Objectives:
1. To collect, describe and comment on a number of tools that are suitable for teaching and learning in Second Life based upon a chosen theme
2. To design an experience-based, interactive and playful activity for a teacher to discover to discover these tools in Second Life, such as creating a tour guide
My reflections:
To do this task, we were first provided with a list of areas we might work with. These areas were:
- Delivery of learning material
- Communication and interaction
- Cooperation
- Creation of content
- Individualisation of learning paths
- Assessment, feedback and tracking
- Self-organisation and group-organisation
- Reflection and meta cognition
We also had to show our availability to work in groups. So, I did. I chose Creation of Content and decided to work with Cvetka, Narci, PeterGeorge, SusNy, and Alpha. Like Cvetka, I had an idea of 'content' in mind. Language teachers usually have to manage this term when planning and designing classes, courses or programs; however, I was not sure about its actual meaning in SL.
It was not easy at the beginning. Cvetka and I had many doubts about how and where to start. We met inworld and explored different places and tools. We did a great job together. We found many interesting tools, but not all of them were appropriate for our Creation of Content task, so we focused on building tools primarily.Then, other members joined the group. It was very exciting. It would be the first time we would do a group task inworld. It sounded as a real challenge, and it actually was. We were all from different countries and have different time zones. It was hard to plan inworld meeting, then, we organized our work and keep a fluent and good communication, we exchanged our email addresses and created a Google document, so we could store all the information tere. Then, we organized the information and all team members added the different tools and information that might be useful for our project.
Inworld we designed a circle path with 6 stations. We were not clear about the number of stations at the beginning. We had planned to work on 4 main areas: building, textures, scripting and animations. After several discussions by email, the Google Doc and inworld, we decided to create the following:Station No. 1 Welcome station: Here we provide a welcome message to our visitors and give a notecard with an overview about our travel guide and the landmark.
Station No. 2 Building: This station is aimed to guide the visitor to a building experience. The main building tool is Object Editor, but there are other ones available found by Cvetka and me.Station: 3: Textures and Media. This is SusNy's place. It has a laptop and a screen to show how to use media and textures to create and deliver content. It also contains an object that allows to navigate and visit SusNy's blog.
Station 4: Scripting. This is a very interesting station designed by Alpha and Narci. It provides many tools to create content by using scripts and animations. It is quite interactive.Station 5: Media and animations. This station was designed by PeterGeorge. It is a fantastic music house which offers several opportunities for the visitor to try by him/herself many different ways to teach music through the use of content media and animations.
Station 6: More tools and resources. This is the last station, here we provide many interesting Web links to further readings, resources, RL and SL tools that may be helpful to create content.We finally included a circled rug as a playground area in the center of the circuit , so visitors could have the opportunity to practice with the different tools provided during the tour.
