For my A3 project I created a company called V-Projects. The V stands for Virtual 3-D Worlds and the projects refers to its emphasis on project based learning with our course material. I have both pitches as a video with my self reflection included at the end of the venture pitch. Elevator Pitch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCq06ncMi70 Venture […]
Continue reading V-Project Posted in: Venture Forum
I tried uploading a video to this post using the instructions given in 4.1 Venture Forum Resources and I am having trouble. The instructions state to use the upload video icon from the menu, however I can’t see this specific icon. I tried to use the general Upload/Insert feature (the only option) but that only […]
Continue reading Help – Uploading a Video Posted in: General
Hi Doug,
I am having the same problem! Hopefully we will have an answer soon.
Julie
Hi Doug, Julie
One alternative could be to upload it to YouTube and then embed this in the post instead.
Thanks
Melissa
Hey Doug and Julie,
I uploaded to Vimeo, (similar to youtube), and then posted the links. You can choose to embed them if you wish, but it’s up to you. Hope this helps.
Joel
Thanks, I went with the You Tube option.
Doug.
Here is the A3 Elevator and Venture pitch: My venture focuses on a new kind of software that attempts to blend the lines between educational and entertainment software in an attempt to make the new hybrid genre more marketable to the regular gaming community. It’s focus is contextual relevance and it’s explained more in the […]
Continue reading A3 Elevator and Venture Posted in: General, Venture Forum
Hey Joel:
Both of these links take me to your school district access portal, what is the log in and password?
Doug.
Hi Joel,
The same thing happened to me when I tried.
Jen 🙂
Weird. Ok fixed now. Apologies
Joel, fair play it works now for me anyway.
Well done – Sound argument, well presented with a good idea.
I would definitely want to chat to you more about the background you and your team have and what other projects you have done to make sure that you have the ability to develop the ‘Context’ project. Also I would be interesting in learning about the revenue model for the product, would you be pitching it at an educational market or take on the games industry in the ‘real’ world?
It is an engaging and fascinating product you are pitching. I would be interested in being involved early once the development and revenue questions were as good as the concept.
Well done
Stuart
Thank you for the kind words Stu. It’s going to be pitched to both the gaming and educational industries actually because of the nature of software. Remember that what we are trying to accomplish hasn’t actually been done before and recently the gaming industry, like the movie business has become a little shy about producing anything that’s a possible risk. This is one reason that we have been recently inundated with sequels and horrible reboots in both genre’s. One of the inspirations for this software was Lumosity but after working with it I believed that the idea could be expanded and marketed in a different direction. Once I started looking into it, I realized that the product pitch had grown beyond the constraints of Lumosity and that we could really revolutionize the concept and subsequent genres.
As far as the revenue model is concerned, Kickstarter is a model that allows for small donations, usually enough to cover one instance of the software and if the company reaches a certain goal, they can then continue with production based on the promise of customer delivery once the software is finished. It has revolutionized multiple industries because it allows startups to engage the public with products that are deemed too risky for regular production.
Hi Joel,
I see tremendous potential in your venture in terms of education but I’m not 100% sure on the viability of producing an endless continuum of content without a strong user base. If you are tempted to pursue this venture, I might look at crowdsourcing content to establish a larger content repository for use with your platform. Ideally, you would want to create the tools and provide them to others to generate the content for you. I think something like Minecraft comes to mind. Still, I see a great idea, the right person to lead it with passion and drive and those are elements that would encourage me to ask additional questions to determine the viability of the venture. Good work!
Hi,
I think that you have an interesting concept here. I think that if you are able to do it, you could have a very high demand product. However, developing the content for such a project seems like a very large undertaking. I think that you seem like a very confident leader and have made very persuasive pitches.
Jhodi
@ Patrick,
I think that to garner interest in the product/project, we have to showcase the capability of the software first. In order to do that we need to create the three modules first and then approach the crowd sourcing with a later release after we have enough funding to develop user friendly development tools for user created content and modules.
On the rubric for A3 there is a component where it says we will be assessed on self evaluation. I am not sure if I missed something. Are we supposed to submit an evaluation with A3? Nureen
Continue reading A3 self evaluation Posted in: General, Questions & Answers, Week 12:
Hi Nureen,
I plan to add this section within my blog post beneath the links to my pitches. I believe David wants us to take a step back and critically evaluate our pitches, similar to what we did in Week Three. I hope I have been able to add some clarity. Take Care, Jen
I agree with Jen, it is something I missed in the first assignment, and do not plan on missing this time as well. I do not plan on putting it into my pitch, but it will be part of my overall project. Hope that provides some help.
Tom
A lot of people I’ve spoken to had trouble with it in the first assignment as I myself did. My “difficulty” section is placed into my pitch as part of the sale.
“Had Trouble With” is a really nice way of saying, I completely overlooked it in the rubric… stuff I give my students grief for… Oh well, maybe I should be more understanding in the future…
Tom
Hi Nureen,
From what I understand we are also supposed to be submit a self-reflection of our projects in addition to the elevator and venture pitch. I included mine at the end of my venture pitch, but I am sure there are other ways to do so.
Hope that helps!
Julie
Thanks for the clarification. 🙂
Nureen
I spent some time creating my avatar and was not successful in creating what I intended to create. This is who I am for now and will re-visit in the future now that I am a Second City resident. Interesting virtual site, does take some time to figure out how to navigate to different regions. […]
Continue reading I spent some time creating my avatar and… Posted in: Week 12:
Pretty brief, but if, like me, you know next to nothing, it’s a start: http://techcrunch.com/2012/11/10/an-entrepreneurs-guide-to-patents-the-basics/
Continue reading An Entrepreneur’s guide to patents: the basics Posted in: Blog Café For my A3 project, I created a not-for-profit professional organization called ‘Edutech/HK’ to support collaboration and sharing between technology educators in Hong Kong. The elevator pitch is a video embedded into the larger venture presentation that I created using Prezi. I hope you enjoy it: http://prezi.com/ctydqmqhlmvw/edutechhk/ As always, any suggestions or feedback are appreciated. If you […]
Continue reading Edutech/HK Posted in: Venture Forum
Hi Ben! I tried to take a look at your prezi, but when I click on the link above, it returns with a window stating “Something seems to be broken here, and tells us IO_ERROR. prezi.com/support might help.” (I know that last time I tried to access your prezi (A1), I seemed to be the only one getting an error message then, so maybe it’s just me or the prezi servers again, but I thought I’d let you know just in case.)
I look forward to viewing your presentation! -Jen
Nevermind… it seems to be working now. *sigh* 🙂
I agree that fundamental trade skills are being pushed into the background of education in this digital age. I have also had many parents and caregivers express the same complaint when praising our engineering programs for children. “Who will be the carpenters, plumbers, and electricians of tomorrow?” It may sound like a silly question until you really start thinking about it. We will always need hands on skillful workers and engineers in order to successfully live within our created “creature comforts.” Students best learn those type of skills through hands on experience.
One thing that really stuck out to me in the pitch was the active database of willing professionals. We can learn so much from those who have gone before us. Having professionals with experience at the ready to offer workshops, talks, or conferences is an extremely valuable tool.
I also enjoyed learning of the professional affiliations of the group. It always paints such a broader picture than just learning where someone has gotten their degree from or where they have worked.
Excellent pitch.
Hi Ben, Great venture and pitch, thanks for sharing!
Catherine
Ben ~ Great job. I am curious how long is your elevator pitch? You were able to pack a ton of information in. I had a difficult time keeping mine to under a minute. Also, I think you are missing a word under the section where you talk about where you drew your inspirations from. Currently it reads “We drawing our”. Is this a real or fictional idea? It appears like it a great venture. Best, Jen
Thanks for the correction, Jen. It’s fixed now:)
The is not entirely fictional. The website is fake, sort of. I built it but it isn’t online.. The people are real. Alan Yuen is a friend and is the tech coordinator at another school and we have, in fact, been planning to put together a series of workshops aimed at more ‘expert’ tech educators. William Liang is a prof at Hong Kong Polytechnic and is a friend. We do some stuff together through the lcoal Hackerspace. He runs workshops from time to time about Arduinos and other electronics stuff. Some of the video clips from the various workshops are from workshops that we did organize or participate in. Some of you may have caught a clip of Sugata Mitra in there. This is from a conference in Hong Kong last year where he was the final keynote. I had nothing to do with organizing that conference though. I just attended. There is also a shot of a Canadian guy named Carl Callenwaert that ran a workshop for us about 3D game development with Unity and integrating it into your classroom. Very cool.
I am currently looking for a new job for next year and if I end up in Hong Kong, I think we will probably go ahead and try to organize something like this. It has been a bit of a frustration, the lack of any teaching and sharing opportunities for the people doing more advanced stuff. The conferences that exist already seem to exist for the sole purpose of getting bigger and bigger. So they tend to attract a lot of people who are just getting started with integrating technology in their programs. Edtech leaders tend to use these as a leadership opportunity and a chance to pad their CV’s. Aside from that, there is little for us to learn at these events. It’s all blogging 101 and getting started with games in the classroom. That’s great, but there is clearly a missed opportunity for those people who are designing and creating their own virtual worlds to share what they are doing with people who can understand what they are talking about. And the focus always seems to be on communication tools. Twitter in the classroom and so on. Sharing sharing sharing. Just because my kids can talk to kids at a school on the other side of the world doesn’t always mean that we have a good reason to do so. Sharing their ignorance about something may not get them any further along and just obscures the point of the unit. I want to see kids making stuff. But the educational technology community, at least over here, seems to have been appropriated/commandeered by humanities people who don’t seem to see the point of learning anything technical and who want their technology to ‘just work’ every time–people who will never bother to open the hood of their car to see what that knocking sound is and have no real curiosity about how things work. But for me, that’s the joy of technology and why I see integration as possibly a dangerous course.
Sorry, I started ranting a bit there, but in a room full of ‘elite’ educational technologists, I often find that not a single one could set up a server or create a macro for a spreadsheet. There are a lot of missed opportunities when we stop being interested in looking under the hood once in a while.
These are valid points that you bring up 😉 I don’t mind the venting at all. It makes me think that conferences like Educon (http://educon24.org) are valuable. I’m also thinking of the conferences that centre themselves around discussions as opposed to presentations. This is where the neat ideas get started because people are involved in great discussions.
Fortunately they are out there — unfortunately they get lost in the type of conferences that you speak of here. These do serve a purpose to some extent because many teachers don’t know how to use these tools, but there should be more like you said.
I’ll throw in my response to your proposal as well here!
First I wanted to say — Yeah way to give me a reason to head back to Hong Kong. I’ve always thought it would be interesting to teach there, learn a bit more about my culture (since I grew up in Canada) and reconnect with my roots! Let me know if something interesting pops up!.
Really great proposal and interesting. You have my thumbs up all the way. I wasn’t able to get the video working right away. I ended up taking myself out of the Prezi, scrolling around and manually clicking on it to work. It might (probably) is on my end, but I thought i’d throw it in there just in case.
Your short video was well presented and the longer Prezi had plenty of information to make me feel confident as an investor.
Great work!
Thanks for the feedback. My job is about to be posted by the way, if you are interested in getting overseas.
Thank you for providing such an interesting, and relevant venture. I agree that it is essential for the world of education to more effectively share what we know, and how we do it, so educators around the world can benefit from pockets of expertise and experiences. Furthermore, like you, I believe it is essential to incorporate and build off of real world practices and applications, for I fear as a society we have simply become consumers not producers.
Furthermore, I found the inclusion of the database of experts willing to offer the various services a strong part of this venture, for it shows the dedication the professionals and the venture has for improving the current look of education.
Lastly, I appreciated seeing the strength and skills the team brings to the plate to help this venture succeed.
Thanks for sharing.
Tom
Hi Ben,
People like you amaze me. I am still in the beginning stages of learning about educational technology but I can see how it would be frustrating to feel that there is no arena for you and your colleagues to further your skills. Therefore I feel that your Venture does indeed provide a solution for a pain point. I agree that your venture is different than others out there and your pitch confirmed this. I liked that you have chosen a specific market to start in (“Hong Kong”) but could see this growing and expanding to other markets. You provide adequate information to demonstrate that you as CEO and your team could champion this venture. My only suggestion would be to provide more clarity about what those who may volunteer to ask your venture would get in return. I know it wouldn’t be money but a simple statement such as “Your assistance will benefit….” might encourage more donations. You conveyed a great deal of passion and knowledge in the area and I liked how you spoke loudly and at a good pace. I agree with you that it would appear that many educational contexts are leaning more towards consumption over creation. At my school, they are aiming to purchase more and more iPads. When I suggested they may instead wish to think about purchase laptops, they looked at me like I had three heads. If we continue down this route, I hope I will be able to find more app that are creative in nature and less skill and drill. Anyway, thanks for sharing! Best, Jen
Great elevator and venture pitch Ben! Very impressive!
I really liked how seamless and professional it felt. Couldn’t find any faults in it.
To facilitate and objectively review the venture pitch you have put forward, I will be utilizing the guidelines provided within our course, Section 2.7 – Deconstructing a Pitch.
CEO & Team:
After having watched the elevator pitch and read the not-for profit venture proposal, I feel the CEO of this venture not only appears credible, but through all aspects of the Edutech/HK presentation, it was apparent that they were not only knowledgeable but passionate as well, a good start for any venture. Furthermore, the team assembled for Edutech/HK has knowledgeable, and educated members not only in various disciplines, but also in the geographical area they are focussing on, again a good start for any venture.
Venture Concept:
Overall, Edutech/HK is mashing together various strategies that have been implemented in both online and offline environments over the years. However, to this ventures credit, even though the elements are similar, they appear streamlined, allowing for the company to provide quality support and resources, instead of trying to be a jack of all trades. To determine the feasibility of this venture would be to understand the needs and market in Hong Kong, an area this venture might have provided more specific information on. Overall though, the issues presented within this pitch, is relevant not only to Hong Kong, but the global education community as well, therefore, I would further investigate the information presented within this venture.
Marketability:
The actual marketability of this venture was not provided, leaving potential investors wondering about this ventures true market size, potential share, and overall need within the Hong Kong educational system, making this not-for profit venture a more than moderate risk. Secondly, the only significant market edge provided by Edutech, is their ability to provide guest speakers and potential internships from field experts. However, this edge is mostly founded on the ability to form and maintain relationships with this individuals/groups over long periods of time. Furthermore, if this venture is successful, competitors will enter the market, and actively work to erode and take over these relationships for their own companies success. All of which, reduce Edutech’s market share.
Venture Plan:
At this time, no specific guidelines were provided to demonstrate the time necessary for this venture to be truly operational, more information would need to be provided on this. Overall, this venture has possibilities, but I would like to see it eventually expand to a more global market, for the skills and abilities they are focusing on, would benefit students the world over.
Hi teacherben,
This seems like a very worthwhile venture. Your pitch, which seems to be aimed at potential sponsors was very professional and informative. I like that your site would be a central location which would provide a ton of resources for teachers. But because of the wide range of services it would provide, you would need dedicated support staff in place for upkeep, which you did address in your pitch. I have just seen a lot of sites which are a get resource initially become obsolete and unused because there is no maintainence. All the best if you choose to pursue this endeavor.
PS: Maybe I missed it, but why is the “A” is STEAM sometimes in brackets?
The ‘A’ is in parentheses because it was a later addition. People have been talking about STEM education for a while, but only recently have a few organizations recognized the opportunity to add ‘Art’ to the list. You will see the STE(A)M, acronym used by Adobe Education, Autodesk, Unity and a few others while most school board and government initiatives use STEM.
The big product for Edutech/HK is actually the workshops and conferences. The Face 2 Face stuff is where my real interest lies. The website is where people can stay in touch and share what they are doing after they met at a workshop. The idea is to keep the organization small–likely under a hundred members. Most people would either know each other, have heard of one another or at least know people in common. If I am a pretty swift tech teacher that is pretty good at a lot of stuff, but maybe have little experience with 3D modelling and would like to introduce a 3D modelling and 3D printing program in my school, I contact Edutech/HK and ask around to see if there is someone out there that has something going. Perhaps I can arrange to go to their school and visit. I can get advice on a good 3D printer to buy. As it turns out, there are a few more people who want to get a 3D printing program going in their school. So we all go to that school together to see how it is being used. We might be able to watch a lesson. The teacher gives us a short workshop to get us started. Then, we create a discussion group on the website where we might keep in touch with one another and see what challenges others are having. In the meantime, I didn’t know much about 3D printing, but am an expert in app development. Others have dabbled a little, have maybe downloaded a couple programs and played around. I can offer workshops, school visits etc… to help people get an app development program going.
There are certainly a lot of online groups for this sort of stuff, but few that are very local, very specific and are meant to support face to face interaction, rather than the other way around. The website may not need a whole lot of maintenance. With that number of people, I would set up something like Elgg or Buddypress and it could easily be maintained by one person in their spare time. My brother and I set up a social network using Elgg on our own server to support university-aged ESOL students and it was pretty active, with a couple hundred members and he was able to keep it running smoothly on his own in his spare time, while still holding down a full-time university teaching load and a family.
Hi Ben,
Excellent use of Prezi to present your elevator and venture pitches. I thought your pitch was clear, clean and professional. Your elevator pitch did a great job in presenting you the problem and your solution. I would have liked more specifics on your ask and the potential benefits for investors.
Sophia
Hello Ben,
I think both your Prezi and your video did a great job of describing your idea and outlining all parameters needed to make a strong and successful venture.
This is a great idea and there is definitely a market for it. You are obviously knowledgeable in this area and this came across very clearly in your presentation. You did a good job of sharing visuals and data to back your venture and make it stronger. You explained who your company comprised of and did a good job of outlining the roles everyone plays. You also did a great job of outlining aspects such as market, financial components, etc.
Overall, I think you did excellent. This was definitely a well thought out pitch and the time and effort you put into it is evident. Thank you for sharing.
Nureen
Hi Ben,
Your Passion and Expertise always resonate through you comments and work.
Your analysis of promoting substance over style and creation or consumption are well taken.
Coming from the West where perhaps Art and Design are more privileged than Engineering, Math and Tech; I wonder if focusing on the former could be your true niche.
I’m curious what the advantage of a not-for-profit is over a social venture in this regard. For the former – as there is no exit (sale) value – you will likely need considerable momentum/critical mass, before big sponsors jump on board (i’m thinking how Sal Khan (Khan Academy) spent considerable time building his tutorials online before Sponsors took notice.
I recommend you avatar yourself – figuratively – and walk through what your success journey might look like and what obstacles you may have to overcome; if you can see those and lay out your milestones, I think this venture could be a GO – I wish you luck!
I have selected your pitch from the group that I am reviewing to comment on in more detail. I was very impressed with the quality of your presentation. I feel that the venture idea that you have presented here is one that has a real market (in any region). You explained your venture in a way that was engaging and easy to follow. I was interested to see this as a not-for-profit venture pitch. As I initially thought of how to make money with my idea, you have turned it around to provide quality experiences for those that participate. Your invitation to sponsor or find out more was handled tactfully. It would be interesting to see how much would be required to reach the goals of your venture in a given month or year. I don’t know if that would cause more donors or not, but it would be good information for an EVA to have. I think I would consider another meeting to go over the complete business plan with you, if I was an actual EVA. I think there is great potential here.
Hi Ben,
Great work.
My evaluation of the elevator pitch is that it’s a very polished video, with a clear description of the venture and what it does. I.e. what pain point it addresses and the solution it provides as well as clearly stating what it would like from investors (expert time and hardware or software donations).
For the venture pitch the team seems very credible and with enough combined experience and expertise to make this happen. The venture concept is clear and meets a viable identified market need. I am pretty sure these conferences, events and services are marketable going by the popularity and increasing use of technology in education and the workplace. The venture plan seems sound. It details how the events could feasibly be funded through subscription and corporate sponsorship.
All in all a well thought out venture. And YES, I would invest in/support this venture if I was based in Hong Kong. Furthermore if I was working in HK, given I normally work for tech companies, I would encourage any company I worked for to donate either the time of their employees (as experts), or hardware and software. I believe they should be investing in their future employees with ventures such as this one.
Thanks,
Melissa
Ben your pitches were very informative and it’s seems you have been able to find a helpful solution to the challenging pain point of how to keep learning professionals interacting and developing as a community. As I have state on numerous occasions already, I maintain that Prezi is fine choice for “gluing” pitches together and presenting them to investors. Which brings me to my primary criticism – as an education venture investor, what do you need me or my money for? It seems the venture is already well on its way. Beyond donations of time, or used resources I’m not sure you need any of my 1 million dollars! In the end, I feel the market for Edutech/HK is quite narrow and it seems more like a government initiative in many respects rather an a venture concept. In true Canadian fashion, I’ll apologize now if I have been overly critical in my assessment, but within the context of our purely academic assignment, I’m not sure how I fit into your concept as an EVA.
Hi Ben,
I found your elevator pitch to be very polished. Great job editing and scripting it. I also enjoyed the prezi presentation format, as it allowed for a clear and concise exposition of the pain point and the solutions you are providing. Your venture actually strikes me as one that has already been going on for a long time, and almost seems as though it is running on its own (and does not need support). However, this is all to say that, I would definitely respond to this and encourage sponsors to support this venture. While your venture is very much niche, I think the format could be adapted in other places with great ease. It would be great to know more about the potential branding of this venture.
Great work,
Eva
Hi Frank,
Interesting shot! I am curious as to where you were in Second Life when you took this picture? As well I am curious, have you ever used Second Life before and what inspired this choice of avatar?
Julie
Hi Julie,
No, yesterday was actually my first time on SL.
I think it’s easy enough to create a loaded performance of yourself in other social media such as FB and Twitter. An Avatar allows us to do more: to experiment and be playful in a broader sense, maybe from a different perspective; which may land us anywhere from the mundane to the incredible.
Perhaps fittingly, one of the recommended stages had been designed with a Scary Halloween-ish theme, with several interesting sets such as the one in this pic. As you can see, I was caught by a human sized spider net, and an unearthly fem spider came down to check me out and determine what to do with me. It was interesting example of the creative potential of OLE, and I thought I should share the class.
MUHAHAHA!!
Here is my avatar; it is so amazing it looks just like me! In fact it is me in my real world environment. After reading many of the experiences people have had: improper loading pages, slow response, funny colours, wrong graphics card, paying for risqué clothing, slow internet, old computer, addiction to the program, I […]
Continue reading Doug’s Realistic Avatar Posted in: Week 12:
HI Doug,
I appreciate you sharing your thoughts on creating avatar’s, though I would like to add that I am not sure that making or using an avatar is necessarily about hiding who a person is and more about having fun with creating a different persona.
As for second life, I think that like many other online programs and application the possibility for glitches or slow Internet access is always a potential issue but once accessed it does open you up to an amazing and exciting world (at least that’s how I felt when I started to experiment with it).
Julie
Hi Doug —
I did give avatar building a try and I’m going to have to concur with many of our colleague’s comments and your own about the difficulties of building an avatar. I think it’s probably important to point out that it is difficult because there are so many possible customizations that you can go through when designing your character.
Our students would probably be better equipped to deal with a lot of the imperfections in the process. I wasn’t very proud of any of my creations either, but I did sit through the process and create two different avatars. I can say that I have a grasp of the idea now. It is definitely avatar customization to a high degree. The more customization that you can do — the more complicated the process it is.
I can definitely see that a student or individual that is drawn to Second Life could spend additional time “getting their character” right.
Perhaps it just isn’t for us 😉 I’m glad that I had a chance to see it though.
— Jonathan
I managed to create an account, but when it came time to modify my avatar, I ran into very frustrating problems. I could not get to the point where I could customize the avatar because the page would not load properly or competely. Everything was very slow and so I finally gave up unforunately. So, I am just […]
Continue reading Jhodi’s Avatar. Posted in: Week 12:
Hi Jhodi,
Thank you for trying to customize your avatar, even though I know it can be quite frustrating when a program just doesn’t seem to load properly. As well, I agree that creating your own avatar and Second Life does offer many great benefits especially in terms of creativity and introducing students to opportunities they may not have otherwise had like with field trips etc.
Julie
Hi Jodi,
I had some similar issues. It was extremely frustrating. It took me over an hour to finally customize mine. It was so slow! By the time I finished customizing my Avatar I did not even feel like exploring. I am not sure why it is that slow. I thought it was just an issue with my access but maybe it has to do with the amount of people online at one or something like that.
Nureen
I struggled with customizing my Avatar because I found that the program was taking very long to load the different features, etc. Another issue I had, since I created an Avatar and entered the virtual world is purple shades blocking parts of my screen and even my Avatar’s face. I tried to get rid of these shadows but was not able to. Hence, […]
Continue reading I struggled with customizing my Avatar … Posted in: Week 12:
Congrats on your Avatar. I’m also glad we had to do this project, otherwise I would have never ventures into SL.
Regarding the purple problem, I found this in the SL community page. It does appear to have to do with your graphics card.
“Although it is necessary to download the last drivers for your graphics card, here is a solution which seems that works for some residents and it is worth to give a try. In Viewer 3 open Advanced Menu (Ctrl+Alt+D if you don’t see it) –> Show Debug Settings –> click the down arrow and find “RenderMaxTextureIndex”. Normally there you see the value 16. Set it to 0 (zero) and close the window. See if that makes any difference.”
and
“Some people who have ATI graphics cards are having this problem with the most recent V3 upgrade. See http://jira.phoenixviewer.com/browse/FIRE-4945 . For a quick but temporary solution, go to Preferences >> Graphics and disable Basic Shaders. For a more permanent solution update the 12.1 Catalyst driver from http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/windows/Pages/radeonmob_win7-64.aspx?type=2.4.2&product=2.4.2…. or run the AMD driver autodetect tool to update: http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/windows/Pages/auto_detect.aspx”
Ah, thanks Adriana. I first thought it was due to a sunset setting, but it seems the graphic card is the issue (as you point out).
Thank you so much. That will definitely be helpful. The purple on my screen was deterring me from wanting to use the program but now that you have given me some suggestions, I will try it out again.
Nureen
It appears in my previous explorations of Second Life – coupled with my desire to remain anonymous while probably reading some Science Fiction about virtual worlds, and the possibilities of creating something beyond ourselves, not just a digital replica – I created the attached avatar. If memory serves me correct, I was going for proportions […]
Continue reading Hey I Had An Avatar Already Posted in: General
Hi Tom,
Great avatar and response. You might enjoy reading Dr. Sherry Turkle (I’m sure you have already done so), and her research about how people use avatars to express other sides of themselves. Your entry supports her suggestions very well.
I completely agree with you, I do not enjoy the upkeep. In fact, if you see my avatar in the video, you will notice that my skirt and tights are white. This was the default and after fiddling around, I realized that I am not so passionate about the look of my avatar, but much more what I can explore and potentially do in SL.
I think this would be an amazing art project, but I would say that I would not recommend it under 18 years (as that is the new minimum age of SL). Perhaps you can use another VR? Perhaps your students already have avatars?
As for the art project, I agree. There are other avenues – I tried Meez awhile ago – not sure it still exists. However, the value of the avatar might be gaining ground, for our school is exploring the use of Mathletics to assist our more struggling students, and the avatar is now a component on the student side.
Thoughts?
I was quite excited to give Second Life a try after I watched the introductory video on the educational uses of Second Life. I must say though that when I first showed up I did find it cool (flying was fun) but then was quite disappointed. I don’t know if I just had bad luck […]
Continue reading Jenny’s avatar experience Posted in: Week 12:
Hi Jenny,
You make a great point – there IS an educational venture opportunity here. Since SL discontinued the teen SL version, I think many of us educators feel it is too risky to allow students into SL unless there is a way to limit them in certain areas. At this point, you cannot use SL with students under 18.
As for your Internet conncetion, this is very true. You cannot use SL unless you have a very fast connection. I found it much better when plugging into the Ethernet (instead of using wifi) at home. You might want to try that.
As the sloodle video shows, there are definitely ways to structure a curriculum activity and allow students to interact wtih it in SL.
I relate to your experience of wondering around and feeling a bit…lonely, actually. As I mentioned to someone else, SL and education is ideally suited to getting together with other students in a class. While we wished we could have arranged it, we knew it would present technical difficulties.
As for whether it is realisitc in a school system, I think I will be finding out in the next few years. My intention is to develop courses that are held in SL to teach filmmaking. As the videos tell us, many schools are already using SL. What did you think of the Spanish learning youtube video?
Hi Eva,
I thought the Spanish learning video was very fascinating, just like the introductory video and the Sloodle video. I guess the videos I watched didn’t match my experience as I didn’t have the knowledge base to find the cool, free, educational areas and my computer and connection are so slow that it is very frustrating.
That is is an excellent initiative to try to use SL to teach film making. I hope it goes well as I think with an invested effort by a teacher and support from the school for the right technology it could be a great tool (I think of students connecting with each other online where at the school they may be in different groups and not connect). As an Educational Venture Analyst – I just don’t see it being viable for most schools.
Here is a screenshot of the Avatar that I created. He is a cool, buff, tall, gentlemen who boasts unlimited amounts of swag. In a sense, he is everything I am not :(. The role playing feature of this kind of software is definitely engaging and I can see where the name “second life” came […]
Continue reading Manny’s Avatar Posted in: Week 12:
I like your description of your avatar. Very funny! I think this type of environment can be almost too engaging for some. My husband has a friend who has no “real” life because he spends every waking minute that he is not working, playing WarCraft.
Hi Jen,
I thought you might be interested in this, as there are some distinctions between Word of WarCraft and SL.
Warcraft belongs to what is called:
MMORPG—Massively Multiplayer Online Role Play Game
“In an MMORPG the player assume a role and identity not typically related to his or her real world self and attempts to earn points to move to a higher level within the game.”
http://msitsecondlife.wikispaces.com/Understanding+Online+Worlds
Second Life is best described as a:
Metaverse, which “now come to represent the idea of an online 3D world inhabited by avatars controlled by their real-life counterparts.”
http://msitsecondlife.wikispaces.com/Understanding+Online+Worlds
As the website describes, there are similarities, but also differences.
“A metaverse is similar to an MMORPG but with some big differences. First, in a metaverse, players are not playing a defined role such as a hunter or mage, they are playing a character they have created.
Second, the metaverse typically does not have specific goals or objectives created by the metaverse itself. Players can create their own goals or objectives but they are not an inherent part of the world.
http://msitsecondlife.wikispaces.com/Understanding+Online+Worlds
There is more useful information on that website. They also highlight that may major companies conduct their training in SL.
A metaverse environment can be used for training purposes. As mentioned in the opening of this article IBM and Cisco have both established classroom spaces within a metaverse for training purposes. It is also possible to create create other learning environments in which people can interact to learn about items in 3D. One can imagine providing instruction on how to repair a laptop through a virtual tour of the laptop within the metaverse.
http://msitsecondlife.wikispaces.com/Understanding+Online+Worlds
You may like reading about MMOLE-Massively Multi-learner Online Learning Environments (as they are much more tailored to specific learning and likely present less risk and distractions of the full metaverse of SL).
Let me know what you think. Rest assured there are differences between SL and World of Warcraft. I too know of people who are addicted to this, but they have different incentives than SL entirely.
Hi Manny,
Great avatar. As I mentioned to someone else, Dr. Sherry Turkle writes extensively how we can use avatars to act out versions of ourselves that we do not in our real life. She speaks from a psychological perspective and mentions that this can also be a very useful therapeutic method for certain people. I’m not suggesting that in any case with you, but just saying that it is quite normal to create an avatar that is very different from our ‘real’ self. Thanks for your thoughtful message along with your avatar pic.
Finance, loosing perspective and Second Life.
Continue reading avatar stuart Posted in: Week 12:
I fell short on this one, but only due to my reservations about this site. I’ve played some video games like this before and seen some not so pleasant things happen to people I know and, almost like a gambler avoiding Vegas (or Gamblor’s effects if you’re up on your Simpsons), I am unwilling to […]
Continue reading Rebecca’s Avatar Posted in: General, Week 12:
Hi Rebecca,
Your reservations about this kind of software are absolutely warranted. I have just begun playing around with some of its features and realized the addictive component built into it. Traditional video games have levels and an ending but this kind of game play (i.e. world of warcraft) only get more complex and addictive as you play. However, if it is designed correctly, I can see a lot of advantages in utilizing certain features for education.
Manny,
Agreed. I can see that there is massive potential there. “With great power comes great responsibility,” though, and I don’t know if I could encourage the use of this kind of virtual world in my own classroom, although I imagine in some cases it would be a good fit.
Hi Rebecca,
I do know of addictions to video games, which are very valid. However, did you have a chance to see the videos we posted? I think they speak to what Manny has pointed out – the very structured and innovative use of Second Life. I think it is important to consider the context we are presenting SL – within a highly structured assignment or curriculum. We are not suggesting that our cohort allow their students to randomly hang out in SL. We are asking them to consider entering a virtual classroom or guided tour of certain areas. This is an important distiction.
For example, in my experience, creating a Machinima video was a highly structured and educational activity. I only logged in to meet my classmates, scout locations and conduct our video.
I hope that the videos may inspire you to consider using SL in the ways that many other educators have done. What did you think of the SL educational applications?
Hi Eva,
Even though there are some fabulous ways to integrate it, and some very valid educational opportunities, I’m more concerned with the bigger moral implications. I don’t like where SL is going, it feels too much like “The Game” the Star Trek: Next Generation episode. Maybe it’s an irrational stand, which is very well could be, as at 28 years old I’m a seasoned gamer who has spent hours, days, weeks, months, and maybe even years playing games (though I do fall short of diaper-wearing to stay playing, I’ve pulled all-nighters and forgotten to eat). I guess I need to examine why I have such an emotional response to it, but thank you for sharing it as a good example of what can be done!
I agree with Rebecca on this one. Second Life has the potential to be Pandora’s Box. Great rewards with potential negative impacts. Prior to having my two daughters, I would often spend time playing video games of various nature but none were as time consuming as massive multiplayer online games. Although Second Life isn’t as much of a game as an online world, I still feel that it could be very addictive in nature and would never present it to my classrooms. For those who don’t remember, I teach a technology program that focuses on programming and technical support. The perfect type of student that could fall into a downward spiral of gaming addiction. I fully support gaming as an activity and still think it’s a valid educational tool but worry about certain types of escapism games such as Second Life.
I found editing my avatar impossible. I followed the instructions, then watched the video and right clicked on my avatar but nothing came up. I selected the clothing icon, clicked on several different things and hit save but nothing happened. I have never been a gamer – likely due to my lack […]
Continue reading Jen’s Avatar Posted in: General
Oh my goodness. Let me step out of student role for a second and say that your post here about winding up in the dark room and being stuck just made my day, I actually am near tears of laughter. I was feeling uncomfortable about the whole secondlife thing and actually did not download it to my computer, although I did create my avatar. Thank you for lightening the mood.
Thanks to you both for trying this exercise with a sense of humour. I recall that 2 years ago, when I attempted SL the first time, I was not even able to walk properly. It took time and watching videos to learn.
Jenn – I think your avatar looks good (even from the back)! You should be proud, as I think you manged well to build it. By the way, you would just have to view yourself from the front through the camera controls, to take a shot from the front. If you want to get out of the dark room, just go to destinations and teleport yourself out of there. You could try going to the USC campus, where we were in our video. However, don’t worry about the learning curve. I think you have done very well considering the obstacles.
I had a 2nd Life account years ago, but never ventured beyond beginner’s island. Perhaps I’ll give it a better try this time. You might find me wandering around sometime.
Continue reading Peggy’s Avatar Posted in: Week 12:
Hi Peggy,
Thank you for sharing you avatar. You mentioned that you after you had tried Second Life, you didn’t really continue using and I was wondering why that was? Also, being someone who had seen it in previous versions I am curious if it is different now and if so, would that encourage you to use it more often?
Julie
It’s hard to remember why I stopped, as this sort of stuff usually sucks me in, like Rebecca’s gambler. I suspect I was too busy with enough other things that it was better to quit before i got too deeply immersed. As I recall I never left the small introductory island where new avatars were born.
Hi Peggy,
I myself only checked SL out a couple of years ago, but never ventured further. Thanks to this project, I have now, and I’m glad I did. Like a lot of these tools, you never use them unless ‘forced’ to by circumstance. However, I intend to use it to engage students in my EFL classes. It’s great for role playing in all sorts of environments!
Hi everyone – from Jamaica! (No, not a holiday, unfortunately. I’m here to help a group of MET graduates launch a new venture – a non-profit enterprise called EdTech Jamaica that intends to provide national leadership in every aspect of learning technologies implementation here. A grand and worthwhile vision – hopefully it is an inspiration […]
Continue reading Posting Your A3 Posted in: Announcements
Should we include a personal reflection in the ventures forum or should be email that to you?
Here is my new Vehitar look. I received a few quizzical comments from other avatars on my choice to be a car. This was particularly funny to me since one of the avatars questioning me was a monkey with a goat head and wings…and I was the odd one? 🙂 The image below is the […]
Continue reading Ken’s Avatars Posted in: Week 12:
Hi Ken,
Great choice with the car! I wonder though (because I too am still a beginner to Second Life) does choosing a car over a person minimize certain abilities in your actions? Does it change how you enter and move around inside somewhere?
Julie
I didn’t have any issues driving or flying about…I didn’t spend time trying to figure out how to dance though. Maybe being a car would have caused some issues?
Thank you for your engagement and participation in this week’s OER on Voice, Touch and Gesture. The points you contributed and the questions you posed not only challenged us to ask critical questions about our topic, but helped us further evaluate and refine our thinking about its future potential. We have seen voice, touch and […]
Continue reading Very big thanks from the Voice, Touch and Gesture team. Posted in: General
Advantages, Disadvantages and Future Potential Post your thoughts on the questions from the ‘Reflections’ section of the OLE site here.
Continue reading Week 12: INTERACTIVITY 3: CLOSING THE CIRCLE Posted in: General, Week 12:
My school board uses Desire2Learn as its main LMS. Most teachers that I have seen use D2L as a mode of delivering classroom notes and lectures to students that may miss a class or want to review a lesson. Very few teachers take advantage of all of the tools that could contribute to an OLE- calendar, dropbox, online quizzes, Elluminate, etc. The advantages that I see of OLE’s are its ability to encourage an independent learner and a collaborative, engaging online learning environment. Students seem to enjoy taking control of their own learning and a constructivist learning environment is designed to foster true understanding rather than rote memorization. Some disadvantages that I see are the potentially time-consuming nature of these projects for teachers to initially set up, which may be a negative factor. Creating an OLE could require minimum technology specifications that may not be available to all students.
Thanks for pointing out how many people are not fully using the tools available to them. I often feel this way myself when trying to incorporate new technology. I think the problem often comes down to training and time to learn. I see the many advantages of OLE and as you pointed out collaboration and learner control seem to be the biggest strengths. I thin kthe disadvantages come from teacher/student/parent adoption of these resources. Many perceptions will need to be changed to take advantage of the newer strategies. Some decision makers and parents may have a hard time with these approaches as they might be too far from the traditional approaches that they have become accustomed to. Time and training will be needed if educators really want to maximize the benefits of an OLE.
For me an I am finding that I am agreeing with Hannafin et al (1999, p. 139) as stated in question 2. There are too many technologies out there and the development of new technologies is definitely not slowing down. But then again I think that we as educators are looking for one system delivery to do everything for us. There should not be a catch all system for this because if there was then the complexity would have to be massive to incorporate all of the educational elements required. This then as a result would make it more complicated and more difficult to use.
I am starting to think that smaller bespoke technologies can provide excellent services to niche markets, still have a viable business model and be less time consuming for educators to develop.
These then could be able to integrate into a larger system if necessary.
This modular approach to learning technologies and delivery is the way education is delivered now, for example we dont see teachers being able to teach Maths, science, autocad and non linear editing. It just would not be practical. Why are we expecting a technology to be easy to set up and to do everything?
Great point regarding us wanting technology to do it all. Part of the problem is that that’s how it is often marketed; but yes, it is not easy to set up. One thing is the tool itself, that may be user friendly, but creating the appropriate learning content is another matter. As we say in Mexico ” Feed something peanuts, you get monkeys.” If we don’t want monkeys, we need to start ‘feeding’ these tools more than just peanuts! 🙂
1. As a teacher or student, have you come across situations where an OLE has or has not been used to its full potential?
I used Desire to Learn with my students for a few years but I did not have much success because I found students did not use the tool to its full capability. I would set up multiple functions in my shell for students but they either did not use them at all or used them on a very surface level. As a teacher, I found his to be very disappointing because there was so much potential to extend learning but I did not get a lot of buy-in from the students. I felt like I was putting in so much effort to customize this tool but not all the students were using what I was putting time and effort into. I did have some students who benefited a lot from this tool and in the end I think that is the main factor to focus on. Not all children will respond to tools in the same way but as long as it is impacting some students, it has worth. I know of many other situations in which D2L shells have been very successful. Hence, I do not think it is the tool. Sometimes it just depends on who you are working with. I want to try using this tool again because I feel like I may have very different results now that I am working with a different population of learners.
2. Hannafin et al (1999, p. 139) argue that there are too many resources out there, and given the growth in both technology and information, this trend will continue. They ask, “How can we not only make existing resources more available to support learning, but accommodate future developments in each? It seems unlikely that we will be able to maintain pace using resource-embedded designs.”
I disagree with the notion that there are too many tools out there. I think the more tools there are the better. Different tools appeal to different learners and help with differentiation. As the world changes, elements in our environment need to constantly change and adapt. Hence, educational tools also need to change and adapt in order to meet the needs of individuals in the changing society. It is definitely difficult keeping up with changing technology but the only way to do so is to make sure teachers are offered PD and resources to stay current and trained. Another crucial element would be BYOD. A lot of times the reason there is a lag with technology in educational institutions is because of a lack of funding. Many children already have the latest gadgets at home so it makes sense to allow them to bring these tools to school for educational purposes.
3. In your opinion, what are the advantages and disadvantages of OLEs and what is their future potential?
Some advantages of OLE’s:
Differentiation of content
– Improved access
Versatility
Student accommodation
Engagement of learners (students can relate to digital tools)
-Increased avenues for interaction
-Empowerment for all learners (Learners feel comfortable to share their thoughts)
-Efficient tracking and feedback capability
-Flexibility
OLE’s have some disadvantages such as:
– Teachers need to put in a lot of time and effort
-Students lack face-to face interaction
-Students may engage in off task or inappropriate activities
-Teachers need to be vigilant and mindful of interactions
-Parents may be concerned about their children using too much technology
I believe that OLE’s have a lot of potential in the future because they can cater to the needs of all types of learners and can make learning interactive. Education is moving more and more towards forms of distant learning. For example, they are talking about structuring High school in a different manner in Calgary. They want to allow student sot take courses in the time frame that suits them, to go and write computerized exams when they have completed their course and to complete a lot of this self-directed learning online. The vision is to make High school more of an independent leaning environment where students can choose to take course at their pace and through the means that suits them best. Students will still be able to go and receive instruction from a physical classroom but the majority of their learning will not be based in a formatted school setting. This example shows that the way learning is delivered is changing. Tools such as OLE’s are essential for learning to take place in this manner.
Nureen
Nureen,
As I sat down to write my reflections on OLE, I saw your post. You hit many of the points I wanted to make about the advantages and disadvantages of OLE.
I am interested to see how the high schools in Calgary fair with their new structuring system. I wonder if parents know and are on board with this change. As well, how will the computerized exams look like? All multiple choice? I know from putting exams on Moodle that it takes a lot of time and effort to now insert open or short answer questions onto an exam. Will this be their only assessment? What about students that are not motivated to work on their own? What role do teachers now play? If a student finishes a grade early, so they get to move onto the next one?
I’m not expecting you to know the answers, but if this was coming to my school district, I would have many questions that needed to be answered first.
Lisa
Thank you for your very detailed and thorough reply. I agree PD is the way to go, which is why my venture is geared towards that; granted, my one is for English Language Teachers, but local school boards need to start working in that direction. Teachers are often willing to continue their PD, but at the same time want to make the best of what little time they have, so some guidance I am sure would be welcome.
Your post promoted some interesting doubts that Lisa point out. I’m glad the topic of OLEs and what we’ve learned in this course has raised so many very valid questions. Often the people making decisions to implement technology are not necessarily the best equipped to do so properly. An online OLE is not simply about transporting what we would normally do f2f online. Designing a balanced and well structured OLE is a lot of work; keeping it working properly more so.
Thanks again for both your posts.
(ADVANCED EXERCISE) Post your journal entry about your experience exploring Second Life here and any ideas about how this landscape may lend itself to teaching, now or in the future. If you are a teacher, please give specific examples of how you would consider incorporating SL into your curriculum.
Continue reading Week 12: INTERACTIVITY 2B: EXPLORING SECOND LIFE Posted in: General, Week 12:
I spent some time walking, running, flying, driving, and teleporting around SL. I even made a couple of friends. I was pleased with the ease of navigating and moving around…although I didn’t figure out how to dance at one of the welcome centres. I found that by using the top picks for destinations I was able to see some interesting places. I enjoyed going into the art gallery and actually going into one of the paintings. It was interesting to see on the wall my username as Artist in Residence. (I have never held that title before 🙂 ).
While moving around and seeing how much detail has been added to some landmarks and the various museums available I could see using this as a makeshift field trip option. I will not be taking my students to The Globe in real life, but allowing them to explore the stage and wander around would be interesting. I am still a little unsure of how I would set this up. I could see some issues related to content, students being approached by other users, and maintaining a sense of control that I would want to ensure that my students were safe and protected. Are there ways to do this?
There are quite a few places in SecondLife that have replicas of monuments in there that you can use for a virtual field trip. Here are some links to a couple museums and things:
https://sites.google.com/site/secondlifeu/field-trip-assignment
Just Google it and you will see more. There is also an ‘international schools island’ that I think is still active where you can meet teachers and students and find out more.
On a different note, I once write a research paper on social presence theory and non-verbal cues in 3D virtual worlds. I got a lot of good stuff from a paper called ‘A microethnographic analysis of non-verbal cues in Second Life. The author just teleported to random locations in Second Life and would observe people’s behaviour. Interestingly enough, while most of the built-in gestures were ignored by more sophisticated users, positional or proxemic cues were pretty much the same as in real life. So, for example, two people (avatars) might be talking to one another with bodies slightly out-turned to encourage others to come in and join the conversation. Others might be closed, turned away to block others from joining in the conversation. Incidentally, this area of research is called ‘proxemics’ and it’s pretty interesting. Here’s the microethnography paper:
Thank you for your very thoughtful (and funny) response. I’m glad you had the chance to truly experience SL. I also saw your avatar picture (and your CAR!), which were great.
Second Life used to provide Teen Second Life, which was for certain age groups, however, it seems this no longer exists.
http://www.commonsensemedia.org/website-reviews/second-life
However, you can buy or rent land that is for your class only. In other words, other users would not have access to this area. I completely understand that you would hesitate setting this up if you thought they would be exposed to anyone out there. Believe me, I have seen some scantly dressed avatars and would not feel comfortable letting anyone (of any age in a class) see.
Furthermore, SL has a classification system:
“Land in SL is marked either general or moderate or adult. Those ratings are something like the ratings used by the movie and television industries to denote the age-appropriateness of behavior, language and creations.”
Please read more here:
http://www.uncp.edu/home/acurtis/NewMedia/SecondLife/PGvsMatureSL.html
For example (as stated on the website above),
“General areas are free from sexually explicit language or behavior, swearing and other forms of aggressive language, violent behavior and imagery, and horrific materials.
General regions are areas where you’re free to say and do things that you would feel comfortable doing in front of your grandmother or a grade school class.
There are thousands of general areas in Second Life because adults often seek an experience free of moderate or adult content.
A region of Second Life may be general if it does not have content or activity that’s sexually explicit, violent or depicts nudity. Sexually-oriented objects may not be located or sold in general regions. ”
http://www.uncp.edu/home/acurtis/NewMedia/SecondLife/PGvsMatureSL.html
Thanks for the reply. I was not aware that you good buy “land” or space for your classroom. Are users then invited in once it is established? I did read a notice when I entered one of the rooms for new SL members. It posted a general disclaimer about what type of behaviour and dress was expected in that area.
Yes, you provide invitations. Some areas will simply not allow you, if there are those types of restrictions.
Eva – I am pleased to hear that you can limit access to areas for students. As an elementary school teacher those were my initial thoughts. I found the avatar choices to be somewhat sexual in nature. They reminded me of Barbie dolls with tiny waists, large chests, and long hair. I had hoped to be able to shorten my avatar’s hair but was unable to make this work. I did spend some time walking around and found this relatively easy to do but unlike Ken who found the space easy to use, I found myself quite confused and unsure of where I was and what I was supposed to do while in that space. This was a real turn off for me. I am an A-type personality who likes to know everything up front. I think I may have enjoyed this experience better had I watched the video on how to navigate in the space. I know that some students prefer to learn through exploring but I am not that type of learner. Given that when I teach in the classroom, I teach students under age seven, I don’t see myself incorporating this into my practice. Thinking of older students, I like Ken’s suggestion to use the program for a virtual classroom. I also think the program could be used to let students play and then use their experiences to spark a digital citizenship discussion. The topic of the freedom of anonymity could be a really interesting discussion.
This is how I felt initially too. The avatar that I chose in the initial step kept flicking her hair are moving around in a very sexual nature. As a high school teacher, I feel that young teenage girls are already in a stage where they are trying to figure these things out for themselves, and perhaps they do not need this as a role model. It seemed like all of the initial avatars were very beautiful and skinny. This does encourage students to filter information and things they find on the Internet, but not something that I would necessarily love to deal with as a classroom teacher. It could potentially distract from the learning process as teenagers love to debate both sides of topics such as these.
Just piggy backing on the current discussion…
I also found navigating around pretty straight forward. However, as I teleported around different places, the main thought going through my head was, “ok, this is cool, what do I do now?” Overall it was fun and engaging but I can’t see how I could use second life in its current state in my practice. If you are able to purchase separate rooms with restricted access, it may be possible to structure it in such a way that provides clarity and fluidity for student use. The question then becomes, how much time do we want to invest in the design phase of integrating this technology.
Hi Manny,
I think you are right, it is worth asking about how long it would take to design spaces. From our research of what others have done in SL and educuation, there is a significant time committment required for this type of work.
As for getting lost on your own after a while, it is true, it is critical to have a goal in SL for educational purposes. From our own learning experience as a group, SL was MUCH better to use when we were all together in a group. It was as if we met on campus and finally saw each other and could interact in real-time. It seemed much more gratifying than skype. In our case, we were collaborating on making a virtual film. However, if our teacher had instructed us to view different stations on the campus and discuss in Spanish (as one of the space was a Spanish course SIM), it would also have been very interesting and appropriate to learning Spanish. We wanted to create a time where people could all meet in the class, but decided against it, as we were afraid that the complexity of learning this in one week would work against the success.
Hi Jen, thanks for your reply and sharing your thoughts about using this with a younger audience. I can very much understand some of your reservations. A few things to keep in mind are, that it takes time to get used to SL. When I first used SL a few years ago, I was so frustrated that I stopped using it for a few years! Second, you can curate a highly structured experience for students within a space in SL. Did you get a chance to see the video of Sloodle? In no way are we suggesting that this would be easy to implement or even appropriate for all age groups, (likely better for more mature students), but from our research we felt that there were many professors doing some amazing work in SL to create rich experiences. I would say, similar to what one of the nursing students said in our Duke University video said, going to campus is still her #1 way to interact, but SL is the next best option. Other videos also make the case that one should use SL for things that are impossible in real life.
As for the look of your avatar – I do think you can completely change the look of your hair to shorter. Since you can have an avatar that is not even in a human form, rather in animal forms, I think you could eliminate the sexualized element of the avatars. if you noticed, our avatars in our intro video were dressed somewhat professionally. For example, Adriana’s avatar was wearing a blazer. In the Duke University video it also depicts the professor in a professional outfit. It is just a matter of customizing the avatar. I do agree, that the initial options are somewhat Barbie-like.
It is important to note that SL, as your feedback indicates, is used by a wide range of users, and perhaps a greater ‘protection’ of educational areas would be important in the evolution of education in SL.
Thanks for trying, despite the difficulties and also for sharing your thoughts.
As I have explored Second Life in the past for my personal and potential classroom learning, I always struggled with where the technology was, and where our thinking the technology could take us.
I agree with others, that the potential for this environment is huge – be it science experiments – doing that which safety regulations no longer allow us to do, or are physically impossible, shrink down to the size cells or molecules, or travel the universe. In History/Social Studies – visit historic sites in their prime, or partake in famous battles, etc…
And because of these thoughts, I was reminded of the following book:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ready_Player_One
A reality where education is facilitated through a virtual environment, where education can happen regardless of budget concerns, or even safety. Where the technology facilitates any pedagogy, not limits it.
For me, when this day occurs, we will have truly created a virtual open learning environment, that could meet the needs of each kid, providing extensions and remedial work as necessary, quickly and easily.
Thoughts?
Thank you, Tom, for your visionary response. I get the sense from your response that you see what virtual reality can bring to education. I like your descriptions of shrinking down to cell size. I know that this would impact scientific learning in a revolutionary way.
Thank you also for the book reference. I have not read it, but now I will. I read the synopsis and it is very much related to this topic. Perhaps how Blandrunner is realted to AI.
I am glad you bring up budget, as this is truly one of the most limiting factors in education these days. Furthermore, the physical boundaries that exist will be elimited to some degree. For example, my thesis work will research how we can teach film production online. This would normally be unheard of, however, through the process of Machinima (filming in Second Life), we can offer almost all lessons related to filmmaking, online for anyone at a distance, and for a fraction of the cost (essentially, almost free compared to thousands of dollars in the traditional form). There are of course cons to every new technology (such as access, broadband, risks of VR, etc), but I believe the potential of virtual worlds in the context of education far outweight the drawbacks.
I am interested in your last statement, about providing remedial work. This reminds me of the NYC school (school of one?) that we were introduced to a few weeks ago. Are you perhaps saying that whatever virtual schooling we conduct can be structured in a similar way?
Thansk for your excitment.
Hi Eva,
It’s been fun creating an Avatar and playing around in Second Life.
It might still be too early for me to speak of the learning potential of this OLE as the Noob that I am to SL. I agree with Tom and others that it shows promise for Research and other creative projects.
So far however, I do not see how it provides a significant advantage over something like Moodle on its own and other MOOCs projects. I’ve looked at the Sloodle presentation online for example, and there seem some interesting possibilities in scaffolded learning, role-play, and co-creation. But these also come with significant time commitments to this environment, and whether and how much there is to take away from the ultimate experience – anecdotes of meeting the love of your life on SL etc, not withstanding – remains to be seen. Lmk if you have any thoughts and cheers!
I actually had a pretty hard time with this activity. Setting up my account and choosing and initial Avatar was fine but once I got into Second Life, I had lots of issues. It took me a very long time to change my avatar because the loading times were very slow. I was getting purple and pink shadow that were blocking out most of my screen. I tried teleporting to different areas but the shadows would not go away and this made it difficult for me to see what was in my surrounding.
While watching all the videos this week I started warming up to this type of virtual learning because I began to think about all the possibilities. I really liked that students could actually visit places and experience what they were like rather than just reading about them or seeing pictures. However, I have to say that there would be a lot of frustration and loss of interest if my students had to go through the same issues as I did.
Overall, this was an interesting experience and I really did learn a lot. I am sure it will get easier for me with more exploration and I may not have the shadows if I try using a different device.
I think I would use the exploration capabilities of this tool to help my Social Studies class to gain an in depth understanding of places we are studying. This way they can actually immerse themselves in the surrounds, artifacts and culture of the place they are studying.
Nureen
Hi Nureen,
Thanks for your posting. As for the slow times of loading, this is a common issue with SL. It simply requires a fast connection and there is little way around it.
I’m glad, despite the issues, you were able to see the potential of SL. I think, as many have experienced technical issues, SL requires a very extensive introduction by any professor. However, once you get the hang of it, the possibilities are endless. I like your idea of using SL for a social studies lessons.It is important to remember that SL is for 18+ at this point. However, you could curate a tour and even have your own spaces that are limited, where other avatars (uninvited) cannot enter. Once you have this set up, it would be a very engaging way to navigate spaces that you are referring to in your class (even if it is you at the front of the class or allow other students to take over).
Thanks for your point of view.
Exploring second life is not natural with the mouse keyboard functionality – but then I saw the suggestion of the 3D mouse and that has opened up a whole new world for me. I would definitely think that using that interaction would be more natural and become almost instinctive.
At 299 dollars Santa would want to be really nice this year. Fingers crossed
Week 12: INTERACTIVITY 2A: POSTING YOUR AVATAR PICTURE Please POST your avatar image using the following instructions: How to upload avatar photo from Adriana del Paso
Continue reading Week 12: INTERACTIVITY 2A: POSTING YOUR … Posted in: General, Week 12:
I have created my initial Avatar and have changed the look but I am unable to load my pics here. Any ideas on how to do that? Is there a way to link them from SL so people can go look there? If you want to look for me I am Stack 33. My original avatar was the Male Student. Now I have chosen a Vehitar (the black car). If you want I can create a new post on the main page, but it will cause a lot of traffic there if everyone does that. Let me know what you would like.
Hi Ken,
Thanks for pointing this out. I do not know how as well. I have created a page within our site to do this. Please post your avatar here http://etec522openlearningenvironments.weebly.com/post-your-avatars-here.html.
Ken, please ignore. This is true OLE in action. We will get back to you ASAP on this.
Please post your avatars here: http://etec522openlearningenvironments.weebly.com/post-your-avatars-here.html.
Thanks.
Please ignore, we will get back to you ASAP on this.
Testing
Hi Everyone,
To post your avatar, you have to go to the Dashboard, choose ad a post, and embed the picture of your avatar. Please Tag it to Week 12.
Sorry about the inconvenience, we did not realize you could not upload pictures to replies.
Good luck,
Eva, Sophia, Julie & Adriana
Here’s a quick slideshare to help http://www.slideshare.net/pasoadriana/how-to-upload-avatar-photo. We will post it on our site, too.
When I did my application for the ADE (Apple Distinguished Educator) program, we had to make a video about ourselves that showcased what we could do (and said lots of nice things about Apple, of course) and so I did mine as a machinima, using a 3D avatar in a virtual world. At the time, you could use a product from evolver.com where you just uploaded a picture of yourself, picked the clothes and stuff and it made an avatar for you. Then, autodesk bought the company and shut down the free site. Here’s the video, if anyone wants to see it. The whole thing takes place in a Teletubbie’s tummy. It was a lot of fun to make:
Great image! ? I was unable to find a video on the main page. Not sure if it is on my end, but it was blank. Would definitely like to see it.
For some reason it is no longer working as an embedded video and even the link it a bit wonky. I will have to try to work out what went wrong in my wordpress after I updated it. But if you still want to see my silly little video, this should work:
http://teacherben.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Ben_Cooperman_ADE.mov
🙂
I haven’t been able to create an avatar because I receive a message saying that my “video card drivers did not install properly, are out of date, or are for unsupported hardware”.
Before you publish your posting, please make sure that you select a category (eg. Introductions) as well as assign some meaningful tags (keywords).
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jenbarker 12:31 pm on November 26, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Colin,
I really enjoyed your pitches. Which program did you use? I use iMovie and would love to know how to impose graphics alongside my image. Your elevator pitch was great and included enough key information to catch my attention. Your Venture Pitch demonstrated the pain point, solution, and differentiation of your idea. You provided examples of your competition and reasons why your product is better. Your ask and return were clear too. I liked how you mixed graphics with the video of you speaking. You conveyed enthusiasm and knowledge of your topic. The only weakness I saw was similar to what you pointed out, I am not sure that the CEO’s background experience is enough to champion this venture. Here I might have added some fictional information to your CEO and additional executive team member to garner more credibility. Overall, I thought you venture was great. Thanks for sharing, Jen
Colin 7:17 pm on November 26, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thank-you Jen, the elevator pitch was my experiment with PowerPoint and the venture pitch was all done Adobe Premiere Pro. I agree that I could have made a fictional executive team to make it more believable as my experience wouldn’t be enough to make it successful.
joeltremblay 4:21 pm on November 26, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hey Colin,
Great presentation values. The talking heads feel suitably hi tech and I thought that the elevator and concepts were really well thought out. Good job.
Jonathan 9:16 pm on November 26, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Colin —
Awesome. Adobe Premiere Pro? Were the background images already given as samples or did you need to recreate them? Did you have to green screen it to make it work? With respect to your virtual world idea — i’d say that the way you did the video matched it very well.
So back to the video! — 🙂 Experiment with powerpoint? How was it done?
My favourite part of it was the connection with your virtual world to an LMS — that to me makes this an important feature that we (as teachers don’t currently have). I’m curious as to how these assignments will tie into the LMS though. Other than that — I’d say you have my money!
Colin 9:07 pm on November 27, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Jonathan, no I used free video backgrounds and then just removed the blue screen and replaced it with this video. The Elevator pitch was done in PowerPoint where I had only one slide with animations all timed out. Then exported to video in PowerPoint. It worked okay but I do like Adobe Premiere Pro better.
tomwhyte1 10:10 am on November 27, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
To facilitate and objectively review the venture pitch you have put forward, I will be utilizing the guidelines provided within our course, Section 2.7 – Deconstructing a Pitch.
CEO & Team:
The CEO of V-Project appears credible, convey’s confidence in this venture, and has experienced the development and implementation of this project into a traditional classroom environment, and witnessed the potential of this approach in other educational settings. Unfortunately, no information was provided regarding the rest of V-Projects team, therefore a firm assessment of their ability to manage a start-up to a successful venture cannot be provided at this time.
Venture Concept:
Even though the concept of virtual worlds is now commonplace within the world of educational technology, thanks to such ventures as Second Life, the specific focus of this venture for distance learning, when combined with the ability for institutions or individuals to rent spaces, provide historical recreations, purchase individual courses, and even offer online tutoring services, sets this venture apart. From the information provided, it appears that this company has done the pre-requisite research to determine its potential viability, however before investing a review of this literature would need to occur. Overall though, V-Projects is an interesting concept, that deserves further review.
Marketability:
V-Projects discusses the potential of going global with this service, however specific information regarding potential customer base is lacking, making guesses on market size, share and potential revenue difficult to complete at this. Further information is needed in this area to determine if there is enough need for this market to ensure its success. As for this companies competitive edge, they have provided intriguing features that most schools and teachers would like, such as the ability to control elements such as language and clothing, as well as bullying safety features, all of which are necessary in an online learning environment. A potential concern for investors is the use of the Open Source software as the foundation for this online learning environment. While, this company has made enhancements and additions, further research into the legal requirements of sharing these (due to the open source movement), puts into question the innovative advantages they currently possess.
Venture Plan:
V-Projects is currently in Beta Testing, and feels with a small investment will be able to enter the market, and within 5 years return this investment. This will be accomplished through what appears to be a freemium model, with additions of course purchasing, space rental, and tutoring services, each of which provides good revenue sources to make this venture a success. Overall, before investing I would like to experience proof of concept, and investigate the infrastructure V-Projects has set-up to ensure a consistent and effective online presence.
Pat A Son 11:32 pm on November 27, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Colin
You are certainly a confident and credible CEO and your venture has a certain appeal to me. However you did not provide any information about your team but I am willing to overlook this omission and rate this venture on the impression you have made via your pitches.
As for your venture it is certainly viable and you have assembled a credible set of tools that makes for a believable platform for learning in a 3D environment. However I have are some major concerns about your venture.
The first is I believe that the open source license requires that all modified source code be made available in the spirit of openness to facilitate further development of the software. Yet you speak of a proprietary design for your product. The second is that I do not see virtual worlds as a replacement for current LMS but extension to them. I make this claim against the theory of multiple intelligences from which we can predict that all students would not prefer virtual worlds. As for control I believe that simply recording all activities and letting this be agreed to upon signup will be a more efficient way of managing deviant behavior.
On the issue of competition I would have liked to get more detail on what gives your product the competitive edge over other similar products.
Education has been slow in adopting IT technology and I am not sure that it will readily accept something as sophisticated as 3d technology at the moment.
You have a very good venture that needs to be tweaked as I have suggested but I am afraid that it is ahead of its time and as such I would not invest in it right now. Nevertheless you did a great job and I am truly impressed.
Cheers
Patason
visramn 3:33 pm on November 28, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Collin,
I think this is a great idea but I think most educational systems are still too far behind in term of their current technological use to be able to take on such a brilliant learning approach. I do however feel that a tool like this would definitely be very successful in the future. Your pitch and venture analysis were extremely engaging. I was drawn in and wanted to learn more. You did a phenomenal job with the technical components of this assignment. You were very confident as the CEO of the company and your mannerisms, tone of voice and body language were a plus point. This confidence made me have belief in your product. You used the term ‘we’ throughout your presentation. Hence, you were referring to your team but your team was not mentioned. Other than that, I thought you did a great job.
Thanks for sharing this excellent work. It is inspiring to see how a project such as this can be made engaging through aesthetics. .Your effort is evident. You are a talented guy.
Nureen
jameschen 2:06 pm on November 29, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Colin,
I enjoyed watching your elevator pitch. You provided information on most of the important points in an elevator pitch, and if your pain point was followed by the product differentiation my interests would be stirred even more. The 100% return on investment in 5 years sounds good if there are figures in the venture pitch to back it up.
Thanks for a solid presentation.
James
Scott 12:13 pm on November 30, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Colin, the careful preparation and professional delivery of your pitch make it quite credible and convincing.
Many of my colleagues have already touched on the strengths and weaknesses of the pitch in terms of the criteria presented in this course. As Tom also mentioned, I particularly appreciated your attention to the subject of accountability for students actions in the virtual environment you outlined – the concern for cyberbullying would be foremost in the minds of my schools administrators with such a product. I also concur, that further details regarding your management team would add to the strength of the pitch.
In my naïve knowledge of virtual environments, the concept as presented seems sound, though I remain somewhat perplexed by the benefit of its open source SIM foundation which is then combined with other propriety features. In the end, is it open source?
While the exact size of the market remains a bit vague, in general I can foresee a potential market for this venture in the future. With the venture plan proposed and the financial details provided, the success of the venture appears fairly high. In the end however, due to my own lack of understanding of the technology in general, I would not invest in the venture.
As a final comment and one which could apply easily to other pitches and how the assignment instructions in general are being interpreted – I’m not certain an 8min video pitch is the best ‘medium for this message’. The production value was high in this video and the lower 3rd graphics helped, but in the end, I feel lengthy video pitches of this nature, are at risk of becoming too densely packed with information – I might prefer reading and lingering over the details of this and others pitches instead.
melissaayers 2:41 pm on November 30, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Colin,
Great pitches and use of video! I am impressed you were able to do this with the tools you listed you used.
In your elevator pitch you clearly identify a pain point (high costs and not appealing alternatives) and what the proposed product you pitch will do to minimize this. The product/service you want to provide is succinctly describe and you ask clearly for an investment and identify how it will be used and when it will be paid back. Based on the elevator pitch, its content and professional feel I definitely was drawn to go learn more and review the venture pitch.
Despite the fact I think you have a great idea and concept as an EVA I am not sure I would invest in this venture. This is purely for the reason that I think currently the cost of developing this venture’s product/services (with current development technologies) will be quite high and I am not sure investors would be able to get a decent return on investment.
Thanks,
Melissa
sophiabb 10:59 am on December 1, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Colin,
Great use of PowePoint and Adobe Premiere. I found your elevator pitch very credible. It addressed your product, problem, solution, target market and ask.
I concur with another colleague that an 8 min video is not necessarily the best medium for the venture pitch, but you did an excellent job with it.
Your presentation of your product demonstrated your research into how to leverage the affordances of virtual worlds for project=based learning, attention to potential risks such as cyber bullying and plans to mitigate.
Your ask and return were clearly stated. Your market was identified but I could have liked more information on the size of the market to be better able to ascertain financial feasibility. However, your marketing/revenue plans were of different revenue options to investors are attractive and are options that I would be open to learning more about.
While you came across as a confident and credible CEO I would need more information on your team’s relevant skill sets and abilities to design, plan and implement a business of this nature to inform my decision to invest or not.
Overall, an intriguing venture proposition. One that I would invite a submission of a business plan.
Sophia