SL Event: "Stepping into Literature: Bringing New Life to Books through Virtual Worlds"

On August 4th, 2008, and again on August 6th, Alliance Library System, in cooperation with LearningTimes, will offer a one-day conference exploring the possibilities of using virtual worlds to teach literature and to promote its appreciation for people of all ages.

The conference, entitled “Stepping into Literature: Bringing New Life to Books through Virtual Worlds,” will be held entirely in the virtual world of Second Life, allowing participants to attend from any location with a computer and a broadband internet connection.

Whether you teach literature, or are just intrigued by the potential for learning in 3D worlds, we hope you will join us for a meaningful exploration of the instructional possibilities.

Cost to attend is US $65 per person. For group rates (5 or more) write to john at learningtimes dot net

Click here to register: http://tinyurl.com/6ba6nq

Or visit the conference website at:

http://www.steppingintovirtualworlds.org.

Participants will take take part in a virtual book discussion, and take field trips into literature-based locations that have been created in Second Life. You may find yourself in an Edgar Allen Poe poem, visiting a “secret garden” or learning about gothic literature in an authentically spooky mansion.

Keynotes:

Beth Ritter-Gluth (Desideria Stockton in Second Life) will be the keynote speaker and her talk is on “A Vision for Making Literature Come Alive in Virtual Worlds.” She is the creator of “Literature Alive in Second Life” and teaches English and Women’s Studies at Lehigh Carbon Community College in Schnecksville, PA.

The keynote author is Kim Rufer-Bach who will speak on “Using Virtual Worlds to Promote Real Life Literature.” Kimberly is co-author of “Creating Your World: The Official Guide to Advanced Content Creation for Second Life” (Sybex, October 2007) and is currently at work on “The Second Life Grid: The Official Guide to Communication Collaboration, and Community Engagement.”

Full conference schedule and registration information is available at the conference website, http://www.steppingintovirtualworlds.org

Or register now at: http://tinyurl.com/6ba6nq

The Top 5 Platforms for Creating Educational Video Games

Several games out there claim to be educational. Some are more or less so, depending on how one defines “educational.” The list of potential platforms for creating educational videogames is long. Many a fine game has been coded in a variant of BASIC or C, for instance. This list tends to focus on platforms for games created by university researchers and governmental organizations. In that regard, I make a value judgment by inferring that, in general, a game created by a governmental entity, a museum, or university personnel tends to be more “educational” than others.

Anyway, that’s my bias in creating this list. I’d love to hear additional ideas or justifications for inclusion regarding a platform I’ve left out.

1. Neverwinter Toolkit

Commentary: Many solid educational videogames have been developed to run on one of the iterations of Neverwinter Nights using the Aurora Neverwinter Toolkit. Many of these have been designed by teachers for their classrooms, and not released to the general public.
The game itself is completely modifiable, making it fairly easy to manipulate for desired educational outcomes. Teachers can insert dialogue, send students on quests to hunt for artifacts or other virtual ephemera, and set up pedagogical situations within the game. Although it’s a full 3-D virtual interactive environment (VIE), complete with anthropomorphically correct avatars, its runtime requirements are relatively light.

Example: Revolution continues to be the defining mod for Neverwinter Nights, showing what’s possible on the platform. Although it’s getting old (ca. 2004), Revolution continues to draw interest from academics and others.

Main Site: http://nwn.bioware.com/builders/

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2. Civilization III

Commentary: Professors and teachers have long been enamored with the idea of using games in the Civilization series for teaching history and social studies. Even better is the idea of modifying the game so that students can garner specific objectives. Nebulous concepts such as characteristics leading a people group toward dominance over their neighbors, as well as more concrete concepts such as locating settlements near water to help ensure success, are transmitted to players in the game. Modifying Civilization III is encouraged by its parent, Firaxis Games, with players urged to upload their maps and mods to the main site.

Example: The History Canada Game from Canada’s National Historical Society and The Historica Foundation shows how a country’s history can be explored through gaming.

Main Site: http://www.civ3.com/mods.cfm

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3. Flash

Commentary: When it comes to creating an educational game for a museum or government agency’s online site, Flash is the program of choice. As popular as it is, there are beaucoup sites with Flash games, some purporting to be educational. Unfortunately, many are very low on learning quotients, requiring little more than thoughtless arcade skills. On the other hand, many museums and governmental agencies have added excellent educational games to their sites that teach kids something, and promote the organizations’ goals at the same time.

Example: America’s CryptoKids is a collection of Flash games and activities from the US National Security Agency. The site shows how government and museum sites can create games in Flash to attract younger audiences online.

Main Site: http://www.adobe.com/

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4. Java

Commentary: If you’re going to make a serious game for the Web or other applications, and you don’t want to use Flash, then Java, the cross-platform language from Sun, remains an excellent choice. A major plus is the language is ideal for mobile phones and other devices, as well as for many types of computing platforms.

Example: The National Library of Virtual Manipulatives from Utah State University offers a variety of online Java applets designed to convey mathematical concepts. Originally funded with an NSF grant, the site now offers a CD version by mail.

Main Site: http://java.sun.com/

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5. XNA for the Xbox & Windows

Commentary: A relative newcomer to this group, Microsoft’s XNA is designed to create games for Windows and the Xbox. In a huge usage boost late last year, Microsoft released XNA free to universities and college students. According to their promotional department, over 300 universities worldwide have adopted XNA as a platform for teaching programming skills. Although it has only been freely available for a few months, look for this platform to become heavily used by universities to create educational games in the future.

Example: The XNA Creators’ Club has a role playing starter kit, Role-Playing Game, that allows developers to easily drop in content.

Main Site: http://www.xna.com/

Why We Shouldn’t Ban “Ender’s Game” From AP Reading Lists

I was interested to read about a recent kerfuffle erupting over Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game. A parent protested the book’s status as required reading in AP English at a junior high school in Alvin, Texas (near Houston). The parent was concerned about violence and profanity in the book.

It has been a while since I’ve read it, but I don’t recall being annoyed by the level of profanity in Ender’s Game. In contrast, I recently finished Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson. This book was overly laced with profanity. One of the lead characters is Bobby Shaftoe, a rough and ready US Marine who frequently drops the F-bomb whether planting corpses with false information intended for the Nazis or killing Japanese soldiers in the Philippines. Shaftoe comes up with a cornucopia of imaginative profanity, and spews it out page after page. I just don’t recall nearly so much profanity from the Mormon author Card in Ender’s Game.

What intrigues educational gaming advocates about Ender’s Game is the vision Card painted of training and educating with games. For instance, videogames were used effectively as battle simulators to train soldiers. Battle simulators are old news nowadays, but not in 1985. Kurt Squire and Henry Jenkins noted in 2003 the prophetic value of Card’s book for educational gaming:

In Orson Scott Card’s 1985 science fiction novel Ender’s Game, the Earth is facing a life-and-death battle with invading aliens. The best and brightest young minds are gathered together and trained through a curriculum that consists almost entirely of games—both electronic and physical. Teachers play almost no overt role in the process, shaping the children’s development primarily through the recruitment of players, the design of game rules, and the construction of contested spaces. Games become the central focus of the students’ lives: they play games in classes, in their off-hours, even as part of their private contemplation. Much of the learning occurs through participation in gaming communities, as the most gifted players pass along what they have learned to the other players.

As a parent myself, and educator to boot, I can certainly empathize with parents wishing to shield their children from inappropriate material. However, I also like to read the books my kids read. We’re all active readers. There are books that express worldviews I don’t agree with, and when my children read those we talk about the role of fiction and how we can enjoy a book or a movie or a television show while disagreeing with its worldview. This holds in videogames as well.

My oldest has rediscovered Oblivion on the Xbox, and has been leveling up a thief. He can sneak into a town and steal the shirt off a guard’s back and get away with it. But, we’ve discussed how thievery is not what we’re about in RL. I remind the kids of the time one of them walked out of the nearby country store with a pack of gum without paying. When I discovered it, we drove back to the store and paid for the gum. We are not thieves; it’s part of our morals, part of our worldview. However, leveling a thief in Oblivion, a fictional environment, is okay just as reading about a character who is a thief is also okay.

And so it goes. While I empathize with a parent wanting to monitor the fiction their child reads, I can’t agree with banning Ender’s Game from an AP reading list. The violence in the book involves killing enemy space aliens, and I don’t recall it being gratuitous or overly bloody. Battle scenes are common in many books for young people, including the Narnia series and Tolkein’s Middle Earth tales.

Finally, I was interested to find out the book is required reading for Marine privates wishing to level up to corporal. According to the Marine spokesman quoted in the news article, the book is about leadership in combat; therefore, the Marine Corps says aspiring corporals should read it. I’m sure Bobby Shaftoe would approve.

References:
Jenkins, H., & Squire, K. (2003) Harnessing the power of games in education. Insight, 3, 5-33.

Tompkins, J. (2008, June 15). Alvin ISD mother protests novel. The Facts. [Online]. Available: http://www.thefacts.com/story.lasso?ewcd=b56d920d8eb0be82

UCF’s Simulated Classroom Helps Prepare Teachers

Here’s a tidbit over at DistrictAdministration.com. Professors at University of Central Florida have designed a classroom simulator to help prospective teachers prepare for real world teaching.

The link provides only the first few paragraphs of an article from the Orlando Sentinel, which has since been taken offline. Fortunately, a UCF press release offers considerably more detail regarding the program.

College of Education Professors Lisa Dieker and Mike Hynes, in conjunction with UCF’s Institute for Simulation and Training, Computer Science and student actors from the Interactive Performance Lab, developed a virtual, interactive environment that can give teachers real experience in handling a classroom. Lockheed Martin brings years of experience to the partnership including research, concepts and prototypes of models and simulations in the areas of teacher training and professional development.

Using a combination of technology, real life experience and entertainment the university has been able to create scenarios that are very realistic and have already assisted new teachers in thinking differently about their classroom. In fact, several teachers who tested out the virtual classroom continue to talk about how they need to change their teaching or to “try” again to make sure they meet the needs of these students who are not real.

A simulated classroom should provide an excellent resource for prospective teachers, and give them opportunities to experience “worst case” scenarios without the fear of failure.

References:
Kotala, Z. G. (2008, May 1). UCF and Lockheed Martin announce partnership to expand new screening and training technology. [Online]. Available: http://neighbors.ucf.edu/UCFnews/index?page=article&id
=0024004168851b1c0119a5470a22002594&mode=neighbors

Virtual classroom at the University of Central Florida puts teachers to the test. (2008, May 19). DistrictAdministration.com. [Online]. Available: http://www.districtadministration.com/newssummary.aspx?
news=yes&postid=50025

25 Videogames for Classroom Use from College@Home

Fiona King over at College@Home dropped me a note to talk about a new post on their blog discussing 25 sims and games for classroom use. The post is well thought out, and the suggestions are divided up by History, Science & Logic, Mythology, Fitness, Business & Law, and Community & Personal Skills.

The list is a nice one with some thoughtful ideas. Whyville, Quest Atlantis, and Revolution are included, which also made my top ten list of free educational games.

New Journal Issues Open Call for Papers

I’ve mentioned Dr. Rick Ferdig over at U. Florida several times before, especially after he published a paper of mine in a special issue on educational videogames for the Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia. Recently he announced a new journal dedicated to the field: the International Journal of Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations. IJGCMS has an open call for papers here. The editorial board is also coalescing, and details on contacting Dr. Ferdig regarding editorial service are available on site.

Upcoming Australian Conference & Healthcare Gaming/Simulation Symposium

SimTecT will be held in Melbourne, May 12-16. The conference primarily focuses on simulations, and the Australian military is a major player. There will be a strong serious games element. Speakers will include Jan Cannon-Bowers over at U. Central Florida; Clint Bowers, also from UCF; Elyssebeth Leigh over at University of Technology, Sydney; and Robert Carpenter, Deputy Director, Simulation Development, Army Simulation Wing, Land Warfare Development Centre in the Australian military.

On May 16, Elyssebeth Leigh notes the day will be devoted to Serious Games in Healthcare:

Technologies and techniques which games employ to deliver serious messages can be leveraged to achieve low cost, high impact solutions across the healthcare and other sectors. This symposium will introduce participants to opportunities and issues that serious games offer – for training, therapy and testing. It brings together experts from the US, experienced Australian practitioners, game developers, educators and healthcare professionals.

Program includes:
Interactive plenary sessions; Facilitated de-brief sessions of the plenaries; Forum – The way forward in gaming in healthcare.

Free Drivers’ Ed Game Teaches Safe Habits

Anybody old enough to remember those drivers ed simulators in the trailers? These things would sit in high school parking lots across America, and countless teens drove down “video lanes” to gain experience before getting behind a real wheel. (Alas, I missed out on the video drivers’ ed simulators. We started behind the real wheel with a very nervous instructor who I recall being heavy on her passenger-side brake.)

Last summer I blogged about a German study researching whether race car simulations lead players to drive more aggressively. Now comes word that Chrysler has sponsored development of a youth-oriented driver training videogame to promote safe driving.

The Road Ready Teens program is designed to help with the transition from book study to actual driving. It represents part of a safe driving push by Chrysler.

The free video game is one part of the program. The game assimilates situations on the road from driving under the influence to driving in the rain.

“Your cell phone will ring and you get points deducted if you take it while you’re driving,” said Marshall Taliaferro [Marshall’s father, Will Taliaferro, is one of the game’s designers]. “I don’t answer the phone while I’m driving either.”

The program also provides an online driving contract for the family to agree upon.

It’s a good idea, and absolutely brilliant to present the concepts within a videogame, which is called Road Ready Streetwise. Here’s the key quote from Chrysler:

“Those first years on the road are very stressful for parents and teens because they don’t know what to do. They don’t know the right and wrong,” said Kristen Kreibich-Staruch of Chrysler Vehicle Safety and Planning.

Access the safety program and find a link to the game over at roadreadyteens.com.

References:
Video game teaches teens to drive. (2008, February 27). NBC4.com. [Online.] Retrieved February 27, 2008 from http://www.nbc4.com/traffic/15422534/detail.html

FETC 2008: Virtual ChemLab

I’m fresh back from FETC 2008, and I’ve got lots to share. I’ll start with a presentation I attended by Brian Woodfield over at Brigham Young. Dr. Woodfield is project director for the Virtual ChemLab (VCL) computer simulation that BYU has been working on the past several years, and is offered to high schools and universities through Pearson Prentice Hall.

Several simulated laboratories are offered through the software, and Dr. Woodfield provided many interesting demonstrations during his lecture, including ones for a Physics Lab, Physical Science Lab, General and Organic Chemistry Labs. Improvements and additions to the offerings continue to occur with each passing year. Graphics art students at BYU work on the computer graphics, and each year new students attempt to outdo previous efforts. Coming soon will be a simulated Biology Lab, complete with microscopes and genetics.

Graphics indeed were good. Dr. Woodfield opened the presentation with photos of traditional chemistry labs, and explained how tedious and time consuming classroom experiments are to set up, and how they tend to stifle experimentation and creativity among students. Placing accurate simulated experiments within appropriate contexts, though, does allow free exploration and additional opportunities for serendipitous discovery. Plus, it allows much faster and less expensive experimentation. It’s also safer. Click here for a brief list of horrific accidents that have occurred in high school chemistry labs over the years. Dr. Woodfield demonstrated an “explosion” by mixing the wrong chemicals, and the beaker came back ready for another experiment. This was much safer than real world explosions.

Over the years, BYU has found VCL to be as useful as any other tool in the classroom. In other words, most of its effectiveness depends on the teacher or professor using it. Implementation is key, and instructors with a positive attitude will have the most success with the product (I think this is true of every educational product).

They’ve found most kids take 15 – 30 minutes to learn the interface. BYU instructors have also found giving students the Hermann Brain Dominance Instrument before classes using VCL helps pinpoint those who prefer direct instruction over personal discovery, and who therefore may need more initial assistance with the program.

VCL seems to be most useful when assigned as homework. Dr. Woodfield indicated instructors have noted a 30% increase in performance on exams in classes using VCL versus those who do not. Also, students who did not use VCL invariably performed poorly on quizzes over the covered material.

Dr. Woodfield shared many interesting anecdotes about using the program. One involved a teacher in Indianapolis who wanted the program for her students. The school was unwilling to provide a site license, so she bought a single license and installed it on a computer in the back of her room. VCL became so popular, the students told their parents about it, and complained they did not get enough time on the program. The parents pitched in and paid for a site license so VCL could be installed on every computer in the school. Stories like that attest to the program’s popularity.

Worksheets that teachers have put together are available. Also, a couple of papers by Dr. Woodfield and his colleagues appeared in the Journal of Chemical Education concerning use and assessment of the program in college course. These are available for download at the main VCL site:

B.F. Woodfield, H.R. Catlin, G.L. Waddoups, M.S. Moore, R. Swan, R. Allen, and G. Bodily, “The Virtual ChemLab Project: A Realistic and Sophisticated Simulation of Inorganic Qualitative Analysis”, J. Chem. Ed. 81, 1672-1678 (2004).

B.F. Woodfield, M.B. Andrus, T. Andersen, J. Miller, B. Simons, R. Stanger, G.L. Waddoups, M.S. Moore, R. Swan, R. Allen, and G. Bodily, “The Virtual ChemLab Project: A Realistic and Sophisticated Simulation of Organic Synthesis and Organic Qualitative Analysis.” J. Chem. Ed. 82, 1728-1735 (2005).

Finally, there is a nice wiki on VCL for Sloan-C members that has more details. From all accounts, and by every indication, this looks like an excellent addition to high school and college chemistry courses. Highly recommended.

NASA Looks to Build Educational MMO

Dr. Daniel Laughlin, Project Manager over at NASA’s Learning Technologies, Goddard Space Flight Center, announced recently that NASA has released a Request for Information (RFI) regarding the development of a NASA-themed MMO aimed at middle/high school students to college students. The vision for the MMO is one designed for educating students in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) using NASA educational materials and appropriate learning game activities and simulations within the MMO (i.e, not necessarily “World of Warcraft in Space.”)

The thinking is, an exciting STEM MMO will encourage students to pursue careers in STEM fields. Here’s the main copy regarding the reasoning behind NASA LT’s latest initiative:

Persistent immersive synthetic environments in the form of massive multiplayer online gaming and social virtual worlds, initially popularized as gaming and social settings, are now finding growing interest as education and training venues. There is increasing recognition that these synthetic environments can serve as powerful “hands-on” tools for teaching a range of complex subjects, including STEM-based instruction. Virtual worlds with scientifically accurate simulations could permit learners to tinker with chemical reactions in living cells, practice operating and repairing expensive equipment, and experience microgravity – making it easier to grasp complex concepts and quickly transfer this understanding to practical problems. MMOs help players develop and exercise a skill set closely matching the thinking, planning, learning, and technical skills increasingly in demand by employers today. These skills include strategic thinking, interpretative analysis, problem solving, plan formulation and execution, team-building and collaboration, and adaptation to rapid change.

The power of games as educational tools is rapidly gaining recognition. NASA is in a position to develop an online game that functions as a persistent, synthetic environment supporting education as a laboratory, a massive visualization tool, and collaborative workspace while simultaneously drawing users into a challenging, game-play experience.

Submitters to the RFI are expected to address the following:

1. How a NASA-based educational MMO should be designed.
2. How a NASA-based educational MMO should support both formal and informal education efforts.
3. How a NASA-based educational MMO should connect to current and future NASA missions.
4. How NASA career opportunities exploration and significant STEM learning experiences would be incorporated into the design [of] a NASA- based educational MMO.
5. How a NASA-based educational MMO game play would be engaging for all participants.

In due course, a request for proposals (RFP) should be forthcoming. For more details, visit the MMORFI information at SpaceRef.com, and the NASA MMO Game page.