Learning about Genetics in Second Life

I’ve been working on our Educational Uses of Second Life wiki resource this evening - a huge task that’s only getting bigger as the fabulous examples of education in Second Life keep on coming!

Anyway, I visited a bunch of places, but tonight’s stand-out was definitely Genome Island (SLurl) .

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Developed by Professor Mary Anne Clark aka Max Chatnoir, a Professor at Texas Wesleyan University, the Island is focussed on using Second Life to teach genetics. Using the building and scripting tools in Second Life, Max has created laboratories where her students can take part in virtual experiments that produce analyzable data.

Here I am checking out the results of a experiment that was first done by Thomas Hunt Morgan in 1910 on the genetics of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster.

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The Island is also designed as a place where students and other residents can meet and talk with professional geneticists. It includes a range of interesting areas, including:

Here I am inside the Eukaryatoic Cell, trying desperately to click on the Excytotic Versicle so I can escape! ;)

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Here I am hanging out with the mixollamas - a crazy bunch of virtual creatures that are very handy for learning about genomes and how the recombination of genetic traits determined by different pairs of alleles is a powerful mechanism for generating diversity in a population.

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One more interesting discovery - Dr. Clark also produces music based on protein sequences, which she has presented in Second Life.

If Science had been this cool when I was at school I would have paid way more attention! ;)

Busy in Real Life & Second Life!

It’s been a busy month, both in Second Life and in the real world… but I haven’t forgotten this blog! ;) Time to catch up on a few things - including some stuff that I really should have linked to weeks ago!

eNetworks and the Australasian Second Life Showcase

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We delivered 2 presentations presentations for the Australian Flexible Learning Framework’s E-Learning Network’s e-Trends Online Conference. Check out the proceedings and recordings on the conference website - including Sean’s fantastic presentation on Virtual Worlds which you can listen to here (recorded Elluminate session).

We also presented an In-world Event: Showcasing Australasian Educational Projects in Second Life - which was a hoot. Representatives from a range of educational projects came and shared their ideas and expertise and we have a great crowd of educators with us at the event. Sean’s written a great blog post about the event here, and also done a great job of putting together the event documentation. View the slides from the event below:

The slides can also be viewed in-world at Jo and Sean’s Virtual Meeting Space: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Wasp/74/31/86/

The generosity of our presenters was amazing and I think the crowd enjoyed hearing about the projects they are working on. It was certainly a thrill to ‘max out our sim’ with 40 participants at our space in Wasp for much of the event. A great learning curve for us too - which has given me lots of ideas about how we can explore running mixed-reality events and conferences in Second Life.

Relaxing at the Learnscope Lounge

Yesterday we held the first of two workshops for NSW LearnScope - focussed on helping people find their feet and get started in Second Life.

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The sessions went well I think, and we managed to move a group of 15 newbies around to a few spaces in Second Life including our space in Second Life - Jo and Sean’s Virtual Meeting Space, Terra Incognita (SLurl) - Decka Mah’s fantastic action learning Island, the Heart Murmur Sim (SLurl) - where we saw a great example fo training in Second Life and Prim Hearts Amusement Park (SLurl) - which has some fantastic rides.

As part of supporting these events, I’ve established the LearnScope Lounge in-world.

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It provides a base for the participants from our workshops to use during their explorations. The Lounge is an example of how easy it is to setup a simple space the group to use as a meeting point, and includes a bunch of tools and resources including notecards for newbies, our slides and resources and some examples of cool tools including Angrybeth’s Whiteboards, a Podcaster and free virtual Learnscope t-shirts (Virtual Schwag!)

All NSW LearnScope particpants are welcome to visit and use the resources. I’ll be maintaining the space until the end of August. Visit @ http://slurl.com/secondlife/Wasp/10/90/89.

An Island?…..

In the last month or so we’ve been busily working on some new plans in-world…. including exploring options for purchasing and establishing our very own virtual Island. I can’t decide what to call it though….. Suggestions in the comments greatly appreciated! ;)

I’ll reveal more in the very near future, and am excited by the prospect of a new challenge in Second Life - planning and implementing my very own Island is an exciting prospect! I’m especially interested in developing some more extensive orientation resources for our participants in-world, as well as spaces for arts, community and educational projects.

Coming Up…

The next few weeks are likely to be busy too - with Session 2 of our Getting Started in Second Life workshops for NSW Learnscope Team Members, a session for the NMC TeacherBuzz group, an eNetworks 2007 Tour, a Knowledge Tree podcast and the kick-off of the Sydney Institute’s Second Life project…… so I better get back to work! ;)

HYPAR Hands-On in Second Life!

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Sean and I had the pleasure of presenting some workshops at the HYPAR Hands-On Workshop last Friday.

For those who don’t know ‘TAFE-speak’, the HYPAR program is a focussed on working with young people aged 15 to 19, and is designed to help the most disadvantaged young people in the community to engage in education and build pathways to further education or employment. For further info about HYPAR, check out their Hyparpaedia on Wikispaces or visit the EngageMe website.

Anyway, during the presentation, we provided an overview of some of the educational uses of Second Life, showed some videos, talked about both the Teen and Adult Grids and attempted to get everyone in world for a bit of an explore.

Despite some technical difficulties, I think most participants got an idea of how Second Life could be used. It was definitely exciting for us to hear how teachers working with youth at risk from a range of subject areas including construction, IT, communications, general education and many more are contemplating using virtual worlds with their students.

You can download the workshop material below:

You may also be interested in some of the online resources we shared during the workshop including:

We didn’t manage to get to all of them - but some of the places and spaces we recommended to participants included:

And I still can’t resist this video as a good overview of Second Life (you gotta love ‘the voice’!)

Coming Up Soon…..

Our next online event is coming up - check out the E-Learning Network’s Online Conference website for more info! ;)

Favourite Projects: Metal:ED

I’ve been creating a digital story in the last day or so, with Michael Pitt - one of the eLearning Champions I have the pleasure of working with.

Michael has given a fantastic overview of the Metal:ED Project - which has had significant professional development impacts for all involved - including me!

So a big thanks to Michael and the Metal:ED team - you have achieved some great stuff in the last 12mths, and you definitely make my day job easier! ;)

Moblogging for International Women’s Day!

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The women from the CEEW class and the Communication and Media Diploma students at Wollongong Campus came together today for a Moblogging event for International Women’s Day.

Using some PDAs and cameras, we took photos of each other and recorded some comments. The Diploma students even took video of the event and interviewed participants.

You can check out our Moblog Site here.

Discussing Virtual Worlds with the Networks Community Forum

There’s an interesting discussion going on over at the AFLF 2007 Networks Community Forum focussed on virtual worlds, and after a nice plug from Anne Paterson, I had to jump in and add my two cents.

As the message I posted is pretty relevent to the discussions I’ve been having with others about Second Life and it’s educational uses, I’ve decided to post it here too. (After all - we all know how easily comments in forums can get lost, deleted or otherwise disappeared!)

Soo.. here goes. Originally posted here - and republished below….

Re: Second Life and other Virtual Worlds

by Joanna Kay - Friday, 2 March 2007, 05:00 PM

Thanks for the kind feedback Anne! Great to hear you enjoyed the tours we did last year for ENetworks! ;)

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Image: Second Life Tour - eNetworks Event, Sept 2006.

There are some additional resources, including presentation notes, comics and slides developed by Sean FitzGerald and myself on our Second Life in Education wiki.

I’d like to chime in with Aaron and agree that Second Life allows us all access to a thriving community of educators who are exploring the use of 3D virtual environments. For further information on the Second Life education community visit the SimTeach Second Life Education wiki.

Over the last 12mths I have made some fantastic contacts and explored a range of techniques for using the Second Life platform. I’ve also learnt to build and create 3D environments and objects for various purposes - including educational uses, from a fantastic bunch of Second Life ‘residents’ willing to share their skills with the community. It’s been an inspiring time for me, and I do believe that 3D virtual worlds will offer a wealth of opportunity for teaching and learning in the future.

Whether Second Life is the platform that we end up with years down the track is most definitely up for discussion. It cannot be denied that there are some limitations - including bandwidth requirements, firewall limitations, need for high spec hardware and the growing pains being experienced at the moment in terms of concurrent users.

Ultimately, I personally hope that open-source 3D environments continue to gain momentum. C’mon Open Croquet.. and peer-to-peer options like Outback will definitely have exciting applications!

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Image: Sean and Jo drumming in Second Life

However, at the moment the Second Life platform is the most advanced option we have access to, and I believe important to explore, experiment and trial for use in education. The virtual worlds pedagogies, standards for 3D environments, technical solutions and skills in 3D virtual worlds facilitation, which all being explored and developed now by the educational community in Second Life, will definitely inform how the future metaverse might look.

It’s exciting to be a part of that discussion/exploration, and important to note that any facilitation, building or technical skills developed in Second Life will definitely have application in the 3D virtual worlds of the future.

For Jen, and any others interested in exploring Second Life, I wanted to provide a few SLurls for you to consider exploring:

Sean and I also use BlogHUD (a tool for blogging from within SL) to keep track of our travels in-world. Visit here and here for more SLurls to explore.

You can also visit us at our Virtual Meeting Space in Second Life, which we have designed as a space for teachers and students to use to explore Second Life whilst having fun. Drop over and read the virtual books in our library, go for a balloon or boat ride, watch a piece of machinima, play some virtual games or join the virtual drumming circle. Visit: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Wasp/42/78/82/

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Image: Jo and Sean’s Virtual Meeting Space in Second Life.

Looking forward to meeting some of you in Second Life soon,

Regards,

Jo Kay
Email: joannamkay@gmail.com
Second Life: jokay Wollongong
Blog: http://jokay.com.au

PS. For those after some basic instructions to get you started in Second Life, there’s a little guide here that you might find useful.

PPS. We are available to provide inworld tours and Second Life workshops for educators again this year. Drop us an email if you’d like more info.

Learning at Virtual Roma

One of the things I love doing most in Second Life is exploring new places and spaces - especially those places that draw new communities together or allow for immersive experiences.

Today I finally found the time to explore a fabulous example of Second Life being used to make a historical re-creation…. Roma - an Ancient Roman themed sim owned and created by Second Life resident Torin Golding.

You can read a great interview with Torin by Sphere Gasser at Slatenite.com. You can also read an article and view a video tour of Roma by Rikomatic.

Here I am learning some basic Latin at Customs House - the arrival point which houses labeled barrels that contain notecards with all the information new visitors need to start exploring. This works quite well as an orientation, and provided me with a list of places and activities to check out during my visit. I also picked up a free toga here… because in Second Life it’s important to look the part! ;)

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The Roma Sim includes four quarters, each containing districts with various activities and areas to explore.

In the Arena District I found the Flavian Gladiator Arena, a place where residents can play at combat or hone their archery skills…. whilst learning a little about about ancient roman gladiatorial customs.

Via the notecards provided at the Arena, I found out that gladiatorial games had their origin in Etruscan funeral rites - the funerals of great people were celebrated with gladiatorial contests. Apparently, this custom found its way to Rome, but was a standard part of most holidays, rather than a funeral observance.

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I hope no one releases that lion, or I’m done for! ;)

Apparently a self-contained combat system is planned for this part of Roma, which would make much more sophisticated gameplay possible. I’m going to have to come back and watch the first Gladiatorial Contest complete with all the ceremony!

The Southwest quarter of Roma includes an Arena and Fort Legio VII Augusta, which you can see me visiting below.

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Based on the typical plan of a Roman fort, the Fort Legio VII Augusta is often used for role-playing and activities restricted to members of the ROMA Citizens (SPQR) group. Residents can join this group inworld to keep up to date with upcoming events and meetings, and take part in ancient roman role-plays and exhibitions.

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Shhh… don’t tell the Emperor I was sitting in his chair! ;)

The northest quarter contains Hippodrome Point, Caligula’s Pleasure Palace, the Gardens of Maecenas, and the Theater of Dionysus.

At the Theatre, I watched a SL version of The Bacchae by ancient Greek playwright Euripides.

Setup so that visitors can view the performance on demand by clicking on click on the stage, the play lasted about 20 mins and included scripted characters who appeared on the stage and delivered their lines in the text chat.

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This was a really interesting use of the building and scripting tools available in Second Life, and there were some sounds and slides used to enhance the ‘performance’.

Reading the story in the text chat was a little bit tiring, but this example of virtual theatre points to some exciting possibilities as voice tools become more integrated into the platform. It also has me thinking about how I might experiment with a combination of machinima and these scripted ‘characters’ in some of my own work.

The northwest quarter contains the Roman Forum, the Capitoline Hill and the Temple of Apollo.

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Here, I visited the Capitoline Museum, which houses a collection of ancient roman artefacts, and seasonal exhibitions; as well as the Library of Alexandria which includes a number of scrolls which can be unrolled and read in the library’s reading room.

I also learnt a little about the prehistoric people called the Sabines who, according to legend, originally inhabited the hill and were attacked by the Romans, who kidnapped the Sabine women to populate the Roman city.

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Here I am worshipping Jupiter at the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, which was built during the battle between the Romans and the Sabines in 509 BC.

The detail, research and information included at Roma is pretty amazing, and could be used as a launching pad for students to engage in a deeper exploration of history via Wikipedia and various other web-based sources. And, I can imagine some pretty great activities with students utilising the role-playing aspects of the Roma sim and its community.

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Despite the limitations that notecards pose in terms of presenting information in-world (more on that later), and the fact that they have set it as a no-fly zone (which always annoys me!), I had a great time brushing up on my ancient roman history here. I’ll be keeping my toga for future visits! ;)

Check out Roma @ http://slurl.com/secondlife/Roma

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