virtual worlds do you find yourself actively engaged in using?

I received my first web enabled handheld device, an iPod, for Christmas 2007. I subscribed to some educational podcasts right away and enjoyed listening to people like Alan November and David Warlick. In January I had some minor surgery that kept me home from work for two weeks. Having heard about Second Life in these podcasts I decided to give it a try. I found ISTE, DEN, and even a VSTE area eventually. I was hooked in about two weeks. I've tried some other open sims like Jokaydia, Reaction Grid, and Science Island, but none compared with SL. I have also dabbled in Minecraft but not with students.

I'm most active in World of Warcraft these days having followed some close SL friends into it. I find that I like having objectives and opportunities to level and accomplish achievements. I currently have two level 90 toons with four or more others slowly climbing the ranks.

Please introduce your main/primary Avatar.

My primary avatar in Second Life is Thunder Insippo. Thunder was born January 19, 2008 and lives on VSTE Island where I am

one of the original four coordinators. I'm part of a flexible team of folks who plan weekly meetings that include tours, guest speakers, book talks, celebrations, networking for educators and friends.

If you have more than one Avatar, please share with us another favorite Avatar.

Thunkin is my level 90 blood elf priest in World of Warcraft. I think I started around Halloween or Thanksgiving in 2012. Thunkin is a tailor and herbalist. She can create clothing from cloth for herself and other toons in WOW. She gathers herbs and sells or gives them to toons who use them to create potions or enchant things. Currently she is working on reputation with the August Celestials so that I can earn the recipe to make the largest bag, to hold inventory, in the game called the Royal Satchel. I'll be able to make them for my friends and sell them in the Auction House to make gold. When I'm not working on a mission like this I like to collect pets in WOW.

If you have more than one Avatar, please share with us another favorite Avatar.

Two other favorite toons in WOW are Thunkim and Thunkit. Thunkim is a level 80+ Pandarian (panda) Shaman who is best friends with Starrymoon, an 80+ Pandarian Hunter. Thunkim and Starry have "Panda Playtime" on Saturday mornings and work on questing and achievements together. It's a great time for the humans behind the toons, Kim and Mary, to share what is going on at our respective elementary schools in two different states. Thunkit is a level 71 Dwarf Paladin. She has a similar friendship and regular meeting time with another Dwarf Paladin.

How are you and your Avatar(s) alike and different?

When I'm in a virtual world I am still myself.

What were some of your most challenging experiences as a newbie and what kept you coming back into the virtual worlds?

I was almost scared off by sexual content that was in my face on Welcome

Island in SL. I discussed it with others who had tried SL before me and not stayed and we decided to go in together in search of educators.

What have you taught your Avatar? What has your Avatar taught you?

I believe hiding behind my avatar enabled me to try some leadership skills I may have been afraid to exercise beforehand. Those skills have bled over into the rest of my life.

How have you and your Avatar(s) grown/changed over time? My avatars are me.

What is your GREATEST feat/accomplishment working together and through your Avatar(s)?

I'm proud of my role in VSTE and on VSTE Island. I've met some very nice people and made new friendships I'm sure will last throughout my lifetime.

What has been your most interesting and/or exciting moment or experience working with and through your Avatar(s)?

I have enjoyed the presentations I have facilitated. Early on it was exciting to introduce Kathy Schrock to the VSTE Island group gathered at our pavilion. It was also heartwarming to help throw a VSTE fundraiser last spring and raise over $800 for the VSTE organization.

Approximately how much time each week do you spend working and playing in virtual worlds with your Avatar(s)?

I spend at least an hour a day in virtual worlds, primarily WOW.

Tell us about the future plans for "You and your Avatar(s)"?

I will continue to do what I'm doing – enjoying the networking in Second Life and playing in WOW.

Please list your contact information - the best way for us to reach you.

Kim Harrison K4sons@gmail.com

Thunder Insippo in SL

Thunkin on Sisters of Elune server in WOW

Introducing Kristina Thoennes, aka Kamoreo on the Sisters of Elune server in World of Warcraft

Please introduce yourself in real life (rl).

I am Kristina Thoennes, a Media Coordinator (aka school librarian, teacher librarian, etc.) in North Carolina. I enjoy knitting, reading, walking, and playing games.

How, when, and why did you get started exploring virtual worlds? What virtual worlds do you find yourself actively engaged in using?

I became hooked on World of Warcraft a few years ago after my teenager talked me into getting it if she got all A’s one quarter. Now she never plays, and I play all the time. I played solo at first,

enjoying the quests and building my character. When my brother said it was all just a treadmill, I quit for a while. Then when I heard about ways it was being used in education, I became interested again and joined a guild. The guild is what keeps me in the game. I have also tried SL a little, but it seems too technical and I haven't been able to make my avatar look decent enough for me to want it to represent me. I've also played quite a bit of Minecraft. I love building things in it, but I get a bit motion-sick so I don't use it often.

Please introduce your main/primary Avatar. Kamoreo is my main avatar, a pandaren hunter in World of Warcraft. I brought her up from a mere babe, questing through Azeroth starting in November 2012, I think. Now that she is a level 90 with fairly good gear, she's retired to mostly leatherworking to make gear for others, and farming to get more materials for the guild. She's also gotten into transmogrification, changing the look of her gear to improve her appearance. She has run several retro raids to get achievements and mounts. She also enjoys working on World Event-related achievements.

If you have more than one Avatar, please share with us another favorite Avatar.

I started Kamdeyja, a second toon on World of Warcraft and an undead monk, some time in 2013. She languished around level 25 until I had the opportunity to boost her to level 90 with a preorder of the expansion. I've had to work a lot to get used to a new class and role: she is a healer instead of damage-dealer. I've hesitated to put her in group situations where people are really depending on her to heal. I have really enjoyed learning what she can do, running around Timeless Isle killing elite creatures and looking for better gear. Soon, I'd like to ask a group of patient people from my guild to let her try healing in a scenario or dungeon.

How are you and your Avatar(s) alike and different?

Kamoreo my hunter is a ranged damage dealer: she is able to stand back while her pet engages any enemies. I think that I tend to stand back a bit to see what is going on in any situation, hesitant to jump in too actively unless I feel really I have strong relevant knowledge or competence. She has done a lot of solo questing, which reflects my social awkwardness.

When people invite Kamoreo to a group activity, I am happy to join in, but I am shy about initiating group activities. That is true in RL, too. Kamdeyja is similar in providing a supporting role - neither of my avatars are tanks, which I see as being leaders.

I feel most competent in using Kamoreo, so I favor her in challenging situations. However, I am really enjoying exploring Kamdeyja's abilities in lower-stakes activities.

What were some of your most challenging experiences as a newbie and what kept you coming back into the virtual worlds?

When I first started playing WoW, my daughter gave me the basic pointers about how to accept quests, move around, and use the action bar. I was impressed at how the game taught me in gradual increments how to do different types of activities and use additional skills. It made the newbie experience pretty smooth, as far as individual questing goes.

Once I joined the guild and started doing more group activities like dungeons and raids, the guild members provided a lot of teaching and support in a friendly atmosphere. I have also run into a few strangers who were friendly and helpful, although there have been others who were rude and offensive.

Fan sites provide a lot of helpful information, too. I have learned a lot from the comments on WowHead, especially when I get stuck on a quest. Icy-Veins has great information for how to make the most of a given class. I watch a lot of YouTube videos to learn how to play certain dungeons or raids.

What have you taught your Avatar? What has your Avatar taught you?

I have taught Kamoreo how to be a sharp dresser and how to make the most of her abilities. Working/playing with her has taught me that it is okay for people to have different roles as they work together to reach a goal. And that I need to pay attention to what is around me. She has reinforced my sense of myself as a person who appreciates clear, quantified feedback. I wish that my local colleagues also played WoW, so we could use its language and lessons to talk about how to work together.

How have you and your Avatar(s) grown/changed over time?

Kamoreo is more willing to try crazy difficult things and fail over an over. I feel more pressure to succeed when I try things in RL. I am more afraid of failure. We both worry about it more when

other people are depending on us, than when we are tackling something solo.

Kamoreo feels like her contribution to the guild is appreciated and that she has an important role there. I don't always feel like my role with my local colleagues is as clear or appreciated.

What is your GREATEST feat/accomplishment working together and through your Avatar(s)?

I am proud of Kamoreo's development as a competent raider, who can hold her own on the damage-dealing scoreboard and who can support a raiding group effectively. I am also proud of the opportunities I have found to support the guild completely outside of World of Warcraft: in educational events like the Minecraft Unsymposium in December and in the upcoming ISTE conference.

What has been your most interesting and/or exciting moment or experience working with and through your Avatar(s)?

I love working on a difficult achievement, trying and failing over and over, and then finally making it successfully.

Approximately how much time each week do you spend working and playing in virtual worlds with your Avatar(s)?

I probably play World of Warcraft 6-10 hours a week.

Tell us about the future plans for "You and your Avatar(s)"?

I want to learn how to play my healer monk effectively. I would also love to use Minecraft with my students. They love it, I love it, but my administration sees it as a problem. I haven't mustered up the courage to play the tank role against that particular boss.

Please share anything else you would like VEJ readers to know about you and your Avatar(s).

With my avatar, I have been able to connect with a far-flung group of educational professionals who share my interest in virtual worlds and games. The game world she is in has provided wonderful point of contact and model for learning collaboratively.

Please list your contact information - the best way for us to reach you.

kristhoennes@gmail.com, Kamoreo on the Sisters of Elune server in World of Warcraft, KamTonnes on Minecraft, @kamtonnes on Twitter

Introducing Beth O'Connell, aka

Beth Ghostraven in other worlds

Please introduce yourself in real life (rl).

I'm a school librarian in a middle school (ages 11-14) in Virginia, US. I used to read a lot more before I started exploring virtual worlds.

How, when, and why did you get started exploring virtual worlds? What virtual worlds do you find yourself actively engaged in using?

Although I opened my Second Life account in 2010, I couldn't do much. I wanted to be able to participate in VSTE networking events (Virginia Society for Technology in Education). In 2012, I

took a professional development class on Games and Simulations in Education, which incorporated SL; this was the leg up that I needed to begin.

I've explored some other grids briefly, including Kitely, AvayaLive, OSgrid, InWorldz, Metropolis, and FleepGrid. I helped with the Open Simulator Community Conference (OSCC) last summer, and learned a lot, but SL is still home for me.

Please introduce your main/primary Avatar.

I'm Beth Ghostraven. My rez date was May 7, 2010. I live in the Independent State of Caledon, where I own the Book & Tankard Pub. I spend most of my time attending meetings of education groups in SL, and doing publicity for those meetings. I also spend a fair amount of time shopping

How are you and your Avatar(s) alike and different?

My personality is basically the same in SL and RL. I even modeled my avatar's shape on my real shape. There are some superficial differences. My avatar wears much more glamorous clothing than I do, she's a much better dancer, and she always looks well-rested.

What were some of your most challenging experiences as a newbie and what kept you coming back into the virtual worlds?

It took me at least a week to be able to move around, and a month before I could figure out how to change my clothes. It was incredibly difficult for me to learn to navigate SL a learning cliff.

My most embarrassing moment was clicking “wear” on a hair demo in the Truth store, and finding that that was all I was wearing.

My mentors have been Cyndyl Enyo, who taught the Games course, Serena Offcourse, and many other people from the education community and the Caledon community. The Caledon Oxbridge University orientation was valuable, and I really learned to get around and use my camera on the Caledon Quest.

What have you taught your Avatar? What has your Avatar taught you?

I taught my avatar everything! My avatar has taught me that I can have an active social life even with a significant hearing impairment, that I am not alone in my teaching, and that I have a lot to offer the communities that I'm part of.

How have you and your Avatar(s) grown/changed over time?

We've actually become a little more separate. I used to be totally immersed, and now I can hold back a bit and be more analytical about things.

How have you and your Avatar(s) grown/changed over time?

We've actually become a little more separate. I used to be totally immersed, and now I can hold back a bit and me more analytical about things.

What is your GREATEST feat/accomplishment working together and through your Avatar(s)?

I'm proud of being a connecting force in Caledon and the education groups that I'm in. Recently I gave a lecture inworld at VWBPE which was very well received, and I sat on two panels at that conference. Last year I couldn't even get to most of the conference; this year I was an active participant.

What has been your most interesting and/or exciting moment or experience working with and through your Avatar(s)?

I loved being a part of Team Caledon in Relay for Life (SL). I was even part of the building team!

Approximately how much time each week do you spend working and playing in virtual worlds with your Avatar(s)?

Way too much! Probably about 6-10 hours a day, so 40-70 hours a week. Wait, that can't be right I'm multitasking a lot of that time.

Tell us about the future plans for "You and your Avatar(s)"?

I need to scale back my involvement with education groups just a little, and train some other people in doing publicity. I love all of the connections I've made, and I don't want to burn myself out. I'd also like to do some more exploring of OSgrid and Inworldz, and I would like to increase the amount of writing that I'm doing about virtual worlds.

Please share anything else you would like VEJ readers to know about you and your Avatar(s).

As a hearing-impaired person, I'm begging you if you do a presentation in voice in a virtual world, *please* include some kind of text transcription. This also helps people who get sidetracked, and provides a record of what you talked about.

Please list your contact information - the best way for us to reach you.

Beth O'Connell: booklady99999@gmail.com

Beth Ghostraven in all of the worlds that I'm in

A Minecraft-like Virtual Mining Program

By William F. Schmachtenberg Dae Miami second life

During the Summer of 2013, I ran a tech camp for elementary school students in my school district. It was clear that the students loved Minecraft.

One fourth grader went over to a sample of obsidian rock I had on display and said this formed in a volcano and is called obsidian. She made a very articulate argument that she was learning geology from Minecraft.

Another student demonstrated his ability to create complex lego–like structures online and share them with his friends. And, yet another student showed me his Minecraft server that he had set up at home and was clearly acquiring computer networking skills I did not have.

I tried it at home that night and I have to admit I was captivated by the ability to drill into or create various structures in a multiplayer environment. The next day, I asked about having Minecraft loaded on the computers at the camp. The network engineer quickly pointed out that setting up a peer-to-peer network and giving out IP addresses presented too many security problems.

Another student went to a school server and pointed out that pirated copies of Minecraft were being distributed across the school networks. Over the past year, I tried to combine the benefits of Minecraft without the computer network problems.

There is no need to download software or create an account. The software I devised is available in your browser. Here is the URL if you want to try it out:

www.evwllc.co/voxelmultiplay/voxelmultiplay

I built it in Unity 3D, so you may be prompted to install the Unity webplayer. It is safe and I have done it many times at my school and at home. Also, make sure you put the www at the beginning of the url into your webbrowser. Without that, the program will not load. If you get a message: “This plugin is vulnerable and should be updated” just click the line : Activate Unity Player. The plugin does not have to be updated.

Once the program loads in your browser, type in a name and press enter. This name will be shown above your avatar online. You will then see 4 panels. If they are cut off, right click inside one of them and select Go Full Screen.

Pick an avatar in the upper right panel, and then select a geologic area in the lower left. VA limestone allows you to create caves in Virginia; limestone, miner kinne allows you to drill into a Swedish limestone; and miner basalt allows you to drill into metamorphosed basalts in Southwest Virginia.

You can create a room name for other players to join you and then click Go to create the room. Once your avatar logs in, you will see cliffs of rock in which 10 minerals have been buried. Your current GPS location is in the upper left and the location of each mineral is shown in the boxes numbered 1 to 10 at the top. Think of this as a virtual Geocaching activity where you have to navigate to each location.

When you arrive at the correct location you will see a cube. Click on it to answer questions about each mineral. Your score is updated if you answer the question correctly. The software is instanced. By that, I mean, only you can see your score, drill holes, and mineral samples. What you do does not affect other players on the server and what they do does not affect your score. But you can see other avatars and chat with them. Click the chat button at the bottom to toggle chat on and off.

The radar button shows other players that are on the server. You must be in full screen mode to turn off radar.

Shown below are screen captures of myself and a friend exploring the cave systems we made in the software.

Figure 1. We start off examining a cliff of limestone. The texture was taken from a digital picture of limestones in Virginia. A cube in the left of the screen shows a mineral we have found. Clicking on the mineral cube brings up a question about that mineral. A correct answer increases the score. The radar button was used to show players on the server.

Figure 2. By clicking on the cliffs, we can drill through the limestone. After a while, stalagmites appear on the floor of our cave system.

Figure 3. Our cave system is finished. What takes nature thousands to millions of years, I can accomplish in minutes!

Please feel free to try this program on your pc or mac. Safari usually works well on the mac and I use Firefox on my pc. There is no cost to using this program. Let me know what you think by emailing me at: wschmachtenberg@gmail.com

Please put Virtual Miner in the subject line, so I do not delete your message by mistake.

STUDENT SURVEY AND SCORES

On April 11, 2014, I used the voxel multiplayer program with fifty-eight of my students at the high school at which I teach. These students are mostly freshmen and sophomores aged 14 to 16 years of age. Thirty of these students told me they had played Minecraft before and preferred Minecraft to the voxel multiplayer program although some said they liked both. Thirteen of the fifty-eight students scored an A (95% or higher) in answering questions in the program and the average score was 60%. I suspect the average was low because many of the students had trouble finding all the mineral cubes.

Figure 4. I lead my students on a virtual mining field trip.

Figure 5. One of my students has found a mineral sample in the cave and is identifying it.

ADMINISTRATOR EVALUATION

During one of the classes, Dr. Kevin Bezy, Associate Principal and my advisor, did a formal evaluation of the lesson with the voxel multiplayer software. Here is his report:

“Dr. Schmachtenberg uses a variety of technology to help his students reach and master instructional goals. He has created instructional simulations that use advanced graphics to develop an interest for the student in the content, in this case geology. Once the students log into the software they navigate the program easily. All students are engaged in the activity. Students collaborate virtually and in person. These computerbased activities build upon the students’ existing knowledge.”

Backstage @ VWBPE 14

By: Bluebarker Lowtide

was like working as a volunteer at this year’s Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education, or VWBPE, Conference.

out

I may be more technically inclined and more experienced, but that doesn’t stop the people we helped this year that sometimes come back

to help out with next year’s conference. Like a wonderful cycle giving and reciprocity . . . that’s its own reward. It’s really great to meet new people and give back to the online community.

Sure it may be long hours, but really the time flew by this year. So much was going on behind the scenes, from the presentations to the work of the estate managers. This year I was even helping out with the Mentors, so I had a full plate.

Waking up early and staying up late on my own free accord, you must think I have nothing better to do. But, what could be better than helping other and really being surrounded by so many great people? It was like hanging out with rock stars all weekend. (Plus it helps when it’s Spring Break!) There is just a great sense of camaraderie when you are here. It’s like you are with you friends all day long, learning and experiencing new ideas and works meant to be shared!

With presenters as good as Philip Rosedale and Ebbe Altberg (heck we can’t even believe we got these guys), VWBPE is certainly the place to be when it comes to elearning and virtual worlds. [If you missed their presentations or the presentations of others you can view them on Youtube at https://tinyurl.com/n3ft4bd]

What better way to learn about virtual worlds, than to attend a conference filled with teachers and educators who excel at helping others? From English to science and even psychology; we ran the full gambit seeing what interesting ways virtual worlds are being used. It really is so breathtaking that it’s hard to contain myself with all this excitement - even if I only got . . . maybe eight hours of sleep throughout the four days . . . it was really worth it!

Being called out, teleporting all over the grid to help Mentors and be a Tech Liason (or Tech Wiz) for when something (if not always) happens. You get to be a hero for their day and save it.

I think my favorite experience this year happened on the last day, when these two presenters were trying to get this presentation cube to display text so people could read it. I flew on over and did some magic, as it were. Well, it wasn’t fixed instantly; it was a peculiar problem that

even I hadn’t seen before (and I’d seen plenty of things in my virtual lifetime).

For a couple of minutes (like fifteen) we were experimenting with different things to try and get it to work. We were even looking through the script I couldn’t understand what was wrong with it. But a curious thought comes to mind – one of the weird things about Second Life. It is probably common knowledge that everyone seems to forget. That is, for objects that shout text in chat, there is a range that text can be sent out to. If you are not in that range, you can’t see it. So, by moving the cube closer to the audience and the speaker, we were able to get the cube working for everyone to see.

It just goes to show you that you may think you know everything, but then a problem comes along that is way out of the ballpark and you weren’t even playing baseball, if you catch my drift.

My heart really goes out to the people who have to present in front of such large groups of people, even if it is virtual. Each and every avatar in the audience represents a real life person, even a good friend of mine was at one of the Featured Panels with his entire Science Class watching on the screen. But you know they can keep that limelight and such, for me being a proverbial ninja and helping out in the dark has always been something I’ve liked. A shout out to the chat transcribers who relay the speaker voice to chat for the transcript and for the audience members who have hard hearing.

Compared to the last VWBPE conferences I had volunteered for, it feels like this had the least amount of issues. We often get multiple tech hiccups and griefers. But this year we also had the infamous Green Lantern Corp, assisting with Sim Security, keeping the peace and helping things run even smoother. [For more information on them please see this link: http://thegreenlanterns.wordpress.com/.]

In any case, I am all fired up to see what this year will bring as well for the next with the new Oculus Rift making its way into the public. But for now, only time will tell how things will change in Second Life and virtual worlds in general.

It has been a great honor working with so many great and wondrous people over the course of the conference. I just can’t wait to see them again. I would like to thank all the volunteers, the presenters, the Estate Managers and the Green Lantern Corp Security for such a great conference.

It takes a whole lot of people, not just one, to make something like this possible. For more updates and captured moments, please look back at my twitter feed: https://twitter.com/BluebarkerSL .

You

https://www.flickr.com/photos/123166456@N08/

9 Hours and Counting:

Coding a Virtual Environment

By Chris Luchs

On April 5th, students, faculty, and three observers gathered on a Colorado campus at 8am for a Hackday. Their goal was simple: create an RPG game within the next 9 hours using the knowledge they had gathered during the last 10 weeks of computer science classes. The group split up into three teams: Team Combat, Team Level and Team Theme!

Team Combat had one goal, make it work. They would develop the foundation of the player enemy interaction and needed to develop the turn system, attack mechanics, and timing of the fight. Team Level was in charge of developing the map, player v monster encounter mechanic (i.e. how does a character run into a monster), experience points, character levels, level bonuses and how a player would navigate the

map. Team Theme was left with coming up with the game end goal, monsters, bosses, and types of player classes.

By mid-day, the Theme Team had decided on sword and board fantasy, the goal of completing the first level and the final monstrous boss, Vicki, which also happened to be the name of their teacher. Over the next several hours the team knocked out the boss mechanics, map, player - monster interaction mechanics, and more. However there was much to be done. Our courageous student leader put on the “go time” hat and did a run down on the major items that still needed to be accomplished in the remaining four hours. Students switched teams and jumped in to help one another; as pieces were finished, personnel was re-deployed to bolster areas that were falling behind; the students wore multiple hats throughout the day, manager, coder, debugger, cheerleader, proofer, and researcher.

After the consumption of a lot of sugary drinks and snacks, our valiant team approached the final hours. Would they get it all done? Could a battle take place? Could they finish the wireframe? The final hour was filled with edits, saves, compilations, line errors, and code tests . . . the final result was . . . SUCCESS!!!!!

In 9 hours, the students successfully completed the first level wireframe. They were able to successfully develop a map, character navigation, trigger an encounter, complete a battle between a warrior and a mage, and test the boss mechanic. They now have a prototype of their game where they can start the process of refining and eventually attaching digital assets to flesh the game out more.

The Hackathon project is an Immersive and Game Based Learning Challenge Grant that was issued by the Colorado Community College System. The goal of the project is to research and identify best practices of Hackathons and attempt to integrate these best practice into the Computer Science Curriculum.

The April 5th event was the second event of this project.

The first occurred in November 2013. This event was about having the students attempt to solve a problem that faculty were encountering in their LMS when they were changing dates for activities in preparation for the new semester. The November event saw students work together and partially develop a C++ program that would take XML output from and LMS and convert it to allow faculty to more easily update dates and times of learning activities for a new semester. The students were able to complete half of what they wanted to; however the end result was one of student success.

Out of the students, all but one of them continued on to the next level of computer science classes. The one student that did not continue had found full time employment as a programmer with his Associates Degree. Also the instructors noticed a change in their students after the Hackathon event. They were more interactive with each other, more engaged in the course content, and all asked deeper questions about coding. The instructors were amazed at the level of enthusiasm, camaraderie, and work ethic the students exhibited after the event.

We will continue monitoring the students that attended our April Hackathon and see what effect the event has on them. We will also continue to plan for our final event on June 20-21st at Red Rocks Community College in Lakewood, Colorado. If you would like more information, please contact Chris Luchs at christopher.luchs@cccs.edu.

Inevitable Betrayal Holds

Spring Fashion Show

There has never been anything like this Spring Fashion Show! The space was cleared thanks to the Retro Crew... Betrayers strut their stuff!! Sunday, April 27, 2014 at 7. The server time over at Ulduar in Northrend (closest major city is Dalaran).

Master of Ceremony Cheerwine and Shaomai – The Big Spring Fashion Show. Picture by Grid Jumper

Spring Fashion in the Conservatory of Life is an avatar event in World of Warcraft produced by the Inevitable Betrayal guild.

The video is a mockumentary of a fashion show put on by a group of educators. Each model/designer wrote their own narrative and styled their own outfits in the game World of Warcraft.

World of Warcraft allows for transmogrification or as it is called “transmog.” This lets a player to customize with certain restrictions their gear.

If you missed the live presentation, you can still watch the Inevitable Betrayal Fashion Show and catch the fun at: http://bit.ly/1fqADmc

Another shot of the Fashion Show.

Congrats on a GREAT Show.

Picture by Kristina Thoennes.

Fingernails on a blackboard...

-Matt Poole aka Cyrus Hush

As a person responsible for the academic administration of online classes for adult learners, one of the comments I hear every so often that makes me cringe is "I'm not really cut out for online classes --I need to have a live instructor in front of me to learn anything," or words to that effect. I understand the sentiment, of course, and who wouldn't? It's a perception that actually dates from the days of the venerable correspondence course, to which most modern online classes owe more than anyone likes to admit.

Conventional wisdom would have us believe that an online class in the post-secondary environment at least has to consist of an LMS, some discussion boards and maybe a few papers and tests to be meaningful.

Snore.

The gentle readers of this publication know better!

One day I decided to make a video comparing a couple of engaging virtual world environments and explaining how they could conceivably be used to provide added value to an online class. I wanted to speak not so much to the early adopters but to those who I felt were the silent majority of online instructors --who know there are probably more fun ways to create a learning environment out there but who really don't know where to begin.

First recording my narration with an open source program called Audacity, I then imported it into Microsoft Windows Movie Maker. Then I recorded video segments and screenshots to match the audio using the free version of a program called Fraps. Finally I uploaded the whole thing to YouTube. The final cost was approximately zero, and it runs about 13 minutes.

http://tinyurl.com/k6mazuo

I hope you like it, and if you think it appropriate please show it to a teacher!

Collins, A. (2003). Gestures, body language and behavior. New York: DKC

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

http://www.fraps.com/

http://www.youtube.com

Hello Everyone!

Welcome to the June 2014 Metagame edition of VEJ. In just a few days we will be joining our colleagues and friends at ISTE2014. The theme for this year’s Virtual Environment Network’s (VEN – formally ISTE SIGVE) Playground in Atlanta, is also Metagame. In both the VEN Playground and this issue of VEJ we hope to help answer the questions about why so many of our students can’t stop playing Minecraft? What keeps players so actively engaged in games such as World of Warcraft, Guild Wars, and Class of Clans? What is a Metagame? What makes it so enticing? So engaging? So addicting? Why can’t we stop playing?

Could it have something to do with the fact that Metagame play most often happens in an online virtual collegial learning community? Does it have something to do with the fact that the learning goals traverse beyond the game world and extend to multiple platforms including YouTube, blogs, wikis, twitter, guil d sites, Google hangouts, and other creative entities? Is the value in the play less about the win and more about the challenge of the game itself? And what is it about those Fiero Moments that keeps players willing to do whatever it takes to level-up?

As trailblazing educators are discovering through their explorations with gaming, these inworld, immersive, online, collaborative learning experiences are easily aligned to the Common Core S tate Standards and the Cognitive Rigor Mattrix, including Webb’s Depth Of Knowledge. The metagame affords players of all ages the ability to think, innovate, strategize, and evaluate their play (aka learning) at deeper, higher levels. Could it be that we are finally onto something that has the potential to revolutionize the way we teach and learn? Is it possible that Metagames could be the catalyst for the 21st Century Reformation of the 19th Century Common Schools?

How exciting to think that finally there is credibility for elementary students to demonstrate their acquired computational thinking and problem-solving skills through collaborative project-based learning assessments by building lego-like structures in Minecraft. And what about high school students in WoW dealing with probability and statistical analysis as they solve highly engaging tactical problems? It is already starting to happen. Students of all ages are creating tutorials, videos, worlds, and even online civilizations. They are engaging with peers using a private school server or using Skype and other VOIP to collaborate internationally. Either way, through their use of metagames they are thinking about their thinking and evaluating their own play/learning, all the while gaining digital citizenship skills on their way to becoming global citizens.

Remember the words to the folk song, “Where have all the children gone?” Teachers around the world know that it is becoming more and more difficult to motivate students to learn as the gap grows further distant between what they do in school to learn and how they learn outside of school. Students today are learning what they need to know to succeed in the second half of the 21st Century with their peers, faraway from the brick and mortar walls we call school

“ When will they ever learn? When will they ever learn?” Let this issue of VEJ serve as that wake-up call!

Keep Smiling J

Roxie Neiro (SL)

Rosie Vojtek (RL)

Cover Photo and “What Is Metagame” on page 3 by Vasili Giannoutsos, aka Bluebarker Lowtide. “What Is Metagame” explains the cover picture and defines Metagame.

June 2014

In This Issue

• ISTE2014 VEN Sessions

• Meta-guide Partnerships Between Students via Oculus Rift and Second Life/Open Sim

• On Becoming A Guild: An Interview With Chris Luchs

• The Minecraft ABC Project

• IOS (Apple) Virtual World Apps

• Screenshots from World of Warcraft

• Professional Education Connections in Virtual Worlds

• My Avatar & Me

• Virtual Worlds for Education, FINALLY! An Interview with Gordon Holden

• The Inclusion of Disabled Players in Virtual World Games: The World of Warcraft Model

• Minecraft and Beyond

ISTE2014 VEN Highlights

• ISTE EduMachinima Fest for Teachers and Students

• Metagame: Virtual Environments Playground

• This Is Not a Game! Learning with Alternate Reality Games

• Learner Analytics in MMORPGs: Use for Curriculum and Instruction

• METAGAME Book Club

• The Recipe of Storytelling: Step 3 of 3

• The Absolute Beginner’s Guide to WoW: An Educational Technology Site

• Retro Raids: The Vintage WoW Experier

• Inevitable. . . Raiding in World of Warcraft

• Guardians Of The Grid

• Virtual Worlds Terminology

Coming in Next VEJ Issue – My Avatar and Me Part II

By Fleet Goldenberg of Sambiglyon

(http://www.sambiglyon.org)

INTRODUCTION

What is 'meta'? It is a term that is used in everyday language, usually with a second word attached to the end of it to give it a specific context (metaphysics, metahuman, metaverse, etc.) But few people really know what it means.

The best way to comprehend a difficult concept is often to return to its origins, before layers of complexity were added over time. 'Meta' is an ancient Greek word that can mean a variety of things, including After, Among, Beyond, and Beside.

Once we understand these meanings then meta-buzzwords make more sense. 'Metaphysics' refers to physics theories that are Beyond current scientific proof. 'Metahuman' is a human who has gone Beyond – the traditional limits of humans (super-heroes and super-villains often being described in fiction as meta-humans.)

The 'Metaverse' – a description often applied to virtual reality worlds – could also be said to be Beyond the real world, because it enables humans to think and act in ways that are currently impractical or nearimpossible (nothing is completely impossible, given enough time and the will to solve it!) Virtuality is also Beside the real world though: connected to it as a parallel environment, but not quite integrated with it – yet.

This brings us to the subject of 'Metagaming.' Is it After, Among, Beyond or Beside? Metagaming is often spoken about as a means of influencing a game from outside of it in order to change how it is played.

An example is using knowledge in a gaming guide-book to arm oneself with knowledge about a particular game that they would not normally learn until they had progressed deep into the game so that they can play that game from the beginning with advanced strategies and foreknowledge (“spoilers”) of what is to come. Such guides could be said to take the player Beyond the game, as it helps them to bend or break the rules in a way that the designer may not have intended to be possible in the early stages.

There is also an element of being Beside the game, because the disruption of the usual progression of the play-experience means that the player has walked off the path that was originally set out for them and is on a parallel experience to that of other players.

Players who modify, or “mod,” the data files of their game to change its rules and/or environment are on a similar parallel path, because they

are playing in a different way to those who have not changed their game and thus having a different experience.

Guide-books are history, however. Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality wearable technologies such as Oculus Rift, Morpheus, CastAR and Google Glass now offer the opportunity to transcend the limitations of guides presented in traditional media formats, especially when combined with other forms of tech (motion control, multi-directional walking treadmills, etc), including work and play with other people using the same equipment who are in the same room or on the other side of the world.

And in VR/AR environments that support User Generated Content – the ability to create and add your own objects or media to that environment – the benefits of modding become available to all users without the associated complexities that previously acted as a discouraging barrier.

So if you partner together in a mutually dependent training relationship a student on a computer who can intuitively access and analyse a wealth of live data on a huge range of subjects via a simple browser-based interface and a student who is wearing an Oculus head-set, then additionally mix in metagaming principles, what do you get? Metaguiding!

THE HISTORY AND FUTURE OF META-GUIDING

The concept of using virtual reality technology to overlay a visible human guide-avatar onto the real world to assist a partner is not entirely new. The US television series 'Quantum Leap' (1989-1993), starring Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell, featured a time-traveler called Sam Beckett (Bakula) who was assisted in surviving perilous scenarios by a holographic representation of his friend Al Calavicci (Stockwell).

Al's real body was inside a holo-chamber in the present day that projected his voice and likeness through time to Beckett's current location in history. Al read information about the time period and individuals living in it from a frequently-malfunctioning portable device

that he held in the holo-chamber and was replicated in the hands of his avatar self.

'Quantum Leap' © Belisarius Productions and Universal Television

Another example in television fiction of a partnership that broke the everyday limitations of the real world was 'Street Hawk' (effectively 'Knight Rider' on a motorcycle), which lasted for a single season in 1985. Retired motorcycle cop Jesse Mach uses a super-powered bike codenamed Street Hawk to solve a “crime of the week.”

Mach was assisted by federal agent Norman Tuttle in a control center, providing real-time advice and information updates to Mach and using the center's computers to take control of the bike remotely during its

300 mph high-velocity 'Hyperthrust Mode', which would be uncontrollable for a human rider.

Slightly prior to the debut of 'Quantum Leap', meanwhile, the UK-based Broadsword Productions television company produced a TV virtual reality game-show for teens called 'Knightmare' (1987-1994) that took a different twist on the guide-and-guided theme.

One of the four contestants, known as the Dungeoneer, wore a helmet that obscured their vision – except for what was directly beneath them - but not their hearing. The room contained some physical objects such as furniture and equipment and sometimes an actor in costume but was otherwise bare.

The other three contestants, in another room, watched a mixed-reality image on a screen that combined together the Dungeoneer, actors, physical objects and digital paintings of rooms in a fantasy dungeon to act as the background for the living participants.

The role of the three advisers was to provide verbal instructions to the Dungeoneer about the contents of each room and how to negotiate the puzzles and deadly dangers of the dungeon rooms that they could see but the helmeted Dungeoneer could not.

These instructions often took the form of simple movement commands such as “Take two small steps to the right”, “Do a small jump forward and turn left” or “Look down at the table and pick up the goblet.” The helmeted contestant being guided needed to have absolute trust in his partners and follow their instructions to the letter to stand a chance of survival, and they in turn needed to provide quick, clear and correct information for the Dungeoneer to act upon

There are numerous examples of full episodes of the show available for viewing on YouTube, findable by simply searching for “knightmare.”

Not being able to see where you are and where you are going is an excellent exercise in trust-building but not very practical in education for much else. The ideal for us would be to use the VR/AR technologies we have available to us today to combine the “sat at an internetconnected computer” distance advising of 'Knightmare' with the visible, audible life-size avatar projection from 'Quantum Leap' that is overlaid on the real world beside a living human partner wearing a head-set.

Fortunately, this goal is in fact very achievable and very affordable!

GREAT FREEDOM AT LITTLE COST

The non-profit educational company Sambiglyon (www.sambiglyon.org), of which this author is a co-founder, has designed and constructed a mixed-reality live video setup for Windows 7 and 8 PCs (Mac version hopefully coming at a future point) that combines an everyday computer and webcam with the hugely popular live web video service Twitch.

It provides the ability to extract avatars, objects and other digital content from virtual reality worlds such as Second Life and OpenSim as cut-outs, via a graphics technique known as chroma-keying, or “green-

screen”, and overlay them seamlessly on live video footage of the real world as though they were a PNG image.

The combined video output can be seen via a live-updating Twitch channel page viewed with an Oculus Rift headset or on a web-browser page, and even recorded as a permanent FLV or MP4 video file.

Best of all, aside from the cost of a tablet and an Oculus Rift headset (and even the headset is optional with this mixed-reality system depending on how schools plan to utilize it), the grand total price of setting up your own version is zero. The two online services that provide the technology to make it function - Twitch and XSplit - are free and without time limit.

It is said that seeing is believing. So here as proof is just one example of the kind of end result that can be achieved, showing the live-video output of a Second Life avatar merged with a real-world car park on a Twitch channel page. OVERLAY OF

Sambiglyon has produced a fully illustrated, comprehensively detailed step by step guide for how to construct, configure and use the mixed reality system. It can be downloaded for free from www.virtualeducationjournal.com .

WHAT YOU NEED

Below is a full list of what is required for this project:

- A PC desktop or laptop for a student in the role of an “adviser” who will control the media that is being created and mixed together.

- An Android tablet for the Oculus headset wearer to carry that will be attached to the Oculus Rift via an HDMI cable and connected to the internet via wi-fi in order to receive the merged mixed-reality video from the Twitch video streaming account.

- A USB webcam or a digital camera for the adviser's PC that is capable of recording live video. A built-in webcam in a laptop may perform the same function. The camera should be pointed at whatever scene in real life that the adviser wants to be mixed in with the virtual media.

- Optional: a second screen to display a copy of the final merged video feed for the adviser controlling the avatar in Second Life/OpenSim (this video could not be shown on the adviser's main display, as that is the one being video-captured to provide the virtual reality image extracts).

- An Oculus Rift virtual reality headset (currently $350 USD for the Development Kit, but projected to be priced lower when the consumer version becomes available.) Find out more at http://www.oculusvr.com

The headset is not vital for this project to function, as the merged mixed-reality virtual and real-life video on the Twich web channel can be viewed on a normal computer display or even a smartphone/tablet screen. It is however vital for providing the complete user immersion that a virtual-reality meta-gaming activity requires.

- Second Life or OpenSim viewer software (FREE). It does not have to be special Oculus Rift versions of the viewers (OculusRift Channel for SL

or CtrlAltStudio for SL / OpenSim). This is because the student controlling the virtual environment – who is partnered with the Rift wearer - will not be wearing the Oculus headset but will instead be focused on generating the avatar actions, object manipulations and activities that will be combined in real-time with the real-life camera footage to create what the Rift wearer is seeing on its internal display.

- A Twitch web video streaming account (FREE). Sign up at http://www.twitch.tv

- An account with Twitch's recommended PC video editing software, 'XSplit Broadcaster' for Windows 7 and 8 (FREE). Download the software and register an account at http://www.xsplit.com

This system may be able to be used with Mac computers if one can find Mac video editing software that offers similar “green-screen” (chromakey) features to that of XSplit Broadcaster and will work with Twitch.

For the purposes of this guide, we use XSplit on PC because it is very simple to use and proven to work, and the author does not have a Mac to test alternative OSX-based software packages such as Camtasia for Mac (http://www.techsmith.com). We encourage Mac owners to experiment with their own setup and share their findings with the educational community.

CONCLUSION

The mixed reality system in this article is the very definition of metagaming: the information inputs provided by members of a class to the student currently wearing the Rift headset guide that wearer's interactions with the headset and the VR-RL combo environment being viewed within it in a way that the designers of the virtual component of that mixed environment may never have foreseen.

It provides a core framework that can be endlessly expanded upon by the addition of further software and hardware, using existing school resources in new and fantastic ways. Anything that can be imagecaptured with a cam or displayed on a computer screen (including the

user interface for web-connected 'Internet of Things' equipment such as consumer robotics, 3D printers, etc) can be harnessed in a way that bridges our world with the digital one so long as there is a plain-colored background somewhere on the real or virtual scenery that can be cut out with chromakeying.

Up until this point, there has been a clear distinction between Virtual Reality (complete immersion in a digital world) and Augmented Reality (the overlaying of digital content on the real world). With the mixed reality system, the benefits of user-created content platforms such as Second Life and OpenSim that were previously confined to those environments can now be applied to the real world to build and use virtual content in real-time.

In short, every teacher can become a player!

IB Guildees pose in front of Immersius after successfully defeating this monster of the deep.

On Becoming A Guild:

An Interview W ith

Chris Luchs

By Grid Jumper (SL), Tanya Martin (RL)

This interview is with Chris Luchs, Associate Dean for Career Technical Education at CCCOnline for the Colorado Community College System. The division he oversees includes Business, Accounting, Education,

Early Childhood Education, Computer Science and Multimedia Graphic Design. He is also the guild master and Raider leader for a progressive educators’ guild in World of Warcraft that also delves into Minecraft, Second Life and does excursions into other Massively Multi-player Online Games known as MMORPGs or MMOs.

Grid Jumper: The theme is of this issue of VEJ is the Metagame. So as a guild master how would you define the metagame?

Chris Luchs: For me, the metagame includes all the resources and usergenerated content that exists outside of the game and official game website. This would include game guides, theory crafting, Auction House (virtual economy) tools, addons, fan sites, strategy forums, and gamed focused databases sites (like wowhead http://www.wowhead.com/ ). And of course all of the Machinima or videos of gameplay and tutorials.

Guild Raiders contemplate the take down of Thok.

Grid Jumper: What is a gaming guild?

Chris Luchs: It is a collaborative group of players (all volunteers) that work towards a common goal within a game environment. However, this does not mean they are only interested in gameplay. There are banking guilds (guilds that focus on the business within the game), Player v. Player guilds (guilds that focus just on competing against other players), Role-play guilds (guilds that focus on creating a more in-depth backstory and narrative for their character), and many more.

Grid Jumper: You have many educators in your guild, do you consider your guild a guild of educators, an educational guild, or is there a difference? How does your guild differ from other guilds?

Chris Luchs: I should start with we are gamers. While we have researchers in the guild, we are not in the game to take the role of a participant observer or outsider. We are gamers and we play endgame. We don’t have graduate assistants or our students guiding us through content. We are not in the game to take a look around and then bounce to the newest edtech trend.

Chris Luchs: Since we play endgame content our focus is the learning and collaboration happening there. John Seely Brown made a video a few years ago entitled, “Why I Would Rather Hire a High End Raider than a Harvard MBA.” Here’s the link to the video and article (http://massively.joystiq.com/2013/01/03/researcher-would-ratherhire-wow-players-than-harvard-mbas/ ).

Grid Jumper: What a powerful video!

Chris Luchs: We like wicked problems and having a massive amount of options to solve the problem and, yes, most of the time, the problem is how do we slay the monster? Along with being gamers, Inevitable Betrayal is a group of collaborators that create educational content.

Chris Luchs: Many of our members are teachers, instructors, administrators, coaches, and technologists. We are a mix of job titles, backgrounds, and areas of interest. Yet, we all work and play together to create instructional content related to endgame Raiding, player and team performance optimization, and exploration guides for new expansions.

Chris Luchs: I think what sets us apart from other guilds is that World of Warcraft isn’t our third place. It’s not our equivalent of Cheers, “where everyone knows your name.” The guild is our online home base of operation for a group of educators committed to online and game based learning advocacy. There are lots of teachers in WoW and other MMORPGs who play but don’t talk about what they have learned as gamers or bring it into their classroom. Conversely there are educators and researchers who may be writing about or using aspects of games but who know very little about the deeper learning that is happening in games. We have a guild of educators who are presenting, writing, and blogging about deeper learning at endgame. We’ve been finalists in the EduBlog Awards. We’ve done everything from organizing tours of Raids for conferences to 3 endgame specific questlines with 3D Gamelab to holding tweetchats. This summer we’re also running a summer book club focusing on showing the gameplay written about in the book, For The Win, by Cory Doctorow. [See #Metagame Book Club article in this issue of VEJ.]

Grid Jumper: How did this guild start?

Chris Luchs: Initially, this was developed for a Global Goblin Run collaboration with a group of Australian educators led by Jo Kay and known as the Jokaydians. We also organized a WoW tour for attendees of the Virtual World Best Practice in Education conference. In World of Warcraft, there are two factions. They are called the Alliance and the Horde. There are other educator guilds but they are Alliance. Inevitable

Betrayal was created to have a Horde guild to try out the new character choice that had been introduced, which was the goblin.

Then Kae Novak used the guild as a learning space for the Games MOOC in 2012 and 2013. The educators from the Games MOOC seemed to like it enough to stay.

Grid Jumper: What was the vision for the guild and has that changed?

Chris Luchs: Our guild vision has changed. We still do provide tours for educators and researchers who want to look at a guild in a MMORPG but that is not our primary focus. We are currently focused on the constant learning that happens at the endgame content both in 10 player and most recently 25 player Raids. One of our members, Dr. Lee Ann Tylessing, seemed to have nailed it for us a few months ago when she asked us to participate in a presentation and gave our portion, the title, “Advanced Research Skills and Strategies in the Metagame.” Here’s the preview Google Hangout we did during that presentation. (http://youtu.be/q_DMs1sKwU0 )

Grid Jumper: What’s up with the name?

Chris Luchs: LOL! Yes, I guess Inevitable Betrayal might sound a bit weird to some. For us, a lot of the founding members were big Firefly fans. There is an opening scene in the Firefly series, with the phrase, “Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal.” You can see the clip at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znxFrgql5dc. We also have a small Minecraft server outpost called “This Land.”

Grid Jumper: How is your guild organized? Can you describe the structure and hierarchy if there is one?

Chris Luchs: We have a guild master and a co-guild master to handle most of the administrative parts of the guild like setting ranks,

managing the bank, and providing the vision and direction of the guild. We also have three officers that help out with recruitment, interviewing new applicants, mentoring new guildees, and approving bylaws and other governance issues. Our officers include Kae Novak, Joseph Doan, Jerry Buchko and, of course Tanya Martin. Then we have a few members that take leadership roles in areas of interest like Retro Raiding, fishing, crafting, etc.

Grid Jumper: How does that relate to the Metagame?

Chris Luchs: A lot of the non-guild administration pieces relate to the metagame. The Raiders, both progressive and Retro, rely heavily on the metagame. Our crafters use and recommend resources for others that are looking to chose a profession, how to level it the fastest, what to sell/buy things, etc. So there is a lot of sharing of preferred sites and knowledge. As far as how we as guild contribute to the Metagame, it would be through our Google + Community http://bit.ly/ibgooglecommunity, and our Flickr Community - Inevitable Betrayal. We have over 1000 screenshots https://www.flickr.com/groups/inevitable/ and we continually do livestreams and make recordings.

Grid Jumper: Have your guild members always played games?

Chris Luchs: I’d say that about half our members have always played video or computer games since they’ve been available to them. The other half are new to MMORGPS like World of Warcraft but have experience in sandbox genre games like Second Life, Sims, and Minecraft.

Grid Jumper: Is your guild involved with only one game or does it participate in multiple game environments?

Chris Luchs: We always have members trying out new games, but for us, World of Warcraft seems to be our virtual base of operations and hub of activities. What we’ve been doing lately is having our members do a hangout introduction to their new game of choice and then archiving it for our members to watch and explore when they are ready.

Grid Jumper: Are there expectations of the people in the guild? And, if so what are they?

Chris Luchs: Yes, our expectations for guildees revolves around activity in and outside the guild and adoption of the collaborative culture in our guild. You can read more about it at (http://inevitablebetrayal.shivtr.com/pages/expectations ).

IB Guild members fish on Timeless Isle while discussing guild business.

Chris Luchs: The main expectations that we are looking for in guildees, is to be active long term, attend/watch and comment on the monthly

State of the Guild, actively participate in one educational event the guild hosts each month, share information by posting to the Google+ Community once a month, and wait to level your first toon to 90 until we can organize a leveling party. So we’re not a guild of lurkers or soloists.

Chris Luchs: As you can see, there are expectations. But, we feel they are readily achievable and really contribute to the guild culture and community. There is a 3 month probation period and an application interview that we do to help new applicants get a feel for the guild and to give both sides time to determine fit.

Grid Jumper: You mentioned a monthly state of a guild, can you tell us about that?

Chris Luchs: Yes we do hold a monthly state of the guild meeting where we discuss our progress as a group, celebrate individual achievements, and discuss upcoming guild business like gold generation to pay for

repairs, upcoming events, discussing Raid progression, Retro Raiding, and areas where guildees need help.

Chris Luchs: We do them on Google Hangout and broadcast them on the gamesmooc youtube channel. Our guildees form a Raid and we go fish to help stock up the bank with foods while we all talk and discuss the topics of the day. So we have the audio and video feed from youtube and then we also have the in game text channel as the backchannel for all our guildees to share and comment.

Grid Jumper: How is your guild involved in the metagame?

Chris Luchs : We are active contributors to the metagame. We have developed 50+ tutorial videos for various classes, specs, quests, and how to do things in game. We also have an extremely active Google + Community where we share machinima, resources we’ve found and discuss tactics and strategies for being successful against bosses.

Guidlees take positions and discuss strategy and timing. This is a time when information from the metagame is shared and discussed.

Grid Jumper: Can you explain what a Raid is?

Raiding is really the graduate school of gaming.

Chris Luchs: Sure…. a Raid is a part of the game that typically happens once players have reached max-level for a given expansion. You spend all that time leveling from 1 to max-level and Raiding is where you apply all that you have learned. Raiding is really the graduate school of gaming. The Raid is actually a series of bosses designed to challenge experienced players. Bosses are the big bads of the gaming world and Raid bosses are the biggest of the big bads. :D So players will fly to some location in game and gather and then run into the Raid. They will have to battle trash, which are less powerful monsters, mini-bosses, and then finally the Raid boss. Typically there are a handful of bosses in each Raid.

Chris Luchs: These fights are typically the most difficult in the game and require a team of dedicated players to figure out how to master the mechanics and defeat each boss. The entire Raid is hard and where players will find the hardest fights and best loot. Some bosses will require 100+ attempts before they can be downed.

Chris Luchs: Each player has to be individually optimized for each fight and the entire team has to be optimized to be successful. In Inevitable Betrayal, we do a lot of work with our members to help them succeed as we group source gearing up for Raids. Gearing up refers to things like helping get better armor, potions, gems, and other things that help the player become more optimized to their role and the fight.

If you’d like to learn more about Raiding in general, the Inevitable Betrayal officers and really the whole guild, were involved in developing and teaching the “Ready to Raid” questline in 3D Game Lab in May 2013.

You can take a look at the outline here. http://inevitablebetrayal.shivtr.com/pages/readytoraid

Grid Jumper: Now there are different types of Raids, right?

Chris Luchs: Yes, first there are different levels of Raids. Most games have gone through multiple expansions, so there will typically be Raids at each of these expansion levels. So in World of Warcraft, Raids are available at level 60, 70, 80, 85, and 90. So there are differing levels of challenge as players can go into any of the lower Raids with higher-level characters. Sometimes we do this to help introduce new players to Raiding.

Chris Luchs: The first level of differentiation is based on the maximum number of players allowed in the Raid. This number varies between 10, 25, and 40 players for World of Warcraft. Next are Raid Instances v World Bosses. The Raid Instances are limited to 10 and 25 players and occur in a separate phase of the game, so it is only the team and the monsters. World Bosses require up to 40+players, and occur out in the open where everyone can join in.

Grid Jumper: Can you give our readers an example of what you are talking about?

Chris Luchs: An example is Oondasta in WoW. When Ooondasta first came out, it required 120+players to down him. So that is 120 random players that all decide to group up and fight this big T-Rex. After a few server crashes, WoW reduced the power of Oondasta to where it took only 60 players to down him. After a few more crashes, Oondasta was reduced further so it only took 40 players to down him.

Chris Luchs: Then there are Retro Raids. These Raids are typically players that really enjoy exploring the old content. World of Warcraft has some beautiful and challenging instances. If you missed them the first time around, you may want to form up in a group and go back in and experience them again. One of our guildees, Rebekah Luminous regularly organizes these on Friday nights. [See article by Rebekah Luminous in this issue of VEJ for more details.]

Chris Luchs: Lastly is what I’ll affectionately call “Smash and Grab” Raids. The main goal of these Raids is to get achievements, titles, mounts, and cool looking gear as quickly as possible. These Raids would be players at the current endgame level that run back and race through the old Raids. There is not much challenge until they get close to maxlevel. For example, most level 90 players in WoW can run any level 60 to 70 Raids solo and be very successful. However, once they hit level 80, they may need 6+ players to be successful in a 10-player Raid and 10+ to be successful in a 25 player. At 85, they may need 8+players for a 10player and 15+ for a 25-player.

Oondasta

Grid Jumper: Can you tell us more about a Retro Raid?

Chris Luchs: As I mentioned before, Retro Raids typically refer to going back to older Raid content. This is typically done either because the group really liked the fight, wants some piece of loot (cool looking gear or mount) that is dropped from the old Raid, or wants to earn an achievement. Currently in WoW there is a big culture of Retro Raiding for mounts and for gear that can be transmogged. Transmogging is a new part of WoW where players can make any of their current gear look like another in game piece. There are limits, the player must have the desired transmog piece in their baRs or banks, and the pieces must be similar (plate armor can be transmogged into plate armor). This new feature has really increased the interest in Retro Raiding as players are constantly trying to customize the look of their character. Retro Raiding also seems to go hand-in-hand with one of our guild’s roleplaying activities. Inevitable Betrayal does organize seasonal fashion shows in World of Warcraft. If your’re really curious you can watch/listen to our last two fashion shows. The dialogue and fashion description may be better than the video. Both of these fashion shows were done in Retro Raid instances. The Spring Fashion show was in the Conservatory of Life http://youtu.be/ZAGS_Na3znM and the Fall Fashion show was in the Firelands http://youtu.be/-698q1uO3P0. You can really hear in these videos how often we go OOC or Out of Character.

Chris Luchs: The Retro Raiding really applies to any Raid where players are running old content. They can be true Retro Raids where everyone has their characters at the level when the old content was meant to be played. They can endgame level characters going back to explore. Or they can be smash and grabs where higher-level characters stomp their way through the dungeon, ignore mechanics, and exact revenge for past deaths. Either way, it’s still a lot of fun!

Inevitable Betrayer Guildies participate in a chess game as part of vintage content during a Retro Raid experience.

Grid Jumper: What is an “Inevitable Instructor?”

Chris Luchs: Well . . . it was inevitable! If you have a group of educators, they want to learn and then they want to teach and share what they learn. The Inevitable Betrayal guild members started to make guides for their guildees, exactly what you would expect – slides, livestream of game play, written tutorials, videos and yes, hands-on workshops in World of Warcraft.

Chris Luchs: So, Inevitable Instructors are really that group of collaborators in the guild that creates educational content. Many of our members are educators, instructors, administrators, coaches, and technologists. We are a mix of job titles, backgrounds, and areas of interest. Yet, we all work and play together to create instructional content related to endgame raiding, player and team performance optimization, and exploration guides for new expansions. After we made about 10 or so video guides, we started to discuss what do we call these

in our guild chat. Marianne Malmstrom said, “Inevitable Instructors, of course.” Here’s a link to our playlist. http://bit.ly/inevitableinstructors

Grid Jumper: How do Inevitable Instructors use hangouts and hangouts on air?

Chris Luchs: Constantly! In fact, part of the briefing to new members is that any guild activity at anytime may be livestreamed over Google Hangout. Typically if we have 10 players or less, we’ll hop in Hangout rather than another VOIP like Ventrilo or Mumble. We often have a player in hangout and record the fights so we can go back and look at the attempts.

Chris Luchs: But the way, Inevitable Instructors use Google + Hangouts most weekends. We livestream Instructional Hangouts. Our next upcoming Inevitable Instructors Weekend Webinar will be on Sunday

Google Hangout Screenshot

July 13. It is being developed by Milo Lyons – on how to play a warlock.

Other members of the guild have run with his warlock workshop a bit and they are now calling it Lock-a-palooza. So over Hangout, Inevitable Betrayal will broadcast some slides, instruction and then livestream the in-game practice and play.

Grid Jumper:

Your guild participated in an Hour of Code last December.

Can you describe how you did that?

Well, as you know Grid, it was organized by someone with the RL name, Tanya Martin (aka Grid Jumper (SL) LOL, from Broward County, the sixth largest school district in United States. Tanya is from the Talent Development Division of the Broward County School District. She is also one of our guild officers and our guild’s Director of Recruitment. We spent an hour making macros and looking at the code. There is a livestream recording of Inevitable Betrayal working with macros and then dueling. If you are really interested you can watch it at this link. http://youtu.be/lgvIzzvR7w8

[The IB Guild participated in Hour of Code in December 2013. Guidlies Learned to code Macros – combination buttons coding a series of casts/powers. Picture above.]

Grid Jumper: As an Associate Dean of Career and Technical Education, how do video games relate to the career and technical field?

Chris Luchs: The relationship is in the epistemic frame that games provide. In CTE, we really focus on both academic and the technical mastery of a skill set. Games provide a lot of great applicable frames for us. One big example is Business; most games have an economy, auction house, and professions. In a large MMORPG like WoW, you have thousands of business transactions occurring each day. Players have to set prices for goods for sale, buy raw materials, engage in direct and indirect sales, and model a lot of business/entrepreneurship ideas and concepts.

Chris Luchs: So it is very easy to have a student create a business in the game and then provide them with criteria on how they should track sales, expenses, profit, market their goods, and what types of professions they can choose. WoW offers educators the chance to have students experiment with business opportunities in virtual manufacturing, inventory management, accounting for a small business, entrepreneurship, sales and marketing, retail, and wholesale. The key is to define the epistemic frame within the game and your curriculum and then give the students the parameters to work within.

Grid Jumper: Where do you think the Inevitable Betrayers Guild be in 5 years?

Chris Luchs: I asked our officers this question and this was the consensus. In five years, Inevitable Betrayal will be “Roaming the postapocalyptic landscape, fighting back the zombie hordes while trying to grasp at some fleeting moments of what we considered normalcy before it all fell apart.” It seems to fit with our mission statement, “curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal.”

Grid Jumper: Is your guild open to new membership? Is there a process and/or information for those who may be interested?

Chris Luchs: We are – but we want to make sure it’s a good fit. So we have an application process and a three-month probation period. We’re really active and group oriented so that doesn’t fit everyone’s play style. We are more of an “ask what you can do for your guild – rather than, what your guild can do for you” attitude. Guilds really do have cultures. On the online discussion boards on the metagame sites, there is constant discussion on types of guild cultures and also if you are running a Raid what is the Raid etiquette that is specific to that group. You can take a look at Inevitable Betrayal’s application and how we explain our culture by going to this link. http://bit.ly/Zh3ytP

We are more of an “ask what you can do for your guild – rather than, what your guild can do for you” attitude. Guilds really do have cultures.

Chris Luchs: If you are a level 90, you don’t have to join our guild to come run with us. We also conduct open Raids. We are currently looking for people to come raiding with us. We have open Raids every other week. We do the Ally (or Alliance) side on Friday evening and the Horde side on Saturday evenings. Here’s the link to go take a look at the open Raid site. http://bit.ly/1n7xOG0

Guild Invite

Grid Jumper: What would your recommendations be for individuals interested in getting involved with games and the Metagame in particular? Are there prerequisites, do you have to be a current gamer or do you need to belong to a guild?

Chris Luchs: There really are no prerequisites. Being a gamer and belonging to a guild gives you an advantage. But, the games and the metagame are accessible by anyone. The advantage for being a gamer is that the language will be familiar as will be the navigation and overall aspects of the game. The advantage of being in a guild is that you benefit from the distributed knowledge of everyone in the guild and their ability to quickly point you to valuable resources and metagame sites.

Grid Jumper: Thank you for taking the time to do this interview with me. I am sure the VEJ readers have enjoyed learning more about WoW and the Inevitable Betrayal Guild in particular. I would like to also encourage

anyone interested in WoW to check out the numerous resources in this article. Then, if you see a fit, we hope you will join in the fun!

[A special thanks to Grid Jumper (SL), aka Tanya Martin (RL) for conducting this interview with Chris Luchs (RL), aka Abacus Capalini (SL). Tanya Martin works for the Office of Talent Development, the division tasked with ensuring professional development standards and managing all professional learning provided in the district. Her main responsibility is working with Broward Virtual University, the online professional development arm of the department. Tanya co-presented on game-based learning at FETC 2013 and has been accepted to present on Machinima at FETC 2014. Martin regularly investigates and blogs on immersive and game-based learning. Her educational technology blog, Gridjumper’s Blog, won the 2013 Virtual Education Journal’s Reader’s Choice Award for Best Virtual Blog. It has also been nominated twice for best educational technology blog for the 2011 and 2012 EduBlog Awards. In 2012, she was a top-five finalist for blogging about collaborative 3D environments for learning and teaching.]

Professional Education C onnections in Virtual Worlds

By Beth O’Connell (RL)

Beth Ghostravel (SL)

Presented at the VWBPE Conference on April 10, 2014

As educators, our professional connections are crucial for sharing ideas and knowledge, as well as support. Virtual worlds enable us to connect with people inexpensively, at all hours and seasons, adding to our PLNs (Professional Learning Networks). This information applies to the virtual world of Second Life, as I’ve found that to be the best place for networking, but many of the tips apply to other virtual worlds as well.

Our essential question is:

How can we best use our professional connections to benefit our teaching and learning?

Think about the professional connections you already have. Write down one professional organization that you’ve found to be helpful.

A Little about Me

Here’s the story of how I got started in Second Life. I posted this in my blog a little over a year ago (http://booklady9.edublogs.org/2013/03/15/professional-virtualworld-adventures/)

Last summer (2012) I took a class with the NorthTIER consortium on Virtual Worlds and Games in Education, taught by Laura Briggs. My initial goal was to learn to use Second Life to attend VSTE meetings and professional development sessions online. I learned so much more – my professional and personal worlds have been expanded exponentially.

When I started using Second Life (SL), I had a steep learning cliff to conquer. It took me a week to learn how to move my avatar around effectively, and a month before I learned how to change my clothes. I persisted because the people I met there were so helpful and welcoming that I wanted to participate in the communities that I found.

As you may know, my job as a solo school librarian is extremely isolating. I am a team of one, in a building of 800+ people. My district is kind enough to let me run SL in school, making it possible to attend inworld meetings during the day, and to network with people on my few occasions for downtime. I am able, from my computer here, to have meaningful professional interchanges with people all over the world.

It’s a virtual world, but the people are real.

Currently I am a member of 18 different educational groups in Second Life. I attend Virtual Pioneers meetings on Sunday nights; VSTE meetings on Monday nights; ISTE office hours on Tuesday nights; ISTE meetings and socials, plus VSTE planning meetings, on Wednesday nights; VWER meetings on Thursdays after school; and BIO-SE and Nonprofit Commons meetings on Fridays during school. Because the latter two are conducted in chat rather than voice, I can follow along even when I have classes coming in to check out books. I consider myself a liaison between all of the groups, and I do lots of cross-postings of meeting notifications among all of them. I like being able to connect people together, and help create community. I’ve been enriched so much – it’s a virtual world, but the people are real.

That was last year. I updated my blog just before my talk in April:

My professional connections have gotten deeper and more numerous over the past year. I thought about saying “my *virtual* professional connections,” but although the meeting places are virtual, the people and the connections are real. In many cases they extend into other social media, and into physical life (PL, also known as RL for Real Life).

I still attend the same meetings that I did last year, with the addition of ACRL (Association of College and Research Libraries), an ALA affiliate. These meetings and groups still do not contribute directly to my job, but I feel certain that my passion for virtual world education will lead somewhere, eventually. At the very least, they boost my morale and satisfaction with my current, somewhat challenging job.

My roles in these groups have changed over the year. I got frustrated with trying to find information about the various meetings, so I wound up doing publicity inworld, and on social media, for all of these groups. For Virtual Pioneers, I co-host the biweekly Meet & Greets, and help corral people on tours. I’m a VSTE Facilitator, helping to plan events. I’m the Producer for the ISTE SIGVE Speaker Series. I helped start the Cultural Community Hub. I’m Transcript Editor for VWER, and I help with transcripts for NonProfit Commons. I also helped with streaming sessions for the OpenSim Community Conference last fall (http://conference.opensimulator.org/2013/). My husband feels like even when I’m home, I’m never home!

I make friends wherever I go in SL, at least one a day. The result of all of these connections is that when someone is telling me about their project, I can usually think of someone else who might be able to help them, resulting in more connections within the education community.

Profiles

But, enough about me. Let’s find out about each other. How can we find kindred spirits? Browsing profiles!

Look around at the profiles of the people you encounter in virtual worlds. Don’t be afraid of appearing nosy. Profiles (for most people, anyway) are meant to be read. The photo above illustrates how to find a person’s profile, using the Second Life viewer. Other viewers are similar.

Here are some things to look for in profiles when you’re seeking professional connections:

2nd Life:

Education-related group(s)

A lack of unprofessional-sounding groups

Picks:

Education-related place(s)

A lack of unprofessional-sounding places

1st Life:

Indication of RL education job or interests (while still protecting privacy)

When you find someone you’d like to connect with, chat with him or her a little (in Nearby or IM) before sending a friend request. It’s nice to break the ice first, and tell them something you have in common.

Here are some other things to look for when you’re seeking professional connections:

Appearance

Professionally dressed avatar

Human avatar helpful, but not necessary Clothes, shape, and hair not from the Linden Library

Speech

Professionally appropriate (in chat, and possibly in voice) Uses IMs and nearby chat appropriately

Appearance is probably the least important of these. Sometimes experienced educators are new to SL; they may look like newbies here, but in the education field, they’re not. These things are all clues about how trustworthy the person behind the avatar might be. None of them are totally significant alone, but together the clues can help you form a professional opinion about the person behind the avatar. You can use these ideas to make yourself look more professional, too. Often people will have an avatar for professional stuff, and an alt (alternate, or secondary, avatar) for play. Some, like me use an alt for machinima, or more group slots.

Professional Groups

The following groups have been really helpful on my professional journey in virtual worlds. The meeting calendar at the end of the article includes more information about each group and instructions for joining groups.

ACRL (Association of College and Research Libraries)

As a librarian, I looked for my people in SL, but I couldn’t find them at first. The American Library Association (ALA) used to have an island, but that had closed.

I found the Community Virtual Library (CVL), and they helped me find the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), which has monthly programs in SL.

Virtual Pioneers

Virtual Pioneers was the first place where I felt at home in SL. This is a group of people who are interested in exploring historical sims. Most are educators, but not all.

The upstairs of headquarters contains a gallery of free historical clothing from different eras, and a wall-full of information from past tours.

Every other week we have tours, and on the opposite weeks we sit around the campfire and chat.

VSTE (Virginia Society for Technology in Education)

VSTE is where I got my start in SL. It’s a state affiliate of ISTE, and as far as I know it’s the only state affiliate in SL.

Virginia has an amazing group of educators. We have a lot of fun together, but we also get a lot done to further education in virtual

We have a whole island, which includes a historical simulation of the Jamestown Colony and American Indian Village.

ISTE VEN (International Society for Technology in Education, Virtual Education Network)

(formerly ISTE SIGVE, or Virtual Worlds Special Interest Group)

ISTE is probably the largest educational technology organization in the world. The SIGVE is the largest special interest group in ISTE.

We have a monthly speaker series and biweekly tours, and we participate in the annual ISTE conference in June.

CCH (Cultural Community Hub)

Ewan Bonham and I started this, inspired by a talk about the Virtual Education Journal (VEJ) at ISTE last year. Along with StarLight and several other people, we look for communities in SL that educators might be interested in, and we set up a hub with information.

The hub pictured above is the first location. The CCH, hosted by Wisdomseeker at Whole Brain Health, recently moved with them. The new location is given below.

VWER (Virtual Worlds Education Roundtable)

This group has met weekly in SL since 2008 to discuss education. Every other week is Open Forum, when anyone can bring up a topic for discussion, and the alternate weeks have themes set in advance.

The meetings are in text, so it’s easier to keep up, and the official transcripts are posted online at vwer.org, under the Library tab. I’m a little behind on getting these posted; after the 2014 ISTE conference I hope to start getting caught up.

Kali Pizzaro runs the group, and Grizzla Pixelmaid and Sheila Yoshikawa act as moderators sometimes.

NPC (TechSoup’s NonProfit Commons)

Although this isn’t directly education-related, Rhiannon Chatnoir organizes interesting topics here every Friday. I always learn something new, and as in all of these groups, meet wonderful people.

TechSoup offers lots of resources for nonprofits, both inworld and out.

Contact Information

Let’s connect! Send me a friend request if you’d like. Send IM or notecard to Beth Ghostraven in SL

Time Zone: Eastern

Visit me inworld at the Book and Tankard Pub in Victoria City, Caledon SLurl: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Caledon%20Victoria%20City/7 5/150/23

Email me at booklady99999@yahoo.com I’ll see you around the metaverse!

Weekly Calendar of Education Groups in Second Life

Updated June 2014

To join a group, find the URI link given here just under the name of the group. When you’re logged in to Second Life, copy and paste the URI into Nearby Chat, then click the link to go to the group profile. Once there, you can click the Join button to join. Make sure you have a group slot open; the maximum number of groups is 42.

Monthly on 3rd Sunday at 12 noon SLT:

ACRL (Association of College and Research Libraries) and the ALA VW Committee (American Library Association's Virtual World Committee)

Community Virtual Library (CVL) Meeting Space http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Imagination Island/103/186/25

Website: http://www.ala.org/acrl/ - http://www.ala.org/acrl/

Sundays at 5:00 pm SLT:

Virtual Pioneers

Virtual Pioneers Headquarters

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/EduIsland 9/100/61/22

Group: Virtual Pioneers

URI: secondlife:///app/group/c45940c7-0e76-c269-994109cfc08dec86/about

Website: http://virtualpioneers.weebly.com/

Mondays at 5:00 pm SLT:

VSTE (Virginia Society for Technology in Education)

VSTE Island

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/VSTE Island/123/137/24

Group: VSTE: VA Soc. for Tech in Education

URI: secondlife:///app/group/ad9dc928-e69f-2aa6-f7fa7361217a31fb/about

Website: http://vstesl.wikispaces.com/

Tuesdays at 4:00 pm SLT:

ISTE VEN (International Society for Technology in Education, Virtual Education Network) Office Hours

ISTE VEN Headquarters

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/EduIsland 9/46/90/22

Group: ISTE SIG Virtual Environments

URI: secondlife:///app/group/acfd7268-7cb3-9ba3-e4de4d186820747c/about

Website: http://sigve.weebly.com/index.html

Every other Tuesday at 4:00 pm SLT:

CCH (Cultural Community Hub)

CCH at Whole Brain Health (WBH)

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Inspiration Island/86/117/22

Group: Cultural Community Hub

URI: secondlife:///app/group/414c5c06-d7bc-6ceb-5b4a3fecf8e2ab80/about

Thursdays at 11:30 am SLT:

VWER (Virtual Worlds Education Roundtable)

VWER - Glasgow Caledonian University

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Glasgow Caledonian/193/197/23

Group: Virtual Worlds Education Roundtable

URI: secondlife:///app/group/c17c395b-8368-79be-caed25b81a537855/about

Website: http://www.vwer.org/(See Library tab for past meeting transcripts)

Every other Thursday at 5:00 pm SLT:

ISTE SIGVE Tours

ISTE SIGVE Headquarters

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/EduIsland 9/46/90/22

Group: ISTE SIG Virtual Environments

URI: secondlife:///app/group/acfd7268-7cb3-9ba3-e4de4d186820747c/about

Website: http://sigve.weebly.com/index.html

Fridays at 8:30 am SLT:

NonProfit Commons

Plush NonProfit Commons Amphitheater

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Plush Nonprofit Commons/104/128/24 Group: TechSoup.org

URI: secondlife:///app/group/64c700fd-9d0c-18fa-a5520dc983dad553/about

Website: http://nonprofitcommons.wikispaces.com/

Other Education Groups (for event postings or group chat, not meetings)

BIO - SE (now known as Virtual Islands for Better Education or VIBE)

URI: secondlife:///app/group/941412d7-dd25-d37c-b96829f2d5d0cbb3/about

Website: http://wiki.bio-se.info

Real Life Education in Second Life

URI: secondlife:///app/group/5eab5893-dfa6-905b-4386011077994d3d/about

VWBPE (Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education)

URI: secondlife:///app/group/8b03480a-793d-ba5b-5b6bdd10afb5d38e/about

Website: http://vwbpe.org

Bio for Beth O’Connell RL/Beth Ghostraven SL:

A teacher-librarian with 18 years of experience, Beth came to Second Life over a year ago to network with VSTE (Virginia Society for Technology in Education), and quickly found other education groups for which she publicizes events. She attends four to six inworld events every week, and enjoys helping people connect with others. Beth is a VSTE Facilitator, the Producer for the ISTE Speaker series, and publishes the weekly transcript for VWER (the Virtual Worlds Education Roundtable).

My Avatar and Me

-Spiff Whitfield (SL), Andrew Wheelock (RL)

Can you see the real me?

Can you see the wonder and peaceful whimsy?

Can you see the intensity and raw artistry?

Can you see the creativity and unspoken passion?

Can you see the history and timeless virtue?

Can you see the romance and lost simplicity?

[Stay tuned for My Avatar & Me Part II. It will be featured in the August 2014 issue of VEJ.]

Minecraft and Beyond

By Trevyn Slusser

Minecraft, a wonderful world of blocky environments, horrible monsters, and endless possibilities, but not all possibilities are restricted to the game itself. Minecraft is also a prime example of Metagaming. Metagaming is defined as "a broad term usually used to define any strategy, action or method used in a game which transcends a prescribed rule set, uses external factors to affect the game, or goes beyond the supposed limits or environment set by the game.

Another definition refers to the game universe outside of the game itself." In my opinion Minecraft covers this definition perfectly. Lets break it down.

For action, strategy and method all you must do is look at the numerous servers out there that fans of Minecraft have created. Some are educational where as others are a game within a game.

While one may be more action packed than the other (depending on the class) both serve the definition in both strategy and methods. Furthermore with this method of education, it transcends its original purpose flowing out into the world and nesting in the minds of students.

Minecraft once again transcends its limitations and even the gaming universe in all that it has inspired to create. From music to art, from baking to plush toys, it's easy to see just what an impact Minecraft has had on the online and gaming community.

Music:

Don't mine at night

Many have joined together to create sites dedicated to Minecraft alone. Talk about going "beyond the supposed limits or environment"!

You don't have to take my word for it. The following list has some beautiful examples of what the Minecraft community has taken and created with this amazing game!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_XGxzMrq04 500 Chunks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DGqquheYE4 How do I craft this again?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UU-Ew4Wj0U

Community: Skindex

http://www.minecraftskins.com/ End Game

http://www.endgameserver.com/home Wiki

http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Minecraft_Wiki Planet Minecraft

http://www.planetminecraft.com/resources/texture_packs/

MISC: Minecraft cake

http://youtu.be/flOKzsXEipM Minecraft clothes/toys

http://www.jinx.com/shop/coll/minecraft/

ISTE EduMachinima Fest for Teachers and Students

Submitted by Tanya Martin

Educators attend Machinima previews in an immersive environment.

Machinima has been used by gamers to chronicle achievements and learn from mistakes as well as by artists to create video that would be impossible to create in “real life”. Most recently, Minecraft players of all ages have been creating machinima to tell stories, explain processes, give information, and just capture the fun in video format.

Machinima is an art form, using video capture of computer games and/or virtual world activity to make a movie. Many of the requirements in making movies in the physical word such as script writing, directing, camera work, special effects, sound editing, video editing, acting, costume design and set design are used in the making of machinima. Potential abounds, for teachers and students alike, in using this art form of media creation and manipulation for teaching and learning.

The annual EduMachinima Fest is held at the ISTE Conference and provides attendees with a Movie going experience unlike many others. This year, two ISTE Networks are sponsoring the EduMachinima Fest. Both the Games and Simulation Network and the Virtual Environments Network will sponsor the event that includes productions created in online games and virtual environments. Attendees can enjoy watching a series of machinima demonstrating how students and teachers create and share their manipulation of images, sounds, music and words effectively to convey a message.

Developing a machinima product is one way to demonstrate skills in media design, self-expression, critical thinking, collaboration, and knowledge of multiple academic subjects. The skills are clearly aligned to Common Core standards and our digitally connected culture. Attendees will be able to vote for their favorites during the Fest on June 29th in Atlanta and winners will be announced at that time.

The 2014 Categories for Machinima are:

Timed Video Categories

6 Seconds and Gone (it’s like vine - only 6 seconds)

60 Seconds and Gone (you have 60 second to show us something!)

60 Second - 3 Minutes Metagame theme

The theme for this year’s Virtual Environments’ playground is the Metagame. The metagame is all the learning that happens outside the game. How would you show us the metagame? You have between 60 seconds and 3 minutes to try.

No Time Limit Video Categories

Digital Storytelling

Digital Sandbox/Building (show us how to build in your game, world or server)

Let’s Play/Tutorials

Curriculum or Content Area (Machinima related to any curriculum or content area)

Google Hangout Livestream (let’s see how you are livestreaming and recording gameplay using Google Hangout)

Mixed Media (must contain at least 80% of screencapture in video games or 3D environments)

Channels

This can be YouTube, TwitchTv, Vimeo or other public channels where at least 80% of the videos are Machinima.

Additionally judge’s awards will be given for Best Overall, Special Effects, Editing, Sound, Machinimatogra phy and a special category: ISTE Conference clips.

Be on the lookout for “Greenscreen” video capturing stations that will place you into a virtual environment, Minecraft, or World of Warcraft. Then come to the Fest and see your performance on the BIG screen.

Want to know more about making machinima? Check out the Machinima Livebinder at: http://www.livebinders.com/play/play_or_edit?id=306926

Follow the EduMachinima Twitter @EduMachinima

Retro Raids: The Vintage WoW Experience

By Rebekah Luminos

Raids are content created to keep level-capped characters challenged and actively engaged in the game. When new expansions are released and characters level-up to the new highest achievable level, raids from previous expansions are not as challenging, but they can still be engaging. Excursions into raids that characters have out-leveled are referred to as

Retro Raids.

Character level caps are raised when new expansions are released, usually years apart. Today’s new content will be tomorrow’s “retro” content with a vintage appeal. I have been a member of Inevitable Betrayal, a guild of educators, since 2012. I am a part of the guild’s progressive raid team tackling current-content raids. Every Friday night, I organize a Retro Raid for nostalgic players or players (like myself) who were not around to experience these

raids in their heyday.

A raid consists of several difficult opponents, commonly falling into two categories: “mobs” (lesser opponents such as monsters, beasts, etc.) and “bosses.” Because they are not as difficult to defeat and drop loot of lower quality than what a boss drops, mobs are also often referred to as “trash”. In current-content raiding, the mechanics of a boss fight may take several weeks of experimentation and research to overcome. It may take many months of determination to successfully prevail over all of the bosses of a currentcontent raid. Retro Raiding is less challenging because, depending on how much of a gap there is between the characters’ levels and the intended level of the raid, characters may outmatch the boss's power, sometimes by quite a lot. A Retro Raid can often be cleared in as little as a few hours.

Raids are designed to test the mettle of a large group. Commonly, there are two raid modes in World of Warcraft: 10 player and 25 player. Recently, a “Flexible” mode was introduced that allows for groups of any number between 10 and 25 players. Current-content raiding requires a full group, and all participants must be at the level cap. Retro Raids can accommodate less than 10 players, and groups may include characters that are not at the level cap. The only restriction on participation is that each of the characters in the group must meet the minimum-level requirement for which the raid was originally designed. Some Retro Raids can be completed by a lone character (“soloed”), depending on the mechanics of the fight.

Raids often have achievements associated with specific actions performed during encounters with bosses. In current-content runs, the encounters are challenging enough without the additional difficulty of the precise actions required to earn the distinct achievements associated with that encounter. A Retro Raider looking for a challenge might choose to pursue raid achievements as their over-all goal. Individual raid achievements may also be a part of a meta-achievement. In addition to the achievement itself, meta-achievements usually reward cool titles, epic mounts or rare companion/battle pets. For example, completing Icecrown Citadel — a level

80 raid — in heroic mode rewards characters the title “Bane of the Fallen King.” And the meta-achievement “Glory of the Icecrown Raider” rewards the Reins of the Bloodbathed Frostbrood Vanquisher. Guild members from Inevitable Betrayal celebrated getting their Frostbrood Vanquishers by circling in a flock together.

In addition to character-related achievements, completing Retro Raids in a group consisting of at least 8 members of the same guild may earn achievements for their guild as well. “Guild Glory of the Cataclysm Raider” unlocks the Reins of the Dark Phoenix in the guild store. Items in the guild store may be purchased by any member of the guild who has earned a specific reputation with their guild and has enough gold in their pocket.

Collaboration, coordination, and cooperation are essential for successful raiding both current or retro content. In current content raiding, you formulate a strategy for surviving the encounter and ultimately defeating your foe. In retro raiding, you formulate a strategy for obtaining the achievement you want from the encounter. It is during these current and retro raiding adventures that members of Inevitable Betrayal apply and refine the teamwork skills and strategies much sought after by organizations and enterprises in the real world.

Virtual Worlds Terminology

achiev n. achievement

add n. additional monster/mob

AFK v. away from keyboard

aggro n. the monster’s focus, aggression

ah n. Auction House (See also trade, shop & store)

alt n. another account, not your main avatar (See also char, toon, mule, & twinks)

ally n. Alliance player (See also alli, blueback & goodies)

AO n. Animation Override

aoe n. area of effect

ATM p. at the moment

avatar n. the form you take that other users can see

BBL p. be back later

belf n. blood elf race

boe adj. binds-on-equip (See also binds-on-account & No Transfer)

BRB p. be right back

brt p. be right there

buff n. beneficial spell

Builder n. someone who builds or crafts places, clothes or items

byob p. bring your own buffs

cc n./v. crowd control

cd n./v. cooldown

cp n. combo points

cya p. see ya (later)

dc v. disconnected from game/server (See also booted, crash & restart)

debuff n. reduce stats

ding p. level up (See also ping, ding! & *victory dance*

dk p. don’t know, n. death knight

dmg n. damage

DND p. Do Not Disturb

exp n. experience points

ftw p. for the win

fyi p. for your information

G2G p. Got to Go

gank n./v. planned kill from one or more players

gg p. good game

gl p. good luck

gm n. game master

gn p. good night

grats p. Congratulations (See also gz, congrats & congrazzles)

guild n. a group of individuals that work together for a common goal (See also clan, group, party, linkshell & troop)

hax n./adj. someone who is cheating or hacking

HD n./adj. High Definition

heals n. healer

hp n. hit points, health points

ilvl n. item level

IM n./v. instant message

inc v. incoming

inv n./v. to invite or inventory

inworld n. in game, online

jk p. just kidding, joke

ks n./v. kill stealer (See also kingslayer)

l33t n. elite (See also leet, LEET & pro)

lag v. slow reaction while playing due to server, computer or internet

lfg p. looking for group (See also looking for party, looking for raid & looking for more)

lol p. laugh out loud (See also lul, XD, rofl, lmao& lmfao)

lvl n. level

mats n. crafting materials

metagame n. game inside a game

mmorpg n. massively multiplayer online role playing game

mt p. miss tell, mistype

n b n./adj. unskilled player (See also noob, newb & noobie)

np p. no problem

npc n. non-player character

nvm p. nevermind

nuke v. deal dmg while ignoring threat and agro

oic p. oh I see

omg p. oh my gob

omw p. on my way

oom p. out of mana

pc n. player character

pk n./v. player killer

plz p. please (See also plox & PLS)

port n./v. portal or teleport

pot n. potion

prims n. 3D shapes used to build

pwn v. to dominate, to defeat easily (See also own & pwnage)

QQ emote. Tears, cry me a river

rez v. to make an item appear or to resurrect a dead player

rl p. real life

rp p. role play

sculptie n. special prim used to create complex shapes

shammy n./adj. shaman job class (See also shammie & kitty)

sim n. a place, island or location

sl p. second life

squishy adj. cloth wearing class

sry p. sorry (See also soz & srry)

tank adj. defense, meat shield

tbh p. to be honest

thx p. thanks (See also ty & tyvm)

tp n./v. teleport

troll n./adj./v. to annoy, give bad response for reactions, creeper

ts p. teamspeak

Uber p. very

Vent p. Ventrilo

Viewer p. program used to view Virtual Worlds

wb p. welcome back

woot p. expression of joy or exuberance (See also wohoo, ^^, yahoo, & yay)

wow p. World of Warcraft

yw p. you’re welcome

zerg v. to rush, to charge

Hello Everyone!

First of all, we are very excited to announce Gord Holden, as the 2014 Edovator of the Year! If you have read the past several issues of VEJ, you have already learned a lot about his amazing work through the interview articles Scott Merrick did with Gord. The third part of his interview is featured in this issue of VEJ. We look forward to following Gord Holden’s work in VEJ for years to come.

Also, huge CONGRATULATIONS to all of our 2014 Reader’s Choice Award nominees and winners! All of these people and venues are doing amazing work in Virtual Environments and we highly respect and commend each of them for all they do to further virtual education.

We are excited about the upcoming 2014 Hour of Code global activities beginning December 8, 2014. Although the Hour of Code is a weeklong global event (December 8 – 14, 2014) we hope that you will help continue it around the world 365 days a year.

On their website, hourofcode.com/us they report 74,028 Hour of Code events happening around the world with a map showing where the activities are taking place. Anyone interested in joining the movement can sign-up on the website. Also on the website there are one -hour tutorials in 30 languages for people ages 4 to 104. You do not need to have any experience to participate.

For the first time this year, my (rl) school will be participating in Hour of Code activities K -5. Several of the authors of articles in this issue of VEJ share examples of what and how they are teaching coding to their students. Be sure to check them out.

Even if you don’t have time during the week-long global event to organize Hour of Code learning activities in your classroom or at your school, do it sometime this year. Go to http://www.code.org for FREE resources you can use with your students. Also, be sure to check out where your state stands on opportunities for students to learn and/or earn credit toward graduation for computer science courses. Most of all, you will probably be amazed at how many jobs requiring a computer science background in your start are unfilled.

All students deserve the opportunity to get their hands on code and get excited about learning computer science. It will be with the hands and minds of our children that we can change the world!

We hope you will share the Power of Code with your students this year!

Again, CONGRATULATIONS to all of our 2014 VEJ Award nominees and winners! Keep up the GREAT WORK!

Happy Holidays from all of us at VEJ! No matter which world you call your home, ALL THE BEST to you in 2015!

Keep smiling J

Roxie Neiro (SL)

Rosie Vojtek (RL)

June 2014

In This Issue:

• Gord Holden, 2014 Edovator of the Year

• Virtual Worlds for Education, Part 3: An Interview with Gord Holden

• VWBPE2015 – Hold The Date

• Power of Code

• Geology Valley: A 21st Century Collaborative Alternative

• Going for the “Epic Win” In Computer Science

• Understanding Coordinate Coding with Real-World Examples

• Electronic Blizzard Days

• Did We Have Fun, Or What? @ ISTE2014 VEPLN

• The Educational Potential and Difficulties Presented By Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games in Pubic Education

• Digging Deeper: Minecraft as a Transition to Wider Virtual Worlds

• Eliminating a Headache

To Read VEJ online visit: http://www.virtualeducationjournal.com/

For more information about ISTE SIGVE/VEN or to join the fun, visit: http://sigve.iste.wikispaces.net/

Gord Holden is an innovator with a mission. Once an “intermediate classroom teacher,” as Immersive Technology and Learning Specialist at Heritage Christian Academy in Co rtenay, British Columbia, he has brought 3D virtual learning environments (3DVLE) learning to an entire population of young learners.

ord designed and implemented a groundbreaking province-wide project to help address the transience of Canadian First Nations peoples, by constructing and making available virtual villages which keep alive a culture that the transience is threatening to destroy. He now trains teachers in British Columbia and Alberta in the use of 3DVLE’s and he is forwarding their use for learning and teaching as much or more than any other single practioner in the world.

Gord has been featured in a 3-part VEJ interview series this past year.

We look forward to learning more about his practices and beliefs in this issue as the series completes itself with “Virtual Worlds For Education Part

3”. You can read the other two interviews in the April 2014 and June 2014 issues of VEJ at http://issuu.com/edovation/docs/april_2014_vej and http://issuu.com/edovation/docs/june_2014_vej/1 .

We are proud to announce his selection as VEJ Edovator of the Year for 2015! We look forward to following his work in future issues of VEJ.

Virtual Worlds for Education, Part 3

An interview with Gord Holden Heritage Christian Academy, Vancouver, British Columbia

By Scott Merrick

In the last two issues of VEJ, we discussed and toured this pioneer's work to bring virtual worlds (aka 3D synchronous online learning environments) to his students and his students to them. Edovator of the Year, Gordon Holden, is literally leading a major front of the campaign up there at his school in Kelowna, British Columbia. Heritage Christian Online School is

centered 140 miles, as the raven flies, inland from Vancouver in Courtenay, BC. Gord works from his home in Courtenay. Situated on the eastern shore of Vancouver Island, he is surrounded by forests and lakes, with the worldclass ski hill named Mount Washington nearby to the west, and an ocean laden with 6-25lb. salmon to the east. He has team members working with him from locations as close as a mile away (Ryan), to mid-Vancouver Island (April), Vancouver (Heather), the interior of BC (Michelle), Sacramento (David), the Silicon Valley (Cindy), and as far away as Indiana (Scott).

Let’s continue the conversation, where we left off in the last VEJ Issue.

GH: So, regarding the discussion on the dangers of engagement, I’d like to add another word, investment.

SM: Two words dear to the hearts of the readers I’m sure.

GH: A great intro to this is the recent book written by Chris Hadfield

entitled An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth: What Going to Space Taught Me About Ingenuity, Determination, and Being Prepared for Anything .

SM: Sounds like mandatory reading for every teacher.

GH: Indeed, but while we all tend to value “positive thinking,” the twist is that he attributes his phenomenal success to “the power of negative thinking.” While he clearly had to think “positively” about becoming an astronaut, he would have never become the commander of the space station had he not given serious consideration to every possible negative outcome in order to best prepare for it.

SM: An interesting perspective.

GH: It’s one I was forced to adopt when attempting to take my public school program into virtual environments.

SM: The school was nervous?

GH: Oh yes, and for good reason , I discovered. There’s much that can go wrong in this field.

SM: Tell me about it?

GH: Ha, Scott, now that’s a rhetorical question, if ever I heard one.

SM: To quote you Gord “Indeed.”

GH: It’s simply human nature for us to see the best in something that amazes us, a trait that becomes reinforced when we become invested in it.

SM: Can you give an example?

GH: Sure. I remember my distress upon hearing from the technology department in our school district that “Oregon Trails” had been banned.

SM: That’s an old standby.

GH: Yes, but it turns out that while the students were using it a lot, they tended to get stuck on the hunting part, and would shoot deer until the keyboard was broken and needing to be replaced.

SM: Kids being kids. If they can, they’ll find a way to exploit a resource for something that’s more engaging than the curricular intent.

GH: Indeed. Ha. For me, it became a cautionary tale that steered me away from platforms such as SL and OS environments.

SM: Yes, anyone familiar with these platforms is aware of the potential for actions that can be a diversion from the intent.

GH: Ironically, while the power of negative thinking would reveal too many potential problems, can I make it clear that I am incredibly grateful for the amazing pioneering work that’s been done for education in SL. Where would any of us be without it?

SM: It’s a staple in this field.

GH: Deservedly so. It set some standards for technology and engagement that the rest of the field had to compete with. The question I’m thinking that needs to be considered is, at what point does the strength of competing platforms make our levels of personal and perhaps even financial investment questionable?

SM: Right. A difficult thing to consider given the strength of the engagement it offers.

GH: Thanks for the segue Scott. I was recently speaking at a conference in Vancouver where the closing speaker was talking about the dangers of engagement?

SM: Really?

GH: Yeah, really quite interesting, especially given my passion for the “Engagification” of education. She went into the etiology of the word, and definitions for the word “engagement.” There was a set of definitions, the first being “to be occupied.” And of course that shouldn’t resonate with educators.

SM: I hear “busy work.”

GH: Yes, or simply shooting deer. Ha. Another definition was “betrothed,” you know, “in a fixed relationship.” And again, I do see certain dangers in that when it’s applied to information that becomes irrelevant in a quickly changing world.

SM: Text books?

GH: Yes. Even in VLEs, we need to be careful that content providers aren’t feeding students. If so, then the content may well be irrelevant, or outdated.

SM: Outdate by the time it’s published.

GH: Indeed. Another definition included “being engaged in a hostile relationship.”

SM: World of Warcraft?

GH: Where victory is a goal? Well yes, but let’s be clear that this is not the primary goal for the excellent educators out there who embed a host of valuable goals within their educational use of WoW. Given the lack of funding for anything better, this kind of leadership is both necessary and vital.

SM: Yes, there are a number of names that leap to mind.

GH: They are heroes to me. Those who have exploited the high engagement factor to bring about the last definition…“of great interest.”

SM: Yeah, it’s sounding like we need to get a new word.

GH: Clearly you get it, Scott! Having a resource or platform that simply generates “great interest” is not enough. I’m not ready to throw out the word, though. I think we just need to ensure that the resource or platform lead generates interest as a first step, but then goes beyond that, to become educationally valid. If the goal is to simply engage students, we have fallen short.

SM: Exactly. If there is one thing I’ve learned over the decades with educators parents, administrators, and students, it is that what one says is not always what one perceives, especially when it’s so connotatively laden – as is something like you are saying engagement is. And you know what they say, “perception is everything.”

GH: Right. Well I was pleading with educators over 20 years ago to “engage” children with the use of games in education. There was no such word as “gamification” back then, and maybe ANY form of engagement was better than having none at all. In such a case, games like Oregon Trail would have been a step in a positive direction, even if I didn’t feel it was really all that educational.

SM: Yes, I used it with my 3rd graders, back in the day…

GH: Back then it had the reputation as educational software, and you know. . . it was a start.

SM: [Laughs.]

GH: We don’t want the gym teacher, a pinball addict, filling a gym with pinball machines. They can justify it by saying the kids are engaged in practicing balance, fine motor skills, and hand -eye coordination . . .

SM: Well, yeah almost anything can be justified as a learning experience, but is it what we want to be doing with our kids?

GH: I was just talking with a teacher who will be reading this interview. They shared about their son, actively recruited for his genius by postsecondary schools and even the NSA. He had a full ride, until he became involved with a game used by many teachers to engage students. His genius was applied towards hiding his addiction rather than passing grade 12. He went from being a straight “A” student to losing all his scholarships.

SM: That’s a horrible story.

GH: It’s a cautionary tale. Statistically, some 18% of the population has addictive personalities. Giving them something good to be addicted to could be a good thing, but anything less can be disastrous. I also just got off the phone with a family who did everything they could to protect their daughter, but she still fell under the influence of an online predator.

SM: Not a pretty story.

GH: No, but when we’re using tools that allow for this kind of thing it means that we’re going to wear it. Whenever possible we need to move away from our only options, to better ones. Just this past week I was having a fresh look at Gary’s Mod, and exploring CryEngine to see if perhaps they could convince me to move away from Active Worlds or Unity3D. They didn’t.

SM: So you’ll of course have total control in Unity, right?

GH: Yes. Total control. No one gets in without a username and a password controlled by us. We can change that password day by day. They can’t go in unless we’re there. We also equip our students to be able to record anything that takes place in there.

SM: Sort of the Quest Atlantis reporting model, where the students are invested in reporting inappropriate behaviors.

GH: Yes. Which I guess takes us to Quest Atlantis. Quest Atlantis is really kind of an interesting story. It’s a kind of a child prodigy of virtual worlds.

SM: I have heard that they are concerned with moving away from the AW platform into something like Unity or Unity itself.

GH: Well it’s interesting. Dr. Sasha Barab et al, at Arizona State University, developed a modular version of QA in Unity. Frankly, it’s gorgeous, and my students all salivated at the idea of being able to get in there to use it. But despite the stunning graphics, they lost interest in it. Successful cartoons such as The Simpsons, Spongebob, and South Park inform us that graphics can be trumped by content. I suspect the fact that the lack of engagement with this new resource was due to it being single-player and lacking of an overarching backstory, rewards, and opportunities to gain status.

Successful cartoons such as The Simpsons, Spongebob , and South Park inform us that graphics can be trumped by content.

SM: So there’s some programming that hasn’t been developed yet?

GH: I simply don’t know. There could be plans to go multi-player and more. That potential exists with the Unity platform. My observations are from a very small sampling of students as well, so should be taken with a grain of salt.

SM: So if QA is the child prodigy, maybe Unity is a baby dinosaur, or a baby dragon.

GH: Yes, Unity is still a baby, with lot of promise for educators down the road. In time, a menu driven system will likely replace the need for programmers . . . and assets will become abundant and affordable.

SM: Maybe we’ll all be Occulus Rifting.

GH: Yeah, that too, if they manage to keep up with the new kids on the block.

SM: As you know, we had an Occulus Rift (OR) in the Virtual Environments Playground at ISTE. Bob Vojtek sent his Occulus Rift and we let people try it out at our ISTE VEN 2014 Playground. [This video was posted live during ISTE2014 Virtual Environments Network Events from edOvation on Livestream.com - https://new.livestream.com/accounts/2859027/events/3145490/videos/55342361]

GH: It’ll be interesting to see how many people are affected by the motion sickness and such.

SM: There’s a great article in WIRED Magazine this month about the tech specs and how the brilliant young inventor of OR benefitted from others’ research and innovation to conquer those issues with a wonderful kind of mash-up of gyroscopes, frame-rate enhancing hardware, and other stuff. You should read that. It’s worth a read. I’ll send you the url. (http://www.wired.com/2014/05/oculus-rift-4/ )

GH: As for ActiveWorlds (AW)…

SM: That’s where I started.

GH: Well it’s going through a renaissance. When you started in it there were a million users. Over the years many were lost to the possibilities offered by platforms like Second Life and OpenSim. I think AW has come to a realization that they’ll never win back those who are OK with “adult orientated” possibilities. But the very things that make AW weak for these , makes it strong for use with students. Ironically, I believe Second Life could recreate itself into an ideal educational tool, but while I hear the talk, I don’t see the walk.

SM: Second Life.

GH: Yes. I know many will disagree with me, and I want to say right now that I value that diversity of opinion. There needs to be disagreement and debate for productive discussions to occur.

SM: We needs us some pushback.

GH: AW has done this by opening up a new universe at http://aw3du.com. You’ll see profound improvements in the graphics and interface. I often show what my students are doing in AW only to find visitors insisting that I’m showing them Second Life. And the tools for presenting and building have an extremely low learning curve.

SM: That’s so important.

GH: A steep learning curve can bleed time away from enriching the educational content. Membership in AW is now free, but in AWEDU worlds come with accounts for 2 teachers and 30 students, with an option to purchase more. The worlds can be open to other students and teachers in this universe, or closed off. Worlds can host 50 avatars simultaneously, but numbers can be added.

Here are a couple preview pictures of the grade 8 Humanities Course work begun by Scott Miller.

SM: So there’s a whole lot of development goin’ on.

GH: Exactly. It seems like upgrades every week. We’ve begun creating our grade 8 Humanities course. I say “we” because it’s the students creating the curriculum in the form of narratives arising from their historical

research. Narratives to be sandwiched between the beginning and end of the backstory, becoming interactive quests and exemplars for those who follow, enriching this dynamic “experiential novel” with their own chapters.

SM: Go, Gord!

GH: Well, hoping that this discussion will have served the purpose of having others examine both the purpose of engagement and the dangers of allowing an investment of previous professional development to preclude exploring resources that may be more student-centered.

SM: You’ve made a case for this.

GH: The 2014 New Year is going to get very busy for all of us, but I’m always available to respond to any questions anyone might have regarding the developments in Unity3D and Active Worlds as educational resources and platforms.

SM: Yes, there may be some. As teachers we should model being questers, seeking informed movement through the adventure before us.

GH: Indeed. Thanks so much for the opportunity to discuss the direction I’ve taken Scott. I sincerely hope it’s been helpful to others to hear of this journey.

“Always make new mistakes” is a wonderful credo for learning, but there are of course more allowances for this in virtual learning environments than in real life. (Gord Holden’s email signature line.)

Power of Code

By Kae Novak (RL) Que Jinn (SL)

Hello World!

For this issue of the Virtual Education Journal, the Games and Simulations Networked wanted to share what some of our game based learning advocates and collaborators are doing for an Hour of Code and why they feel coding is important.

After we started interviewing them, we quickly realized that their own words would be better than paraphrasing or summarizing. What follows is a transcript of our interviews. We start with higher education administrators and instructors, then elementary school educators to discuss “kids and coding,” and end with the perspective of a professional development expert from a school district working on integrating more coding into their curriculum.

Power of Code Questions

Each Higher Education respondent was asked three questions. These questions were:

What is the importance of students, even those who are not computer science majors, in learning some coding? What computer language(s) do you think students should learn if they are just beginning?

What trends do you see in computing and computer science?

Their responses follow.

Chris Luchs, Associate Dean of Career and Technical Education CCCOnline, Colorado Community College System Project Lead, CCCOnline Hackathon ISTE Games and Simulations Network Member-at-Large Inevitable Instructors Gaming Guild

1) What is the importance of students, even those who are not computer science majors, in learning some coding?

Coding is everywhere now. It’s in your webpages; excel spreadsheets, games, etc. Coding provides you with insight into how the world works. We are part of the information age and most of that information is digital. Coding allows you to access and interpret this data and then utilize it to make decisions.

Also coding teaches you logical and systematic thought, which helps in a myriad ways. In coding, the software will only do what you tell it to as long as you provide the correct syntax and commands. Any error causes it to fail or generate an incorrect response. By learning this process, you develop a better understanding of how complex systems work and the importance of being accurate and using the appropriate channels. Once you understand how a system works, you can then look at how to efficiently and effectively use the system.

2) What computer language(s) do you think students should learn if they are just beginning?

Most programmers know a variety of languages so it’s hard to pin down which one is the best one. Each language has its own unique constraints and limitations. However, I think most students should learn HTML 5. While not a “programming” language it is the base language of the Internet and webpages, and as such, it is extremely useful to know how to line code HTML. The most common languages that are recommended are some variant of C (typically ++ or #), Java, and then either Python, PHP, or Ruby on Rails.

3) What trends do you see in computing and computer science?

One of the biggest trends is Hackathons. These are gatherings of programmers, graphic designers, hobbyists, and anyone else who has an interest in developing solutions to problems. They can take place in people’s homes, schools, community centers, hotels, almost anywhere there is a wifi connection and space for people to collaborate in large groups. Some of these events are funded by software companies and venture capital groups, but many are just people getting together to solve a common issue/problem.

There are many instances of cities hosting Hackathons to allow their citizens access to city data to come up with ways to help the city provide better service. Typical products of these types of civic Hackathons are mobile apps for bus times, complaint registration (take a picture and submit a complaint for pothole repair), and those that show city investment in projects and infrastructure. These apps serve to promote more citizen buy in and investment into the community, as well as give greater transparency on how the city spends tax dollars.

Erica Liszewski Computer Science Instructor

University of Denver/Arapahoe Community College Classes: Intro to Game Design 7 Development, 3D Programming, Advanced 3D Programming, Analytical Inquiry and World Wide Web Programming

1) What is the importance of students, even those who are not computer science majors, in learning some coding?

As technology becomes more and more pervasive in our everyday lives, I think it's useful for everyone to learn at least a little about how technology works. There are a lot of misconceptions about technology, especially when it comes to security, freedoms, and rights. Many laws are being put into place by people who don't understand how technology works, or how those laws will affect actual people.

On a more social level, because technology is becoming so important to how we live and work, those who know how to make and fix technology will have increasing power. If certain people understand technology and other do not, those in the know will have increasing power over those who aren't. This could easily create large gaps between those with the power and those without – which will become increasingly difficult to cross for those who are born on the wrong side.

On a personal level, being able to code gives a person a new and powerful form of creative expression. Just as painting and making videos have been ways of expressing one's self in the past, digital art and games are new forms of creative expression.

2) What computer language(s) do you think students should learn if they are just beginning?

This kinda depends on the eventual goal of the student. Do they want to become a programmer/computer scientist? Make games? Make art?

My general favorite right now would probably be JavaScript. It's reasonably simple, requires only a text editor and web browser to get started, and it's easy to share the things you make online. If the student has any goals of doing programming for the web (server or client side, games, apps, etc.) JavaScript is probably the most popular and commonly used programming language. There are a ton of online resources for learning JavaScript, and when combined with things like the CSS3 or the HTML5 canvas you can make neat visual things pretty quickly.

Java or C++/C# are good general purpose languages for just about anything. These are probably the most common languages for programming "real" software, including games. One or the other of these is usually the starting language for most computer science programs. For students who want to become programmers, you can't really go wrong with one of these.

3) What trends do you see in computing and computer science?

This is a very broad question, and a bit difficult to answer. Programming is definitely getting more general interest now than I've ever seen before. When I was an undergrad, computer science was kind of a niche things, that "smart" people did. Or it was something you did because it paid well. Now I'm seeing programming promoted as more of a general skill. Digital art is becoming a big thing, and so "artists" are learning to program. This is really neat to me, since I've always been both "artist" and "programmer,” and this was seen as something impossible because the emotional arts and the logical programmers couldn't possibly mix.

Kids and Coding

Picture 1: Project Dungeon, Nathan Sands and Randi Egan, Intro to Game Design & Development, Stencyl

Each K-12 respondent was asked three questions:

Could you tell us a little about kids and coding at your school?

What programs are you using at your school for coding? What the age and grade level?

How is your class or school participating in hour of code?

Their responses follow.

Trish Cloud Technology Associate

Grand Oak Elementary

Huntersville, North Carolina ISTE Games and Simulations Network Member-at-Large Inevitable Instructors Gaming Guild

1) Could you tell us a little about your students and coding at your school?

A couple of years ago when I was working solely with iPads, I discovered these new coding apps that were appearing in write ups in articles, so I took a look at them. There were a variety, but the main ones that I came across were Kodable, Hopscotch, and Daisy the Dinosaur. I spent the spring of that school year (2013) teaching the students in my school (K-5) how to use all three. By far the most popular was Kodable. That summer when our district had its annual Summer Institute, the creators of Kodable, Jon Mattingly and Grechen Huebner, came to talk and show us their app.

Since that time I have moved to a new school, but I still use Kodable with all my students and they love it. I particularly use it with K-2 as it is fun and accessible for them. Last year, my first year at my new school, I decided to introduce a Coding Club as an afterschool club. I was pleasantly surprised when I had 20 students sign up. They ranged in grades 1-5. At that time Tynker had a great thing going using blockley style chunks to do the coding. You could get as many licenses as you needed and the leveled lessons worked really well with the students. First graders had some difficulty with the reading but brave 4th graders stepped up and helped them through the difficult parts. We spent the year in Tynker and Gamestar Mechanic on the computer, and Kodable and Hakitzu on the iPads.

As we progressed through the year my students had access not only to coding but the programmers and entrepreneurs who created the programs. In the fall I Skyped with Jon and Gretchen from Kodable in California where they made this statement on the power of code on Digital Learning Day. I held a Google Hangout with the creators of Hakitzu from England (Video here). My students loved everything they did in any and every program we used. The power they felt they had to create was more fun to them than anything else. This year I am doing the Coding Club again and I have 31 students and a waiting list of 10.

Unfortunately Tynker has changed their options for how you purchase licenses and I have had to choose alternatives. So, once again I have ranges from first to fifth grade and some have never been in coding and some are veterans from last year. I had quite the quandary when I was setting up how to implement the club. For brand new beginners, I am using the Code.org curriculum they have developed for all grade levels. I started the brand new 1st graders on the lowest level, 2nd graders who were veterans from last year and new 3rd through 5th graders were started on level two to get a feel for the coding. My upper grade veterans from last year are using Codecademy.

I am very fortunate this year in that I have a high school senior coming to help who is using the Coding Club as part of his senior exit project. I also have a parent who just happens to be a Computer Science graduate from MIT who comes in, too.

The veterans are working on HTML/CSS and it’s definitely HARD FUN. They get stuck and they have to find where the mistakes are. For 9 and 10 year olds this can be daunting but I have to say their perseverance is admirable. I still have days to when I give them a break. They go to Gamestar Mechanic or they can go to Hakitzu or Kodable. I have my eye on Alice which is 3D object-based programming. I don’t know if we will get to it, but next year’s veteran’s (they will be 5th graders and, if they return, it will be their 3rd year in Coding Club) will be ready to handle it.

2) What programs are you using at your school for coding? What the age and grade level?

Code.org 1-5

Light Bot 1-5

Kodable K-5

Scratch 3-5

Hakitzu Coding Club

Gamestar Mechanic Coding Club

Codecademy Coding Club

3) How is your class or school participating in hour of code?

Well, we have testing from December 1 thru 19 so, like last year, I will run the Hour of Code for an entire week in January. We will do some unplugged activities and plugged on the computer. Picture 2: Unplugged Activity Hour of Code, Grand Oak Coding Club

Laura Briggs Technology Resource Teacher

John W. Tolbert, Jr. Elementary Loudoun County Public Schools, Virginia

STEM Camp Director

STAR Summer Camp

http://starsummercamp.org

ISTE Mobile Learning Network President

1) Could you tell us a little about kids and coding at your school?

At my elementary school, students are actually doing two weeks of coding and programming activities in December as last year was such a success and students loved the programming activities. Students were excited about these activities and participating helped many gain confidence as they learned and progressed through the activities. Even first graders, six year olds, could code and learn about programming. It was a highlight of our year and we are excited to be expanding with many different activities this year!

2) What programs are you using at your school for coding? What the age and grade level?

We are using a combination of several activities for the first two weeks in December. We are using Code.org, iPad apps, BeeBots with mat grids, and the Robot Turtles Programming Board Game. We are also using various websites to practice coding and programming.

Activities by Grade Level

Kindergarten (Age 5-6)

Week 1 - Students will create a custom robot at Make a Robot and print. Students will also work on programming language by walking on a physical grid on the floor dressed like a bumblebee. Students will then use BeeBots to program paths reviewing letter sounds on a grid on the floor.

First Grade (Age 6-7)

Week 1 - Students will use the Code.org activity with Anna and Elsa from Frozen to make ice fractals and skating patterns using basic coding skills. Students will use BeeBots to program paths reviewing counting coins.

Week 2 - Students will use the iPad app Daisy the Dinosaur and the website Fix the Factory to complete coding challenges.

Second Grade (Age 7-8)

Week 1 - Students will use the Code.org activity with Anna and Elsa from Frozen to make ice fractals and skating patterns using basic coding skills - and students may also choose the Angry Birds coding activity if they would like. Students will use BeeBots to program paths reviewing counting coins.

Week 2 - Students will use the iPad app Hopscotch and the website Lightbot to complete coding challenges.

Third Grade (Age 8-9)

Week 2 - Students will use the iPad app Kodable and the website Lightbot to complete coding challenges.

Fourth Grade (Age 9-10) - Fifth Grade (Age 10-11)

Week 2 - Students will use the iPad app Scratch Jr. to develop a programmable holiday card.

3) How is your class or school participating in hour of code?

Students will be participating in a variety of engaging activities during the first two weeks in December. Students will earn coding certificates and we hope to develop a gallery of student-created projects on our website. Teachers will also have coding activities available in classroom centers.

Patricia Ruiz

Computer Science Teacher & Department Head

Sacred Heart Schools

Atherton, California

ISTE Games and Simulations Network Communications Committee

1) Could you tell us a little about your students and coding at your school?

In the 9th grade, students learn basic HTML/CSS, and Python. In addition to the 2 weeks that we spend on each of these languages, students also use http://www.codecademy.com/ outside of class if they are interested in learning more on their own. This 9th grade course is a modified version of the Exploring Computer Science course developed through an NSF grant - you can find that curriculum here: http://www.exploringcs.org/curriculum

2) What programs are you using at your school for coding? What the age and grade level?

In class we use trinket.io for the HTML/CSS. It is a tool developed by computer science instructors that minimizes distractions for students and maximizes their ability to collaborate by sharing trinkets. This is a new tool and I have found that the developers are very interested in making it work well in MS and HS classrooms. In addition to trinket.io, students find codecademy.com helpful.

3) How is your class or school participating in hour of code?

We held a large assembly last year and had a speaker come to present to students. This year, we will use the momentum from last year and work with students in classrooms. We will provide a variety of options to our students for participating in hour of code and make announcements and provide spaces for students to work in.

Picture 3: Patricia Ruiz’s 9th grade Computer Science 1 course - Exploring Computer Science Hour of Code in a District

For our last segment, we wanted to bring a professional development perspective to coding and the hour of code events. Luckily we were able to find someone whose school district was in the process of integrating Hour of Code into the classroom curriculum. Our respondent was asked three questions:

Why should teachers be bringing coding into their classroom?

Can you tell us about your institution’s involvement with code.org and coding as part of the curriculum?

What events are you planning for hour of code?

Tanya Martin

Coordinator, Professional Development Support Broward County Schools, Florida

ISTE Games and Simulations Network Professional Development Chair

Inevitable Instructors Gaming Guild Director of Recruitment

1) Why should teachers be bringing coding into their classroom?

Coding is a literacy needed in this century, regardless of what career a student is pursuing. Teaching coding is actually teaching problem solving. It increases computational and critical thinking skills. Additionally, Computer Science is a field that is growing and is driving innovation.

Regardless of career paths, computing jobs will be incorporated into those career paths including medical, manufacturing, defense, finance, and government. Coding used to be a niche class considered an "elective" and taught to a very small group of students. This is no longer acceptable, as we are doing our students and our country a disservice by not preparing future employees in a skill they will need to have.

Coding is incorporated into multiple software applications from the use of a spreadsheet or database to coding a macro in a game. As digital devices and software become ubiquitous it is becoming essential to understand how to "talk to a computer" and give it instructions in code.

2) Can you tell us about your institution’s involvement with code.org and coding as part of the curriculum?

Broward County Schools has partnered with Code.org in providing Professional Development to instructional staff including teachers and administrators. Our district has a 3-year partnership to provide 2 cadres of high school and middle school teachers, guidance counselors and administrators with the professional development necessary to schedule and instruct students in the area of coding.

Our agreement began in 2013 and will conclude in 2016, in time to have students ready for the new AP Test in Computer Science. The new AP Test will be in Javascript. We are using the Bootstrapworld.org curriculum in middle school math and the Project GUTS program in middle school science. Code.org provided all the support and organization for the professional development.

Middle school math and science teachers are teaching the regular math and science standards with a unit of study in Bootstrapworld and Project GUTS which incorporates coding. Incorporating these coding activities in regular classes serves to encourage middle school students to consider pursuing computer science courses in high school as they study the math and science standards.

High school teachers are using the Exploring Computer Science (ECS) curriculum with a focus on expanding Computer Science to all students. Guidance Counselors and school administrators who handle scheduling are involved in the professional development, as they are the ones who guide students in making course selections and actually develop student schedules. The focus is to encourage all students, especially underrepresented populations in computer science (females and minorities).

Beginning in the spring of 2015 our first cadre will been the "Principles in Computer Science" course while the second cadre will begin the ECS course. The intent for these students is to ultimately participate in the AP Computer Science course and test in 20162017. The District has independently incorporated the code.org

curriculum in elementary grades through our science curriculum requirements.

3) What events are you planning for hour of code?

Broward County Schools led the nation in the number of students participating in Hour of Code in 2013. One of our high schools won a laptop cart with a classroom set of laptops as part of the involvement. We will have a district-wide involvement again this year. Classroom teachers, schools and district departments are all participating. I am personally planning an event for my division, "The Office of Talent Development.” Individuals who work for the division as well as those who may be on our campus on the date of our event, will be spending an hour coding in Scratch. Last year we participated in an unplugged activity requiring logic and problem solving. The activity was one suggested by Code.org.

In addition to the activity I have planned for my division, I am also involved with an event sponsored by the Games and Simulation Network and the Inevitable Instructors of the Inevitable Betrayal Guild in WoW. That event will take place online in The World of Warcraft MMO. On December 10 at 8 PM EST, educators who have an interest will be logging into WoW into the Cenarion Circle Realm, creating a Blood Elf and joining the Hour Of Code Guild as we code some Macros and have fun with basic coding to animate our WoW characters. The event will be livestreamed via Google Hangout and YouTube on the Games MOOC channel.

Macro: Piece of Code used by players to extend the basic functionality of a game like World of Warcraft.

In Conclusion

As you have read there are many reasons to bring coding into the classroom. There are also many tools that make coding more accessible and easier to complete.

Coding is changing from a niche skill to a new literacy and maybe even art. If you haven’t seen it before, on Wordpress the footer is “code is poetry.” That echoes game design instructor, Erica’s thoughts on how coding and art are beginning to combine.

Coding languages change. Currently the popular coding languages are Java and Python and computer science instructors also recommend a scripting language like Java script. What doesn’t change is the computational thinking required to successfully use these languages. It requires the ability to work with complexity, persistence in the face of difficult problems, and logically organizing and analyzing data.

The one-hour unplugged activity that both Trish’s elementary students and Tanya’s teachers did is called Traveling Circuits and the full tutorial is listed here. It is a hands-on programming logic activity that has learners using plastic cups as circuits.

Is it a game? Well there is a challenge, the ending part has a time limit, there is scaffolding and maybe you can bring a prize or two? I will be doing this challenge with my instructional design team for our Hour of Code.

Sincerely,

Kae Novak

Instructional Designer

Information and Technology Literacy Mentor

Front Range Community College

ISTE Games and Simulations Chair

Inevitable Instructors Gaming Guild

Geology Valley:

A 21st

Century Collaborative Alternative to Conventional End of Course Testing

By Dr. William Schmachtenberg, Sl: Dae Miami

Like most teachers in a few weeks, I will be preparing my students for their end of course test in Earth Science. Those students will be sitting down at a laptop in a cubicle, and answering multiple-choice questions hoping to get a passing grade and a verified credit. Students need 6 verified credits for high school graduation. They will not be allowed to communicate with each other.

In the October 5, 2014 edition of the Roanoke Times, Annie McCallum wrote an article entitled "Crystal ball for SOLs is cloudy” which critically examined our current means of testing. She quoted Ben Williams, Roanoke County's associate director of testing and remediation as saying "What we're finding right now is that businesses are telling us, the community is telling us, that getting students prepared for multiple choice questions isn't helping us prepare students for the next phase in their life." He continues to say that today's tests don't measure well what skills are important for students in the future, such as communication skills, ability to collaborate, and thinking critically. This is certainly no surprise to DOE as they have incorporated the twenty first century skills of online collaboration and problem solving into the new technology standards over a year ago. So, the question remains how to assess these skills.

As part of the STIC (Student technology Integration Challenge) for the VSTE (Virginia Society for Technology in Education) 2014 Annual Conference in Virginia Beach this December, my students and I have

created a prototype of a new assessment program called Geology Valley. Kevin Tweedy, with Extreme Reality, graciously provided the multiplayer software needed for our simulations. Students log into a server, select an avatar, and log into the Geology Valley simulation.

Students Explore Geology Valley

As they approach boulders in the sim, they are given a question about geology. The question appears on all the computer screens for all the students. Students may discuss the question via chat in the sim.

Students, however, may pass incorrect information or incomplete information amongst themselves. It is up to each student to answer each question and scores are calculated individually for each student.

In the example shown above the correct answer is Granite, since it is an intrusive igneous rock. In chat, the message that Basalts are igneous may lead students to click on that answer. Basalt though would be wrong as it is an extrusive rock. The message that schists are igneous is also incorrect as they are metamorphic.

You can access Geology Valley on the web at: http://www.evwllc.co/GEO%20Valley/GEO%20Valley . Firefox seems to work best on the pc and safari on the mac. I encourage teachers to try Geology Valley with their students and let me know how the lesson went. It is free of charge.

Special recognition to the following students who worked on Geology Valley: Matthew Brosinski, Mariah Boone, Ethan Frazier, and Noah Flint.

You can contact Dr. Schmachtenbert at the following email address: wschmachtenberg@gmail.com.

Learn to Program with Minecraft Plugins (2nd edition): Create Flaming Cows in Java Using CanaryMod

https://pragprog.com/book/ahmin e2/learn-to-program-withminecraft-plugins

Digging Deeper: Minecraft as a Transition to Wider Virtual Worlds

By Keith David Reeves, M.Ed., a.k.a. Loren Alunaia

“It’s like virtual Legos®.”

The first time I saw Minecraft, I figured it had tremendous potential, but like so many educational technology tools that catch fire, its simplicity is elegant in a way I could not have anticipated. “Left click breaks, right click builds” is about as straightforward an interface as one could imagine, and as such, the “technology overhead” we often encounter in virtual environments - the learning curve required to learn how to maneuver within and interact with the simulation - is practically minimalist.

That’s the beauty: Content shines through.

“VSTE in Second Life” has been an active and innovative presence in the virtual environments education world since roughly 2008, with a strong focus on professional networking. Starting about 2012, the focus of the group was becoming more and more interested in learning and instruction. Serendipitously, this growth coincided with the introduction of Professional Learning Networks by ISTE, and so VSTE in SL became VSTE’s first PLN, the VSTE Virtual Environments PLN.

Minecraft is our first major focus after Second Life. It is a logical starting point for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is its easy application into elementary school educational technology work. Whereas Second Life, as a highly sophisticated simulation platform, is somewhat more appropriate for learners at the high school, college, and adult levels, Minecraft lends itself well to immediate application for younger learners because of that “low overhead.”

Minecraft does what it does brilliantly, even if it doesn't do much.

That's the beauty of the platform, and the fact that it is both secure and stable on so many platforms - including an iOS version for mobile devices! All of this makes Minecraft an ideal choice for many virtual building applications. There is absolutely no native inappropriate content, zero advertising, and zero links. While a student could, theoretically, build something that might be inappropriate, this is both unlikely and unseen.

Minecraft is one of the most intuitive, simple -to-use, and easy-toengage-with virtual environments. For teachers, the experience is identical

to students' experiences. As there is no hierarchy in the base (non-Edu) version of Minecraft, the teacher experience mirrors that of the student experience. One need ask but one question to integrate it into one's lesson: "What would students build or make without a computer in this lesson?"

One need only say "then build that here," and one has Minecraft within reach.

The edtech developers in the VSTE VE PLN have, thus far, built houses, taverns, overlooks, farms, lighthouses, treehouses, and most recently, an integrated railway system spanning hundreds of blocks (the fundamental building “block” of Minecraft, of course)! We’ve tunneled and bridged our way across the sim, through subterranean passages, under waterways, over mountain – we’ve created ramps, spirals, elevators, you name it!

This trial-and-error experimentation mirrors precisely what one would expect from an authentic problem -solving and construction learning activity. With the most rudimentary of interfaces (pick a block and place it,

or destroy a block), one can detach from construction and attach to design.

For example, I set out to reproduce the Hotel Roanoke, one of the most popular VSTE conference venues. I had never built anything remotely like it, so I simply selected the colored blocks that mirrored the exterior of the Tudorbethan-style landmark, and set about building. At one point, I ran out of space for a wing. Well, only one thing to do: I had to clear some space. It took a lot of clicking, but I mined out the side of a hillside, and kept on building the hotel.

My objective was to replicate an environment for purposes of demonstrating my comprehension of the Hotel Roanoke as an architectural landmark. My method was to build it in Minecraft. My process was a discovery-based, entirely free-form exploration of the virtual environment simulator to accomplish that task, with very little scaffolding or guidance.

This same pedagogical process could be used in any number of applications. Ask yourself, as a pedagogue, what artifacts a student might

produce in “First Life” (a.k.a., physical consensus reality), and then entertain the ways by which that artifact might be created in a virtual reality, be it Second Life or, in this case, Minecraft.

While I am a resident of and a major advocate for Second Life, building in SL is becoming increasingly sophisticated. I had just started to figure out how to manipulate basic prims when along came mesh, and wiped the slate clean of “top tier” designers, who now had to master 3D rendering applications like Maya or Blender. Well, sorry, kids, I don’t know how to do any of that! I’m a music teacher by trade, not a computer programmer, and having sat through a few less-than-spectacular-result Blender classes, I can tell you, that’s not a simple tool.

However, Minecraft inverts the relationship between the person behind the avatar and the avatar’s ability to build. Blender and Maya take extraordinary amounts of technology “overhead” for building; one could study these applications for years and never master them. However, Minecraft’s most sophisticated building techniques can be mastered in a matter of days, and its most essential building skills mastered in minutes. This liberates the VE participant from the daunting and sometimes

frustrating task of learning the interface “language” and allows that person to focus on design, content, and application.

The VSTE server has served as a tremendous sandbox, allowing us to discover the “facts of life” in Minecraft, just as students would: a pushed minecart can travel about 12 rail lengths if pr eceded by 6 powered rail lengths. A powered rail needs a redstone torch to light up and work. Redstone appears to be a power source. Redstone also appears to be conductive, like an electric wire. Buttons don’t just toggle redstone, but they’re a power source of their own.

These little factoids, as discovered, naturally connect to other ideas, and the learner forms a unique, individualized comprehension of those ideas and relationships, in the course of building. The train lines have served as a great vehicle not only for connecting the geographic environments on the server, but connecting ideas about how the components within the VE work and how those overarching ideas relate in a more complex system.

As a member of the executive committee of the society, I consider PLNs to be an exceptionally positive development in our field – a great way to allow ephemeral, serendipitous, and evolving interest groups to seek and receive the support of their parent organizations. As the board liaison between the VSTE Virtual Environments PLN and the VSTE Board of Directors, I think the PLN serves as an exemplar in terms of its organization. However, as a long-time VE resident and advocate, I’m most pleased and passionate about the VE PLN because it sees the potential of platforms like Minecraft, and throws itself into

exploring it, working with and in it, and discovering the countless ways in which it relates directly to student learning outcomes and teacher instructional practices.

Minecraft’s simplicity and im mediate applicability as a building sandbox has made it the ideal “entry level” choice for our newest virtual explorations, and we believe it could be the ideal “entry level” VE for your teachers and students for precisely the same reason

Keith David Reeves, M.Ed., a.k.a. Loren Alunaia is Treasurer and Director At-Large, Virginia Society for Technology in Education and the Senior Coordinator of Instructional Technology, Arlington Public Schools. You can learn more about his work at http://www.kdreeves.com/

Be sure to visit us in Second Life @ http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/EduIsland 9/20/37/22

To Read VEJ online visit: http://www.virtualeducationjournal.com/

For more information about ISTE SIGVE/VEN or to join the fun, visit: http://sigve.iste.wikispaces.net/ & http://sigve.weebly.com/

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