Blog Book Tour: Learning in 3D #lrn3d

When Karl Kapp invited me to join the blog book tour for Learning in 3D, he dangled a little carrot in front of me.  Apparently, I make a cameo appearance.  So I am reading this book as a scavenger hunt (leave it to Karl to turn it into a game!)…my narcissistic antennae all aquiver.

For those of you who don’t already know, this book is Karl Kapp’s and Tony O’Driscoll’s homage to the 3D Learning Environment – a glimpse to the future of education and training (“the learning function”) and how it needs to evolve in order to stay relevant.

My Experience in Virtual Worlds

A few years ago, when Second Life was first coming onto the scene as the next big thing, I sat in my office and scratched my head. 

Karl kindly offered to give me a tour – and so there we were – flying around, looking at drills, walking through computer parts.  I remember laughing out loud in my office when I just disappeared at some point by accident. 

I dabbled in SL a bit after that, chronicled my Second Life experiences on my blog, but I haven’t been “in world” in probably two years.    Since then, I have sorely neglected my avatar, Bliss Yue.  This week I downloaded SL onto my current laptop and went and said hi.  I haven’t had much time with her yet, but mean to go spend some quality time and see how SL has evolved since my last visit. 

I get the virtual worlds immersive learning environment thingie.  I see the potential, think it’s where we’re going, but don’t think we’re quite ready for prime time.  Not yet.

What’s Really Going On Out There?

I can’t help but making connections to some of what I heard this week out in Las Vegas at ASTD Tech Knowledge 2010.

Allison Rossett  presented findings from a survey of almost 1,000 people about actual eLearning practices.  One of the bottom 5 eLearning practices that people are doing today?  “Authentic, realistic and immersive, like Second Life”. 

As to future aspirations – what organizations are trying to do: “Authentic & Immersive Experiences” came in #7 on the list.

So immersive learning is indeed something people want to do.  I guess the question is when?

Sadly, I left Las Vegas without getting to meet Karl in person!  He presented this morning at ASTD on Learning in 3D.

It’s Not About Instructional Design…

The book is chock full of background, blueprints and case studies.  I’ve taken pages of notes and clipped many a standout quotes, but especially wanted to share this quote from Randy Hinrichs of 2b3d:

“It’s Not About Instructional Design, It’s About Experiential Design --  Yes, we must gain the learner’s attention, inform them of learning objectives, stimulate recall, present new material, provide learning guidance, elicit performance, provide feedback and correctness, assess performance, and enhance retention and recall. But with today’s carnival of content, mixed media, and unlimited access to new information, we must also create a story for the learner in which he or she is the main character.” (p. 88 - Randy Hinrichs, CEO of 2b3d)

Instructional Strategies:

It’s a practical book, laying lays out eleven “archetypes” that you can use to design virtual world experiences.  Think instructional strategies – e.g., a scavenger hunt can be a great way to teach declarative knowledge and facts or orient new hires to a building layout.

1. Avatar persona
2. Role play
3. Scavenger Hunt
4. Guided Tour
5. Co-creation
6. Small Group Work
7. Group Forum
8. Social Networking
9. Operational application
10. Conceptual orienteering
11. Critical incident

Fun Facts

On page 98, you see a screen shot of Abbot Bundy talking to a “pot plant”.  Alrightie then.  I thought maybe things had gone a little wacky here and we were entering some kind of weed growing simulation, but then I realized it was “potted plants”. :)

I do indeed make a cameo appearance.  Well, Cammy doesn’t make a cameo, but Bliss Yue does.   See if you can find her.  I’ll give you a free subscription to my blog if you do!

Bottom line?  Thumbs up!  Definitely a must read if you want to be a part of the future – if you want to stay relevant as a learning professional.

Get a 20% discount off of the book by using the code L3D1 at the Pfieffer/Wiley web site at http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470504730.html

Check out the book’s website here:  www.learningin3d.info

And thank you, Karl, for inviting me to participate in the blog book tour again.

Blogger's Hut in Second Life

Scott Merrick (also check out Scott's SecondLife Blog) runs the ISTE's Blogger's Hut in Second Life. Scott's Twitter bio describes him as a "teacher, learner,...old hippy." Just the kind I like!

I hadn't heard of Blogger's Hut before I got Scott's email telling me I'd been nominated as Blog-O'-the-Month. How kind!

If you spend any time in Second Life, all November visiting avatars will have the opportunity to click on the polling object in the Hut and vote for a blog to be featured throughout the next month in the RSS feed located within the hut.

Stop by the Blogger's Hut at http://slurl.com/secondlife/ISTE%20Island/6/129/22, to vote!

The Blog-o'-the-Month for November is Dr. Z Reflects, Leigh Zeitz's stellar offering to the educational community.

At the very least, check out these blogs, some of which are new to me.

Blogs up this month:

• Learning Visions"--Cammy Bean
  http://learningvisions.blogspot.com/
• "HeyJude"--Judy O'Connell
  http://heyjude.wordpress.com/
• "Bud the Teacher"--Bud Hunt
  http://budtheteacher.typepad.com/
• "A Piece of My Mind"--Scott S. Floyd
  http://scottsfloyd.edublogs.org/

It's been awhile since I've stepped a virtual foot in SL (my ancient laptop does not have the right video card for SL), but I have blogged my past experiences in SL. Check out my forays into SecondLife.

SecondLife has sort of slipped off my radar these days. How about you? Is it something you're still thinking about? Has SL lost some of its traction over the last year?

Continuing in Second Life

I'm still at it. Slogging away in Second Life. Since I last posted, I've been back "in-world" a couple of times.

I finally learned how to fly with relative ease (it's as simple as using the page-up and page-down keys to change altitude....duh).

Today I spent some time going back through the basic navigation tutorials on SL Orientation Island. As with any new learning experience, I find I need to dive in and learn what I don't know. Then I can go back in and focus on the "assignments" -- gaining the skills I've realized I'll need.

Today I spent some time exploring NOAA/ESRL, which is an island set up by the National Weather Service (U.S. Department of Commerce).

(http://slurl.com/secondlife/Meteora/128/128/0 -- if you're in Second Life you can also try searching for Meteora or NOAA Virtual Island).

That's me on a glacier on the NOAA island. At the glacier station you can "animate" the glacier and see how the formation changes as the glacier melts.

I hovered above a map of the U.S. which showed current weather across the country. I rode a weather balloon into the atmosphere and took a plane ride through the eye of a hurricane. Topped it off with a ride in a submarine and an underwater stroll. Whales and dolphins and jelly fish swam by. Very cool.

My favorite station on the NOAA island was the Tsunami area. It's a virtual click-to-learn exercise. You click on the Tsunami sign and get the first "page" of the lesson -- how tsunamis are formed underwater. Then you go underwater and see how the plates shift. Each click takes you through the next phase, until finally you are encouraged to run to high ground as a huge tsunami crashes in on the beach destroying the houses.

Talk about experiential learning.

If, like me, you've been reluctant to try Second Life, I can only say just do it and see for yourself.

In my first second life experience, I was called a bitch. My second Second Life experience was much better. And when Karl Kapp invited me on a tour of SL, I was delighted. It makes a big difference to someone like me to have a guide.

All this to say, I'm keeping an open mind.

Building Community in Second Life: Renaissance Island

As you know, I've been trying to walk-the-talk and experiment a bit with Second Life, role my virtual sleeves up and see what all the fuss is about. Last week, I visited Renaissance Island and wrote about it in My Second Second Life Experience.

This has sparked a little exchange in the comments between myself and one of the active members of the of Renaissance Island community. I asked Diogenes Kuhr to talk about how she (or is it a he?) had become involved in Ren Island:

I became involved in Ren Island like most people did..they happened to find out about (I did through a good friend who did a lot of the build) some time hanging around and enjoying it, and then volunteered to do stuff. This last weekend, I volunteered to represent Queen Elizabeth I at the christening of the new galleon and the team, was kind enough to let me give it a shot. We had a blast, and learned a lot in the process (who would have guessed that a Tudor era ships christening was real different from the version we are familiar with today?)

Anyway, the team is sort of informal, although there are a couple of people from the Alliance Library system who are the primary team leaders, so working with us is perhaps part o their job. Other team leaders are some of the people who have been working on it as volunteers for some time.

The group that is active includes people from different backgrounds, including teachers, librarians, a museum guy, and people who work in or have retired various businesses, including customer service, hospitality, and tech related things. The group ebbs and flows and people come and go, which is one of the interesting things about it. It is very much an experiment and definitely an delightful way for folks from disparate locations and backgrounds to come together and share ideas, opinions and experiences.

I think this is a really interesting story of how spontaneous community happens. People with similar interests are connecting in a virtual space to create a virtual world in which they learn about another time and place. Informal learning at its best.

Thanks, Dio!

Plodding Along in Second Life

In the spirit of plodding along, I had another positive experience in Second Life. Friday afternoon, I was fortunate enough to have been given a guided tour by non other than Abbott Bundy (aka Karl Kapp).

Karl showed me around his student sandbox. He gave me a firefighter's uniform, which I figured out how to put on after a few false starts. Showed me the site of the chemical spill where the students had done a group exercise. When we were done, I took off the uniform and tried to revert to my original appearance. I went from being a short blonde to a lanky brunette with a short stint as little red riding hood.

Then we went flying in a helicopter over the island.

We teleported over to Dell Island to take a look at the insides of a computer. All of a sudden, Abott disappeared. He returned a minute later, "I fell." Turns out he fell right off the computer. It's comforting to me that it's not only the newbies who get lost or hung up.

We discussed the fact that navigation in SL is a bit difficult.

And then my hair started walking in front of my body. I was beside myself. Quite literally. I was laughing so hard I was crying for at least two minutes.

Dell Island had some great little UI and SL tips embedded in their experience. You know when you're on the first level of a game and you get target practice to learn how to shoot, or you get to practice riding a horse? So I stopped briefly at a station to learn how to see better. I suppose Orientation Island is full of that kind of stuff. (I obviously need to do more of that basic SL 101 activity).

The computer model at Dell is pretty cool. You can walk through a fan and view a circuit board. The graphics are ok. They'll get better. Dell could do more by adding notes and descriptions along the way to make it an actual learning experience. Without that, you could be walking along in any building just about anywhere.

Karl explained some of the real basics to me as we went along -- how to do "Mouselook" for a better zoom (very useful if you're looking at a PowerPoint slide in SL -- the quality of the graphics is often quite poor); how to make your avatar laugh and do other gestures.

I got stuck in a car on Nissan island. Couldn't get out. Felt a little claustrophobic - that panicky feeling of being trapped. There's a real emotional level to Second Life. Do role plays or disaster simulations and I think you'll feel that stress level kick up a notch or two.

I still need to master the fine art of flying. I kept bumping into things and getting stuck. Karl had to save me with a teleport a couple of times.

My biggest takeaway from this experience: you really need a guide when you're first starting out in SL. At least I do.

Perhaps one day, I'll be able to give you a tour.

If you'd like to read more about my adventures in Second Life, check out my first and second visits.

My Second Second Life Experience

Yesterday I posted about the Second Life Backlash and Controversy, with corporations supposedly abandoning SL and moving on.

At Virtual Learning Worlds "Bartman" responds to that Wired article (A Deserted Second Life):

The problem I have with it [the Wired article], is that it deals almost COMPLETELY with Second Life as it pertains to marketing and corporations…and inevitabley why SL sucks in that space. I really wish we could get away from this argument for a while. Sure, SL has its issues (technololgy infrastructure, support, shady adult content, unstable and unpredictable economy to name a few), but it still holds HUGE potential for education and training opportunities.

And Karl Kapp talks about the inevitable hype curve in which Second Life is now in the midst. Kapp Notes: The Metaverse Hype, Decline and Realism Cycle--We've Seen It Before

However, a small group of people will continue to plod along in Second Life (or other 3D metaverses) because they see the potential. They see through the hype and understand the potential as well as the limitations of these worlds for learning.

So yesterday, after viewing the SL student video that Karl Kapp had posted in Try Before You Buy, I ventured back. I wanted to check out Renaissance Island, the Second Louvre Museum, and other areas of interest shown in the video.

The students suggest that role playing, taking on someone else's role (experience schizophrenia at UC Davis' Hallucinations site), and guided tours of historical sites are great uses of SL.

[In the comments on that post, Sean Fitzgerald left a link to a great listing of educational SL sites.]

Thankfully, my second foray into the virtual world of Second Life was much better than my first. After logging in, I immediately teleported to Renaissance Island. It's an Elizabethan village, complete with churches and sheep. I started off in the town center.

A box next to the landing point offered a free peasant dress. I tried putting on the dress, but all I could do was put the box on my head, which looked really silly. So I stuck with my normal outfit. There's a lot of things I still need to figure out with SL if I'm really going to get into it, but I think there are some things that it's just fine not to master.

I started wandering around town. A young woman with spiked heels, belly shirt and a glowing belly button approached me and we starting talking. I must admit I found the belly button thing distracting.

So it turns out she's an instructor's assistant at a community college that is starting to experiment with SL. They are thinking of potential uses, including biology and chemistry classes. "Students will be able to experiment without blowing up the lab," she told me.

We talked a bit about gender issues in SL. She says she's been hit on plenty of times and simply avoids the "sex" sites.

We parted and I started to wander. I went into a few houses. There was a lovely collection of Renaissance paintings in one, including Jan van Eyck's Arnolfini Portrait, which I've always loved. The resolution is poor -- if you were really studying these works for an art history class, you'd want something much better.

I went to a church and learned how to kneel. It was a lovely space. While kneeling in front of the altar, I started to modify my appearance. What sacrilege!

I've been trying to create an avatar who looks something like me, but it's tough. You can spend hours modifying the gravity of your breasts or the height of your chin. After 5 minutes of that, I stopped praying to the Gods of Beauty and moved on.

Another house had a note attached to the wall, which contained a great historical overview of Elizabethan towns. Overall, I think this is a wonderful use of SL with great educational opportunities. Imagine an 8th grade class exploring the village while reading Romeo & Juliet.

In spite of all the SL debate, in spite of the backlash, I intend to keep exploring.

Second Life Backlash and Controversy

The Second Life naysayers seems to be gaining ground lately. And I'm not implying that I'm a Second Life naysayer. As you may know, I've only been there once.

1) Donald Taylor provides a little summary of some of the recent talk in Second Life Backlash:

After all the hype Second Life has had, there is bound to be some push back. In some cases I am sympathetic, in other cases it’s just professional complainers at work. But underneath all the froth, there are some real concerns and some real victories.

Donald does a great job recapping various articles and provides some useful links, including the following:

2) Second Thoughts on Second Life by Sylvia Martinez. A thoughtful post on one educator's experience in Second Life (and a nice historical perspective). The comments are insightful as well, including some more on the issues of gender in SL.


3) And then this morning, I was pointed to this one by my CTO: Gartner: five reasons why business should avoid Second Life by John Pospisil.

Apparently, Gartner has issued a warning about Second Life, citing these five main reasons:

1. IT Security Risks
2. Identity Fraud
3. Confidentiality
4. Brand and Reputation Risk Management
5. Productivity

The Gartner report that Pospisil is referring to, seems to be talking solely about corporations "setting shop up in Second Life" -- brand names with online spaces using SL for advertising purposes. It's not talking about training or education per say.

Steven Groves in the comments writes:

What the Gartner report went on to say that you left out was a recommendation to continue on in a SL effort anyway, albeit with eyes open and cautiously, keeping a lookout for all the problems they cited.

Christopher Simpson also comments:

As for doing business, holding meetings and such in SL, it's really a matter of what works and what doesn't. Second Life isn't always the answer, anymore than e-mail or phones, or face-to-face contact is always the answer. It takes brains and a bit of technological savvy to figure out what route to follow for any individual situation — something many corporations seem to lack when it comes to new media.

4)In yet another recent post on SL, Brent Schlenker writes, "If people don't have a reason to be in Second Life they will NOT go there." He cites a USA Today article which says, Students "don't like it for activities that can be done in a real classroom, such as lectures or slide shows. But they do like to use it to visit new places or do group activities."

So. "Real concerns. Real victories." And thoughtful experimentation must continue.

I've been exploring the use of Second Life for a client for whom I'm developing an e-Learning strategy. My initial recommendation is going to be to proceed with caution. Theirs is an audience comprised only of women and I'm not convinced Second Life will feel appropriate to them. Don't invest any money. Have a few online meetings. Thoughtfully experiment with 3D worlds and keep our eyes out for other environments that may be more appropriate. But perhaps we can do some of the key things (e.g., create a virtual recreation of their museum) they'd like to do using other tools like Flash.

My First Second Life Experience

Not so good, I must say.

I spent about 25 minutes trying to make my avatar look sort of like me. It's sort of me-ish.

Then I wandered around Orientation Island, which gets boring fast. And then I teleported myself over to Brandon Hall's Education Island.

I starting talking with another newbie for about 2 seconds when we were accosted. The short story is within my first 5 minutes of exploring an island I was called a "bitch" and this guy was claiming to own "this world" and wanted me to pay him to get off the island. Coage Boucher. Avoid him.

I probably should have reported him, right? Well, I didn't. I just quit. Had to come back to my real computer and review a proposal anyway.

A Deserted Second Life

An interesting read from Wired.com on Second Life and Corporate America. How companies are spending millions and yet no one comes.

How Madison Avenue is Wasting Millions on a Deserted Second Life (Wired 7-24-07)

What's behind this stampede is not that hard to divine. "A terror has gripped corporate America," says Joseph Plummer, chief research officer at the Advertising Research Foundation, an industry think tank. Plummer has been around Madison Avenue since the early '60s, when modern advertising techniques materialized. "The simple model they all grew up with" — the 30-second spot, delivered through the mass reach of television — "is no longer working. And there are two types of people out there: a small group that's experimenting thoughtfully, and a large group that's trying the next thing to come through the door." Second Life appeals to the latter — the ones who are afraid of missing out, who don't consider half a million dollars to be a lot of money, and who haven't figured out (or don't want to admit) that Second Life is less than the bold new frontier it appears to be.

Well, I do know that some educators are experimenting thoughtfully with Second Life (Karl Kapp, for one). And I also know that there's a lot of hype and a lot of people who haven't bought into the whole notion of even having a second life.

My SL stats:

• I have an account and an avatar named Bliss Yue.
• I read about SL a lot. (I think my secondlife category in deli.ci.ous has more articles than any other category).
  
• I have never actually gone into SL (my laptop doesn't have the right video card). But it's on my to-do list for this week (as it has been on my to do list for the last month).

What about you? Do you have a Second Life? How often do you access your account? What have you done?

I'm definitely interested in getting myself in there and would like to arrange a meeting of bloggers, if you're interested. But it's been low on my list....

Second Life and Gender

There's been a great conversation about Second Life and gender and the bleeding edge in the comments on my recent post. Be sure to read and ponder and offer in your own two cents. As e-Learning strategists and practitioners pushing these cutting edge tools, we've got to make sure that the tools suit the audience. As Cathy Moore suggests, will SL alienate female participants? Should we be looking at alternative virtual worlds such as Protosphere?

Talk amongst yourselves. I'm going to Maine.

The Real World, SecondLife and FaceBook/MySpace

Over the past few weeks I've conducted about 17 interviews with current college students and recent graduates. All women. A few of my interviews have been with older alumnae, but I'll leave them out of this discussion for the moment and stick to the younger crowd, the "digital natives." These are real people, about to enter or recently in the job market.

I've been asking various questions about technology and tools in order to get a sense of where people are at, while also soliciting ideas and input for improving the use of technology to support learning throughout their member organization.

In general, the young women I have interviewed describe themselves as "very comfortable with technology." Some claim to feel lost without an Internet connection, but hey, don't we all? Computers are a fact of their lives.

Some things have surprised me, most have not. A few trends:

• Not ONE person has even heard of Second Life. This was a little wake up call to me as I sit in my little e-Learning world, trying to immerse myself in all that is new. The rest of the world is not in this technology bubble yet. I would explain a bit about SL and the general response was, "that sounds interesting."
  

• Not ONE person has a blog. A few people have "read" a few blogs -- written by friends with photos of children. One woman told me that she used to blog in LiveJournal, but there was just way too much personal information that was getting shared with the universe, so she deleted her account.

• Everyone who has graduated from college since 2005 has a FaceBook account. Most everyone accesses it multiple times within a day. This is a main way of staying connected to friends.

• A couple of people also had MySpace accounts. But mostly not. MySpace is seen as being too "creepy". Too much information is out there. "It's not safe." I'm not sure how this relates to danah boyd's recent blog article on Viewing American class divisions through FaceBook and MySpace. These young women are all college educated. I had read Danah's article before starting my interviews and was listening for any judgment based on class. I didn't hear anything direct or obvious. Safety and creepy were the big buzzwords I heard. A few people commented that MySpace is too garish; the FaceBook look and feel is more classic.
  

• Only two people admitted to any regular game play. One of the gamers plays with her brother; the other described obsessively playing Dance Dance Revolution with college roommates at her house. I wonder how this would differ if I had been asking young college males about gaming? Hmm....It appears to me that the gaming gender divide is alive and well.

• No Blackberrys or Treos in the crowd. Lots of cellphones. Lots of laptops.

Can you confirm or deny any of these trends? Does any of this matter?

Check out A Deserted Second Life and My First Second Life Experience if you want to hear more about how actual people are interacting with Second Life.