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

The Reality of Virtual Learning Personal Professional Collegial

Hello Everyone!

The Reality of Virtual Learning is that it is one of the best-kept secrets outside of the metaverse. For many reasons (most notably the quirky looks you get when you merely mention the word “avatar”) many of us have shied away from talking about our ventures into virtual worlds, except with like-minded, kindred souls. But, that is about to change.

Why? Two reasons.

First of all, if you visit an elementary school, or talk to your children or grandchildren, you quickly learn what they are doing with avatars, and how they are connecting with and learning from each other in virtual environments such as Minecraft. As the June 19, 2009 PBS “Learning in Virtual Worlds” video http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/digitalnation/resources/virtuallearning/ explains, “kids play games socially” in collaboration with each other in virtual communities. Our children outside of school are learning skills that we do not teach in schools using a variety of desk and mobile devices. Yet, these skills are essential for them to live successful and productive lives as adults. In the medical field, this would be considered malpractice.

I see it everyday in my elementary school. Students want to build, to lead, to teach, and to mentor their peers as they create and transform a blank virtual space into worlds that are only limited by their own imagination and technical know-how. The bigger question is not what the kids are doing, but what educators can and should be doing to harness this enthusiasm and challenge student thinking and abilities to achieve the knowledge, skills, and dispositions they need to be creative entrepreneurs and successful global citizens. Educators (and especially key stakeholders and decision-makers) have a lot of work to do to catch up to where our kids are today outside of school in order to move them forward and make learning relevant in school.

Second, and what makes me most excited, is the work that educators and others are doing across the metaverse in virtual worlds, new and old, to teach, mentor, coach, support, and build communities of learning and practice. As you will see in this issue, and from watching the archived video footage from VWBPE2015 at https://www.youtube.com/user/VWBPEas it becomes available, educators and social workers are providing quality experiences for people that extend what they are able to do in real life and give them back a quality of life (e.g., socially, emotionally, spiritually, and yes, even physically) through their interactions with their personal avatar(s). The potential and ability is already here to transform and change peoples’ lives thanks to the important work many are already doing in Second Life, OpenSims, and beyond.

I am in awe – inspired, emotionally charged, a nd rejuvenated with a new enthusiasm after learning about the work of Virtual Ability Inc., championed by this year’s recipient of the VWBPE2015 Thinkerer Award, Gentle Heron (sl), Alice Krueger (rl). You “must read” the complete interview with Gentle Heron. Also, make sure to watch the two Draxtor videos she mentions and visit Virtual Ability Island to discover this amazing work.

The Reality of Virtual Learning is it has the ability to actively engage ALL persons, with and without disabilities, in effective and enhanced high-quality personal, professional, and collegial learning experiences that transform and enrich our lives in ways we can’t yet imagine. Look out on the horizon . . . The Reality of Virtual Learning is here!

We know you will want to devour this issue – so don’t wait, take your first byte! You will discover, like always, VEJ is “Out of this World!”

Keep Smiling J

Roxie Neiro (SL), Rosie Vojtek (RL)

In This Issue

• VWBPE 2015 Thinkerer Award Winner, Alice Krueger (rl), Gentle Heron (sl)

• An Interview with Gentle Heron (sl), and Alice Krueger (rl)

• What I Learned From VWBPE

• Get Your Mojo On . . . House @ Blue’s Corner

• EdTech 532: Educational Games & Simulations

• Art Begets Art

• Virtual Stonehenge: A Computer Simulation

• Expanding Horizons for Archaeological and Historical Context for a Virtual Audience

• Backstage @VWBPE15

• Top 10 Tips To Be Professional In Virtual Worlds

• Machinima Mania is Back for 2015

• VEJ, Share Your Story: EPIC Learning in Virtual Worlds/Environments

• Rift and Ready for Immersion

• VWBPE Selfie Moments

• At The VWBPE Crossroads . . . Oh, Yes, We Did Have Fun!

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/

Vej is an Edovation Publication 3

Cover Photo by BJ Gearbox (sl), Bob Vojtek (rl)

The following is the speech read by Dirk McKeenan at the VWBPE2015 Closing Ceremony on March 21, 2015 when the Thinkerer Award was presented to Alice Krueger (rl), Gentle Heron (sl). You can view the entire ceremony at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v =-6Uul2d4QLc

Gentle Heron in Poetry Garden on Cape Serenity

In 2014, the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education Organizational Committee instituted a new personal achievement award to recognize an individual who has provided outstanding service to both the field of education and the virtual world community at large.

The THINKERER AWARD is presented to an individual whose deeds and actions have shown a consistent selfless service towards the promotion of learning, community, educational practices, and who exemplifies the spirit of cooperative development within immersive environments.

Recipients of this award are not simply outstanding professionals in their field. Award recipients must characterize transformational leadership qualities to

• envision and guide change;

• enhance the motivation, morale, and performance of both peers and pupils;

• promote best practices and continuous improvement; and

• inspire others through their words and actions.

One such individual is ALICE KRUEGER, better known to many of us as Gentle Heron.

Ms. Krueger is the founder and President of Virtual Ability, Inc., a real world nonprofit organization based in Colorado, USA, with a well-established presence in Second Life. She holds a Master of Science degree and is a mother of three. After a career spanning nearly 40 years in education, teaching regular and special education, then program management, professional development and research, Ms. Krueger became fully disabled with multiple sclerosis. But this didn’t stop her.

To combat the isolation, which commonly besets people with significant disabilities, she founded a 501(c)(3) with a mission to bring people with disabilities into online virtual worlds by providing a supporting environment in which to thrive there.

Gentle Heron first rezzed into Second Life when the Heron Sanctuary was established in 2007. Virtual Ability, Inc. officially adopted the new name in 2008 after having helped numerous people get “up and running” in Second Life. The original group has grown in size from about 150 individuals to nearly 1000 members, with an ever-stronger reputation within Second Life as the leading cross-disability community of support for people with real world disabilities. In 2009, VAI won the first Linden Prize for providing “a series of courses and resources to help people with real-world disabilities get acclimated and start using Second Life” and for its ground-breaking new resident orientation course on Virtual Ability Island.

Since that time, Virtual Ability has collaborated with researchers in disability studies and with projects to enhance the lives of people with disabilities. VAI has worked on such diverse projects as

• Virtual programs for military amputees with the US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command;

• Participation in EmployAble, a Kessler Foundation grant project of the University of Hawaii’s Center on Disability Studies; and

• Virtual Health Adventures, led by Nova Southeastern University, College of Health Care Sciences.

As a mother, activist, educator, researcher, and leader, Gentle’s contributions as president of Virtual Ability have resulted in the escalation of discussion, for and about people with disabilities in virtual world settings, to a level, which did not exist before 2007. Her virtual world efforts are a reflection of her tireless work in all worlds:

• Real world speaking engagements on disability-related topics

• Featured speaker at the Second Life Community Convention in 2009

• Authored and co-authored articles on assistive technologies and virtual worlds

• Featured in the “Login 2 Life” project, described as “on the very edge of civilization, documenting a lifestyle so entirely new, that few have managed to look beneath the surface of this emerging phenomenon”

Ms. Krueger has raised the bar for bringing equality in education for persons with disabilities into both the political and corporate boardrooms. Her efforts have led to significant changes at local, national, and international levels.

It is for all these reasons, and more, that the VWBPE Organizational Committee proudly confirms Alice Krueger as the VWBPE 2015 Thinkerer Award recipient.

An

I was thrilled when the VWBPE15 Eric Clapton Tribute Concert after the Closing Ceremony. The speech made by Dirk article for speech) explains why she was selected for the 2nd annual Thinkerer Award, the highest honor given from VWBPE. I hope you enjoy reading this article as much as I enjoyed talking with Gentle. In here own words, please meet Gentle Heron, one of Second Life’s most influential global citizens.

Roxie: Tell us about yourself. Who you are in rl, sl, and any other virtual environments and what you do?

Gentle: I am a very different person in the physical world now than I would have predicted ten years ago, or even one year ago. Life has a way of sneaking up and tripping you when you are least aware. I no longer have a career by which I define myself. I must spend much more time taking care of myself than I would ever have suspected would be necessary. I no longer have freedom of movement to go where ever, whenever I please.

Instead I am part of a community in Second Life to which I am devoted, and which supports, educates, entertains, and sustains me.

Roxie: Yes, the Second Life community is amazing! When and how did you get involved in Second Life?

Gentle: I came into Second Life with some friends back in April of 2007. We felt that as our disabilities increased, we were losing our ability to socialize and becoming more isolated. We wondered if we could use a virtual world, if that would offer more freedom than our shrinking physical worlds provided.

We all chose the last name Heron from Linden Lab’s list for new avatars at that time, and formed The Heron Sanctuary on land donated by Lorelei Junot on one of the EduIslands she ran at that time. It started as a spot for people we invited to join us in Second Life where they could learn basic skills and hang out.

As our capacity and population grew, I realized we needed to have a physical world presence. This led to forming the 501(c)3 nonprofit, Virtual Ability, I nc., which could then interact legally with other legal entities through contracts and other formal relationships. You can learn more about Virtual Ability, Inc. at our website www.virtualability.org.

Roxie: (Laughing) I wondered how the Heron Sanctuary got its name. Since Heron Sanctuary has become Virtual Ability, Inc. it has increased its membership to nearly 1,000 members. Who are these people and what is it that attracts so many people to Virtual Ability?

Gentle: We are a cross-disability peer support community. This means that our members with disabilities may have physical, mental, emotional, developmental, or sensory disabilities.

We know that about a quarter of our membership are people who are not yet disabled. These people may become disabled as they age, or through accident or illness. They are family members or friends of people with disabilities, caregivers, medical professionals, researchers, or others interested in disability issues.

Roxie: Describe Virtual Ability Island. If our readers were to visit the Virtual Ability Island, what could they expect to see when they teleport there?

Gentle: Virtual Ability Island (http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Virtual Ability/128/128/23) was our first public sim. It has a tropical ambience. The main portion of the island is taken up by our New Resident Orientation Path (http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Virtual Ability/170/96/23 ), where newcomers who sign in through our website can enter Second Life and immediately learn the basic skills (movement, conversation, inventory and buying items, orienting in the world, and modifying appearance) that will make virtual life richer for them. The orientation was designed using the theory of andragogy (http://elearningindustry.com/the-adult-learning-theory-andragogy-of-malcolmknowles) and the principles of Universal Design (http://www.ncsu.edu/ncsu/design/cud/).

Also, on the island is a large auditorium (http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Virtual%20Ability/57/174/23 ). The Sojourner Auditorium is named for one of the first peer support group leaders in Second Life. Soj, as she was known, was a member of our initial advisory board.

This was the first Mayo Clinic presentation in SL, in our Sojourner Auditorium.

Gentle: There are also two smaller classrooms (http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Virtual Ability/47/132/23 ) that are used for public conferences and community educational events throughout the year.

Activity Schedule Board

Roxie: I looks like you have several activities happening each day. What are some of the activities and events that people can engage in at Virtual Ability Island?

Gentle: Newcomers of course are welcome to use the orientation path, and in fact many who do not have disabilities do so each year. Entire cohorts of students in classes ranging from nursing to social work enter Second Life through our website. They can enter SL for the first time at the beginning of the orientation path and take their first steps toward avatar competency as they walk along the boardwalk learning basic skills. We encourage professors who wish to bring in entire classes at once to contact us, and we will have mentors waiting to assist the new students.

Roxie: [Laughing] I so wish there had been a place like this when I first got started in second life! Even though the technology has progressed, there is still a huge

learning curve. This is a wonderful place for newcomers to Second Life to come and hone their skills in a nurturing environment. I highly recommend teachers and professors take you up on this opportunity for their students to practice their navigation and social skills here. Thank you!

Walking on the Orientation Pathway

Gentle: Your welcome. In addition, persons who use assistive technology to access their computers are encouraged to contact Virtual Ability by email (info@virtualability.org) before they attempt to sign into Second Life for the first time. We can walk them through the account creation process, help them understand how to interface their technology with the Second Life user interface, and guide their first virtual steps as a brand new avatar. For instance, our blind users come into Second Life using a text-only third party viewer. They need orientation that is specific to that viewer, so we have a group of sighted and blind mentors who can work directly with them.

Experienced SL residents as well as newcomers can attend two major professional conferences each year. In the spring we host a one-day Mental Health Symposium, and in the fall we hold the International Disability Rights Affirmation

Conference. This year’s Mental Health Symposium will be held May 2, so be watching for more details soon.

Roxie: Definitely! There are other sims that are part of Virtual Ability, Inc., such as HealthInfo Island, Cape Able, Cape Serenity. Tell us about them and what each of these sims has to offer people.

Health Info Island

Gentle: OK. Healthinfo Island (http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Healthinfo Island/128/128/24) is our second public island, directly to the west from Virtual Ability Island. It contains information on health and wellness in a variety of formats. We emphasize health and wellness rather than disability, as healthy living is an area of interest for both people with and without disabilities.

The Path of Support on Health Info Island (http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Healthinfo Island/150/73/23 ) lists over 120 different peer support groups that exist in Second Life. While people don’t come into a virtual world seeking peer support, I think it’s a real bonus that they can find it in this environment. There is also a Research Pavilion

(http://maps.s econdlife.com /secondlife/H ealthinfo Island/126/20 2/30) where people can learn about research opportunities, both RL and SL, in which they may choose to participate.

The research Pavilion

Our two Cape islands are residential, with public areas in the center. The waterfront areas all around each island are private residences. When you visit, please respect the privacy of our supportive residents and do not enter their spaces without an invitation.

There are several public areas on each of the Cape islands. A library (http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Cape Serenity/72/125/23 ) and poetry garden (http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Cape Serenity/88/105/22) on Cape Serenity.

Library at Cape Serenity

Alice Krueger in pavilion Denver Botanic Gardens

Gentle Heron in Poetry Garden on Cape Serenity

Gentle: There is also an art gallery on Cape Able (http://maps.secondlife.com/se condlife/Cape Able/116/121/23) that feature works of literature and art by persons with disabilities. Our community likes to focus on our

Photos of a wheelchair dancer at the art gallery May 13 2014

abilities, rather than our DISabilities.

Roxie: As it should be. I am so amazed at all of your work! Truly inspiring!

Gentle: Also on Cape Able you will find a branch of the Cooperstown, NY Fenimore Art Museum (http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Cape Able/146/120/23)

Gentle: This is where you will also find the only Starbucks-authorized Deaf Chat Coffeehouse in a virtual world (http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Cape%20Able/181/171/22 ). Deaf Chat

Roxie: I Love the Deaf Chat Coffeehouse! I actually stopped by to get a cup of coffee the other day. What a perfect place to meet and talk with others in the community. Tell us about your work in the InWorldz virtual environment.

Gentle: Beacon Bay is VAI’s sim in InWorldz. Basically, we use InWorldz as back up insurance, in case Second Life ever ceases to exist. But you know, we’ve heard that dire prediction for seven years, ever since I’ve been in SL, and nothing has come of it.

Beacon Bay is a residential sim. Some of our SL VAI members have InWorldz homes there, as do other people seeking a quiet place to reside in that alternative virtual world. Although we have field trips to InWorldz from Second Life, we only recently started to host community–oriented events there. We have not yet offered any public events in InWorldz.

Roxie: Tell us about your mission. . . in other words, in your opinion, what is the important work that you do in second life and in the Virtual Ability community?

Gentle: Virtual Ability’s mission is to enable people with a wide range of disabilities by providing a supporting environment for them to enter and thrive in online virtual worlds. For some persons with disabilities, the opportunity to move freely in an avatar body, or to interact with other people socially, is a form of freedom we do not experience in the physical world. For other persons with disabilities, virtual worlds offer the ability to be “just like everyone else.”

In fact, some persons without disabilities comment that coming into such a different environment, with its learning curve as a newcomer, gives them a better

perspective on what it is like to have a condition (newness, in this case) that puts them at a relative disadvantage compared to experienced residents. Not being able to get voice to work at an oral presentation, or not being able to walk straight and continuously bumping into other people or falling off the edge of a path, or having issues with textures nor rezzing fully does somewhat simulate certain disability conditions.

Roxie: Absolutely!!! I never thought of it that way, but how true. T ell us about some of the research and projects that you and your partners are doing. Why does Virtual Ability do research projects?

Gentle: This past year we’ve participated in four research projects. There are two main reasons VAI participates in research. One reason is to document the many benefits of participating in a virtual world for persons with disabilities. But equally important, and closer to home, Virtual Ability members are not asked to financially support our community through donations. We support our work in virtual worlds through these project contracts.

The Virtual Health Adventures research project with Nova Southeastern University compares two methods for learning: e-learning (online) vs. in a virtual world environment (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igl4X8vI0js). The research is a randomized clinical trial, meaning a very high level of experimental design. We are in the third year of this project.

Roxie: I hope our readers will take the time to watch this 5 minute “The Drax Files: World Makers: Episode 22: Virtual Health Adventures” video you just mentioned. This is amazing and has the potential to change so many people’s lives. I can’t wait to read the final report.

Gentle: Virtual Ability has created 2 sims in SL for Virtual Health Adventures. We have taken the educational content that will be presented online and adapted it for learning in a virtual world. For example, part of the content includes videos to illustrate how a person should use a prosthesis. We’ve created animations with props so avatars can perform the same actions as in the videos. The participant can see his avatar doing the same thing that’s shown in the video. The project is seeking RL amputees as research participants (http://www.virtualhealthadventures.org/).

One smaller new project that began in 2014 is OPPS, Older Persons Participation in Second Life, in which VAI collaborated with the University of Arkansas and the Extension Service. The point of this research was to see if elderly persons (over age 65) would improve their socialization by participation in virtual world activities. Data collection is ongoing as the research participants continue to enjoy Second Life independently.

The Advanced Virtual Environment Support Space or AVESS OpenSim project is a continuation of the proof of concept project we started several years ago (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUt2_C3SKIg).

Roxie: This short Draxtor “Sneak Peek: The Amputee Virtual Support System” video captures the essence of living, learning, and having fun in virtual world environments for anyone, especially for people with disabilities. How exciting to think about the potential for our wounded wa rriors who face long term care and recovery, and their families, friends, and caregivers who can engage with them in ways not possible in the real world. Experiences like this with others in virtual environments provide opportunities for all persons with and without disabilities to be actively engaged with each other in social communities. As the lines are blurred between real life and the virtual world, it makes the impossible, possible. How exciting!

Gentle: Originally AVESS was created for peer support b ut now we are adding scenarios for occupational therapists to use with clients to reintegrate them into society. Virtual Ability’s role in this research project is to design and build the environment in which the researchers will conduct their study, which has one more year to go.

The Mrs. A and Mr. B project examines disparities in healthcare for persons with disabilities (http://healthcareequitability.org ). Virtual Ability partners with the University of Pennsylvania Medical School on this research, which is now finishing the second of three years.

Specially trained Virtual Ability members conduct focus groups around key research questions. Community members also de-identify all qualitative data, purging it of HIPPA-restricted information in a standardized procedure. We especially enjoy projects where our community members can participate not only as research subjects, but can also be trained and paid as study staff.

The project also provides information specifically geared to researchers, clinicians, and the general public. Everyone is welcome to share their healthcare experience stories through the project’s forum

http://healthcareequitability.org/public/your-experiences-count

Roxie: You have so much to be proud of - and to think it all started with a few friends who came into second life using the last name of Heron. What do you see as the greatest contributions you and others have made through your work in the Virtual Ability community?

Gentle: Many people who thought they could never participate in a virtual world have found out that with the proper accommodations, they can do many things here in Second Life just like others.

Roxie: What has been your greatest professional learning from your time and work in second life and with Virtual Ability?

Gentle: I had no idea what a virtual world was or what we would be capable of accomplishing in one. That I think has been my greatest lesson learned. Virtual worlds are incredible learning environments for everyone, if we are open to those opportunities.

Deaf Chat Coffee June 7 2013

Roxie: What is the “take away” you would like VEJ readers to have when they finish reading this article?

Gentle: I hope readers will understand that people with disabilities are generally people with abilities, who also happen to have disabilities. We can do man y more things than what we can’t do.

Roxie: And if people take the time to check out the SLULS, resources, and especially the Draxtor videos listed in this article, they, like me, will certainly agree. Is there a way for people to get involved with Virtual Ability, Inc and join your mission?

Gentle: People who are interested in doing a project with or for Virtual Ability should send a notecard of their proposal with details of what they want to do to Gentle Heron in Second Life or send an email to info@virtualability.org. People who would like to join our Second Life community in order to receive notices of our events may IM me or Eme Capalini or Treasure Ballinger.

Roxie: You have given us so much to think about. You truly are an inspiration and the work you and Virtual Ability Inc. are doing is going to make a huge difference for many persons with disabilities. You have truly provided a supportive community environment. Thank you for taking the time to talk with me and share the important work you are doing with the VEJ Readers. Congratulations again on being the 2015 VWBPE Thinkerer Award Winner! Very much deserved!

Gentle: Thank you for offering me this opportunity to speak with your readers.

Gentle Heron accepts the Thinkerer Award at the Closing VWBPE2015 Ceremony

This year’s been one of the best conferences yet. How do I know? It is, to a certain extent, a question of how you define the term success.

The VWBPE conference was started in 2007 as a grassroots community lead event for the promotion of best practices in education. Its mission is to bring artists, creative designers, scripters, tool builders, game designers, and, of course,

educators into a shared space to exchange practical information that can be used for teaching, learning, and collaborative projects. Every year the conference tries to do something different with the available technology. We try things, we break things, we make mistakes, we innovate, we share, we are hands-on, and we grow collectively as a result.

2015 was no different.

Beyond fulfilling the basic mission of the Conference, here is how I see whether the conference was successful or not: Did we learn something new, that is both timely and relevant to the industry, and for which we can improve upon over the next 12 months? It is when an event such as this becomes stagnant and repetitive that it is time to throw in the towel. This is why the conference changes every year. This is why we experiment with tracks, timing, technology, teaching methods, social, innovative solutions, access, and value.

All learning is negotiated.

Here are three of the many things I took away from this year’s sessions

1. Virtual Worlds are alive and well. Contrary to popular belief, there is still a driving need for these types of rapid prototyping / gaming environments which can be customized directly by the consumer. We can see this in the variety and complexity of the simulations and where people are discussing where they would like to take them next;

2. Learning that occurs in an experiential setting is more powerful than learning that happens in a classroom devoid of practical application. I’m not referring to task-oriented exercises but truly apprenticeship / work-asplay type of practical reinforcement of theory. The volume of research that supports this proposition continues to increase every year;

3. People love working with their hands. Especially opportunities to do things they may never have had an opportunity to do previously. The broadcast team that was put together for VWBPE this year is a prime example of 15

people who had very little broadcasting experience coming together to learn the ins and outs of broadcasting and then putting that learning to work during the conference itself.

Certainly I learned more than just this. The full conference proceedings [link] will be available in May where people can access all the learnings that took place this year.

Next year’s Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education Conference: Horizons will be happening from March 9-12, 2016. In 2016 we look to our future horizons building upon what we have learned and showcasing where virtual worlds best practices can take us next. [Learn more at http://www.vwbpe.org]

Kevin Feena

Get Your Mojo On . . .

House @ Blue’s Corner

By Roxie Neiro(sl), Rosie Vojtek, (rl)

There are many effective learning designs for personal, professional, and collegial learning both in the real and virtual learning environments. Some of the most important ways that many of us learn in second life are from networking, mentoring, quality conversations/dialogue, learning from and with each other, sharing ideas and projects, socializing, and just plain having FUN! All of which take place informally while we listen to music, hangout, and share our blended passions for teaching, learning, technology, and making a difference.

That is why I am so excited to announce that our dream of keeping the House @ Blue’s Corner open after VWBPE15 for all educators around the world and across the metaverse has come to fruition!

As I write this article, Bluebarker Lowtide (see his article in this issue of VEJ), is in the process of relocating the House @ Blue’s Corner to its new location at http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/EduIsland%209/254/51/23 (on the same sim as ISTE Headquarters, VEJ Headquarters, and the Virtual Pioneers). As soon as it is ready, VEJ will sponsor a GRAND OPENING (TBA). You are ALL Invited! To get the latest updates and info about future events, be sure to join the “House @ Blue’s Corner” group in second life. Or drop by and follow our event board (once it is up and running, of course – LOL).

So, what is it that makes House @ Blue’s Corner such an important venue for educators? How do we make House @ Blue’s our collegial community in second life? And, what is this “mojo” thing all about?

There are many different definitions for “mojo.” Some deal with good luck charms and keeping evil away (i.e., the power to control natural forces through supernatural means). That may be what they talk about on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, but it is not what we are talking about at House @ Blue’s.

Instead, when we at VEJ, talk about “getting your mojo on,” we are aligned with the MerriamWebster dictionary definition of “a power that may seem magical and that allows someone to be very effective, successful, etc.”

When groups of people (i.e., educators), with common interests and passions (i.e., making a difference), get together, collaborate, share ideas, and form networks for teaching and learning, something powerful happens . . .

. . . MOJO happens!

Our hope is that the House @ Blue’s Corner becomes an international meeting place, a hub, a true collegial community of learners that helps us transform and rebuild current educational practices aligned with 21st Century skills – not tests. For students to be ready for their successful futures, our energy must be on changing the paradigm of schools globally. What better way to start these conversations than at the House @ Blue’s with mojo, aka synergy from the group, as we socialize, re-energizes, rejuvenate, learn together, and HAVE FUN!

We hope you have enjoyed these pictures of House @ Blues from VWBPE15. We look forward to seeing you at the House @ Blue’s Corner at our new place http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/EduIsland%209/254/51/23 .

Remember to sign-up for the “House @ Blue’s Corner” Group to get the latest info on activities and events. Most importantly, make time for you - in (rl) and (sl). Be sure to stop by frequently to rejuvenate, recharge, socialize, learn, HAVE FUN, and . . .

GET YOUR MOJO ON!!!!

Make the House @ Blue’s Corner your second life home.

For those of us who have been Second Life education advocates since its inception around 2003, we have had peaks and valleys of success and frustration. In a sense, it was similar to the Goldrush era in US history with eager gold miners (wink to minecrafters) rushing to find California gold. They created gold mining towns, only to find the gold hard to find and terribly unprofitable.

So too, educators rushed to Second Life, looking for its promise of amazing new adventures in learning. We pictured our bored students being able to immerse

themselves in Second Life to learn about history, math, science, almost any content area in a new and unique way that tapped into advanced technology and pedagogy.

Alas, like the gold miners of old, educators became frustrated at the challenges that Second Life for education offered. And yet, Second Life, forged ahead despite its seeming disinterest in educational partnerships. Educators cast a wary eye towards Second Life, still believing in the potential for amazing learning possibilities, but rarely willing to invest school dollars in Second Life ventures.

Here we find ourselves in 2015 and Second Life is still around and has a steady following. So where are the educators?

Many have flocked to alternatives like OpenSim, Active Worlds, Unity, World of Warcraft, and of course, Minecraft. And yet, I think Second Life has something to teach us all, even though it may not be the final platform for education.

What can it teach us? Art, Poetry, Literature… That’s what.

Art you say? Poetry? Literature? Wait… how?

Second Life has always had artists in its realm, but with the improvement of mesh model builds, the artistic renderings have become lush and vibrant. With this improvement artists are doing what great artists always do: create works of beauty, inspiration, and even horror and intensity. But, there is a twist to this creativity.

In traditional art museums, the viewer gets to look and experience the artists’ endeavor. In Second Life, however, the viewer has another option that isn’t available in most art museums. They can create art themselves, using the built-in camera in their viewer. Or, in some cases, they actually contribute themselves to the creation.

So think about the implications for education. For so long we as educators have struggled with how to take virtual environments and make them learning platforms that are different from traditional learning spaces of a classroom with desks in rows. And here is one amazingly simple, yet powerful way to do just that. The learner is not static; it’s entirely active. Furthermore, it’s taking an artistic rendering and making a new work of art based on it.

Second Life may still not be the destination for K-12 learning, but I think its open platform and dynamic builds and graphics still have much to teach us as educators and artists. Let’s think about our teaching and learning dynamic as a collaborative building experience and I think we may finally start to push the boundaries of virtual environment education.

You can view other samples of my Art from Art at https://flic.kr/s/aHskac8ASH

Virtual Stonehenge

A computer simulation developed by the Institute of Digital Intermedia Arts at Ball State University

By William F. Schmachtenberg. sl name: Dae Miami

On March 21, 2015 at the VWBPE conference, I had the pleasure to attend a lecture by John Fillwalk, Director of IDIA (Institute for Digital Intermedia Arts, ( http://idialab.org/ ) at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, USA. John presented several of the projects IDIA had developed, but the one that

Picture of Stonehenge in the UK taken by Robert Vojtek

really caught my eye was the Virtual Stonehenge project (http://idialab.org/virtual-stonehenge/ ).

The stone monoliths at Stonehenge in the UK have been studied extensively, and some have wondered if it were an ancient astronomical observatory. To see if this was true, IDIA created a computer simulation of Stonehenge and used NASA JPL data to accurately position the sun during certain times of the year such as the Summer and Winter Solstices.

The Virtual Stonehenge simulation is available on the Blue Mars server. You can download the client at: http://blink.bluemars.com/City/IDIA_Stonehenge/. Blue Mars is only available on the pc. It does not run on macs or mobile devices. Once you log into Blue Mars and select an avatar, you can download the Virtua l Stonehenge simulation and login.

Spiff Whitfield and I explore the Virtual Stonehenge simulation

At the March 29, 2015 meeting of the Virtual Pioneers on second life, Spiff Whitfield and I were able to log into Virtual Stonehenge and explore this sim. In the lower right portion of the screen, you will see buttons to control the year either 2014 or 5000 years ago when Stonehenge was built. You can also select the time of year such as Winter or Summer Solstices with the Solar button or pull up an overhead map of Stonehenge.

We selected Summer Solstice and noticed that the sun did align with two of the heel stones at Stonehenge.

Later that night, the History Channel had a program on Stonehenge and included the simulation that had been developed at IDIA. In addition to discussing the alignment of the sun to stones at Stonehenge, they mentioned that 4 poles that were positioned around Stonehenge were aligned with the position of the moon on the horizon during certain times of the year. The narrator explained that the position of the sun and moon on the horizon were carefully measured throughout the year.

Howdy VEJ readers,

Bluebarker here to tell you about what it was like working as a co-chair for the VWBPE15 Volunteer Committee. While the wonderful Elli Pinion was taking lead, LadySlipper Constantine (LS) and I were in control of the Volunteer Subcommittee for Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education (VWBPE) this year. And, I have to tell you it was quite a whirlwind adventure! Even weeks after the full on VWBPE conference, my head is still whirling with all the amazing things that happened. Granted, being on a committee you know that you don’t just wave a magic wand, say some magic words, and poof it’s done. Oh no, that’s not it at all.

For us as committee members, VWBPE started several months ahead of time. It takes a lot of hours and pre-planning to even approach something as big as this. I truly do have a greater respect for the committees out there that are working far more than I ever realized. My appreciation extends greatly for merely just working as a volunteer. But now having worked on a committee itself makes me realize just how much the past Committee heads had on their plates.

So I won’t go word for word or day by day, but let’s turn back the clock to January. As we rang in the New Year we already had VWBPE on the brain (and for Board Members this extends year round, I’d imagine).

We began meeting in January with various talks with board members; skyping a couple of times, making sure we understood the growing list of things we needed to have done. This item alone took up the bulk of our weekend meetings, and myself in particular, I was feeling rather daring and took on two Committees. So not only was I on the Volunteer Committee in charge of organizing and training volunteers, I was also helping out the Social Committee, being a builder and liaison between the two, since they are rather closely related.

Now, some of you might think that meetings are boring and uneventful, but I am here to tell you that ours were not so. Imagine, if you will, being able to shape and have an impact on VWBPE for the benefit of the people who attend it.

As a regular volunteer, one simply clocks in and clocks out in a manner of

speaking – no real strings attached other than the obligations you set for yourself.

As a Committee Member, you are tasked with trying to understand and mold the experience, which I find really fascinating. I have told few people this, but I have always wanted to become an Imagineer, a person who works at Disney and helps create experiences for people. Not just attractions or rides, Experiences with a capital “E”! Working on the Committee with Elli and LS, it felt like we were Imagineers working on making an experience at VWBPE rather than just some event or lecture series.

Being on a Committee you have a say in what happens. One of the first things we asked ourselves is, “What would we like to do?” which I am sure sounds like a basic question, but it’s not. It involves the scope of not just you or VWBPE, but the attendees, the presenters, and the users online. Our first question soon evolved into “How can we make their time at VWBPE an Experience?” We talked about the past and what we hoped for in the future of VWBPE. Our experiences

with notecards, prims and our collected experiences really helped shaped VWBPE15 to what we saw this past March. I do believe that to be the case.

Feedback is still coming in and the jury is not entirely out, but I am pretty sure lots of people said that VWBPE 15 was “…a hit” and “super awesome” and I am one to agree.

We had well over 900 unique user names at the conference from over fifty countries across the world. That number is not too bad if you ask me. The logistics

of it are still being calculated but it’s something the board members want to get as correct as possible to better gauge how to do things next year. I know I am still pretty high on education in virtual worlds from the last conference. The different committees are already thinking about what to do next year . . . too intense!

In any case, like most things we have our ups and our downs and the committees are no different. I will say one of the biggest struggles we had on the Volunteer Committee was trying to get all the correct information to put in our training sessions. One of our deadlines was making sure to get all training

materials approved by the overseeing board member, but some of the items we needed to train on were in a state of constant flux and we weren’t sure how to handle that. Should we address it or not came up several times. But, in the count down days, we finally got the “word in stone” as it were and we were able to make that deadline. You see, it’s not just only us. We work as a single committee but we also work interdependently with all the other committees, too. That means we have to keep everyone in sync as much as possible.

Communications are always an interesting thing when we all live in variou s locations. To organize VWBPE we don’t have a physical boardroom where we meet and talk. It’s all done virtually (e.g., emails, Google Hangouts, Skype, GoTos, doodle spreadsheets). Communication is often something that is easily neglected if someone isn’t on top of it, but it is so vital and important that we communicate to one another especially when working on something as big as VWBPE.

As a personal struggle, I was charged with the task of building one of the venues for one of the social activities. When planning with the Social Committee we often referred back to the theme of the conference, which was Crossroads. At first we brainstormed what the theme meant to us. Singer names such as Johnny Cash, Eric Clapton, and Bob Dylan kept popping up. We decided, however, we needed live singers in Second Life – not just DJs, but real honest to goodness people who sang for House @ Blue’s. We were fortunate to find three SL singers, so a really a big shout out to Lightnin Lowtide (no relation to me I assure you), Scarlett LaRoux, and Grif Barmaisin. They all had Blues and Rock songs in their repertoire so we had to find a suitable location to host their performances.

Now when one couldn’t be found we were resolute to have one. Tender Skytower, being the sweet gal she is, offered us a plot of land on the Rockcliffe University sim to allow us a place to build. Now, what to build was my trouble because, well I was the one making it. We had a good discussion and I walked away with a good list of things we wanted, but nothing concrete.

It wasn’t until Roxie Neiro showed me a swanky bluegrass type club, called “The Crossroads” in SL at

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Crossroads/115/243/57 that the

ideas and the vision soon emerged. I was drawing sketches and making plans and layouts for the unnamed club at the time.

Over the course of building, I had managed to have several people come in and take a look at it and give me their opinions but overall I kept asking, “How does it feel?” With clubs, especially online virtual ones, you want the people to go there to feel welcome and well a place where “everybody knows your name” as the song goes.

After a couple of tries I finally got it right and it turned into the “House @ Blues Corner” Roxie herself has loved it so much the House @ Blues building has a new home on EduIsland. We hope to bring more singers and events here and create a new and happening place for educators and avatars to go and hang out.

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

It has been a great honor working with so many talented and wonderful people over the course of the conference that I just can’t wait to see them again. I would like to thank all the volunteers, the pre senters, the transcribers, the committee members 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 . As well as the VWBPE flickr group for more pictures https://www.flickr.com/photos/vwbpe_org/ .

Please check back into the main VWBPE site for updates on the streams to presentations: http://vwbpe.org/ .

[Note: You can see House @ Blue’s Corner on the cover of this issue of VEJ and the article describing future plans.]

Bluebarker Lowtide

M achinima Mania is B ack for 2015!

Chris Luchs (rl), aka Abacus Capalino (sl) & Kae Novak (rl), aka Kavon Zenovka (sl) Tanya Smedley (rl) GridJumper (sl)

Attention machinimatographers of all ages, we are looking for submissions for Machinima mania at the ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) conference, which is in Philadelphia this year! We will be announcing the winners of the 2015 EduMachinima Fest event on Monday, June 29, 5:30–7:00 pm EDT (Eastern Daylight Time).

For those of you new to Machinima, it’s a portmanteau of the words machine and cinema. It is the screen capturing and editing of 3D games and virtual environments. Some of your students or children may already be making them.

Machinima can be made in Minecraft, Robl ox, World of Warcraft, Elder Scrolls Online or any other video game or 3D environment. An example of one of our past winners is Lego Universe- Crumple’s Pet Skunk Tutorial http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llf1zfk4nmQ. See the learning happening there.

We are seeking entries in a variety of categories including digital storytelling, tutorials, and narrated gameplay. We’ve added a few new categories such as Fan Fiction and Twisted Tails (your spin on a favorite fairy tale).

For those of you looking for a challenge, our theme this year is Revolutionary in honor of our stay in Philadelphia. Our panel of judges will also recognize technical achievements such as editing, machinimatography, special effects, as well as script writing, narration and many others.

We accept individual and group submissions of video or livestreamed channels; however we do ask that all submitted content be appropriate for a K -12 audience.

For more information please go to http://bit.ly/2015EduMachinimaFest. To submit your work, please go to http://bit.ly/2015EduMachinimaSubmission.

If you have any questions, please contact Kae Novak at gamesmooc@gmail.com.

VEJ, Share Your Story:

Worlds/Environments

By Roxie Neiro (sl), Rosie Vojtek (rl)

The theme for the April 2015 Issue of the Virtual Education Journal (VEJ) is The Reality of Virtual Learning.

We asked our readers to tell us about their learning virtual world/environments? What makes virtual learning meaningful for you as a learner? If you had to pick one, what is your greatest EPIC learning experience (that BIG, AH-HA MOMENT) that you will never forget as long as you live, what would it be?

From our many responses, we selected five to share with you. Here is what they said.

Real World: Dana Paxson

Virtual Worlds: Jeddin Laval

What virtual worlds/environments are you in?

Second Life, Kitely, World of Warcraft, OSGrid, FrancoGrid

How long have you been involved in virtual worlds/environments?

8 or more years

When working in virtual worlds/environments, do you view yourself as a teacher, learner, or both? And Why?

Both. From the very beginning in Second Life, I was learning, and that's never stopped. But in the process I was immersed in a network of fellow learners. We all became teachers for one another was well as learners from

one another. In a fast-moving, fast-changing high-technology setting, that is the only way to roll.

What professional learning designs in virtual worlds/environments have you found most effective in supporting your own learning?

Presentations, "How-to" Workshop/sessions, Round Table discussions, Specific Group Projects (e.g., creating machinima, building in minecraft), Informal Conversations (e.g., ISTE Office Hours), Networking, MOOC's and other inworld classes, Watching Machinima videos, Independent projects, In-world tutorials, Action Research/Inquiry, Poster/Exhibits, Museums, Galleries, and other in-world replicas of real-world spaces, Simulations, Mentor, Coach

What makes learning in virtual worlds/environments purposeful and meaningful for you?

Virtual worlds leverage out. Every single thing learned in them has disproportionately powerful effects on learning, wisdom, and application everywhere else. I came in as an artist and designer in real-world settings; I emerge again and again from virtual worlds as a better practitioner and mentor in art. And that's just art; the same has been true for architectural study, mathematics, physics, software, and even writing fiction. The pattern is that inside virtual settings I can see with greater clarity what I need to do to improve whatever I do in these fields.

Describe your greatest EPIC learning experience (that BIG, AH -HA MOMENT) that you will never forget as long as you live! The one that has truly made a difference for you in your personal or professional life. What was it, how did you learn, what did you learn, and how did it make a difference?

The epic moment for me isn't a come-and-gone thing. It's a recurring tide that washes through me every time I can see the broadest and deepest picture in a single moment. The first moment I recall was in Second Life, presenting the e-book technology I'd created to a group of writers. I made a sky presentation of posters, demos, and fly-throughs, and I looked at it and

thought: How in any world could I ever do something like this?

I've been through these surges many times, and each one has been another step up an amazing rock face.

The second great surge came when I faced the challenge of creating an entry for the Alumni Art Show at the University of Michigan. Scripting, building, writing, drafting, imaging, calculating, researching: it all came together. Linden Scripting Language, Blender, CorelDraw, Python, science fiction, graphic design, storyboarding, machinima, a flow and surge of incredible power that does not stop even today. It gave me a vision of the astonishing, explosive literature of our future.

My professional life is consumed in the wealth of these possibilities for learning. The Aha! Moments told me: "Put this digital wealth in the hand of a child who has nothing else, and that child will learn and thrive and invent and heal and build." And I knew at those moments that whatever I could do to contribute something, anything to making that happen would satisfy me as nothing else ever could.

Is there anything else you would like to share with us about your learning and how you work with others in virtual worlds/environments?

I'm at work in two virtual worlds right now. My workshop is in the wellknown Sim-on-a-Stick environment developed and offered by Ener Hax. It runs on one's own system in a standalone framework, and I've got dozens of versions of virtual worlds developed and stored there. My gallery is currently on Kitely, where Jeddin presides over my TarnusCity build that I upload periodically from the Sim-on-a-Stick workshops. Along with the usual inworld enhancements and changes to the builds, my current work includes developing a new server stack executive program for running the entire world on a thumb drive.

Real World: Patricia A Murphy

Virtual Worlds: Pamala Clift (SL)

What virtual worlds/environments are you in?

Second Life, AvaCon, Minecraft, World of Warcraft, JokaydiaGRID

How long have you been involved in virtual worlds/environments?

8 or more years

When working in virtual worlds/environments, do you view yourself as a teacher, learner, or both? And Why?

Both- You can't be a good teacher if you do not learn from your students. Since the virtual environment is still so new, others’ perspectives are vital.

What professional learning designs in virtual worlds/environments have you found most effective in supporting your own learning?

Presentations, Round Table discussions, Specific Group Projects (e.g., creating machinima, building in minecraft), Informal Conversations (e.g., ISTE Office Hours), Networking, Watching Machinima videos, Q&A ask the expert sessions, Independent projects, Lectures from experts, Role-play

What makes learning in virtual worlds/environments purposeful and meaningful for you?

When I first came into virtual worlds, I thought that I pretty much understood my life. I created the Roadside Philosophers, which is a first- person philosophical group using the virtual environment as a metaphor in the search for truth.

It started as a giggle as I was just trying every button. Soon others joined and the fortnight discussions have continued now for 8 years. (Since Feb 2007)

At first I thought "I" would help others to learn and understand things as I saw them. That didn't work! For the first 2 years I would sometimes cry after the meetings because I failed to convince them of MY TRUTHs.

At the end of that time I was tired and I just started listening, and OMG their thoughts were logical and had value!?! I was learning and understanding life from dimensions I had never even considered!

The Roadside Philosophers have opened my eyes, rearranged my thoughts, and I now have love for all diversity.

If ever I have an ethical or philosophical question I just need to assign that as a topic to one of the meetings and have 2 hours of intelligent debate to

add to my understanding. This keeps me coming back.

I have been with Rockcliffe University Consortium now for about 5 years, and have given lectures to universities around the world from within Second Life.

I have learned how to facilitate at expert level with dramatically different GLOBAL viewpoints calmly and without losing control. I have even given lectures on the topic of in-world facilitation.

http://www.virtualhandhold.com/Facilitation-in-world-Lecture.html

There isn't a meeting place like the Think Tank that I am aware of in any of the virtual worlds. I foresee the United Nations using such a medium someday. Hugs, Pamala Clift

Trying to understand the engagement levels of avatars as people hide behind anonymity was both frustrating and an apparently impossible task...But... I interviewed constantly all that I came in contact with trying to understand this new medium.

Ah-Ha finally! I constructed The State of Being presentation and presented it for peer review in hundreds of different meetings both live and virtual. http://www.virtualhandhold.com/State-of-Being.html

It was acclaimed and has been well attended every month, but I was asked by professors and graduate students for something more. So I created a

company and a website.

No, they wanted a book. Something that could be cited in research.

I could have gone the route of academia and created a white paper, but this had to get out fast.

The problem that kept vetoing any business or educational purpose was interpersonal relationships. So I took my research and spent a year writing. Then created a Kickstarter project that met and exceeded the time allotment and publication costs, all funded by in-world donations.

The book is out there on Amazon & Kindle and has been a major accomplishment in my life. All that have read it have given it great reviews. (Initial release lost the copy editor early so errors, but has since been corrected...you can never successfully edit your own writing... smile)

I feel I understand this medium now and forgive in advance the nuances that I cannot know, making life much less dramatic in both worlds.

Is there anything else you would like to share with us about your learning and how you work with others in virtual worlds/environments?

Yes... My work with Florida International University shows what I think are some of the possibilities of the virtual environment for experiential learning. This work was contracted and machinima created for NIOSH.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7GHgF7nnTo

Real World: Andrew Wheelock

Virtual World: Spiff Whitfield

What virtual worlds/environments are you in?

Second Life, AvaCon, Kitely, Minecraft, World of Warcraft, 3D Rock Grid, OSGrid, JokaydiaGRID, MOSES

How long have you been involved in virtual worlds/environments?

8 or more years

When working in virtual worlds/environments, do you view yourself as a teacher, learner, or both? And Why?

I work with OpenSim as a teacher. http://islandsoe.weebly.com

Second Life I am truly a learner and explorer.

What professional learning designs in virtual worlds/environments have you found most effective in supporting your own learning?

"How-to" Workshop/sessions, Book Study, Group Tours, Networking, Social Activities (e.g., Dances, Games), MOOC's and other inworld c lasses, Watching Machinima videos, Quests, Scavenger Hunts, Guided explorations, etc., Poster/Exhibits, Simulations, Role-play, Mentor, Coach

What makes learning in virtual worlds/environments purposeful and meaningful for you?

It opens up my creativity because in most cases I can take on an avatar identity as well as I can be a creator not just passive learner.

My first Ah-Ha Moment was when I was in Second Life and came across the US Holocaust Museum build. It demonstrated that history education using VE can be powerful, engaging, and heavy-hitting. That sim represents a very difficult topic with thoughtful recreations and embedded learning opportunities. The sim lets you walk through a recreation of the tragic event known as Kristallnacht, the program that involved the destruction of Jewish businesses and Synagogues, in Germany. Throughout the sim you have access to Holocaust Survivor tales as well as, primary source documents that give you n deeper learning experience about this historical tragedy.

Is there anything else you would like to share with us about your learning and how you work with others in virtual worlds/environments?

The epic event led me to create the Islands of Enlightenment projects that detail historical creations.

Real World: Rebecca L. Patterson

Virtual World: RebeccaLPatterson (sl)

What virtual worlds/environments are you in?

Second Life

How long have you been involved in virtual worlds/environments?

6-7 years

When working in virtual worlds/environments, do you view yourself as a teacher, learner, or both? And Why?

We view ourselves as teacher/creators since we design 3d mathematics manipulatives and the technology through which to teach with them.

What professional learning designs in virtual worlds/environments have you found most effective in supporting your own learning?

Presentations, "How-to" Workshop/sessions, Group Tours, Networking, Independent projects, In-world tutorials, Poster/Exhibits

What makes learning in virtual worlds/environments purposeful and meaningful for you?

We can create in this space where it is nowhere else possible to create. We can manipulate thousands upon thousands of items instantly to quantify and we are not hindered by time, space, materials, or gravity. This allows us to quickly show individuals patterns of numbers in their shape form, not symbol form. This leads to a very intuitive understanding of Algebra and beyond.

Virtual Worlds are also just plain FUN!

Describe your greatest EPIC learning experience (that BIG, AH-HA MOMENT) that you will never forget as long as you live! The one that has truly made a difference for you in your personal or professional life. What was it, how did you learn, what did you learn, and how did it make a difference?

I met a group of mathematics educators through an online class at Boise State that took place at EdTech Island in Second Life. We were building and working with inworld tools in groups and really enjoying the space and the versatility of creation.

Being frustrated with the concept of teaching in this environment through slide shows and PowerPoint presentations, we really wanted to use the space to it's full advantage, so we created a "slide show". With a teleport to the top of the slide, your avatar could sit on a physical object and it would take you down the slide, rather haphazardly, past billboards showing the presentation.

Yes, we know, it wasn't very effective in the learning process of whatever it was we were trying to convey (I don't even remembe r), but it was fun and demonstrated the need for immersive experiences to remember and retain not dry informational transfer.

We have graduated from this type of youthfulness and yet we are still accessing the power within virtual worlds to teach an amazing concept that has to be seen to be understood.

Numbers have shape and through our immersive experiences and camera control, we can show anyone with an avatar, even newbies, the power of these shapes. This power opens the eyes and allows the brain to intuitively connect mathematical concepts that it may have never understood through conventional process-oriented teaching.

Or if you did well in math, we can still connect it all for you and give you the a-ha moment of why.

THAT is what makes this virtual space so exciting and has us coming back time and time again.

Is there anything else you would like to share with us about your learning and how you work with others in virtual worlds/environments?

None at this time.

Beth Ghostraven, ThinkererSelby Evans, and Kali Pizzaro (left to right).

Real World: Beth S. O'Connell

Virtual Worlds: Beth Ghostraven inworld(s)

What virtual worlds/environments are you in?

Second Life, AvaCon, Kitely, Minecraft, OSGrid, JokaydiaGRID, InWorldz

How long have you been involved in virtual worlds/environments?

4-5 years

When working in virtual worlds/environments, do you view yourself as a teacher, learner, or both? And Why?

Both - I always consider myself both a teacher and a learner; they go hand in hand. Different people have different things that they know how to do, and we all learn from each other. In order to teach something, I have to learn about it, and I always wind up learning more.

What professional learning designs in virtual worlds/environments have you found most effective in supporting your own learning?

Presentations, "How-to" Workshop/sessions, Round Table discussions, Specific Group Projects (e.g., creating machinima, building in minecraft), Informal Conversations (e.g., ISTE Office Hours), Group Tours, Networking, Social Activities (e.g., Dances, Games), Quests, Scavenger Hunts, Guided explorations, etc., Independent projects, Lectures from experts, Panel Discussion, Poster/Exhibits, Museums, Galleries, and other in-world replicas of real-world spaces, Simulations, Role-play, Mentor

What makes learning in virtual worlds/environments purposeful and meaningful for you?

It's the people in virtual worlds that keep me coming back. I have the opportunity to network and socialize with people all over the world who are interested in the same things I am. As a hearing-impaired person, the textbased environment is especially helpful. I've found that the immersion of virtual worlds helps me learn better, too.

Describe your greatest EPIC learning experience (that BIG, AH-HA MOMENT) that you will never forget as long as you live! The one that has truly made a difference for you in your personal or professional life. What was it, how did you learn, what did you learn, and how did it make a difference?

When I first came to Second Life I used the orientation at Caledon Oxbridge University, where I found the Caledon Quest. I struggled with the Quest for months, as I was very new. When I finally figured out (with help) how to cam inside the basket of a hot-air-balloon to get the medallion inside, I felt like I could do anything now. It seems like such a minor thing to learn, but it made all the difference to me in those early times.

Is there anything else you would like to share with us about your learning and how you work with others in virtual worlds/environments?

I think Second Life is the crossroads for educators who want to network in virtual worlds. There are other grids that can be better for teaching, but for collaborating, Second Life is where the people are. As virtual worlds proliferate, I hope we can continue to have some kind of central gathering place for educators.

A special THANK YOU to everyone who was willing to share your story. We hope you have enjoyed reading what five of our readers had to say about what and how they learn in Virtual Worlds/Environments.

I thought I would leave you with one of my favorite places to learn in second life – that is the campfire at ISTE Headquarters.

If you haven’t been to ISTE’s Virtual Environment Network Office Hours on Tuesday evenings, be sure to stop by and share your stories and adventures with the rest of us.

The only thing missing from this picture is you! So, we hope you will stop by and join as we continue on our journey to learn personally, professionally, and collegially together.

Rift and Ready for Immersion

By BJ Gearbox (sl), Bob Vojtek (rl)

With a new higher resolution screen and “powered by Zuckerberg,” the Oculus Rift is at home in Second life as well as other virtual Environments. From the small Kickstarter start, the Oculus Rift has transformed what can be done in a reating Virtual Reality (VR) for just a few hundred dollars.

Back in the day I had the opportunity to first “dive” into VR while working with Autodesk as an educator helping them to better understand the world of education. “Dive” is the appropriate term as at that time the two demos were, a house with a pool and tennis court.

This was the 1980’s and the system required significant computing power. The setup was a set of goggles with twin VGA displays attached, a glove with sensors, and a frame with sensors to “learn” where the glove and goggles were in

3D space. Once calibrated, you could maneuver by curling your fingers and “pointing” with your index finger… moving in the direction of your pointing finger. To stop, you would uncurl your fingers out flat and raise your palm in a motion designating “stop.”

I had some issues with these simple commands and couldn’t navigate stairs… you had to get just the right angle because there weren’t any physics and you would simply move through walls. I found myself attempting to go down stairs and “blasted” through a wall and wound up at the bottom of the swimming pool adjacent to the house.

Fast-forward to the 1990’s.

On one of our visits to Disney our family was offered an opportunity to try Disney’s pilot VR “ride,” based upon the successful movie, Aladdin. This contraption, powered by a fleet of servers allowed you to travel through the marketplace looking for gold coins. This time the system included a helmet resembling a motorcycle helmet on steroids with built-in monitors and headphones to see and hear the environment. You would sit on a bicycle-like frame with a rectangular plate where the handlebars would have been. Moving one side up or down would move you right or left. Moving the leading edge up or down would allow you to fly up or come back down. Finally moving the plate forward moved you forward, neutral to stop, and straight back was reverse. I remember maneuvering through the streets when I came upon a street vendor. I pushed forward to increase speed toward the vendor’s wagon and pulled up on the leading edge to fly gracefully over the top of the wagon. Well not quite. I didn’t start my assent early enough and I felt this thud as I hit the top of the wagon. There was a distinct tactile sensation as I scraped the top of the wagon

continuing on my way. Maneuvering through streets and alleyways on my journey what do I see? The same street vendor blocking the upcoming intersection, what do I do? Just as before, I pull up on the leading edge to fly gracefully over the top of the wagon. But what happens?

Let’s just say I wouldn’t make a very good pilot… I hit the top edge of the wagon again, felt the thud feed back from hitting the cart, only this time as I fly away I hear the vendor say, “stop hitting my cart.” So, now I’m on the virtual “hit list” of this street vendor! The cool part is that the game was sophisticated enough for me to feel the thud, and it was aware that it was not my first time. Pretty amazing!

Today Fire up a great set of headphones, Oculus Rift Development Kit 2, and 3D Connexion SpaceNavigator, and you are ready to leave this world behind. The headphones give you the sounds of the environment. The SpaceNavigator lets you maneuver with six degrees of freedom.

And, the Oculus Rift provides you with the visual 3D world allowing you to “look” in any direction and “see” in that direction. Think of it as driving a car and turning your head to look out the side window. With a traditional computer screen, you are looking through a window and you would have to use your arrow keys to rotate the view to the left to look out the side window, much in the same way you would pan (rotate) a camcorder to record what is off

to your left. With the Rift you can look in any direction independent of what direction you are moving. This ability to view SL life-size, through the eyes of your avatar as opposed to the traditional SL view over the top of your avatar’s head, creates a truly immersive feeling.

In 1920s Berlin, for example I was strolling down a street and could hear the whistle of an approaching train, so I continued down the street and took a glance over my shoulder to see the train at the station.

The Development Kit 2, as the name implies, is for developers and not a consumer product. That means, to order one you need to acknowledge that… and hand over your credit card for $350.00.

Oculus is working with other vendors and Samsung has released Gear VR Innovator Edition.

According to their website, “it delivers a completely new experience like you’ve never seen before, literally surrounding you with virtual video, images and games in a full 360 degree immersive environment. The Galaxy Note® 4’s amazing screen and processor makes it all possible.” Which means you use your Galaxy Note as the screen. The phone is not included in the $199.00 price.

Linden Labs has opened a new category in their destination guide, Exceptional with Oculus Rift. There are 26 locations featured. When I initially

received my original Oculus Rift, the first place I visited was 1920s Berlin. There were few places that supported VR and the Second Life Viewer did not support VR at that time.

If you have access to an Oculus Rift, here are some places to visit…

1920s Berlin - Weimar Republic, Germany

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/1920s%20Berlin/250/233/751

There are free vintage clothing items available. Also this sim is built in proportion to real life. We tend to have avatars that are a bit “larger than life.” The male figure is 6’-0” and the female is 5’-8” tall.

I should consider a career change and play basketball… notice the black and while Converse.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Mont %20Saint%20Michel/114/31/23

Mont Saint Michel

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Capybara/6/138/93

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlif e/Downtown%20Seattle/1/211/68

While collecting the content for this article, I visited Jo Yardley’s blog and discovered several interesting items. Obviously there were links to some Drax Files episodes with Draxtor Despres episodes. Jo Yardley is a co-host. High Fidelity is making a public alpha available.

Also, there is a link to Benoît Dereau’s Unreal Paris 1.1, a Paris apartment created using the Unreal 4 engine. It is a video in 720p and there is a higher resolution version Unreal Paris 1.2. Jo Yardley started The 1920s Berlin project.

Second Life founder, Philip Rosedale, created High Fidelity. He is developing a “high fidelity” virtual environment. The high fidelity website explains, “By using a range of new hardware devices like the Oculus Rift, Samsung Gear VR, Leap Motion, PrioVR, Sixsense, and depth cameras, the experience of exploring these worlds can be incredibly immersive and the interaction with others lifelike and emotional.” It goes on to explain, we use inexpensive webcams and motion

controllers to capture gaze, facial expressions, and body language, which is then streamed at low latency along with 3D positional audio to establish lifelike presence. We also use head-mounted displays like the Oculus Rift for full immersion, as well as hand and full body motion controllers.” Sounds great to me…

Beyond the amusing locations to visit using the Oculus Rift there are also areas that provide opportunities for people to interact through simulations and immersive training. Please take a look at the Drax Files video with Sandra L. Winkler, assistant professor at Nova Southeastern University in Florida. Her work assisting amputees is a great story of helping and underscores the concept of immersion. The teaser line from the Drax Files YouTube video explains Sandra’s work. “Second Life is the perfect place for amputees to overcome emotional trauma by sharing stories and realizing they are not alone!”

Hello

Everyone!

I am getting excited, are you? As I write this, there are only a few more days before we converge in Philadelphia for ISTE2015. It has been four years since ISTE held its last conference in Philadelphia – which, by the way, is also when the first issue of the Virtual Education Journal was published with pre-conference highlights about ISTE 2011.

Just before I sat down today to write this editorial, I caught up with Scott Merrick in Second Life. Scott was busy setting up the ISTE VEN (Virtual Environment Network) Maker’s Space where conference attendees will be able to interact live with people virtually from anywhere around the world and within the metaverse. Check out the last two articles in this issue and be sure to join the fun!

As Scott and I talked we realized it has been four years since we humbly started VEJ as a way to document the work and tell the stories of the early trailblazers and pioneers traveling into the unknown territories of virtual w orlds. Second Life is still the permanent home of ISTE VEN Headquarters and VEJ Headquarters. Over the course of the past four years, however, the nomads among us have continued to move on into other virtual environments, exploring, putting down stakes, and building communities. We aren’t as close as we once were living together in Second Life, yet, oddly, our paths keep intersecting and we still remain connected even as we venture further and further into opensims and other worlds.

The first VEJ Issue (May 2011) has a story called “Welcome to VSTE” inviting people to checkout VSTE Island. Interestingly, this issue of VEJ has two articles about VSTE: VSTE Island Has A New Look; and Virginia Teachers Get Busy in Minecraft- A Photo Album. Be sure to take a look, as it is fun to compare where we were four years ago with where we are now. In fact, I invite you to peruse all of the VEJ issues to see just how far we have come – including those tumultuously painful days of downsizing we thought we would never survive!

Looking back at where we’ve been, and forward to all the new, exciting, and challenging directions our real and virtual lives are taking, makes me even more committed and proud to serve as the editor of VEJ!

In this issue, we ask, “Where have all the children gone?” They are “Mining The Craft” and their teachers are not far behind. We have some great stories about how students and teachers are using Minecraft and other virtual environments to learn with and from each other. We are excited to bring you an article by Dr. Chris Dede from Harvard as well as Part 2 of Boise State’s EDTECH 532 Educational Games & Simulations. We also catch-up on Draxtor’s latest projects and have the latest information and schedules for ISTE2015 VEM and GSN activities and sessions. You can attend either in real life or virtually at the VEN Maker’s Space. Discover Lan Parties and enjoy Gammo’s Mini Adventure in Minecraft by Bluebarker Lowtide. This issue of VEJ has something for everyone!

Whether you are in Philadelphia, hanging out at the VEN Maker’s Space, or both, please be sure to stop by and say hello to BJ Gearbox and me at the VEJ table. We would love to hear what you are doing and find out from you what we can do to make VEJ even better! Most of all, we would love to have you share your stories about your work with our readers in future issues of VEJ. Be sure to check out our website and learn how you can write for VEJ

Remember, VEJ is only as good as we all make it! Thanks to everyone who contributed to this issue of VEJ (including two fifth grade students from Connecticut) who share with us what it means and what they do and/or learn when they “Mine The Craft.” After all, isn’t that why we are all here?

We know you will want to devour this issue – so don’t wait, take your first byte! You will discover, like always, VEJ is “Out of this World!”

Keep Smiling J

Roxie Neiro (SL), Rosie Vojtek (RL)

In This Issue

• Mining The Craft by Noah Constantine and Nathan Berube

• I Found A Diamond: Minecraft Club – First Year Reflections, an Interview with Kim Harrison by Bluebarker Lowtide

• Immersive Authentic Simulations: Complementing Virtual Worlds with Augmented Realities by Dr. Chris Dede

• Minecraft: (Games- Based) Learning Internationally! by David W. Deeds

• Catching- Up With Draxtor Despres! by Roxie Neiro

• Using Virtual Worlds To Improve Student Learning and Creativity by Dr. William Schmachtenberg

• The 2015 SAIL4Life 12 Meter Race Regatta by Roxie Neiro

• Virginia Teachers Get Busy in Minecraft: A Photo Album by Beth S. O’Connell

• 2015 EDU: Simvalley Offers Free Land by Selby Evans

• Gammo’s Mini Adventure in Minecraft: Exploring New Frontiers by Bluebarker Lowtide

• A Found Treasure – Trish Cloud by Laura Briggs

• VSTE Book Club by Bluebarker Lowtide

• Woot Lan Party! Wait … What’s a Lan? By Chris Luchs

• Check it Out – VSTE Island Has A New Look!

• Machinima, Gaming, and the English Language Arts Teacher by Lee Ann Tysseling, Ph.D

• The International Art of Greeting by Any1Gynoid

• Digital Games and Virtual Environments Are Not the Same Thing by Tanya Martin

• EdTech 532 Educational Games & Simulations Part 2 by Dr. Chris Haskell

• Moving Toward ISTE2015 by Scott Merrick

• Come Play With US – ISTE2015 VEN Maker Space!

• Write for VEJ

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/

Cover art by Noah Constantine, 5th grade student in Connecticut. Design Editor – BJ Gearbox.

Mining the Craft

The Urban Dictionary defines “Mining The Craft” as “the act of playing Minecraft.” We asked a couple of fifth grade friends, Noah Constantine (his picture is on the cover of this issue of VEJ) and Nathan Berube, from Bristol, Connecticut, about their “play” in the world of Minecraft. Here is what they told us.

Mining The Craft

By Noah Constantine

Minecraft is changing learning forever. It is helping kids change their attitude towards school. Some kids are really into this new game. They can help each other and make things together, improving teamwork. This is something that is needed in schools.

Minecraft has power. It can bring people together to create something unique. An example of that is my friend, Nathan Berube, and I play Minecraft on Xbox. We create different worlds together. We have survival worlds and creative worlds that we play on.

We also play on pocket edition. I have a custom superman skin and he has a dragon skin. This is how we make Minecraft our own game.

We each have different building styles and both prefer different things in Minecraft. But no matter what, we always can work together in a survival world to find resources or in a creative world making awesome buildings.

Some people are spreading their love of Minecraft by making YouTube videos and even whole instagram accounts dedicated to Minecraft and their creations. There are YouTubers, like Popularmmos, who make videos about them exploring Minecraft. They make a community for Minecraft. They are sharing “how to’s.” They are making the community a great place by inspiring kids to do things and to dream.

Because as we all know, the only limit in Minecraft is world height!

Mining The Craft

By Nathan Berube

My friend Noah and I enjoy playing Minecraft on Xbox. Noah likes to build while I love adventuring through the worlds that I build. We both can play together and still take part in what we like most about Minecraft.

When not playing we like watching Youtubers such as Popularmmos and Gaming with Jen. These are two gamers that build with each other and battle zombies. They also play challenges.

My friends & family like to fight monsters in an arena that I built and sometimes we go into different dimensions to fight bosses, like the “Wither and Ender Dragon.”

Noah and I built a huge tower and a deep mine so that we could try and find diamonds in the world we built. Unfortunately, we only found iron so we weren't as strong as we expected. I ended up losing all of my building materials & food to a zombie.

Just Tuesday we built a huge castle with no entrances. You have climb the walls and go in through the roof. We built a big mansion together and a Hunger Games map with just the two of us. When playing with friends or alone there are many things you can do when on Minecraft.

Minecraft lets you get creative while stimulating and entertaining your mind. The possibilities are endless in the Minecraft world.

[Pictures from Noah Constantine.]

An Interview with Kim Harrison By: Bluebarker Lowtide (sl) Vasili A. Giannoutsos (rl)

A few VSTE VE PLN members in front of the Parthenon that YosemiteWahWah built.

This interview is with Kim Harrison, an Instructional Technology Specialist in a Virginia School District. She helps with computers, software, updates, student digital literacy and technology education integration with teachers at her school. She is the Current Chair for the Virginia’s Society for Technology in Education’s Virtual Environments Professional Learning Network as well as a mem ber of the Inevitable Betrayal Educator’s Guild in World of Warcraft and avid Server Hostess of VSTE’s Minecraft Server. She is in one virtual world one day and another the next.

Bluebarker: Hello and thank you for joining us today for this interview. This issue of VEJ revolves around all things Minecraft, so in your own words, how would you describe Minecraft to someone who has never used it before?

Kim Harrison: Well, Minecraft is a sand box tool for ages 3 – 100. It’s a very simple virtual environment (VE) where you can break and build things. Everything is in the form of a cube and you click to punch and build. Kids can build anything from houses to art, to castles to complex machines; you can build from the most simple to the most complex.

Bluebarker: What are your views on seeing how both kids and adults have used Minecraft?

Kim Harrison: I have most commonly seen that kids are not afraid of breaking things, which seems as though they don’t feel like they are responsible, but they are fearless. They jump in and explore. I have seen kids play together and they are not afraid to ask questions and advance readily through different skill levels. Adults, on the other hand, are afraid to go in the first time. They seem afraid to step in and give it a try. Then there are others who have the mindset that it is just a game and not worth their time. Believe me I’ve heard them all, from “I don’t

have enough time” to “I don’t think my computer can do that.” And you know, it may take some of us longer to learn while we try and look for a purpose and have a plan but we should be facing this like the kids . . . just jump in and see how far you can go. Kids are always testing the limits and saying, “I bet I could do this better.”

Bluebarker: What would you say is the main difference between the kids and the adults in Minecraft?

Kim Harrison: I feel the kids have fun playing and lose themselves in Minecraft. I don’t see that with most adults.

Bluebarker: Do you think Minecraft is easy?

Kim Harrison: I think Minecraft is easy to learn initially, especially for kids. I have grandchildren who, when they were in kindergarten and given an iPad, figured out on their own how to work it and how to test things out. If something didn’t work they could just press the home button and they could start over. On the other hand there have been some things I have seen that overwhelmed me, which I wouldn’t know where to start if I had to recreate them. But that’s also the beauty of it . . . like a deck of cards; you can play anything from a simple game of Go Fish to Tournament Bridge. There is always more to learn.

Three of my club members at school gathered for a selfie in front of the Jamestown build they were working on.

Bluebarker: So, what would you say is your favorite thing about Minecraft?

Kim Harrison: One of the things I like most about Minecraft and Virtual Worlds in general is there are other people involved. For me, the social component makes a real difference between the kind of world you are in and whether you want to be in it or not.

Bluebarker: You recently held a Minecraft Club for your elementary school, could you tell us some of the challenges you had with getting that approved?

Kim Harrison: Yes, first of all, I had to wait for a Principal that could support me in this. Having a Superintendent that was pro-technology was a plus, too. My current principal likes technology, likes afterschool activities, and has a son who plays Minecraft, so she understood it.

Next, in my district I had to set up a ticket in order to get permission to install new software. Knowing MinecraftEDU would not be readily accepted, I decided to follow this ticket to see where it was as it progressed through the system. I could see who had it from week to week and send them a friendly email asking them what they needed from me to keep the ticket moving to th e right person. I was talking with engineers and network specialists who were feeling at first it would make our network unstable and allow intrusions through some kind of gap in the system. I didn’t know specifically what kind of jargon they were referring to, but I had to try to influence them to side with me. When looking for help from MinecraftEDU I found Joel Levin very responsive to Tweets. He is the Head of Teacher Gaming for Minecraft EDU

(http://services.minecraftedu.com/wiki/What_is_MinecraftEdu ). He was able to supply answers to questions members of the department of technology had.

When my ticket to install MinecraftEDU landed on Ramesh Kapoor, the Chief Information Officer’s desk, I wrote him an email, too. I felt he championed my cause and encouraged others to make this happen for our students. Without these two folks, I don’t know how successful I would have been and it might have taken another year to get this settled. I had started this process at the beginning of the school year in September and didn’t get the approval until November. It took until January to get the appropriate hardware in place and software installed. My husband and I had to come in over the Winter Break to move computers with better graphics cards into the computer lab. In January the department of technology did the installs for us – one server and ten clients.

Bluebarker: Only ten? How many students wanted to be in the Minecraft Club?

Kim Harrison: We expected all students would be interested in participating in the club but we only purchased ten licenses. It was not an easy task choosing the students. We thought about inviting 20 students to be in the club having pairs share a computer, but we decided ten students would have a better experience. We managed to come to a solution of sorts to narrowing the candidate pool to 5th graders. I created a Google form for parents to apply for their children and set a deadline. After the deadline, I used a random number generator to select ten of the students and contacted their parents. In the end everything did manage to turn out okay and they were really a great group of kids.

Bluebarker: How long did your club last?

Kim Harrison: It met every Tuesday from February to April. We had to stop then so we could focus on SOL reviewing and testing.

Bluebarker: That seemed like a lot of time to work on this. Was this worth it?

Kim Harrison: Yes, I really, really wanted to do this. This was the first year it was even possible. And in fact, it was really the first in my area to do this so I was really excited. Everything lined up perfectly and I couldn’t have asked for a more exciting opportunity.

Bluebarker: How well do you think the kids responded to the Minecraft Club?

Kim Harrison: Well, they loved it! Not all the kids who were in the club were allowed to use Minecraft at home because they didn’t have the right devices or they had limited screen time. Most of them hadn’t done Multiplayer before. They enjoyed that they could see someone doing something and they could stand

nearby and watch and learn or talk about it across the room. It was enjoyable to see them interact and learn in this informal setting.

Bluebarker: Did you have them complete any projects in there or was it a free-forall?

Kim Harrison: Some of each. I had them set their own rules and govern themselves. First we did the tutorial built into MinecraftEDU. Then they were assigned a project where they each had their own plot of land and they had to build a house with a specific area and size. They had to plan it on graph paper and then build it inworld. (shared link: http://blogs.vbschools.com/KimsKaleidoscope/2015/02/10/minecraftedu-clubday-2/ ) Finally I asked them to agree on a large community-building project that they could make to show the educational value of MinecraftEDU. They built a model of Jamestown. They brainstormed what was needed and broke into subgroups to carry it out.

Bluebarker: What are your plans for the future of this Minecraft Club at your School?

Kim Harrison: I expect to do this again next year, but we are trying to incorporate Minecraft into the classroom and get a class set to be able to use it for instruction. There are several Instructional Technology Specialists and Teaching and Learning Coordinators in our district that would really like to use it in various content areas.

Bluebarker: How about your vision for how Minecraft can be used in the future of Education?

Kim Harrison: Well, every child should have a rudimentary understanding of what it was and how to use it. It would be the gateway to digital literacy and digital citizenship for very young students. We could give them a choice to explain a book, science concept or show a math problem in whatever way they’d like: show it on the board, built it in Minecraft, describe it with ChatterBox, present it with PowerPoint, etc. Minecraft would simply be one-tool students have to show what they know. I would also really like to see some projects become standard in the curriculum, such as building examples of ancient architecture from the civilizations we study.

Immersive Authentic Simulations: Complementing Virtual Worlds with Augmented Realities

Chris Dede, Harvard University

Experiences such as internships in 21st century workplace settings offer potential benefits for student motivation, academic learning, and mastery of skills for the global, knowledge-based, innovation-centered economy (Dede, 2012). However, providing extended, mentored real-world activities outside classrooms is difficult, particularly for younger students. Moreover, internship/apprenticeship models are hard, if not impossible, to bring to scale, partly because the number of workplace sites willing to accept mentoring responsibilities for students is limited, and partly because teachers accustomed to conventional classrooms often struggle to adapt to this form of education. Fortunately, virtual worlds and augmented realities now offer ways for students to experience simulated internships without leaving classrooms.

Two types of immersive media underlie a growing number of formal and informal learning experiences:

• Multiuser virtual environments (MUVEs, or “Virtual Worlds”) offer students an engaging “Alice in Wonderland” experience in which their digital avatars in a graphical, virtual context actively participate in experiences with the avatars of other participants and with computerized agents (Ketelhut et al., 2010).

• Augmented reality (AR) enables students to interact—via mobile wireless devices with virtual information, visualizations, and simulations superimposed on real-world physical landscapes. This type of immersion infuses digital resources throughout the real world, augmenting students’ experiences and interactions (Klopfer, 2008).

By immersing students in authentic simulations, MUVEs and AR promote two deeper-learning strategies, apprenticeship-based learning and learning for transfer, that are very important for education.

EcoMUVE as an example of multi-user virtual environments

The EcoMUVE middle grades curriculum teaches scientific concepts about ecosystems while engaging students in scientific inquiry (both collaborative and individual) and helping them learn complex causality (http://ecomuve.gse.harvard.edu). The curriculum consists of two MUVE-based modules, allowing students to explore realistic, 3-dimensional pond and forest ecosystems. Each module consists of ten 45-minute lessons and includes a complex scenario in which ecological change is caused by the interplay of multiple factors (Metcalf et al., 2013). Students assume the role of scientists, investigating research questions by exploring the virtual environment and collecting and analyzing data from a variety of sources over time (Figures 1, 2). In the pond module, for example, students can explore the pond and the surrounding area, even venturing under the water; see realistic organisms in their natural habitats; and collect water, weather, and population data. Students visit the pond over a number of virtual "days" and eventually make the surprising discovery that, on a day in late summer, many fish in the pond have died. Students are th en challenged to figure out what happened they travel backward and forward in time to gather information to solve the mystery and understand the complex causality of the pond ecosystem.

Figure 2. Summarizing and interpreting data

Figure 1. Students can collect pond and weather data

The EcoMUVE curriculum uses a “jigsaw” pedagogy, in which students have access to differing information and experiences; they must combine their knowledge in order to understand what is causing the changes they see. Working in teams of four, students are given roles that embody specific areas of expertise (naturalist, microscopic specialist, water chemist, private investigator) and that influence how they participate and solve problems. Using the differing methods of their roles, students collect data, share it with teammates via tables and graphs that they create within the simulation, and then work collaboratively to analyze the combined data and figure out how a variety of inter-connected parts come together to produce the larger ecosystem dynamics. The module culminates with each team creating an evidence-based concept map—representing their understanding of the causal relationships at work in the ecosystem which they present to the class.

EcoMOBILE as an example of augmented realities

Designed to complement EcoMUVE, the EcoMOBILE project explores the potential of augmented reality (as well as the use of data collection “probeware,” such as a digital tool that measures the amount of dissolved oxygen in water, to support learning in environmental science education (http://ecomobile.gse.harvard.edu). The EcoMOBILE curriculum is a blend of the EcoMUVE learning experiences with the use of digital tools that enhance students’ real-world activities, as illustrated by a 3-day project that has been fieldtested successfully (Kamarainen et al., 2013): During one class period, a group of middle school students participated in an EcoMUVE learning quest, completing a 5–10 minute on-line simulation in which they learned about dissolved oxygen, turbidity, and pH. The following day, the students went on a field trip to a nearby pond, in order to study the relationship between biological and non -biological factors in the ecosystem, practice data collection and interpretation, and learn about the functional roles (producer, consumer, decomposer) of organisms in the life of the pond.

At a number of spots around the pond, students’ handheld devices showed them visual representations overlaid onto the real environment of the natural processes at work in the real environment, as well as interactive media including relevant text, images, audio, video, 3D models, and multiple-choice and openended questions. Students also collected water measurements using Vernier

probes (Figures 3, 4). On the next school day after the field trip, back in the classroom, students compiled all of the measurements of temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, and turbidity that had been taken during the field trip. They looked at the range, mean, and variations in the measurements and discussed the implications for whether the pond was healthy for fish and other organisms. They talked about potential reasons why variation may have occurred, how these measurements may have been affected by environmental conditions, and how to explain outliers in the data. Our research shows that virtual worlds and augmented realities are powerful complements to enable learning partnerships for real-world, authentic tasks.

Figure 3. Handheld device delivering information Figure 4. Collecting data on turbidity

Summary

Overall, immersive media can be used in a number of ways to promote deeper learning, such as by facilitating case-based instruction, peer-to-peer collaborative activities, simulated apprenticeships, and the development of inquiry skills (Dede, 2014). Simulations allow students to learn skills under controlled conditions that may be difficult to replicate in the real world (Dawley & Dede, 2013), but which convey some degree of authenticity, allowing what is learned in one setting to transfer to the other. And Augmented Realities embed learning in the real world, giving students a deeper understanding of the immediate environment (Dunleavy & Dede, 2013). On their own, each of these approaches has important benefits for students; and blending them together presents even greater opportunities for deeper learning, student collaboration and partnerships on authentic real -world tasks.

References

Dawley, L., & Dede, C. (2013). Situated learning in virtual worlds and immersive simulations. In J.M. Spector, M.D Merrill, J. Elen, & M.J. Bishop (Eds.), The handbook of research on educational communications and technology (4th ed.), pp. 723-734. New York: Springer.

Dede, C. (2014). The role of technology in deeper learning. New York, NY: Jobs for the Future.

http://www.studentsatthecenter.org/topics/role-digital-technologies-deeperlearning

Dede, C. (2012). Interweaving assessments into immersive authentic simulations: Design strategies for diagnostic and instructional insights (Commissioned White Paper for the ETS Invitational Research Symposium on Technology Enhanced Assessments). Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service. http://www.k12center.org/rsc/pdf/session4-dede-paper-tea2012.pdf

Dunleavy, M., and Dede, C. (2013). Augmented reality teaching and learning. In J.M. Spector, M.D Merrill, J. Elen, & M.J. Bishop (Eds.), The handbook of research on educational communications and technology (4th ed.), pp. 735-745. New York: Springer.

Kamarainen, A.M., Metcalf, S., Grotzer, T., Browne, A., Mazzuca, D., Tutwiler, M.S., & Dede, C. (2013). EcoMOBILE: Integrating augmented reality and probeware with environmental education field trips. Computers & Education. Available online 14 March 2013

Ketelhut, D. J., Nelson, B. C., Clarke, J., & Dede, C. (2010). A multi-user virtual environment for building and assessing higher order inquiry skills in science. British Journal of Educational Technology, 41(1), 56–68. Klopfer, E. (2008). Augmented learning: Research and design of mobile educational games. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Metcalf, S., Kamarainen, A., Grotzer, T., & Dede, C. (2013). Teacher perceptions of the practicality and effectiveness of immersive ecological simulations as classroom curricula. International Journal of Virtual and Personal Learning Environments, 4(3), 66-77

Minecraft: (Games-Based) Learning Internationally!

By David W. Deeds,

Technology Integration Coach, American School of Guatemala

Back in 2012, I was the IT Manager for Changchun American International School in China. We wanted to expand our games-based teaching/learning, with real games, for a much-needed change. You know what I mean. Kids know when you’re trying to sneak one of those so-called “educational diversions” into the mix! Those “games” are like sugar-free soda…they always leave a funny taste in your mouth.

I had been experimenting with Minecraft (OK, OK, I had been playing it along with my students!) since it came out in 2009. But, I just couldn’t figure out a way to use it long-term in the classroom. And we did try, however, we never got

past one or two-day lab exercises. Great for midterm breaks, though. I’m hardly a control freak, but having kids log in and then never seeing them again just didn’t have that same teaching-learning “feel” to it! I would ask students about this, and the consensus was that they preferred something…anything…that kept them working together, collaborating as a group.

Outside the classroom, I had the usual problems trying to sell a virtual learning environment to the powers-that-be. “What if they meet TOP?” I had started abbreviating “That Objectionable Person” to “TOP” in order to save myself

time. I had already successfully pitched (and was using) both Second Life and OpenSimulator, however, it was the fact that this is indeed a “game game” that required yet more justification. This has always been weird to me. Do parents nowadays keep their kids locked in basements so they won’t meet anybody in Real Life…?

Finally, I managed to convince everybody but myself. Even if I ran my own server behind our firewall, Minecraft still lacked some sense of…oh, I don’t know…”structure” is as good a word as any…that I liked to have for my lessons as

an IT Teacher. I’m just funny that way. Cool, yet anal retentive…I think it’s a fascinating mix, although for reasons unknown others don’t share this opinion. Then I discovered MinecraftEdu, and I knew we had found the answer. If you’re having difficulty convincing skeptical administrators, parents, etc., on the concept of using Minecraft, this just might be your solution too. Every teacher becomes a network/system administrator, in total control of who gets in (and, as I’ve mentioned, this is important to some folks!). You also have the ability to turn features on and off, give assignments, etc. Freezing students is not only practical, it’s a hilarious way to annoy them!

OK, so…as our Middle School IT Teacher and I were installing MinecraftEdu in a computer lab, he said: “You know, I’ve never played Minecraft before.” I told him: “Don’t worry. Every teenage boy is going to be your subject matter expert.”

Talk about the gift of prophecy! We had two kids in particular we couldn’t get to shut up. I’d send them to see the MS IT Teacher and he’d send them back to see me. I’d finally have to say “Guys, let’s save it for our next class.” I seldom if ever

had to answer any questions in the lab. Not that I was lazy…I was just letting students be in charge of their own learning experience! That’s my story, anyway, and I’m sticking with it.

With me so far? I’ve already written my dissertation, so I don’t need to impress you with why I think Games-Based Learning is so great. It works, and everybody has fun. Hard to beat that! If you’re having trouble selling GBL at your school, try it with MinecraftEdu. It has lots of nifty features. And if you’re hesitant to try Minecraft because you don’t have a clue about it, go ahead and rely on your students.

Now then…I’m not sure why, at least not yet…saving the research for my next ebook, I guess…but things really took off at my next school in Mexico. With 9 th and 10th graders, as part of our newly created Computer Workshops. The guys went crazy from Day One, as expected…the gals were hesitant at first. Until I suggested a Boys vs. Girls Design Contest. Then it got serious…maybe a little too

much so. Remember those features you can turn on and off using MinecraftEdu? Well, ensure that “TNT” is something that’s not available! I got tired of having to enforce things via switches. I wanted to see if my students could exercise selfcontrol. No, they could not! Amusing anecdote follows.

The girls had created a magnificent structure…and the boys blew it to smithereens. Tempers flared…I even had parents trying to contact me because the assumption was that the gals would fail the assignment!

I reassured everybody that no student of mine has ever failed a class (if one can’t succeed according to a certain set of criteria…I just change the criteria! ) and we carried on with business as usual. Or, so I thought. I should have known something was going on…there was a group of girls who were just too quiet. Here’s what they were up to…while some were providing a “cover story” by building above ground, others were stealthily digging a tunnel across the map. A tunnel underneath the boys’ latest masterpiece, that is. This went on for weeks.

The guys were just putting the finishing touches on their design when BOOM! Everything was in ruins. To their credit, the guys were good sports about it. Justice is justice, after all. I gave the gals the highest marks possible for project planning!

Here in Guatemala, I’ve been using MinecraftEdu only in my Games-Based Learning Club so far, and only because firewall issues prevented us from starting with OpenSimulator. Next year, we will be using Minecraft…at least in Elementary and Middle School…maybe in High School, too. I want to introduce it as a means of getting interdisciplinary efforts started, such as combining IT and Art course assignments.

It’s great for introducing Project-Based Learning, too!

Write to me: ddeeds@cag. edu.gt.

We interviewed Draxtor Despres in the February 2014 issue of VEJ (http://issuu.com/edovation/docs/vej_february_2014_2_10_14). As I stated in the introduction of that interview, Draxtor is the quintessential digital anthropologist (i.e., someone who studies and archives the relationships and cultures that develop and exist from humans and their use of digital technology). If you are not familiar with Draxtor’s work, be sure to read the first interview we did in the February 2014 issue of VEJ.

Much has transpired in the exponentially changing digital world since our

last interview. I was excited to catch-up with Draxtor to learn about his latest projects, his thoughts about Second Life, and his predictions about the future.

Roxie: Since we last talked to you, what projects and/or stories have you been working on or completed?

Draxtor: I am doing the Drax Files World Makers every five weeks. There’s always something going on. It’s always either in production or we are pre-producing and scheduling new people – so it really never ends. As they say, after the game is before the game. So the minute something comes out publically, it means I am on to the next thing – laying things out – the story and trying to find more guests. So there’s always a challenge. The latest few stories were pretty exciting, mainly all from Paris in the fashion world like Nylon Pinkney. These are people who are well known. I try to have a balance between well-known people and maybe not so well known, and not so high profile.

Draxtor: Maylee Oh, [Draxfiles World Makers Episode 30] for example, is talented in so many avenues that I think that it can also be kind of intimidating. She’s a good illustrator. She makes fashion. She’s financially successful in Second Life, so, it is always for me – I am very conscious of making sure that I am on the side of the – I am not trying to give a plug for the people who already have a platform. But, I wanted to pursue her story, because it is compelling and she is quite humble and she started from very humble beginnings. So, it’s another thing, where I think that her work is very polished, and like I said , it can be intimidating, it can also be invigorating – saying, “Hey, she started from nothing, maybe I can do this!”

Roxie: Are you doing work in other virtual worlds or 3 -D games? If so, what?

Draxtor: No, not really. I am not a gamer. I am not really interested in games. My son is a gamer. That’s great. I don’t understand the appeal of games to be quite honest. I read books, I read paper books, and I am in Second Life. Those are my two things. I hardly watch any movies any more. I watch documentaries – political documentaries, documentaries on social issues. But I am very conscious of the time I have. . . the limited time, so this is of interest to me. So the wandering and exploring in Second Life, the exploration and communication with other people is to me way more satisfying than a 3D game, where up top I get pushed down sort of a narrative that I have to follow. I am just not interested in that. High Fidelity, I’ve checked out. And, I will do a podcast on High Fidelity which is Philip Rosedale’s new virtual world.

Roxie: I bet that will be a very interesting podcast! When I think of you, I think of you as the quintessential digital anthropologist. Do you agree? Why or why not? How do you best describe your work?

Draxtor: Well, Digital Anthropologist, Oh, gosh, I don’t even know what the official definition of anthropologist is? So, that’s why I would caution it. I would like to call myself an “Advocacy Journalist” as opposed to, let’s say, an investigative journalist who goes in and investigates and then either exposes wrong doings or is very much neutral, I guess, and changes – you know, doesn’t go in with a preconceived narrative. I have to admit, I go in with an opinion. When I do the videos, my opinion is that creativity is an amazing force that can heal people and bring people together. That is what I want to bring out. So, I don’t probe people when I interview them or force them to say stuff that I need for the story. [Laughing] They say that stuff! Right? So, that is actually quite easy in the sense that I always get the material that I need. I mean, it’s very labor intensive to put it together, but we in Second Life, we have an overlap in the sort of opinion about what makes us tick – and, what makes us tick is the awe of a world where people can express themselves freely. And, to me, that’s what I would call advocacy journalism. I journal. I document what people do. But, I have a point of view and that point of view is shining through. Maybe I am a little bit of a sociologist as well. For a sociologist observes social structures and then might be quite critical. I am not critical in that sense. I could do any number of critical exposé’s in second life. There’s plenty of things that are not all fine and dandy. There is addiction. There is abuse. It would be very interesting to do something long term, to explore those things. But, this is a hobby. I decided to do this, to dedicate my time to this.

Roxie: The last time you talked with us, you said that you are not just a “parachute journalist – you live there.” Living in virtual worlds, what have you gleaned? What have you learned? What are the take-aways. . . that is the lessons of living in virtual worlds that all of us could benefit from?

Draxtor: Yes, I live there. Living in virtual worlds . . . The takeaway is that it can co-

exist. That’s the main thing. You can co-exist in a virtual world and in the so-called real world. That’s the most important thing that I try to get across to the critics. I think we need to also understand that we do not have to be defensive about saying that we live there. You know there are plenty of people who live in [laughing] I don’t know . . . they live at home with their daytime television . . . I am not going to make a judgment here. A Reality television of the most terrible sort . . . we live in a beautiful world. We should be very, very proud of that. There was a recent article in Atlas Obscura about Second Life. About a guy who came in, an outside journalist, who was guided by our own Ziki Questi. He wanted to be in there longer – not parachuting in and out and then writing some stuff. He wanted to really walk around and see stuff. That was such a breath of fresh air when it comes to outside journalists.

Roxie: Since we last talked, what are some of the most creative pioneers doing in virtual worlds? Who should we be watching?

Draxtor: I don’t know. I know one percent of Second Life. I sometimes feel I don’t know anything. I do a weekly podcast and I learn, you know, there’s Harry Potter role-play. They make Quidditch Games. There are any number of educational projects that I don’t know anything about because of the vastness of it. Sometimes when I talk to Linden Lab folks, they have a hard time keeping track of what’s happening. I would always be watching people who used the latest tools from Linden Lab, for example, the experience tools that allow a little more control over interactivity and gameplay. Although I said, I am not a gamer at the onset, the experience keys feature, I think, is marvelous to also make educational content that is interactive and engages you. So, I think there

are a handful of people who work on that stuff. I do want to say that Loki Eliot is a great content creator in Second Life. He must either be independently wealthy or he lives on an endowment of some kind [laughing] because he has – it is so great that he can spend so much time creating stuff. And it’s like almost the minute Linden Lab comes out with a feature, he implements it in something.

Roxie: I love “The Drax Files World Teasers: Loki’s Airship Battle”. I think this is a great example of the kind of creation you are talking about. I also found his Loki –Digital Mischief Maker blog very interesting. The theme for this issue is “Mining

The Craft”. In the last interview we did with you, you talked about playing Minecraft with your son. Maybe we should interview him! What are some of the projects he, you, or the both of you have done in Minecraft? What have you learned from your projects?

Draxtor: Yeah, you can ask him. You can send him some questions. He is on the podcasts all the time. I will ask him. Listen to the podcasts. His assessment of virtual reality is actually quite interesting. He’s out of Minecraft. He’s not interested any more. He is 11. He hasn’t been doing things for over a year in Minecraft. He is not interested. He plays violin. He plays drums. He’s in the jazz band. And he plays outdoors. Isn’t that weird, huh? Most kids who everybody says are just glued to their phones – it’s not happening. He thinks his daddy’s a loser – NO! [laughing] I am very proud of him! He is excited about some games. But, I have no idea why Minecraft doesn’t appeal to him anymore. I think he thinks it’s for kids. But, what worries me a little bit is that Minecraft does provide this creativity, and this outlet to make things, and I want him to learn a little bit of coding. But, he’s really not interested in actually interacting with the computer that much. So, that is very interesting. He plays violin at a really high level and just started drums a year ago. He is already in the Jazz Band! He has a real talent and he’s just in that avenue!

Roxie: Which also sounds like a great place to be! It sounds like he is very talented! From your experiences how can educators, especially elementary and middle school teachers, use Minecraft as a catalyst and motivator to engage students in learning?

Draxtor: Minecraft is interesting because it gives you a sense of belonging – because you get a place right away. So, that is important. You get land. I think, this needs to change in Second Life. The motivator – I would ask you to listen to Podcast #68 where we have Mirek Hancl from Germany talking for 45 minutes

about how Minecraft works in the classroom. It’s amazing what he does. I defer to him. He has the expertise. I don’t.

Roxie: Students are already learning and using 21st century skills primarily outside of school (i.e., problem-solving, collaboration, critical thinking, entrepreneurship, communication, maker spaces, coding). What technologies can educators use, and how can teachers harness digital technologies, especially virtual worlds and virtual realities to engage and instruct these 21st century skills?

Draxtor: The problem-solving – Mirek Hancl talks about that stuff. Problemsolving, collaboration, critical thinking. That’s how he uses Minecraft. He has tremendous knowledge and success with that approach. He teaches at a German high school. Listen to Episode # 68 of the Drax Files Podcast.

Roxie: Yes, it is very interesting to listen to him talk about how he uses Minecraft with his 6th to 12th grade Computer Science and Chemistry students. I just want to let our readers know that when they listen to the podcast, the conversation with Mirek Hancl begins 35:00 minutes into The Drax Files Radio Hour #68 podcast.

Draxtor: I think that what we’re missing here is – broadly speaking we use technology for testing and for keeping kids in line rather than unleashing their creativity. That’s all I can say. I am a broken record on that. It is really depressing how administrators, because they are so forced to deliver scores, test scores and stuff that they buy into this crap of testing software versus unleashing the creativity. It’s really sad. It makes kids less of critical thinkers and problem-solvers. It turns them into convenient sheep, right? It’s the obsession with this data and the drilling, killing thing.

Roxie: Agreed. [Sigh] You are talking to the choir here! Changing the subject . . .

As you know, the power of Virtual Reality headsets and motion control technologies (e.g., Oculus Rift, Google cardboard, HTC Vive, LEAP Motion) is extremely exciting and has the potential to revolutionize how people experience video games and virtual environments such as Second Life. What and how are you using these new innovations? What is your prediction for their use in the near future?

Draxtor: Yeah, it’s exciting. I don’t know. I have been to all of these conferences. I am kind of skeptical that they will be in the household everywhere, as some people say. Chris Collins from High Fidelity says that. But, I don’t know. I think they might go the way of the 3D television. Maybe, I don’t know. Right now there is a lot of hype around it. The gamers all love it. There is no doubt about it. They will get their hands on all of this, but if the general population will do that, I am not so sure. There needs to be really, really hands on, educational uses. There is also a lot of skepticism among teachers and among parents, too, about letting games in the classroom. That’s a much broader issue that I don’t think can be solved with headsets. There’s tons of skepticism. It is the same skepticism that happened in Second Life. That is why Second Life was never broadly adopted. I think the reason why Second Life was never broadly adopted in the educational realm is not because of the bad press or anything. But, because there is just a complete division between educators like anywhere else. People who are open to new ideas and people, who are, “No, you are going to sit down and you read this book until your eyes bleed.” [laughing] Screw experiential education, righ t? I think that is the case. It’s based on my anecdotal evidence when I talk to teachers.

Roxie: What other future technological advances or trends do you see on the horizon that will be changing the landscape of possibilities?

Draxtor: I like to see virtual worlds and the freedom to create being adopted, but it goes back to having this in conjunction with very basic traditional values of well-trained teachers. I think we first need to train teachers well.

We need to pay them good salaries and we need to bring class sizes down. It is not working. No technology will fix that. Those are long standing issues. If you use technology as a Band-Aid to taper over this stuff it will never get any better in this country. Other countries have solved that.

My country and some of the Scandinavian countries – how have they solved it? Very simple. Funding education. Putting your money where the mouth is.

Roxie: What projects and stories are you currently working on or hoping to work on in the future?

Draxtor: I’m working on tons of stuff. The series goes on. The podcast goes on. Linden Lab just started the, “What Does Second Life Mean To Me” project that I am involved with. I did three videos.

Roxie: I love the video you did, “What Second Life Means to me – Draxtor Despres” that is in the Featured News on the Video Share Project page. Simply beautiful the way you explain how anyone can use Second Life to create. Not only do you tell the stories of these people so well, but you do it in a very creative way! So, in the next 5 years, how do you see your work evolving?

Draxtor: Oh, boy! [Laughing] I have to keep with the times. It is a constant struggle to stay relevant. But, what will stay relevant are stories and I think I have a knack for storytelling of a particular kind. And, I think that will never get old, because people are interesting. People will never cease to interest me. And I think other people will also be interested in other people. Right? So it is just like a book. Right? The book is not dead. The book is very much alive. And it is printed on

paper and there are letters on the paper, and, you know, a good novel – you can take everything away from me, but don’t take away a good, good, thick one thousand page long novel!

Roxie: [Laughing] There is nothing better! What do you hope your digital footprints, your legacy will be?

Draxtor: That is a good question. I mean, I like to, I enjoy thinking about that. At some point people will look around – you know, we will all have complete virtual reality everywhere, with contact lenses where we can switch to a different world – an overlay or a complete immersion, or whatever. Then people will unearth the beginnings of this technology and they will stumble across my series and they will go, “WOW, look at that – what they did back then!” [Laughing] And so, that’s cool! That’s cool to know that at least for a little while I was able to document it and keep it alive in that sense – documented that history, so that it won’t be lost.

Roxie: And that is so important. It is what we, the Virtual Education Journal are attempting to do as well – archiving the important work educators and early adapters are doing in virtual environments. So, last question, is there anything else you would like to tell our readers that I didn’t ask about your current work?

Draxtor: No. . . . I do a lot of music, which is very important to me. I am working on a piece for a short film with the Bavarian State Opera. The music is from them. It was recorded at the Opera, which is very exciting. Like I always say, these projects, they pay the rent. And they’re exciting. But, they are well funded. And these are professionals who do it full-time. So it is exciting that I am involved with that. And that I can express myself in these projects as well. The project is called, “Opera On Acid” by the way. But, again, the difference between Second Life and a project like “Opera On Acid” is that, Second Life is opening up and leveling the

playing field for everyone to be at the table to create. And that is philosophically huge to me. I am very vis-à-vis, you know, vis-à-vis, someone who has $100,000 to do a film. Yeah, they started from somewhere also, but, yeah, what can I say? It is more exciting to me when someone who has never been told they can be great designers, that they start stuff, and the y get a satisfaction from it – that’s actually the 90 second “What Second Life Means To Me” videos that are all about.

Roxie: You are right, Draxtor! So right! I know you are very busy. We greatly appreciate the time you spent talking with me about your current work. Thank you so much!

[Note: You can find all 73 Drax Files Radio Hour Shows on the archive pages at http://draxfiles.com/. Also checkout the Drax Files World Makers Episodes on Youtube. Subscribe to Draxtor Despres at https://www.youtube.com/user/draxtordespres . You can also follow Draxtor on Facebook and @draxtor on twitter.]

ISTE 2015 Machinima Fest

It's Machinima mania at the ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) conference this year! Machinima - it’s a portmanteau of the words machine and cinema. It is the screencapturing and editing of 3D games and virtual environments.

Here is an example of one of the past winners. Lego Universe- Crumple’s Pet Skunk Tutorial http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llf1zfk4nmQ See the learning happening there.

At the 2015 ISTE Conference in Philadelphia, we will be announcing the winners of the 2015 EduMachinima Fest on Monday, June 29, 5:30 –6:30 pm EDT (Eastern Daylight Time)

Using Virtual Worlds To Improve Student Learning and Creativity

By Dr. William Schmachtenberg

One of the main standards created by ISTE is to promote student learning and creativity though face-to-face and virtual environments. Certainly, teachers traditionally use face-to-face lectures, labs, and other activities to promote learning. But, I rarely see virtual environments used for this purpose.

In my presentation at the annual ISTE conference, I can show you how to put your educational content into a virtual world and use it with your students. One of the most popular tools for creating virtual worlds is Unity 3D. I have found that students love to create beautiful landscapes in Unity 3D with the terrain tool, and then texture them by simply painting the graphics on the landscape. As a teacher you may feel you do not have the time or the interest to create a virtual world. For this purpose, Mariah Boone, one of my students created a tropical island for you to explore.

As you navigate around the island you will find shells that you can click on. The shells bring up questions that test your knowledge of a certain subject. Teachers can import their content into this simulation with an easy to use template for the questions, answers, and feedback if the students get it wrong. Once the content is entered, Unity 3D can create software that runs on pcs, macs, or even an internet website.

For students who have trouble finding the shells, an in -game GPS system helps them locate shells they are having trouble finding. The green square represent shells that have not been found. The red triangle shows the orientation and position of the student in-game. As shells are found they are removed from the GPS display.

During the ISTE conference, I will have a computer available for teachers to use to create their own tropical islands. Educators can

also download Unity 3D and the project files needed to create their own tropical island simulations from this website: www.evwllc.co.

Creating virtual environments for mobile devices is more difficult. Science Island available on the Apple App Store is a free app that allows you to explore a tropical island on your iPhone or iPad. As the name suggests the shells contain questions about 20 topics in science. For those of you who want to explore inside the volcano and answer questions about geology, you should try Geology Island 2.

This app contains 40 shells and a range of topics including rocks, volcanoes, and plate tectonics.

Or perhaps you would like to explore the murky depths of the oceans. Ocean explorer designed for iPad, i Pod, and the iPhone allows you to do just that!

Search for 20 different animals and test your knowledge of the oceans.

There is a sonar display that can help you find the animals, and after you are done, search for a World War II submarine.

Another app is called 3D Fossil Explorer.

As the name suggests you can search for 20 fossils in a simulation based on the classic geology of the Appalachian Mountains in Virginia. As you click the fossil, you will be asked questions that help you understand how to identify the common fossils found in nature. On screen guides provide a wealth of information on the topic of paleontology.

Establishing a colony on Mars is currently only a dream, but in Mars Colony 2, you can explore how a functioning Mars Colony would actually work

In this simulation, explorers can terraform the atmosphere, study the moons of Mars, and even do a virtual field trip on the surface of the red planet.

Finally, there is 3D Weather Adventure.

In this app, students can vary meteorological variables such as Humidity, Temperature, Dew Point, and Air pressure by means of slider controls. When the controls are properly set, fog, rain, snow, and even a tornado can be produced! Don’t worry if you are not a meteorological expert, as Panni your virtual guide is there to help.

All of these apps will be on display at the Educational Virtual Worlds table, Tuesday morning. Come visit us and check them out on iPads that will be availab le at the table. You can also get more information on these apps at www.evwllc.co

[You can contact Dr. William Schmachtenberg at wschmachtenberg@gmail.com. This article is Reprinted with permission from “Mobile Mini-Magazine” editor Laura Briggs ]

Sailing Away

THE 2015 SAIL4LIFE 12-METER RACE REGATTA

June 21-22, 2015

This was more than just a boat race. This was a fundraiser to benefit cancer research through the Relay For Life in SL.

Read all about here: http://www.virtualworldsailing.com/index.php?/topic/751-sail4life-twelve-meter-regattajune-20-21/

If you are looking for something fun to do on a summer afternoon, you may want to become a spectator at one of the many boat races in Second Life. Or, you may want to even adventure onto a sailboat of your own and learn how to sail. For more information, visit The Virtual World of Sailing for a calendar of events and places you can go to rent a boat or learn to sail! Then kickback and ENJOY!

Virginia Teachers Get Busy

by Beth S. O’Connell

Seeing the need for more student-friendly virtual worlds, the VSTE Virtual Environments PLN decided to host a Minecraft server so teachers could learn to use the immensely popular game and virtual world. (VSTE is the Virginia Society for Technology in Education, an ISTE affiliate; the VE PLN is a Professional Learning Network within VSTE.)

We meet there one Monday a month, and teachers are welcome to go play there any time they’d like. The VSTE Minecraft server is private, so teachers must be whitelisted (added to a pre-approved list) to enter. VSTE pays $100 per year to host the server, and teachers are expected to pay their own one-time fee of $26.95 for a Minecraft account from Mojang.

The server is in Creative Mode so teachers can play without worrying about monsters. Everything is a work in progress; it’s fun to check in and see what new things have sprung up since the last visit!

Near the spawn point are colorful signs with coordinates for some of the notable landmarks.

WitchyRichy’s house includes a hedge maze(middle of photo) designed after the historic one at the Governor’s Mansion in Williamsburg.

Next to the spawn point is K4sons’ House, one of the first buildings on this server.

There are two locations for Redstone Experiments; this is the one on the sign.

Grid’s Overlook shows some creative landscaping.

Loren has used redstone technology to create an amazing train network throughout the grid. This is Junction Train Station, one of many.

MIne-Kar-Nak Station is It's in the desert and Egyptian, so the name is a play on "Minecar" and "Karnak."

If you were wondering why you couldn’t get a train car promptly, it may have been occupied by a chicken… or a horse!

Redstone rails look especially dramatic in the evening light.

Many of VSTE’s conferences are held at the historic Hotel Roanoke, re -created here.

Another frequent conference location is the Virginia Beach Convention Center, shown here.

Minecraft can be surprisingly beautiful, as in this view of the Parthenon at sunset.

This was a collaborative build begun by YosemiteWahWah.

There are two more levels underneath the Parthenon.

The VSTE VE PLN got its start in Second Life. To the left is the Book & Tankard Pub, by Beth Ghostraven, next to BluebarkerSL’s castle. Maps can be made to help us find our way around.

The pub has all the comforts of home, including a pet dog.

Mr Zwaa’s Redstone area includes a huge digital clock.

The clock is powered by a complex system of redstone pistons.

WitchyRichy’s roller coaster features a magnificent lava slide in the background.

The best part about the VSTE VE PLN Minecraft server is, of course, the people. Interacting together in this environment helps us all realize the value of play and collaboration in learning. A recent Minecraft Monday found us taming dogs and riding horses, and dealing with an overpopulation of chickens.

The logical next step is to take this into our schools and involve students in the many educational possibilities that virtual environments like Minecraft offer. To this end, the VSTE VE PLN will be hosting a summer Book Club in Second Life, reading the book Minecraft in the Classroom: Ideas, inspiration, and student projects for teachers, by Colin Gallagher. We’ll meet in Second Life on the newly redesigned VSTE Island on July 13 and 27, and August 10.

Please contact Beth O’Connell (booklady99999@yahoo.com) or Kim Harrison (k4sons@gmail.com) for more information about the Book Club, or about joining the VSTE VE PLN Minecraft server.

Join the Fun at ISTE 2015 in Philadelphia Sunday June 27th – Wednesday July 1st.

For more information and schedule visit http://patriciacloud.wix.com/gsnetworkalive

A Found Treasure Trish Cloud GSN Award Winner and Game-based Learning Facilitator

by Laura Briggs, ISTE GSN Officer

The ISTE Games and Simulations Network would like to congratulate our Games and Simulations Excellence Award winner, Trish Cloud.

Trish Cloud continues her efforts in excellence in advocacy as she shares experiences and resources with other educators who are looking into implementing games and simulations in their classrooms. She demonstrates excellence in collaboration by inspiring and encouraging others to create and become involved in GSN projects and initiatives. Trish continues her contributions for excellence in communication and innovation by advancing the use of games and simulations in education through unique projects and student involvement as well as contributing innovative ideas in multiple social media venues. Trish also leads excellence in mentorship and professional development as she leads sessions and shares many resources to help others learn about games and simulations. Trish is a very active participant with the GSN and has participated in and supported many

network events and the ISTE Conference for many years of service.

Trish Cloud actively engages students in using a variety of games for learning as the Technology Associate at Grand Oak Elementary, including Minecraft, Oregon Trail, coding games, and more. Students explore these games in after school clubs, but Trish pushes their use out into the classroom as well. She supports the development of Minecraft Clubs by others in her district through the Minecraft in CMS website.

Trish shares her experiences with the broader educational community through presenting at NCTIES and ISTE conferences and a multitude of online venues: the GSN Metagame Book Club, Connected Educator Month events, the Minecraft and More Unsymposium, the Virtual Education Journal, etc. She actively promotes events as the Social Media Maven of the Metagame Book Club and her work on the Communications Committee for GSN. In GamesMOOC tweetchats, she has collected all resources mentioned into PearlTrees. She frequently shares new developments in the world of gaming and education through Twitter, the Inevitable Betrayal educator’s guild Google+ community, Facebook, and more. Trish Cloud has earned this Excellence Award through her extensive use of games with students and the many ways that she promotes game-based learning in the educational community.

We interviewed Trish about the engaging opportunities she provides for students using Minecraft in education.

Laura Briggs: How do you use Minecraft with students?

Trish Cloud: Funny, as I sit and type this I have kindergartners in the room playing Minecraft. It is the last week of school and all classes are getting to play for their last Technology class. Needless to say all of the kiddos want to come to Technology this week.

During school hours I (or other teachers in my building using iPads) have used Minecraft with grades 2-5. I know 3-5 have used it for Mathematics and Science. I have used it with 2nd graders building communities they had already planned out in class. Fifth grade students have completed Social Studies assignments that took place in Colonial Williamsburg and re-enacted the Battle of Bunker Hill. Our Math Facilitator has created a fraction lesson incorporating MinecraftEdu.

Laura Briggs: What challenges have you faced in using Minecraft at school and how have these challenges turned into successes?

Trish Cloud: The first big challenge was actually getting the administration to allow me to do this. So I started by asking to start a club. The next challenge was funding. So, I had students sign up to be in the club and asked for 10.00 per student to offset the cost. I started with 60 iPads, so with that many kids contributing, I had enough to buy 30 licenses of MinecraftEdu and 60 Minecraft PE. Once we had everything installed I had 30 on desktops and 15-20 on ipads. And by going about it this way it gave other schools in our district the plan of how they could get Minecraft. Some now get funding this way while others have gone the route of getting grants.

One of the negatives, which at times could be a positive, has been th e server issue. Our district would not allow a server to be set up in a school as that was something our district was getting away from and they weren’t going to re-go down the local server path again. So, for the past couple of years I have been running servers off desktops while the students played. This could be a problem in a couple of ways: (a) it required starting anywhere from two to fifteen servers; (b) all the students could not be in the same world at the same time; and (c) I had to have the exact same mods on all computers hooking up to the same server.

Our district has been thinking of solving this issue with a cloud-based server but finding one that would not violate the district security and get allowed in through ports was our largest stepping stone. MinecraftEdu is presently running a beta of their cloud-based server and we were able to get on board with that. We now

have 2 schools connected to the same server. It requires the school to send in specific logins for each student that would be using MinecraftEdu so that is a bit of work. And at the present time no more than 30 students can be in game together at one time. But all in all, it’s working out well now and it cuts down on the work the teacher has to do to get the students started. They simply login and go.

Laura Briggs: For a teacher wanting to use Minecraft for engaging students, what advice would you give?

Trish Cloud: Remember with the little ones a lot of them have never played Minecraft on a desktop. In fact more often than not, the only way they have played in on an iPad if at all. Be patient and have some older kids come around and be guides-at-the-side. Have the older kids show them how to move around, fly, move inventory to the hotbar, break blocks, and place blocks.

Keep it simple. Minecraft builds can get out of control easily. Kids get lost in the details and what you thought was going to be a simple build ends up taking far too long. Give clear instructions on how long they have to build. Keep them on track by checking on them frequently. From the beginning establish firm guidelines for what your expectations are for their behavior.

Write your rules down and go over them before class starts.

• No trolls!

• Respect each other's work and their vision of what they are building even if you don't agree.

• We create, we do not destroy.

• No bad language in real life or in game.

• Good behavior in class during the day is required or you will be suspended from the club.

• No messing with other people’s inventory.

• No spawning animals or mobs without the teacher’s permission (this rule is for me more than anything. If I don’t try to curtail it I could end up with 500 cows roaming around the server and they start to bother the other players).

Laura Briggs: What are some Minecraft activities/challenges you have used with students for Social Studies, Science, Math and Language Arts?

Trish Cloud: Students have worked in the classes on individual projects their teachers have designed using Minecraft PE on their personal devices. They have brought them in via BYOT. I know teachers have done projects in Math, Science, and Social Studies.

In Technology, using MinecraftEdu, we have done lessons on Colonial Williamsburg and a recreation of the Battle of Bunker Hill. Between my class and our Media class we did a joint project on colleges. Each teacher in the school listed where they went to college. Our 5th graders selected a school and researched where the school is located, entrance requirements, what majors were offered, what kind of extracurricular activities they offered, dorms, etc. They needed to interview the staff member who attended that school and put all this information in a presentation format. Some students chose to build their school in Minecraft and give a short tour of the campus.

Our Math Facilitator developed a lesson and rubric for a fraction lesson for 5th grade. I had some 5th graders build it to test it out. Only problem, they built way too big (see hints up above “keep it simple), and it was hard for them to get the fractions they needed. It looked fantastic, but too big. We will try again this fall.

Our second graders study communi ties. At the end of their community unit, they come downstairs and for 2 or 3 weeks in Technology they build a community they have designed in class. The community is built by a team of town planners headed up by a mayor.

Laura Briggs: So why do you do this work?

Trish Cloud: I never thought of myself as much of “techy”, but when I was placed in the job it sort of “clicked” - passion discovered! Since then, I have dove head first into all things geeky; hardware, software, coding, games, all of it.”

Laura Briggs: We have definitely discovered a treasure in Trish Cloud. The Games and Simulations is proud of the great work Trish Cloud continues to do as she engages students and teachers in using games and simulations for fun, innovative learning!

Woot LAN Party!

On June 29th, the Games and Simulations Network will host a LAN Party for ISTE members and their families. One of the most common questions fielded is what is a LAN Party?

Chris Luchs (RL)

Abacus Capalini (SL)

For those of you that LAN is a new term for, Wikipedia has a good write up at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LAN_party. LAN Parties or Local Area Network Parties, started in the late 90s and early 2000s and consisted of invited players bringing their own computers, cabling, modems and routers and then connecting all of them in a single cable only network. They were the only real way to allow for social gaming prior to the advent of affordable broadband. These events typically focused on either console games or computer games. They were one of the first methods of incorporating multiplayer functionality and allow synchronous communication for games that did not allow multiplayer or did not have VOIP capabilities. Some LAN Parties were also used to reduce latency in the game due to the proximity and computing power of all the computers. LAN parties ranged in size from a few friends to over 22 thousand (http://kotaku.com/worlds-biggest-lan-party-had-over-22-000-computers-loo1664913524) at the November Dream Hack (http://www.dreamhack.se), which is the largest such event. In addition, T.L. Taylor and E. Witkowski provide an interesting review of Dream Hack and their analysis in This is How we Play It: What a Mega-Lan Can Teach us about Games (http://tltaylor.com/wpcontent/uploads/2010/06/TaylorWitkowski-ThisIsHowWePlayIt.pdf).

The most common games used in LAN Parties were Counter Strike, World of Warcraft III, Starcraft and more recently League of Legends and Dota 2. These games lend themselves to the player versus player (PvP) mode that most LAN parties focused on. PvP is exactly how the name sounds. It describes gaming that pits one player or a team of players against another player or team. The interaction is one where players compete based on their skill, knowledge of fight maps, and gear. The LAN Party was the gamers solution to poor internet connection, lack of VOIP, and latency issues that were common during the 90s and 2000s. There were many how to guides like http://www.lanpartyguide.com/lansetup.html where interested players could go and learn how to set up, support and run LAN Parties.

The best games that lend themselves to LAN play are those without progression. Progression is in the majority of games and manifests itself when players have to reach a certain level or achievement to get a specific gear set or weapon. Progression has a negative impact on LAN players because not all pl ayers will have the same access/resources so it does not allow a level playing field. Ben Kuchera provides an excellent explanation of the overall effect progression has had on LAN parties and the current state of small local LAN parties at http://www.polygon.com/2015/1/29/7944755/lan -party-gaming-call-of-duty. LAN Parties are still around as the attendance to DreamHack and its worldwide events demonstrate. However, small LAN parties have virtually disappeared due to access to high-speed internet and crisp VOIP technologies like Mumble and Ventrilo. In their heyday, LAN parties provided access to social gaming, taught computer-networking skills to players, and provided opportunities for gamers to really understand how their computers and networks worked.

However in the spirit of LAN Parties everywhere the Games and Simulations Network offers our LAN Party themed event. So if you are at ISTE 2015, please feel free to drop by Marriott 307 and check us out. We will have tables for World of Warcraft, Dungeons and Dragons, Interactive Fiction, and more; we’ll even have a mini-game jam session! Feel free to bring your own computing device and socialize with other players! There may even be some Guild Recruitment going on. :D Come celebrate all games digital, tabletop, cards, and more! This is entirely social but you will see evidence of people successfully mixing business (learning) with pleasure (fun, flow and fiero)!

We'll also have a game arcade and Machinima pod in Answerables. Peter Cameron will be on site to show you all about it.

Devon Young will be there at the beginning of the LAN party so we can take a peak at Classcraft.

For people who would just like to play and chat a bit....

Mini Game Jam - Matt Farber

The Mobile Mini Game Jam table will feature several hands-on opportunities to create and test paper-based and digital games. One example will be Floors, from Pixel Press. Visitors will be given special graph paper to imagine and draw game levels. After scanned in with an iPad camera, participants will see the result: a side-scrolling (think: Super Mario Bros.) video game that springs to life page to the mobile device! Bloxels, the latest Kickstarter from Pixel Press not available until October will be demoed, too! Other jam activities include the Grow-A-Game app and the “What’s Your Game Plan?” card game.

Gadgets and More - Come Cool Hunting with Marie Bjerede and Laura Briggs

Laura has you playing with coding games, programming robots and VR cardboard. Come try these out for yourself and see how you can engage even the youngest students! In addition to VR Cardboard headsets, mobile devices with games and apps for programming robots will be available for you to play and explore.

Marie will show you the latest gadgets and wearables sure to please the tween set. Sit down, play and chat about the latest trends at Maker Faires, robotics clubs and wearable fashions.

For people who would like to play something specific or watch game play (lurking is always allowed and encouraged)....

Minecraft - Trish Cloud

Trish, who normally plays Minecraft with the K-5 set, would like to expand her and your Minecraft horizons. So bring your i-Pad or a laptop, it doesn't matter. Sit down and let's play...show me your world and we'll show you ours.

World of Warcraft (WoW) - Chris Luchs

Guild master of Inevitable Betrayal, an educators' gaming guild will lead whoever wants to go through a Boss fight. Even if you didn't bring your laptop or have WoW downloaded take a seat and tell us about your experiences in WoW, MMOs or eSports.

Dungeons & Dragons (D & D) - Russell Brandon

Yes, this is the original! Table top, dice rolling, role-play game that inspired all of the other sword and sorcery video games. Russell will be your Dungeon Master (DM) and play the lead storyteller and referee. Bring your die and character sheets (we'll have extra if you don't have them or know what they are). You and your fellow adventurers will be going on a quest. D & D Basic Rules

Lastly, cosplay, or wearing something game related, is never required but always encouraged.

Check It Out:

VSTE Island is ready! A complete redesign has created beautiful new spaces for learning and sharing.

Come tour the island, and celebrate the real beginning of summer with us!

Even if you work year-round, the kids are gone, and the pace slows a bit. DJ Rocky will be spinning tunes . . . and we always have a good time together!

Visit us at: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/VSTE%20Island/62/104/22

Hello Everyone!

Who moved my cheese?

As I look out our VEJ window, I realize the landscape has changed, and so too . . . the view!

There are four reasons for my comment: (1) Virtual Reality Headsets (e.g., Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Samsung Gear VR); (2) Augmented Reality (e.g., Microsoft HoloLens); (3) Low -end Virtual Reality (e.g., Google Cardboard, View-Master); and (4) Other Innovations yet to be released (e.g., Amazon patent).

Twenty-one year old Palmer Luckey created a Kickstarter campaign with a goal of $250,000. He raised over $400,000 the first day, skyrocketing this technology forward. Two years later, Mark Zuckerberg purchased the company for $1.6 billion. And thus, the race began to create the first consumer virtual reality headset. Oculus Rift hit the market during the first week in January 2016 as a consumer product.

With the arrival of Windows 10, Microsoft touts an entirely new technology with Holodeck. This augmented reality superimposes digital information on real world objects. The HoloLens headset is a complete computer, unlike the Oculus Rift that requires the purchase of a desktop computer, likely to set you back at least $1,000.

At the extreme low end, Google Cardboard has created a template to hold as a cardboard mask. Users insert a smartphone device and use a variety of free Cardboard apps to access virtual experiences. For example, the New York Times, ABC News, Yale University Virtual College Trips, and the Seattle Space Needle have jumped onboard by providing virtual experiences. Likewise, with the help of 3D and augmented reality, businesses, such as IKEA, are using apps to create virtual shopping experiences that allow consumers to place furniture items in their own spaces before purchasing them.

As soon as these new products come online, however, some believe they are already obsolete. For example, Amazon is already working on a device that will no longer require a headset or goggles to immerse yourself in an augmented reality world.

Microsoft purchased Minecraft in 2014. Already Microsoft is demonstrating the Minecraft HoloLens opening up a realm of amazing experiences for players difficult to even imagine. All this begs the question . . . as schools begin to use Minecraft to teach core curricula, 21st century skills, and digital citizenship, how will this transform the traditional brick and mortar classroom? How will this impact student learning?

Hold on to your hats and glasses. . . this is wildest ride in the metaverse.

We know you will want to devour this issue – so don’t wait, take your first byte! You will discover, like always, VEJ is “Out of this World!”

Keep Smiling J

Roxie Neiro (SL), Rosie Vojtek (RL)

Cover by Bob Vojtek (rl) BJ Gearbox (sl)

In This Issue

• While You Were Sleeping by Bob Vojtek

• VWBPE 16 Thinkerer Award Nominations Open

• Bandit Sailboat Racing

• Save The Date – Enchanted @ VSTE

• Augmented Reality by Bob Vojtek

• Virtual Reality Discussions by Kae Novak

• Cardboard, Google & iOS Apps by Bob Vojtek

• A Micro-History of Augmented Reality in Film, Television, and Pop Culture Bluebarker Lowtide (sl), Vasil A. Giannoutsos (rl)

• 9th Annual Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education Conference

• Woot, y’all by Scott Merrick OH (sl), Scott Merrick (rl)

• Virtual Reality by Bob Vojtek

• The Virtual Pioneers: A Report from the Field, Andrew Wheelock (rl), Spiff Whitfield (sl)

• Introducing Renaissance Gallery by Roxie Neiro (sl), Rosie Vojtek (rl)

• Mobile App Development Using International Collaboration by Bill Schmachtenber (rl), Dae Miami (sl)

• On Walkabout, Vol 6, An Archeological Discovery by Cyrus Hush (sl), Matt Poole (rl)

• You Snooze… You Lose: Machinima Showcase Submissions due

• We Love Hangin’ With Friends! Pics by Scott Merrick

• Where in the Metaverse is AvaCon Grid?

• EDTECH 532 Part 3 by Chris Haskell, Ed.D

• Write for VEJ

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/

While You Were Sleeping

By Bob Vojtek (rl), BJ Gearbox )sl)

Robotics and software capabilities are encroaching into areas that most people would have guessed were “beyond the reach of robots.” As the capability, capacity, and processing speeds continue to increase, some believe that robots and software will take over jobs that were previously considered something only

a human could do. If the predictions are correct a significant number of jobs will become extinct. This trend will have a huge impact on K-12 and higher education.

While we have been debating the best way to get teachers engaged and use technology in the classroom, a whole wave of technological advancements has occurred. It was cute to paraphrase the statement, “it took 20 years to get the overhead projector out of the bowling alley and into the classroom.” The reality is that robots, software, and algorithms in cloud computing are excelling at tasks that have previously been only the prevue of humans. Tasks such, as moving boxes, creating reports and driving cars were always going to be the jobs of humans. Robots have difficulty determining the edges of boxes especially when multiple boxes were askew. They also have difficulty determining the difference between several boxes side by side, and one large box. This is about to change as companies now report that their new robots not only recognize these edges, but they can organize and move boxes faster than a human.

Since education is so focused on incremental change, our current educational paradigm may implode when high school, bachelor degree and graduate school graduates become unemployable.

Just a few years ago the buzz was, “we need to educate students for the 21st century,” meaning we need to teach for jobs that do not yet exist. What if the reality is that jobs we have been confident would continue, become extinct?

The skills required for these new jobs can’t easily be assessed with high stakes tests. Students will need to contend with significant ambiguity and the fact that there may be multiple solutions for a given problem.

We are living in a world where every multiple choice question on an assessment puts a student one step closer to un-employability. Priority school districts that believe using scripted lessons is an answer to closing the achievement gap may find even their graduating students lack the ability to qualify for these new jobs. This likelihood is not just for high school graduates, but also for those that are graduating from college. It is not simply about graduating from a top school any more; but rather, how prepared are students for the kind of thinking required for the new technologies? Wired Magazine looked at LinkedIn

data to see where west coast high-tech employees graduated. They wanted to see, “if non-Stanford grads have a chance at Silicon Valley firms.” It turns out that San Jose State is a good bet just as is Stanford. In fact, “if you’re just looking at the sheer number of alumni connections to Cupertino. UC-Berkeley, UT-Austin, and Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo also appear to be Apple favorites. . . . As for the Ivy League, not one of the ancient eight makes the list for any of the tech companies under consideration.”

Microsoft unwittingly created a technological avalanche.

They created a gaming device called Kinect to use with their gaming console, Xbox One, with the intent of creating a quantum leap in game navigation.

The Kinect system, “identifies individual players through face recognition and voice recognition. A depth camera, which ‘sees’ in 3-D, creates a skeleton image of a player and a motion sensor detects their movements. Speech recognition software allows the system to understand spoken commands and gesture recognition enables the tracking of player movements.” The resulting technology, a mere $130 add-on to an Xbox system, revolutionized robotics. Although it was not the intent, Kinect created a cheap solution for robots to be able to “see,” catapulting robotics technology forward.

In agriculture, for example, “robots that can sow seeds in a farm, robots that can remove weeds, robots are used for fertilizing crops and robots that can even pluck fruits from trees and accumulate these at one place —

these were some of the finalist entries at the e-Yantra Robotics Competition 2013,” as reported in the Times of India.

Fast food workers are clamoring for a living wage. Does it seem that $15 dollars an hour is unreasonable for the work food service employees perform? I think not. However, just as this debate escalates, a company in California has a robot that has the ability to custom create gourmet hamburgers at the rate of 360 hamburgers per hour. The manufacturer, Momentum Machines, explains that their robot does not call in sick, does not qualify for workman’s compensation, and requires no medical benefits. The company explains that currently a food service worker, working a line, costs the company $135,000 annually with salary and benefits according to the Momentum Machines website. Their prediction is that within two years their robotic system will be on par with that figure.

The newly revised machine has the capacity to grind three types of meat. For example, you may request one third bison and two thirds beef. It grills the meat to your liking before assembly. Then after the grilling process your burger is assembled to your specifications. Tomatoes, lettuce, and pickles are all sliced immediately after the grilling. It places these selections on top of your burger, before adding the ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise to the top of your bun, giving you the freshest burger possible.

McDonalds is preparing to add kiosks to their restaurants after having deployed them off shore already. Chili’s Grill and Bar as well as Applebee’s are introducing kiosks and mobile ordering. The Wall Street Journal labels this as a

“minimum wage backfire.” Under the guise of improving the customer experience for McDonalds the move is also “a convenient way... to justify a reduction in the chain's global workforce,” claims the Journal. It continued, “The result of their agitation will be more jobs for machines and fewer for the least skilled workers.”

It was one thing to program a computer to win at chess. It is another to program a super computer to blow away the top Jeopardy contestants.

But what if you

subscribed to a company that would take all of your raw business data and convert it into a clean, well-written narrative for your end of the year report? Narrative Science claims to do just that.

The Chicago-based company began as a class project. Kristian Hammond and his Larry Birnbaum taught a class at Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, and Integrated Marketing Communications. The students taking the course were a combination of programmers and journalism students. One team of students created prototype software, Stats Monkey. According to Wired Magazine the software was, “designed to collect box scores and play-byplay data to spit out credible accounts of college baseball games.”

Automated Insights, a competitor to Narrative Science, was used in a test between a software generated game recap and one written by a journalist. In Christer Clerwall’s paper, Enter the Robot Journalist, he found, “the text written by a journalist is assessed as being more coherent, well written, clear, less boring,

and more pleasant to read. On the other hand, the text generated by software is perceived as more descriptive, more informative, more boring, but also more accurate, trustworthy, and objective. The result was essentially a tie when all factors were evaluated.

Narrative Science, in addition to creating news stories from vast amounts of data, has a product targeting business communications. Quill is the name of their business-centric solution. The Narrative Science website explains, “Quill leverages natural language generation software to produce content which meets your communication goals, business rules, and overarching stylistic preferences, such as tone, style and formatting.” Finally, Quill automatically applies natural language to the most relevant information and assembles a narrative that is indistinguishable from a human-written one.

Tesla Motors has just released a significant software update for existing Tesla Model S automobiles that provides a suite of new and updated features. Autopilot provides several autonomouslike features for the driver, or owner, since some features do not require anyone to be inside the vehicle. The website explains the Model S, “is designed to keep getting better over time. The latest software update, 7.0 allows Model S to use its unique combination of cameras, radar, ultrasonic sensors and data to automatically steer down the highway, change lanes, and adjust speed in response to traffic. Once you’ve arrived

at your destination, Model S scans for a parking space and parallel parks on your command.”

This means Tesla has a near autonomous driving mode. The company recommends a driver be in the car and ready to take the wheel at any time. The new features include Autosteer (Beta), Auto Lane Change, Automatic Emergency Steering and Side Collision Warning, and Autopark. Autosteer, “keeps the car in the current lane and engages Traffic-Aware Cruise Control to maintain the car’s speed. Using a variety of measures including steering angle, steering rate and speed to determine the appropriate operation AutoSteer assists the driver on the road, making the driving experience easier. Tesla requires drivers to remain engaged and aware when Autosteer is enabled. Drivers must keep their hands on the steering wheel.”

When Autosteer is enabled, Auto Lane Change allows the driver to simply engage the turn signal and the car will change lanes when it senses that it is safe to do so. Automatic Emergency Steering and Side Collision Warning alerts the driver if something is detected too close to the side of the vehicle.

Autopark, as the name implies, allows the car to parallel park without engagement of the driver. Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO said, “the parking feature is a ‘baby step’ toward his eventual goal: Letting drivers summon their self-driving, self-charging cars from anywhere using their phones. I actually think, and I might be slightly optimistic on this, within two years you'll be able to summon your car from across the country. This is the first little step in that direction.” This is important because these updates are for Teslas that are already on the road. Google has been working on an autonomous driving car but it does not intend to manufacture the automobiles, rather it intends to license the

technology. Both Google and Tesla believe that fully autonomous cars, what Musk describes as, “true autonomous driving where you could literally get in the car, go to sleep and wake up at your destination” – will be available to the public by 2020.

Uber has a significant interest in autonomous vehicles. Uber curren tly gets a mere 25 percent of the fare with 75 percent going to the driver. If Uber can regain the advantage if they could eliminate the driver. Specifically, Travis Kalanick, Uber CEO recently made the statement that Uber will eventually replace all of its drivers with self-driving cars.

Columbia University recently conducted a study suggesting, with a mere 9,000 autonomous cars, “Uber could replace every taxi cab in New York City – passengers would wait an average of 36 seconds for a ride that costs about $0.50 per mile.”

At this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, General Motors CEO Mary Barra said, “We're going to see more change in the next five to 10 years than we've seen in the last 50. To that end, Barra announced a $30,000 Volt that goes 200 miles on a charge and does 0-60 in 7 seconds. This beats Tesla to the electric car for the masses. For more about this read February 2016 Wired Magazine article.

During the same show, Elon Musk stated that in two years Tesla would have the technology ready for fully automated level 4 self-driving cars. The U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) defines Level 4 as Full Self-Driving Automation: “The vehicle is designed to perform all safety-critical

driving functions and monitor roadway conditions for an entire trip. Such a design anticipates that the driver will provide destination or navigation input, but is not expected to be available for control at any time during the trip. This includes both occupied and unoccupied vehicles.”

The elimination of jobs because of automation is a trajectory we are already on. The Gartner Group claims software and robots will replace one third of all workers by 2025. “New digital businesses require less labor; machines will make sense of data faster than humans can,” claims Gartner research director Peter Sondergaard. This time around the jobs that will become extinct will include many high-skilled jobs.

This should be a wake-up call for education. The discussions about training students for jobs that don’t currently exist doesn’t usually consider that many of these new jobs would be for far fewer positions and how many existing jobs will become extinct.

Teaching students in the same way we have always taught will make it exceedingly difficult for graduates to enter college or the workforce. Independent of transforming education, the future is likely to eliminate a significant numbe r of summer jobs that currently allow high school students to learn the basic values of the workplace.

It is time to look at what is truly happening in the 21ST century and abandon the perspective of what schools needed to teach that was formulated in the 1990s. The 21ST century is not evolving in the same way we envisioned.

If we do not seriously rethink what and how we teach, our students will be ill-prepared for the future they will inherit.

This article has been edited by permission from “Virtual Reality Magazine” by Bob Vojtek (release date February 2016).

Augmented Reality

By Bob Vojtek (rl), BJ Gearbox (sl)

Augmented Reality (AR) an exploding technology, is gaining converts quickly with its ability to superimpose content over a real environment. Microsoft has added an entirely new application category, Microsoft Holographic , to the Windows 10 operating system. It superimposes holograms onto the real world environment.

Augmented Reality is creating paths that have significant potential for education. Microsoft launched Windows 10 on July 29, 2015 and one of the applications that is creating significant fanfare is Holodeck, which will require HoloLens, a headset computer. It will come to fruition first for developers. The HoloLens will cost approximately $3,000 and should ship in the first quarter of 2016.

The HoloLens was a hit at the launch and like Kinect technology for the Xbox gaming console, has the potential to be a disruptive technology. HoloLens, is a sleek, flashy headset with transparent lenses. You can see the world around you, but suddenly that world is transformed with 3D objects floating in mid-air, virtual screens on the wall and your living room covered in virtual characters running amok. Unlike VR, where you are enclosed in the environment, HoloLens uses a transparent lens allowing content to be superimposed over the real world environment. HoloLens maps the environment to know where walls (vertical surfaces) and tables (horizontal surfaces) are located. This invisible map allows the user to “attach” items to walls and tables.

The company is not trying to transport you to a different world, but rather bring the wonders of a computer directly to the one you're living in. Microsoft is overlaying images and objects onto our living rooms. As a HoloLens wearer, you'll still see the real world in front of you. You can walk around and talk to others without worrying about bumping into walls. The goggles will track your movements, watch your gaze, and transform what you see by blasting light at your eyes (it doesn't hurt). Because the device tracks where you are, you can use hand gestures -- right now it's only a midair click by raising and lowering your finger -- to interact with the 3D images.

These images are opaque and superimposed in front of, or on top of the mapped version of the real world. So, in the case of one demo, a designer is creating a new gas tank and fairing for a motorcycle. The design appears on top of the real-world motorcycle frame such that the eye can’t tell the difference between the real motorcycle and the design elements. The view through the HoloLens makes it appear that the designer is building directly on the real world motorcycle frame.

Microsoft has partnered with several major corporations to utilize 3D design tools to natively create architectural, mechanical , medical, and entertainment models. Microsoft believes that superimposing digital data on top of real world content has a multitude of uses. A second Microsoft demonstration superimposes graphics and instruction in a real world environment. In this case demonstrating how to repair a clogged kitchen sink drain. The view through the HoloLens displays graphical instructions for a user to remove the p-trap to eliminate the clog. The instructions appear directly on top of the real world drain in the users home, showing the direction to unscrew the p-trap fittings.

Another demonstration video shows how it utilizes a digital augmentation with a Minecraft build. The design appears to be sitting on top of a coffee table in a living room. Imagine how this will help in architectural design. The image could just as easily be a 3D architectural model on a conference room table. The ability to see a building design set in the real world environment is also a possibility. This technology will allow individuals that don’t have well-honed visualization skills the ability to see the finished product before the start of construction.

Microsoft believes that mixed reality can be used to create new experiences that will contribute to advances in productivity, collaboration, and innovation. To that end Microsoft held an academic research RFP. They received over 500 qualified proposals. The five winning proposals received $100,000 and two Microsoft HoloLens development kits each. The award recipients were:

• Open-Source Investigations in Mixed Reality: Interactive Art, Visualizations, and Expressive Interfaces on HoloLens, Golan Levin, The Frank-Ratchye STUDIO, Carnegie Mellon University

• Augmenting Reality for the Visually Impaired with Microsoft HoloLens, Emily Cooper, Wojciech Jarosz, and Xing-Dong Yang, Dartmouth College

• Collaborative Analysis of Large-Scale Mixed Reality Data, Joseph Gabbard and Doug Bowman, Virginia Tech

• Immersive Semi-Autonomous Aerial Command System (ISAACS), Allen Yang, Claire Tomlin, and Shankar Sastry, University of California, Berkeley

• HoloLens Curriculum for Trade-Based Education, Andy Mingo, Tawny Schlieski, Nikki Dunsire, Shelley Midthun, and J Bills, Clackamas Community College and Intel

Let’s recap, 500 plus qualified entries, winning entries from: Carnegie Mellon University, Dartmouth College, Virginia Tech (although Doug Bowman has since been recruited by Apple), University of California, Berkeley, and Clackamas Community College and Intel. What ? Clackamas Community College? Way to go Clackamas!

Beyond the need for expensive headsets and displays, there is a new wave of augmented reality that simply needs a smartphone or iPad and something called a marker. A marker is usually a sheet of paper, business card or catalog page that has a unique set of graphics. It is similar in function to a QR code. The marker must be unique so that the correct model associated with that marker displays through the phone or iPad. The possibilities are amazing. IKEA uses this technology with their print catalog. Ikea explains that, “by scanning selected pages in the printed IKEA catalog or accessing the pages in the digital publications you can view images, films and 360° room sets, and get to know the stories behind the products. You can also place selected furniture in your own room with the help of 3D and Augmented Reality!”

The procedure is to put the marker, or in this instance the catalog page on the floor where you want to place the furniture. Load the application and view the marker on the phone using the camera. The application interprets the marker. Looking through the screen displays a full-size piece of furniture right in the room. The camera feature allows a photograph to be taken with the furniture in place. If there are color options, for example, you can slide your finger across the screen and switch the display of color options. By sliding or twisting your fingers on the screen you can manipulate the furniture piece. Sliding two fingers across the

screen moves the furniture piece in the room and twisting two fingers on the screen rotates the item. In this way you can “move” the furniture into place in your room to get a sense of size. IKEA has found that 14 percent of its customers end up taking home furniture, which turns out to be the wrong size for its intended location.

From a slightly different perspective, Intel says your next laptop or tablet may have 3D sensors that let it recognize gestures or augment a real scene with virtual characters. Intel has developed two types of depth sensors. One is designed for use in place of a front-facing webcam, to interpret human movement such as gestures. The other is designed for use on the back of a device, to scan objects as far as four meters away. Both sensors allow a device to capture the color and 3-D shape of a scene, making it possible for a computer to recognize gestures or find objects in a room.

Amazon on the other hand has received patents that focus on gestures to provide input in an augmented reality environment. Amazon has submitted patents that it believes will eventually eliminate the headset, displaying content

right in your room. Amazon hopes to render Microsoft’s yet unreleased technology obsolete.

With so many tech giants jumping on the VR and AR bandwagon it would make sense that Apple would have a presence. Although not formally announcing specifics, according to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, Apple is preparing to enter a whole new space, and the company is making acquisitions and poaching employees away from other firms to do it. “Based on recent acquisitions of augmented reality companies, hiring of a key Microsoft HoloLens employee, and conversations with industry contacts within the virtual and augmented reality spaces, we believe Apple has a team exploring the AR space,” explained Munster.

This article has been edited by permission from “Virtual Reality Magazine” by Bob Vojtek (release date February 2016).

By Bob Vojtek (rl), BJ Gearbox (sl)

Google Cardboard is the ultimate low-cost version of VR. It is literally a cardboard fold-up with cheap plastic lenses that encases a smartphone to view stereoscopic images and video. It looks like a hand-held mask similar to a snorkeling mask. A phone app splits the screen to view content in 3D.

The fold-up templates are available online so that anyone could theoretically create their own Google Cardboard by downloading the template and cutting out the cardboard pieces. This free availability has enabled organizations to print their own branded versions of Cardboard. The easiest way for the average person to get Cardboard is to order a kit from Amazon or one of several manufactures.

Probably the best way to visualize the Cardboard concept is that it is a 21st century version of the iconic View-Master. In an amusing twist, Mattel has given View-Master the first facelift in 30 years. Google and Mattel have partnered and updated the iconic View-Master for the VR generation. The original View -Master was a small hand-held device that allowed you to insert a disk with stereoscopic photographs to display an image in 3D. So it should not be a surprise that the new View-Master VR, a $29.95 device made of plastic, cradles a smartphone and works the same way as Cardboard.

Google Cardboard is catching on rather quickly and gaining traction with support from such heavy hitters as ABC News, New York Times, and Verizon. Even the Space Needle in Seattle sees Cardboard as a way to jettison its 1960s persona and encourage people to have a Space Needle VR experience.

Colleges and universities are creating virtual reality tours to enhance their recruiting efforts. Yale University used a dozen Oculus Rift headsets on campus to provide prospective students a virtual tour of the university. Next year (2016) they are planning to mail out Cardboard headsets with assembly instructions and a link to the location of the files to view. This allows anyone with a smartphone to view the virtual tour on a Yale branded viewer.

Google owned YouTube announced that it would support VR video. Additionally it will make every one of its existing video viewable through a VR headset. Google has been creating its own content to be used in Google Cardboard and is providing the specification and software through Jump. Jump is a platform that uses 16 specifically oriented GoPro Cameras to capture these immersive scenes and the software stitches the content together into a visual surround experience. As the technology matures, the cost of creating engaging immersive content may soon become affordable. Currently Jump is one of the most cost effective solutions on the market. Or you could go with a Nokia OZO Virtual Reality camera for $60,000.

ABC News is creating VR news stories that utilize Google Cardboard. Their first immersive story, is a 360 degree virtual reality experience that transports viewers to the streets of Damascus. The site is http://www.abcnews.com/vr and explains the process to download the application and view the inaugural story. ABC News VR intends to bring virtual reality storytelling to the news division and beyond. “Our inaugural project is a special one, an immersive experience captured while in Syria,” announced ABC News President James Goldston, “from the Damascus Citadel and Souk to the Umayyad Mosque and the National Museum, Alex [Marquardt] transports viewers into the story, providing a depth of reporting and a personal guide unlike anything we’ve done before.”

So as not to be outdone, The New York Times announced a virtual reality project in collaboration with Google, which included the distribution of more than a million cardboard VR viewers, one for every print subscriber. The New York Times has made a commitment to create 100 VR stories using New York Times branded viewers. Its inaugural venture is a VR story called “The Displaced,” about children uprooted by war. Dean Baquet, the executive editor of The New York Times, said the magazine had “created the first critical, serious piece of journalism using virtual reality, to shed light on one of the most dire humanitarian crises of our lifetime.” Jake Silverstein, the magazine’s editor, explained, “The power of VR is that it gives the viewer a unique sense of empathic connection to people and events.” It has huge potential, he said, to help bring subscribers news and stories from the most inaccessible places. [Editor note: As we go to press there are currently 8 stories on their website at http://www.nytimes.com/newsgraphics/2015/nytvr/.%5D ]

Google has a pilot program for education with something they call Expeditions. These are education-oriented videos recorded in immersive 3D. This pilot project is creating self-contained adventures, in the form of short videos of famous places around the globe. For example, Travel & Leisure announced how their readers can explore Buckingham Palace using Google cardboard.

Google has launched a worldwide tour allowing schools to experience the closest thing to a virtual field trip to occur in the classroom. Google brings Cardboard, smart phones, and a wireless network into the school so that no school resources are required not even an internet connection. The pilot demo is self-contained. They lead students through an immersive adventure to places students may never be able to go. For more information, visit https://www.google.com/edu/expeditions/ .

The teaser for Expeditions states, “Imagine visiting the bottom of the sea or the surface of Mars in an afternoon. With Expeditions, teachers can take their classes on immersive virtual journeys to bring their lessons to life… Expeditions is a virtual reality platform built for the classroom. We worked with teachers and

content partners from around the world to create more than 100 engaging journeys - making it easy to immerse students in entirely new experiences.”

The availability of Cardboard centric content and the affordability of the Cardboard device still leave one element to grapple with… access to the smartphones to drive them. Google suggests that when families in your community consider trading their old smartphone in to buy a new one, they instead donate the phone to the school. The phone does not need a cellular account or use cellular data; rather it just needs to take advantage of a wireless internet connection to view the content on Cardboard in 3D.

If schools can obtain the smartphones and use Cardboard in the classroom, we have the possibility of a fundamental leveling of the educational playing field where students that would never have the opportunity to travel could be immersed in virtual travel and have experiences that could closely replicate “being there.”

I remember my first teaching assignment in inner city Los Angeles… I took students in my scale model club to my beach apartment in Hermosa Beach on the Strand. Three of the dozen junior high students in this group had never been to the beach, had never seen the Pacific Ocean, just miles from their inner-city homes. Imagine the possibilities if they could walk through the streets of Paris with the help of an inexpensive device.

While attacking the low end with Google Cardboard, Google is among a small group that invested more than $500 million in a company called Magic Leap. The South Florida Business Journal is reporting Magic Leap is “close to inking a $1 billion financing round.” Magic Leap has made very little information publi c about

what it does, but making a $500 million investment, Google clearly believes Magic Leap is working on something worthy in the world of augmented reality.

So why isn’t it “game over?” Google appears to be gaining world dominance in both virtual reality and augmented reality. Google Cardboard is an affordable solution for some aspects of virtual reality and smartphone apps bringing usable augmented reality to the masses.

Well, the issue is motion-photon-latency, obviously. The difference between a $500 headset attached to a $2,000 computer and Google cardboard is twofold. First, what is referred to as latency, is the time needed for a user movement to fully be reflected in the screen. Google recommends that users not attach Google Cardboard to their head. The reason is that when the device is attached to the head and the user moves their head, it often happens quite quickly. If the cardboard has to be held by hand against the face, there is a tendency to twist from the waist, which happens more slowly than twisting at the neck, thereby lowering the effects of latency by making slower movements.

The second aspect of Cardboard that currently limits the immersive experience is that the experiences are somewhat predefined in that the user is stationary with the ability to “look” around, not to walk through a scene. This is in contrast to a fully immersive experience such as the Oculus Rift where there are additional inputs that may allow you to more fully interact within the experience.

An input device could propel you through the experience, such as using the arrow keys to move forward, backward, or sideways. In a simulation with Google Cardboard you would likely be in a fixed position with the ability to turn around to see what is behind you or look up to see the vertical extent of the environment. With more sophisticated immersive experiences, you would likely be able to explore on your own.

An Oculus Rift demonstration of an Italian villa allows you to explore the building and grounds by using arrow keys to glide through the entire space as you see fit. You can even ascend a staircase by moving forward at the base of the stair. For examples of other Oculus Rift demos see VR Circle’s list of top rated Oculus Rift VR Demos.

Still, looking at Cardboard with a cost-benefit lens, there are strengths to being able to see around a setting without moving through the space. Clearly the New York Times and ABC News VR believe that the new opportunities of telling VR stories are worth the investment.

The reality is that traditional movies or television shows inhibit our ability to move. We count on the production to “show” us what we need to see rather than determining on our own what is important.

The new freedoms of VR storytelling have the potential to be game changers!

This article has been edited by permission from “Virtual Reality Magazine” by Bob Vojtek (release date February 2016).

There’s lots going on at AvaCon Grid!

A walking tour of ISTE VEN’s

New Virtual Presence in the Metaverse!

By Scottmerrick Oh (irl Scott Merrick)

Several months ago, after discovering the Open Simulator project that is the brainstorm of longtime pioneers Chris Collins and Joyce Bettencourt, along with their capable team members at AvaCon, LLC, I approached them to ask whether or not they would be interested in hosting some space on the grid for ISTE Virtual Environments Network.

They couldn’t have been more gracious. Before I knew it, I was able to teleport to a region--not a parcel, but a full region-sized property set aside for ISTE VEN. Back in 2011, when ISTE decided to pull out of Second Life, they continued to support our community by providing rent for a parcel on Eduisland 9, Serena Offcourse, (Mary O’Brian, rl), designed and built a really nice headquarters for us there.

Faced with this new and relatively vast expanse of flat green earth under bright blue sky, we called Serena into service once again. She set about terraforming a rolling land surface and installing some gorgeous landscaping, while I planted a temporary freebie building in one corner to serve as a meeting space and Mary Howard (irl Mary Howard) jumped in to help as well. We had some fun with that, but everyone was aware that it wouldn’t be enough as we grow.

Enter Helena Kiama, (Barbara Seaton, rl). Helena offered to create a new headquarters, and of course we said “go for it.” Little did we know how wonderful the final product would be!

Let’s take a little walking trip and get the lay of the virtual land, shall we? For this series of pics I logged into AvaCon Grid (instructions for getting a free educators’ account are up at: https://www.avacon.org/blog/avacon-grid/ and you will be glad you did).

I’ve landed in AvaCon Grid at the welcome/tutorial area. This is AvaCon’s Community sim landing zone, and to get to our beautiful new HQ within it, I can do one of a number of things:

• Click “World/Teleport to my home” since I’ve set my home to HQ

• Use the OpenSim slurl in the map, or

• Open up the map and double click where I want to go. I think I’ll do the first one:

There. I’m home. Landed. Let’s zoom in and pan around to see me, Scott Merrick (clever alias, eh?).

I look a little dubious, don’t I? My general modus operandi

is to work on my avatars to make them look as much like I do in my “meat space,” my real life, as the viewer will allow. I generally look much more buff and younger, but the general design direction is pretty constant. I don’t have my Second Life ponytail in AvaCon Grid, but I’m content for now.

Let’s zoom out to see more of the building:

Walking into the right-side (house left) wing, the visitor comes upon blank screens.

Clicking on each one brings up the html-on-a-prim. They load pretty fast, in 5-7 seconds each for me, and each screen then becomes a fully usable web browser.

From left to right the current configuration displays:

1. The Virtual Environments Network Padlet with all the volunteer mentors listed. You can join this list at http://padlet.com/spiffwhitfield8/venmentor

2. The Virtual Education Journal, presented regularly since 2011! http://virtualeducationjournal.com

3. The Massive Multiplayer Online Calendar, with events from all over the metaverse http://bit.ly/moocalendar

4. The ISTE VEN Weebly, a wealth of info in a neat and tidy package: http://venetwork.weebly.com/ , and

5. ISTE, the organization that brought us together in Virtual Worlds and kept us together lo this long: http://iste.org

Popping over to sit at the conference table, only the first of the many meeting places at ISTE VEN AvaCon.

As of this writing, the building has only been in place around two weeks, lowered down from the sky where Helena worked on it.

I’m sure that we will continue to add to its contents now that it is in place, but I surely do love the openness and the flow of it just as it is.

The other meeting spaces are settings for conversations between two avatars or many. Let’s take a walk to see those!

We approach a guiding sign. Every 4th Tuesday of each month we present Machinma night.

We’ll go there, with maybe a couple side jags on the way.

Here’s our first little side-trip. We’ll follow the paving stones to a cozy little spot for 2 to four (more if they sit on the ground) avatars.

I love me a little fireplace. I have my sun settings to mid-day, but a few clicks can make this a very cozy little nighttime meeting place.

Back on the path and down it, there’s another sign.

But, let’s go straight instead and see what this inviting looking space past the bridge could be.

Ah, it’s a party space. It may need a dance floor and some groovy colored lights: Note to self.

Next time I want popcorn, a hot dawg, or ice cream, I know where to come, though.

We’re back along to trail, past that “machinima” sign, and what will we see? Ah, the movie area!

I’ll have a seat. VERY comfy.

Panning around to the screen: and in…looks like a Guild meet-up in World of Warcraft. Holiday in theme!

This will definitely benefit, on movie nights, from setting the environment sun settings to midnight. But for now, let’s make a quick run around to see other meeting areas.

Up those stone stairs…

The Adirondack chairs, familiar seating from ISTE VEN in Second Life. Do we need our open campfire here?

Here’s a treehouse space for a one-on-one chat.

And a lovely pagoda with turquoise Adirondacks and carpet.

Feeling nautical?

It’s only stationary, docked at the edge of a lovely pond, so the trip won’t be long, but it’s a fun place to chat. I’m thinking midnight for this one, too, ya think?

A beautiful and peaceful waterfall with cozy seating. Conducive to reflective discussion and quiet dialogue.

Come and visit. Once you explore ISTE VEN in Avacon Grid, don’t be a stranger. We hold Open Office Hours the second and third Tuesdays in Second Life or in AvaCon Grid, as the whimsy, or as the topic, takes us.

Then, as mentioned, the 4th Tuesday of each month our own Gridjumper hosts Machinima Night. All of these events occur at 5pm SLT/Pacific Time (8 pm, ET) . Come hang out with us and talk about ways we can leverage the power of virtual worlds for education and community!

Thanks so much to leadership team members. Helena, Selena, and Mrs. Howard, for their contributions to this enchanting and at the same time utilitarian build. Of course, it could not have even been begun, much less realized, without the immense generosity of AvaCon, LLC.

And finally, and always, thanks to Roxie and BJ (Rosie and Bob) for the long and continuing story of our work, alive and documented, in Virtual Education Journal!

Additional Links:

Join ISTE and the Virtual Environments Network: http://www.iste.org/lead/become-a-member

If you already have an OpenSimulator account that is Hypergrid enabled, you can Hypergrid jump to AvaCon Grid using http://grid.avacon.org:8002 .

Visit ISTE VEN in Second Life: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/EduIsland%209/46/90/22 Life(s) is wonderful!

Virtual Reality

By Robert Vojtek (rl)

After many false starts, Virtual Reality (VR) now has promise with the backing of some significant players, including Facebook, Sony, Samsung, and HTC. In essence, VR immerses the user in a 3D world with stereoscopic “glasses.”

Google is attacking the VR possibilities on multiple fronts. On the low end is Google Cardboard, a cardboard fold-up that uses a smart phone to display stereo images. On the high end, Google has invested $542 million in Magic Leap. Magic Leap intends to take virtual reality to a level beyond the current projections of Oculus Rift. The Oculus Rift, is a headset that looks much like a diving mask with a split screen computer monitor inside.

Immersive Virtual Reality has been around for decades. The reason for a spike in enthusiasm has much to do with faster, cheaper processing which creates significant gains in quality at a lower cost. The basic elements of these products include a twin set of monitors, one for each eye, inserted into a goggle or helmet; an input device such as a gaming controller, keyboard or other hand-held input device; and a sensor system to determine the location and orientation of the headset (which way are you looking). One other element that all of these systems have in common is that the immersion is created by shutting out the outside world. The helmet or goggles completely eliminate the ability to see anything other than what is being displayed on the monitors in front of each eye.

BJ Gearbox (sl)

There are several companies that are vying to be THE solution. The most notable, discounting Google Cardboard, is probably the Oculus Rift. The Kickstarter campaign for Oculus VR set a goal of raising $250,000 and surpassed that by raising more than $400,000 on the first day. This feat catapulted Oculus forward and within two years Facebook bought the company for $2,000,000,000. The social network is paying $400,000 in cash plus 23,100,000 Facebook shares for the company, with a further $300,000,000 in incentives if it hits certain milestones in the future. This started a veritable arms race to become the first consumer virtual reality headset.

Although Oculus may be the most recognized headset, it is not the only player by far. Other major players include Sony PlayStation VR, HTC Vive Pre, Samsung Gear VR, FOVE VR, Zeiss VR One, Avegant Glyph, Razer OSVR, and the Freefly VR headset. A field this crowded ensures a faster development time of refinements.

Like VR of the 1980s, early versions of the Oculus Rift Developer’s Kit created a user experience referred to as the screen door effect. The resolution and refresh rate were focused on developing content and the lens/monitors would be analyzed separately. Apple refers to their displays as retina. The idea being that the pixels are so close together that the brain no longer sees individual pixels.

When Steve Jobs launched the iPhone 4, and with it the first Retina display, he described it as having a screen with so many pixels packed closely together that they were imperceptible to the human eye at a distance of twelve inches. He

went to great lengths to explain that, because the iPhone 4’s screen packed in 300 pixels per inch, most people wouldn’t see them at all when the phone was a foot from their eyes.

The Oculus Rift has two displays and when you take even a high -resolution display, dividing it in half often means it has pixels that are detectible by the human eye. Oculus is striving to have the best possible display within their given price point for the retail product.

Some companies are now thinking that having the display in front of the eyes in a headset will be a short-lived solution. Magic Leap purports, based upon patent information, to beam content directly into your eyes so that that brain cannot differentiate the digital from the real.

Virtual reality developers are primarily looking at three uses in the short term including gaming, simulations, and movies. Movies have transitioned significantly since the early days without sound. Initially movie cameras were stationary, but soon at the director’s discretion they panned from side to side. Once the movement of the cameras started, the ability of the movie to tell a story changed significantly.

Today we benefit from 3D movies where the viewer can see a depth of the image that was not possible with traditional 2D movies. Additionally, we now have surround sound where the viewer can hear the direction of a sound making the experience much more engaging. The 1996 movie Dragonheart, featured Sean Connery as the voice of Draco a dragon, is still used as an example to demonstrate surround sound. As Fernby Films website explains, “Draco’s wing beats and deep voice throb from every channel as he flies about the sky; it was the moment during which I realized just how surround sound could – and should – be used.” This newly added auditory layer can give an incredible sense of space and is sometimes referred to as 3D audio hacking your brain.

With surround sound capabilities added to an immersive visual experience it is no wonder that Oculus has created a new creative team called Oculus Story Studio. The team is tasked with utilizing VR to create a film experience unlike any other: one that completely immerses the viewer in the interactive films with its revolutionary technology.

The utilization of VR in movies will create a complex way to tell stories and view content. A virtual environment that is digital will be very different from characters in a scene. When we watch a movie or television show, the director dictates what we see and when. You hear a sound and the scene zooms in on what makes the sound. With VR the viewer may decide to meander around the scene choosing what is important and what to concentrate on.

When hyperlinks were first introduced many felt that people would no longer be able to have a linear experience with text. Having links embedded in the text of the story that were previously notes at the end of the story would leave the reader disoriented. Allowing the viewer to move through an environment probably makes more sense for a football game rather than an adventure movie, but one has to admit the possibilities are intriguing.

Gaming was the first focus of virtual reality and overlapped by simulations. The military has been utilizing 3D virtual simulations for years. Army researchers at the U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center are using 3-D software solutions to supplement more traditional training and simulate real-life scenarios without the danger in the field. Over the last two years as the developer’s kit has been made available there have been a multitude of games created for the Oculus Rift their website, https://share.oc ulus.com/ lists pages and pages of games that are already available.

This article has been edited by permission from “Virtual Reality Magazine” by Bob Vojtek (release date February 2016).

The Virtual Pioneers A Report from the Field

By Andrew Wheelock (rl); Spiff Whitfield (sl)

Virtual Pioneers Gala

Introduction

The Virtual Pioneers have continued their educational adventures and hijinks in 2015. Started in 2006, the Virtual Pioneers have had bi-weekly tours and events that explore history and culture. This year we continued our explorations. In the past I have reviewed the sims we have visited. I have created a quick reference link for those who would like to explore these. I would like to take this time instead to provide some evaluation of how I see the future of history and culture explorations using virtual environments.

History Education and Virtual Environments

I’ve always felt that students don’t appreciate history and it's important implications until they can visualize it. Historical biographies (ex. The Diary of a Young Girl: Anne Frank) and historical fiction (ex. My Brother Sam is Dead) have been our traditional pathways to this understanding. Next came film and video. John Huston’s The Red Badge of Courage was the first movie that stirred the deep longing for history in my young mind.

And here we are… at the next frontier: Video Games and Virtual Environments. As I have found through my work with Virtual Environments our students are thirsting for this next frontier in learning. They have been learning about history tangentially through gaming for the past decade or more. Most notably, Civilization, Medal of Honor, and Assassins Creed are just a few of the high-powered video games that have powerful historical narratives embedded in them.

Houston, We have a Problem

The only problem that we have now in Social Studies education using virtual environments and gaming, is that these technologies are not being embraced by a large majority of educators. It’s a BIG problem, but an understandable one. It’s understandable for 2 reasons:

1. Educators have been bombarded with heavy-handed reform measures that have kept them trying to keep up with the demands of curriculum, assessment, and evaluation procedures rather than innovative ways to work with students.

2. Technologies like virtual environments and gaming are beyond teacher’s technology comfort zones. These two issues have kept virtual environments and gaming out of the schools by and large.

However, “the powerful play goes on” and teachers are starting to realize the potential that awaits . . . over the rainbow. One of the major factors in this is the explosion of Minecraft. Parents are finally getting the message from their children that there is real, substantial learning that is going on in a virtual environment.

And while I am a fan of Minecraft, I see the clunky builds that students create and think... OpenSim, Unity, and Second Life building tools can push the boundaries of student learning much further. See my article with Mary Howard

So let’s bring this back to the Virtual Pioneers. Last year’s tours have shown that Second Life and graphically intense programs can offer amazing ways to 1920 Berlin Project Tour

teach students history and culture. With the possibility of Oculus Rift on the scene we may have hit a motherload of possibility.

Our tour of Luxumbourg 1867 and the ever popular 1920 Berlin Project are leading the way in highly detailed, historically accurate, and visually stunning builds that can create an amazing learning adventure. Please join us as we begin our next season of highly educational and entertaining tours and events.

Education and possibility await!

Luxembourg Tour (above)

Buckingham Palace Tour (above and to the right)

Introducing Renaissance Gallery

By Roxie Neiro

On Saturday, January 16, 2016, I attended a Renaissance Gallery event at the Chilbo art museum. The Renaissance Gallery is owned by Rachel Corleone. She is standing on the stage in the previous picture with pianist, Arisia Vita.

It was a lovely afternoon performance. Attendees were able to enjoy the music as we strolled through the gallery looking at the amazing collection of paintings from the Renaissance period.

Rachel told me that she “opened [the museum] to show paintings that I really like, and that were from the Renaissance period. They illustrate both pagan and sacred themes.”

Maggie Lamore, an attendee, said “I'm so excited she's doing this I hope she does more; the gallery is reintroducing itself to the neighborhood.”

Rachel said that the “paintings are on permanent exhibit.” However, in another part of the museum, The Chilbo Road Press, there is currently an exhibit with photographs by Bill Brand (1904-1983). Rachel said that the photo exhibits will change from time to time.

Be sure to check out the Renaissance Gallery at Chilbo. Rachel does personal gallery tours to explain the different piec es of art in her collection. If you are interested, IM Rachel (and tell her, VEJ sent you!)

Thank you Rachel and Ari for a beautiful Saturday afternoon!

On Walkabout

by Cyrus Hush (aka Matt Poole)

Volume 6 An Archeological Discovery!

We are far from finished with our treks across all of the original Linden continents, but the exciting thing about exploring is stumbling across something quite unexpected that requires a detour. Such is the case with our next destination stumbled upon quite by accident although some of you will undoubtedly recognize it!

Lying to the south and east of the proper continents of Nautilus and Satori is a strip of contiguous sims. Too small for a proper continent and not on any of the old continent maps anyway, this strip of land lacks the uniform style and theme to be one of the many McRental communities that dot the seas... so what is it?

To answer this knotty question, let's take a look at an old Linden Map... a map of the grid, but not a map of the Second Life grid!

That's right... this is a map of the Teen Grid! We have found the lost Teen Grid, or what's left of it!

Once upon a time there was a separately-maintained Second Life grid for people aged 13-17 that had precise safety controls in place and was used quite extensively by educators The Teen Grid! TG was opened on February 14, 2005, and was unfortunately shut down as a separate entity on December 31, 2010 because of what Linden Labs described as confusion with development and improvement for two different systems. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teen_Second_Life)

However, the "physical" Teen Grid mainland was ultimately imported into Second Life, and now exists as a virtual historical monument off the eastern coast of Satori.

Let's check it out!

We make landfall at the far northern tip. Hyperion is a commercial/residential area much like any mainland sim, but with a more cohesive structure reminiscent of a planned community. As a matter of fact it reminds you a lot of the northwestern Sansara colony of Bay City which, as it turns out, was also once part of the Teen Grid, and was in fact directly attached to Hyperion! There are plenty of avatars about, but they do not appear to be either teenagers or educators. We move on...

As we work our way south, from time to time we pass by what appear to be disused welcome centers. Several sims appear to be named for English towns. Brighton and Camden sport some impressive architecture and a quaint little cafe.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Camden/199/83/25

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Brighton/177/123/26

Opera Sim boasts an impressive bridge, among other things. This sim was primarily occupied by The United Federation of Sims when it was part of the Teen Grid.

(file://localhost/from http/::secondlife.wikia.com:wiki:List_of_Teen_Grid_Regions).

UFS was/is an experiment with virtual government in Second Life.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Opera/94/181/40

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Dougall/81/159/55

Next stop is Dougal Sim, described as "The public stage of Teen Second Life, where any member can hold a free event without reservation or having to own the land.

(file://localhost/from http/::secondlife.wikia.com:wiki:List_of_Teen_Grid_Regions).

At the southeastern end the land changes to white in a group of sims that evoke the Winterlands of Sansara. Here we come across a ski resort!

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sierra/199/181/87

Of course we have not even scratched the surface of exploring even the ghost of the Teen Grid, but those of you who remember or who used the teen grid in its heyday might find this an interesting field trip. You might even find some useful resources still existing!

As always, thank you for your company and I'll see you on our next expedition!

Your friend,

Cyrus

Submission Information at:

http://vwbpe.org/presenters/guidelines/machinima

Please note this is NOT a contest. The purpose of this event is to share, enjoy, and learn from each other. We are proud to be able to recognize the effort and talents of educators and students, and we appreciate the opportunity to view cutting-edge projects and films. Thank you for submitting your machinima to VWBPE 2016.

Where in the Metaverse is

AvaCon Grid?

Be sure to check the new ISTE VEN Headquarters on the AvaCon Grid! This beautiful building was built by Helena Kiama (sl), Barbara Seaton (rl).

For more information about the Avacon Grid, visit https://www.avacon.org/blog/ and register for your free account at https://www.avacon.org/blog/

The Virtual World’s Best Practices In Education Conference (VWBPE16) will hold events on the AvaCon Grid during the conference March 9-12, 2016.

Looking forward to seeing you at ISTE Headquarters and VWBPE16. For more information about the conference visit www.vwbpe.org