The use of technology appears in many ways, for example multimedia tours in museums, interactive kiosks, simulation and virtual reality tours, virtual museums and Access to collections and databases online.
Education
The combination of education and technology has been considered the main key to human progress. Education feeds technology, which in turn forms the basis for education. It is therefore not surprising that to be “developed” is to have had education based on western knowledge, science and technology. This is today considered progress.
Education via Virtual environments (E-learning) has become a major trend among Universities and several Educational environments; as it presents better interaction between students and teachers in a productive way virtually online engaging in hands-on constructivist learning. It could be thought of as a Content Management system of the huge contents that are stored and interacted with on a regular basis.
Virtual Environments are a new tool that can be adopted to enhance real-time online communication and collaboration and to construct engaging online activities (Sulcic, 2009). The adoption of e-learning within the UK HE sector was influenced by several drivers and resulted in the increasing adoption of VLEs within the institutions. A range of issues at the institutional and individual academic level are defined in order to be considered and addressed when designing and implementing a VLE with in an HE institution (O’ Donoghue, 2009).
Virtual Learning Environments (VLE) s are integrated environments that focus on on-line learning and teaching interactions by supplying tools and functionality to facilitate their management and aggregate different resources and information added by instructors displaying them in a structured manner to assist learners as well as smooth the progress of communication between learners and instructors (Tantall, 2007).
The tools and functionalities vary from VLE to VLE; some VLEs have been produced by commercial companies such as “Blackboard”, others are open-source as Moodle (Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment)Ajlan, Zedan, 2008). Second Life is one of the well known VLEs as well it is a free 3D virtual world developed in 2003 by Philip Rosedale, it is a Computer - based environment where real people, represented by an avatar can socialize, connect, work, play, create and more importantly learn and educate (Nair, 2010).
Multimedia in museums and public environments
The international council of museums define Museums as a “non-profit making, permanent institution in the service of society and of its development, and open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits, for purposes of study, education and enjoyment, material evidence of people and their environment” They are considered as public educational institutes and users could be connected through multimedia. The Competitive and political environment is energising a drive toward new forms of marketing and educational activity. (Kendal, 2010) Second Life is one of the great examples museums can benefit from since it is a 3D immersive virtual environment.
References
Kendal, M. (2010, May). Multimedia Museums and public Environments.
Maureen Kendal, M. G. (2010). Business process and practice - Creative Industries.
Nair, V. (2010, May). Using VLE technology in education and outside educational environment. Retrieved 2010, from http://www.theitjobboard.co.uk
Derar, L. (2011, Jan). Creative Indusries
Sulčič, Alja (2009). Virtual worlds in Education and Moodle.
O’ Donoghue, John (2009). Technology Supported Learning and Teaching. Information Science Publishing, University of Wolverhampton, UK.
Tantall, A. (2007). Encyclopaedia of Portal Technologies and Applications. Information Science Reference.
Effective use of VLEs - http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk
Ajlan Al-Ajlan, Hussein Zedan (2008). Why Moodle. IEEE International Workshop on Future Trends of Distributed Computing Systems.
Friday 14 January 2011
REPORT - Continued...
Features
VLE can be very useful for student to submit assignments electronically as well as using the News forums/ blogs to exchange information on various topics with their peers and teachers hence building their knowledge base. The most common functionalities used by most Educational sectors include creating online courses, exchanging information using news forums and blogs, submitting assignments online, creating resources, databases, viewing online users, searching courses, catalogues, using grade books for teachers to grade/ mark the works of students and publish these grades, online library facilities, e-resources, chat rooms, student and teacher profiles, linking educational websites to the VLE among others. So in these different ways the students can learn better and teachers can deliver courses without physically being in the class room. Most VLE providers let their users work from Home as the only requirements include a computer connected to the internet.
Safety Centre Laboratory Safety Precautions Sign – I thought I could guide the students through it, to make it mandatory to stop at every sign posted; then ask them at the end of their tour or experience about the meaning or order for instance to see how much did they learn
Screen – The screen is where students can view their group numbers in order to know which channel to switch to when they get into the lab
Lockers
Lockers are available everywhere in LMU’s Science Lab – as every year each student has their own locker apart from the general used ones where student place 1 pound to rent one then get the pound back once they are done with using it.
When I thought about this, if I applied the same concept in SL it won’t really work as the main point is to engage the user through the steps besides there won’t be enough space to implement this even though expanding
Thus, as a result, I used – script inventory drop box
Which basically allow people to drop inventory items in to an object that alerts you when that happen; In this case this would be used for placing safety glasses, gloves and lab coats into the lockers and to know when a locker is occupied so there won’t be a conflict in knowing which ones are vacant.
As an alert, e-mail basic script would be used to send e-mails form second life this could be used as a way of announcement as well as questionnaires to students.
Teaching LAB
This is where students enter to wash their hands, wear coats, glasses and gloves then get ready to enter their labs to start their lab session.
Problems
Building Issues
There is not an undo button or a way to retrieve deleted objects
Expansion – when I tried to move everything already built upwards as not all the land are on same level (not steady) a problem occurred as it is quite tricky to get the hang of it when linking objects and moving them altogether
Linden Dollars - Had a problem with setting up payment method in order to buy linden dollars to be able to upload some pictures
Sometimes the laptop, software just freezes...which could be very risky as you never know when the work done has been saved even if u do save it every update.
Editing Hollow to form a door properly was a big issue as well
Adjusting colours
Finding Support – the SL scripting groups aren’t as helpful as I thought they would be sometimes I got late responses (if any) and with the wrong or not functioning scripts. Even someone offered to help for linden dollars [though he didn’t mention the word linden!!!] but still some of them do help. Scripting blogs are very useful I think though didn’t test each script to know whether it is working as it should be
Texturing – costs 10 L$ Linden dollars per upload, took a while to get the hang of it as some times the texture is just flipped or stretches so I kept trying to move it around and try different angles in order to adjust it as possible, wasn’t the best in my opinion
Future Plans & Recommendations
Aim: To learn basic things such as How to properly wash their hands, getting their lab coats, gloves and glasses.
where to know the group numbers, which is done through the screen
To go to the lockers in order to place their personal items as students are only allowed to carry a marker and paper apart from their Lab coats.
The skills would be knowing the meaning of specific signs, starting safely, and future plans would be knowing about toxic materials and what to do in case of emergencies (toxic fluids), how to get rid of materials safely...
Create a button below the screen that maximises the view [full screen] for users to see properly, and create a direct link to a webpage, elluminate to update group regularly. Yet, I would make it non-editable by students
To have a tour guide that either explains as default or answers when asked or just have note card to explain every step and where to start
Building the actual entrance form the ground floor guiding students to the third [where labs are located]
Producing - A step by step guide to using material available in the lab
For new comers where to get new lab coats
How to keep updated with groups or notifications
How to act on certain situations
Switching to the student’s channel
Validation – to validate actions for instance
To check in case the lab coat is on
Hands are washed properly
Glasses are on and maybe later to check whether the students have markers, papers and headphones which are picked later when they access the labs
Verification of ID, this could be done by getting the student avatars and add them to a list in order to be recognised
References
[1] Using VLE technology in education and outside educational environments, May 12th, 2010 by Vijay Nair
http://blog.theitjobboard.co.uk/2010/05/using-vle-technology-in-education-and-outside-educational-environments/
[2] http://secondlife.com/
• LSL Portal- wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/LSL_Portal
• SL Scripting Tools - http://www.freeslscripts.gendersquare.org/index.php?option=com_weblinks&view=category&id=65&Itemid=28
• Open Source Scripting group - http://www.sparticarroll.com/MainPage.ashx
VLE can be very useful for student to submit assignments electronically as well as using the News forums/ blogs to exchange information on various topics with their peers and teachers hence building their knowledge base. The most common functionalities used by most Educational sectors include creating online courses, exchanging information using news forums and blogs, submitting assignments online, creating resources, databases, viewing online users, searching courses, catalogues, using grade books for teachers to grade/ mark the works of students and publish these grades, online library facilities, e-resources, chat rooms, student and teacher profiles, linking educational websites to the VLE among others. So in these different ways the students can learn better and teachers can deliver courses without physically being in the class room. Most VLE providers let their users work from Home as the only requirements include a computer connected to the internet.
Safety Centre Laboratory Safety Precautions Sign – I thought I could guide the students through it, to make it mandatory to stop at every sign posted; then ask them at the end of their tour or experience about the meaning or order for instance to see how much did they learn
Screen – The screen is where students can view their group numbers in order to know which channel to switch to when they get into the lab
Lockers
Lockers are available everywhere in LMU’s Science Lab – as every year each student has their own locker apart from the general used ones where student place 1 pound to rent one then get the pound back once they are done with using it.
When I thought about this, if I applied the same concept in SL it won’t really work as the main point is to engage the user through the steps besides there won’t be enough space to implement this even though expanding
Thus, as a result, I used – script inventory drop box
Which basically allow people to drop inventory items in to an object that alerts you when that happen; In this case this would be used for placing safety glasses, gloves and lab coats into the lockers and to know when a locker is occupied so there won’t be a conflict in knowing which ones are vacant.
As an alert, e-mail basic script would be used to send e-mails form second life this could be used as a way of announcement as well as questionnaires to students.
Teaching LAB
This is where students enter to wash their hands, wear coats, glasses and gloves then get ready to enter their labs to start their lab session.
Problems
Building Issues
There is not an undo button or a way to retrieve deleted objects
Expansion – when I tried to move everything already built upwards as not all the land are on same level (not steady) a problem occurred as it is quite tricky to get the hang of it when linking objects and moving them altogether
Linden Dollars - Had a problem with setting up payment method in order to buy linden dollars to be able to upload some pictures
Sometimes the laptop, software just freezes...which could be very risky as you never know when the work done has been saved even if u do save it every update.
Editing Hollow to form a door properly was a big issue as well
Adjusting colours
Finding Support – the SL scripting groups aren’t as helpful as I thought they would be sometimes I got late responses (if any) and with the wrong or not functioning scripts. Even someone offered to help for linden dollars [though he didn’t mention the word linden!!!] but still some of them do help. Scripting blogs are very useful I think though didn’t test each script to know whether it is working as it should be
Texturing – costs 10 L$ Linden dollars per upload, took a while to get the hang of it as some times the texture is just flipped or stretches so I kept trying to move it around and try different angles in order to adjust it as possible, wasn’t the best in my opinion
Future Plans & Recommendations
Aim: To learn basic things such as How to properly wash their hands, getting their lab coats, gloves and glasses.
where to know the group numbers, which is done through the screen
To go to the lockers in order to place their personal items as students are only allowed to carry a marker and paper apart from their Lab coats.
The skills would be knowing the meaning of specific signs, starting safely, and future plans would be knowing about toxic materials and what to do in case of emergencies (toxic fluids), how to get rid of materials safely...
Create a button below the screen that maximises the view [full screen] for users to see properly, and create a direct link to a webpage, elluminate to update group regularly. Yet, I would make it non-editable by students
To have a tour guide that either explains as default or answers when asked or just have note card to explain every step and where to start
Building the actual entrance form the ground floor guiding students to the third [where labs are located]
Producing - A step by step guide to using material available in the lab
For new comers where to get new lab coats
How to keep updated with groups or notifications
How to act on certain situations
Switching to the student’s channel
Validation – to validate actions for instance
To check in case the lab coat is on
Hands are washed properly
Glasses are on and maybe later to check whether the students have markers, papers and headphones which are picked later when they access the labs
Verification of ID, this could be done by getting the student avatars and add them to a list in order to be recognised
References
[1] Using VLE technology in education and outside educational environments, May 12th, 2010 by Vijay Nair
http://blog.theitjobboard.co.uk/2010/05/using-vle-technology-in-education-and-outside-educational-environments/
[2] http://secondlife.com/
• LSL Portal- wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/LSL_Portal
• SL Scripting Tools - http://www.freeslscripts.gendersquare.org/index.php?option=com_weblinks&view=category&id=65&Itemid=28
• Open Source Scripting group - http://www.sparticarroll.com/MainPage.ashx
REPORT
Introduction
E-learning has become a major trend among Universities and several Educational environments; as it presents better interaction between students and teachers in a productive way virtually online. E-Learning is also known as Virtual Learning Application or Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), can be thought of as a Content Management system of the huge contents that are stored and interacted with on a regular basis [1] . Second Life is one of the common technologies known and used as a VLE.
Second Life is a free 3D virtual world developed in 2003 by Philip Rosedale, it is a Computer - based environment where real people, represented by an avatar can socialize, connect, work, play, create and more importantly learn and educate [2].
Aim
The purpose of this project is to build a prototype of London Metropolitan existing science lab in Second Life in order to teach students Safety and precautions procedures generally; as guidance I was provided "Safety Code of Practice" and went through steps of getting into the lab.
The importance of lab safety cannot be emphasized strongly enough. Lab instructors as well as the faculty are legally liable for student injuries, are ultimately responsible for students safety. Yet, the problem isn't in teaching lab safety, it is in students practicing and applying the precautions!!!
Unfortunately, "students just keep ignoring signs and basic lab requirements" said Philip - head of health and Safety in London Metropolitan University - although there is formal safety training; students take some important precautions for granted.
Regarding this assignment, as discussed with my client, I will focus on the very basics: process of getting into the lab and getting ready to start safely. So building the actual place was a priority in this mission. Students should be able to use their avatars in learning in Second Life. It is essential to present a step by step instruction list as guidance to clearly explain how students could start the whole process.
Pedagogy
Pedagogy is teaching method: the principles and methods of instruction. Referring to Alan Hudson, "Pedagogy is the art and science of how something is taught and how students learn it". Pedagogy is the way of teaching something and the learning outcomes for students.
For this project, the way of teaching would be taking students through the process of getting started and the expected learning outcomes are the basic steps to starting safely, meaning of specific signs.
Design Rational
Education and society, there is an inter-linkage between them as education is influenced greatly by various societal factors. Education is not only the mode of learning facts and figures. Most of our learning actually happens when we observe and learn from those around us. In this aspect, the society and the people who belong to it play a major role
Since, the lab already exist the main target was to build the lab as real as possible, so I took pictures of the actual place and started copying them into the design. Although, I didn’t have to worry about designing issues it wasn’t easy applying… SL was already chosen by the Science Dept. as stated “SL is a commonly used platform that we wish to engage through” mentioning that they wish in the future to make it an mandatory process that students will take before actually getting into the lab as the department doesn’t have enough funds to risk waste of toxic and expensive materials.
So basically how students will learn, is getting familiarized with the location (if the lab is exactly the same as the one exist) there won’t be a problem applying in real life.
Report continued...
Monday 6 December 2010
SL - Second Building Session
Today, we were asked to build a house, which was very beneficial to help us while doing our assignments.
More over, the session encompassed many tasks within for instance, how to publish a link and create a webpage on SL, editing some scripts, applying them to objects, using inventory items and how to store them back.
SL - First Building Session
Today, we were introduced to building in Second Life. the aim was to build a space ship and control it by creating a control box using Linden Script to move the space ship. we were provided a step-by-step guide to building which I think was very useful as it showed how we could get familiar with building instead of being asked to build instantly.
Pedagogy - SL
Referring to Alan, "Pedagogy is the art and science of how something is taught and how students learn it".
Pedagogy is the way of teaching something and the learning outcomes for students.
For this project, the way of teaching would be taking students through the process of getting started and the expected learning outcomes are the basic steps to starting safely, meaning of specific signs.
Science Department - Health & Safety
The importance of lab safety cannot be emphasized strongly enough. Lab instructors as well as the faculty are legally liable for student injuries, are ultimately responsible for students safety. Yet, the problem isn't in teaching lab safety, it is in students practicing and applying the precautions!!!
Unfortunately, "students just keep ignoring signs and basic lab requirements" said Philip - head of health and Safety in London Metropolitan University - although there is formal safety training; students take some important precautions for granted.
The purpose of this project is to build a prototype of London Metropolitan science lab in Second Life in order to teach students Safety and precautions procedures; as guidance I was provided "Safety Code of Practice" and went through steps of getting into the lab.
Regarding this assignment, as discussed with my client, I will focus on the very basics: process of getting into the lab and getting ready to start safely.
For instance, where students go to pick up their gloves, where to get rid of them, basic tools.
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