Teaching and Learning in a 3D Virtual Universe

Teaching and Learning in a 3D Virtual Universe Leigh Harris/Laguna Vita

Distinguished LecturerUCLA Writing Programs

Annelie Rugg/Sunny LafferDirectorUCLA Center for Digital

Humanities

Sloan-C International Symposium on Emerging Technology Applications

for Online Learning

San Francisco, CA • June 18, 2009

Teaching and Learning in a 3D Virtual Universe

Institutional context (Annelie)

Instructional component (Leigh)

Overview

Teaching and Learning in a 3D Virtual Universe

What is the Center for Digital Humanities (CDH)?

How did this project come about?

How does this fit CDH goals? Testimonials: Why does the

Summer Institute work?

Institutional context

Teaching and Learning in a 3D Virtual UniverseInstitutional context

IT support unit for Humanities Division at UCLA Technology support for 17

departments and programs, 300 faculty, 600 grads, 250 staff

Computer infrastructure, desktop support, research and instructional support

What is the Center for Digital Humanities (CDH)?


CDH Summer Institute 2008 Professor Harris applied for help learning

Second Life to pilot with upcoming courses CDH Instructional Technology Consultant

(ITC) team designed curriculum and made connections with existing campus expertise

One week in August of intensive hands-on learning to use Second Life and discover instructional uses for Second Life

Follow up consultations as needed within regular ITC support framework

How did this project come about?


Supporting innovation in instruction Instructor-driven; technology supports

pedagogical goals Collaboration across campus (Library, other

IT units) Using existing resources and availability; no

extra cost Targeted, “just-in-time” help for instructors Supporting those who have limited

opportunities to explore, learn, develop new materials

How does this fit CDH goals?


Janet Goodwin, UCLA Applied Linguistics & TESLUndergraduate Interview Website/iWeb, iMovie, FTPhttp://media.humnet.ucla.edu/projects/summer institute/janet.mov

Alma Andersson, UCLA Asian Languages & CulturesOral assessments for Filipino language distance-learning/Wimba OAB, Photoshophttp://media.humnet.ucla.edu/projects/summer institute/alma.mov

Testimonials: Why does the Summer Institute work?

Teaching and Learning in a 3D Virtual Universe Leigh Harris/Laguna Vita

Distinguished LecturerUCLA Writing Programs

“Digital Literacy and Learning in a 3D Virtual Universe” English Composition 100W Satisfies Writing II

requirement Small, upper-division

writing course Humanities, Social Science

and Life Science majors Beta version

Initial Student Responses “I am an avid user of second life.” “I find Second Life a very useful

source for just about anything in life.”

“My first impression was puzzlement and curiosity.”

“I have no experience with Second Life. To me, it sounds very futuristic and somewhat menacing.”

“I have been banned before from second life.”

Mechanics of Class

Computer classroom Voice with headsets or text

chat Multi-disciplinary readings Visitors & excursions UCLA Library in Cybrary

City

Alexandria Knight UCLA Info Literacy Librarian

Goals for Students Writing

Digital/Informational literacy

“Visuality” (Kevin Kelly) Immersive learning

experience

Goals for Instructor Pedagogical Professional

Digital Humanities

Bridging Deep &

Hyper Attention “As students move deeper into the

mode of hyper attention, educators face a choice: change the students to fit the educational environment or change that environment to fit the students.”

--N. Katherine Hayles

Aesthetics of SL Analysis of SL

Theories of Second Life Immersion vs.

Augmentation

SL importing from RL

SL exporting to RL

Writing Assignments Exploration of avatar’s

identity

Investigation of information literacy

Research project/UCLA Library proposal

Class Avatars

Experiential Learning Community groups

Texts or Arguments Artists and social art

Filthy Fluno AM Radio’s “The Far Away”

Filthy Fluno: “ucla rocks the house!” With permission from the artist 6/23/09.

“The Far Away” by AM Radio

Thematizing Compositional

Elements Transitions

Intertextuality

Poetry in “The Far Away” The Radio: Laguna, welcome to The Far Away. Please see the vendor above the powerlines to donate to http://www.heifer.org [10:03] The Radio: Laguna, bienvenue à The Far Away. Veuillez consulter le présentoir au-dessus des lignes électriques, Un

don à: http://www.heifer.org serait très apprécier. Merci beaucoup! [10:03] Connecting to in-world Voice Chat... [10:03] Connected [10:03] The Radio: Laguna, The Far Away にようこそ。電線の上にあるベンダーを見て http://www.heifer.org に寄付をお願い

します [9:51] ::: imprinted with a chemical mix [9:51] ::: in a grand collection [9:51] ::: of landscapes upon a life [9:52] ::: I never stopped sketching you. [9:52] ::: The smooth flesh on your cheek, [9:52] ::: the gentle wave in your hair [9:52] ::: dictating calculations of graphite onto paper. [9:52] ::: The blurry trees behind you [9:52] ::: drawn like baby's breath [9:52] ::: in a wreath around your portrait [9:52] ::: growing like vines [9:52] ::: in stop motion animation [9:52] ::: until you're gone. [9:52] ::: The memory is left behind, [9:52] ::: imprinted with a chemical mix [9:52] ::: in a grand collection [9:52] ::: of landscapes upon a life [9:52] ::: of sketches as memories [9:52] ::: looking to incorporate the next. [9:52] ::: -- AM Radio

Globe Theatre Discussion Slide omitted for student privacy

Writing Projects

Areas of expertise or knowledge

On-site presentations

UCLA Library in Cybrary City

Tarfang

Noumea Island

Rasta Ventures

Liverpool Philharmonic

Pleasure for All

Porcupine Region

Tzopelic Chatli

Ballers City

IslamOnline dot Net

Mellon Seminar in Digital Humanities @ UCLA and SL Mixed-reality symposium

Students attended in RL & in SL

Learning Outcomes“there is some sort of cultural

revolution occurring…. Definitions and

criteria are changing or shifting, like the world

of arts.” -- Chen-Yao Learning spaces RL & SL

Boundary blurring/Spatiality

Electronic frontier

Learning Outcomes, cont.

“in the near future most education will [exist] primarily on computers because the capabilities far surpass the traditional forms of education.” --Andrew

Experiential & interpretive Critical thinking expertise Technological proficiency

Proposed Class Projects UCLA Royce Hall

3D Photosynth of campus spaces

Immersive foreign languages program

Proposed Class Projects, cont. ImmersSpace

Sensual multimedia tour

ShowSpace

Recommendations

Time

Visual & linguistic rhetoric of SL

SL community involvement

Project-based

Teaching and Learning in

Second Life

“Major themes of digital humanities include: …collaboration, … cumulative research, language and code, alliances between expert scholars and amateurs.” --Melissa

Teaching and Learning in a 3D Virtual Universe

Education

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