Learning in Virtual Worlds -- #Minecraft #DigitalLiteracy

Years ago I served as a librarian and then as an adjunct instructor for graduate education courses taught in a virtual world, Second Life (SL). After teaching for a while, I took a National Library of Medicine grant funded position as a Consumer Health Librarian in SL. Both were remarkable experiences. the learning that took place for me in that virtual world was truly transformative.
However, with all SL had to offer, there were problems and challenges that, in the end, proved too difficult and costly for many colleges, universities and schools to continue to use SL for teaching. Many educators moved on to other virtual worlds but, in my opinion, nothing came close to what SL offered...until Minecraft. (Yes, Minecraft is very different from a real life like virtual world but it's the same type of open system that allows you to create whatever you can imagine.)

If you know nothing about Minecraft for education, this entertaining video can get you up to speed in five minutes. And, of course, there's the Minecraft wikipedia page, which includes excellent references. For those wondering about Minecraft research, here are Google Scholar results.

I've been working on an upcoming digital literacy presentation and have been researching ways we can develop digital literacy skills through inquiry, play and exploration. I agree with @EricStoller in this Inside Higher Ed article regarding our digital literacy development in higher education "...it seems that technology competency, digital literacy, social media fluency, online engagement, etc. are still areas that need some structured/intentional work."

In this post I want to showcase an excellent example (albeit quite advanced) of learning, and developing digital and traditional information literacy skills around a project using Minecraft. A short article, found through twitter, titled Students build Gallipoli in Minecraft, includes comments from the teacher and a few of the dozens of Auckland teenagers who spent thousands of hours recreating an awesome virtual version of 1915 Gallipoli. It also features a quality silent video of the student work.

I went hunting for a bit more about the project and found two of the short videos below, which include student narration, on this page.

The learning and engagement with history, technology, problem solving, and the research process itself that took place during this project is clearly evident.

Watch: The making of Gallipoli in Minecraft:

Description: Watch how students used the sketches from Percival Fenwick’s diary as a reference for the 'Recreating Gallipoli in Minecraft' build. 

Decription: Students from Alfriston College re-enacting the tragic events that Anzac troops had to experience on the Gallipoli peninsula from May 5th to May 7th 1915.


A couple of years ago I downloaded Minecraft and began playing. I mostly made a huge mess, it was fun and very reminiscent of my early days in SL. Like SL, I could create whatever I wanted, I simply had to learn how. There was a familiar feeling of empowerment that I often experience when exploring a powerful new digital tool that allows me to create and learn. I could take my time solving problems, make a huge mess and it wouldn't matter. I could make connections, collaborate with others, solve larger problems, etc., all while fully engaged and continually #learning.
Being overly committed I decided that, until time allowed, I would follow the development of Minecraft in education on Youtube. A Youtube search of Minecraft returns almost 60 million results, it's really quite a phenomenon.

Teaching and learning with online games and virtual worlds has been taking place for many years. It seems to be more popular than ever in K-12 (partly due to Minecraft and people like Jane McGonigal and others who understand the engagement and learning potential), I've been surprised that there hasn't been greater adoption in higher education. I wonder how students who learn about history, for instance, in such an active constructivist learning way, will fare in the more traditional "sage on the stage" type of lecture classroom.

I didn't fare well in traditional classrooms, I was painfully bored and could not remain focused no matter how hard I tried. I was also intensely curious and remember desperately wanting to learn. I would have loved to have had opportunities to learn in similar ways as the Alfriston College students. I'm thankful I can continue lifelong informal learning, and developing my digital literacy skills using many readily available technologies.

Teaching Library Research On An iPad

I recently taught my third library research class on an iPad and here’s what I learned.

     First, you may be wondering why a librarian would teach with an iPad rather than a laptop. In my case the answer is simple: GFU students who enroll in the Master's Degree in Teaching (MAT) and Adult Degree Programs are given new iPads. Professors from those programs felt it would be helpful to the students if I used the library's iPad to demonstrate how to access and download library resources. 

The equipment:
     Along with an iPad 2 or the New iPad (3rd gen), you need a VGA Adapter to connect the iPad to the classroom projector, and some kind of laser pointer since you will have no cursor. The picture above shows what I used: an iPad 2 with a smart cover (for easier viewing and typing during demo), my iPhone battery charger with built-in laser pointer, the VGA adapter, and a case for carrying the iPad and accessories. 


Class design, learning outcomes: 
     My one-hour library research session consisted of a brief overview of the library website, followed by demos of how to get articles from our subscription databases, how to find and request books, and how to use library e-books.  I also introduced them to their course-specific research guide (LibGuide), and used that for parts of the demo.

How things went in the classroom - (learn from my mistakes):
     Even though I had practiced in my office, the first class was a little rough. I did not have a laser pointer, and I hadn't realized that without a cursor students would not be able to follow along as I referred to links and various parts of pages on the projector screen. The students were quick to point this out, and now I always take a laser pointer with me.
     In addition, these students were in a new cohort, and had been handed their iPads at orientation only hours beforehand. Most were unfamiliar with the device, and this brought additional challenges. Fortunately many owned smartphones and were familiar with touch screens, mobile browsers and apps. Still, I needed to move more slowly than I had anticipated. Halfway through the class I realized I needed to focus more on exact steps so the new users could follow along.
     The two subsequent classes involved sessions with students who had been using their iPads for a few months. These graduate teacher education students were very adept at using the device. They easily followed along and even got ahead of me more than once (i.e., some began downloading e-books while I was demonstrating using e-books in the browser). 
     For the most part these classes went smoothly and felt more like teaching on a laptop. Nonethless, when on an iPad there are regular reminders that you are using an Apple mobile operating system (iOS) throughout. When pointing to anything built on Flash there will be either an empty space in the page or a small “broken link” icon. In the case of our library tutorials, we made sure everything had been uploaded to our YouTube channel so those on iOS devices could access them too.
     Another consideration is that many sites will detect your mobile OS and ask if you would like to go to the mobile version of the site. In some cases there is no choice and it will simply redirect you. It's important to test the sites beforehand to know which way to direct users when there is a choice. Most libraries now have a mobile site to accommodate smartphones. That may not be the best choice for iPad users, though, who could benefit from having access to the full website.

iPads and library e-books:
     The GFU library's two major e-book vendors, ebrary and EBL, are probably mostly used in the browser. They also allow e-books to be downloaded for offline reading, which may be attractive for iPad users. Digital Rights Management (DRM) ensures that these downloads expire after a certain amount of time, and limits their use in various ways. Consequently, the user must have a free Adobe Digital Editions (ADE) account, and will be prompted to create one if need be at the point of download.  In the case of ebrary, the user must also create a free personal ebrary account before downloading an e-book. Both accounts can be created on an iPad. However, Adobe Digital Editions is Flash-based and can not be installed on iOS devices. Instead the user must install the Bluefire app, which uses their ADE account. 
     Bluefire can be used for both vendors’ DRM-protected ebooks, but ebrary offers an app of their own, and there are some benefits to using it. I recommend installing both and authorizing them with the same ADE ID account.
     If you don't have time to walk students through creating ADE accounts, it may be best to simply demonstrate how to use these books in Safari—one can still search, highlight, take notes and more in this environment.  You could then point them to a link on the library website that will explain how to create an ADE account and download the ebrary and Bluefire apps. 

What I learned: 
1) Before teaching with an iPad the first time, practice in a room with your iPad hooked up to a projector

2) Always bring a laser pointer
3) Mobile sites are often not the best choice on iPads, since the screen size permits handling the full-content site.  However, sometimes there is no choice; be prepared and test beforehand (especially with e-books).
4) Be aware and prepared for workarounds when running into Flash on the iPad.
5) If a learning outcome is to have students successfully download a library e-book, have them create a free Adobe Digital Editions account before class.
6) If students are new to the iPad prepare a simpler presentation that covers less territory.
7) When working with students who are adept at using the iPad, relax and let them teach you a few tricks. 

     

     Finally, I'm noticing that students who own 2nd and 3rd generation iPads are beginning to use them as their primary devices. I have confirmed this with a show of hands whenever I work with students in our MAT program. Most eventually invest in some kind of case with keyboard so they can type as quickly and easily as with a laptop. They may have access to a desktop or laptop as well, but the tablet becomes their go-to device once they're comfortable with it.  See Forrester blog post from April 23, 2012 - Why Tablets Will Become Our Primary Computing Device 

Professional Online Identities - Academia Embracing Social Media

Below is an overview/summary presentation of the online adjunct course I completed teaching to graduate counseling students this week. It was a great experience all around, and especially rewarding for me in that students appeared to have enjoyed the course as much as I did. We all learned quite a bit.

Included in the slides below are student voices via twitter that I thought were most profound. Hearing attitudes change and the "ah-ha" moments throughout the course, it became clear that students were understanding the potential impact of social media on their careers. In addition, the professional development benefits afforded them by following experts and organizations who wisely utilize social media became apparent.

For most of the students, it was a revelation to learn the extent that freely available social networks could be used for professional as well as personal purposes. The course also focused on tips and tools that could help as they planned their goals and strategies. And though we focused on using social media for a positive professional impact, the misuse of these tools can also impact careers.

It seems this past year was a turning point and the debate over the ROI of social media is about over. Social media and TV integration has increased and it makes sense that most businesses and organizations are incorporating social media into their overall strategies. And that includes higher education, where there is plenty of buzz and implementation-- Social media in higher education literature review. Higher education institutions are also developing helpful social media policy guides.

It's becoming increasingly important that college and universities provide some type of training in this area for students as well as staff. (And not just for business programs, which may have a jump but are still lacking per this recent Forbes report.) Whether it's for-credit elective courses for those in professional programs, seminars, or informal "lunch & learn" sessions, we can all benefit from understanding social media's potential. In addition, raising awareness of how its misuse can cause significant harm.

Students uploaded their finals for the class and all can be viewed on Slideshare from this TRMA585 tag list. I'm proud of their work and the course. Hope you enjoy the slides. (Click TRMA 585 Instructor Ashford link below for larger view on Slideshare)

TRMA 585 Instructor Ashford

View more PowerPoint from Robin Ashford

Online Identities - Having An Impact

As an academic librarian and early adopter who follows new and emerging technologies, my blog posts are more about emerging and educational technology than they are about library work, though that distinction is blurring. Many librarians are ahead of the curve when it comes to new online tools, digital initiatives, social media, etc. An understanding of technology has become critical to our profession as the digital revolution continues to transform our world.

This semester I’ve been teaching a new online course as an adjunct at my university. It’s a one credit hour course offered to graduate Counseling students, TRMA 585 - “Developing a Professional Online Identity.”

I was pleased to be asked to teach the course by a Counseling Department faculty member with whom I've worked as a department liaison librarian, and who follows me on twitter and other networks.

The professor felt the topic was important for soon to be professional therapists to better understand the importance of personal branding and a professional online identity.

The 15 week course began with everyone in the class sharing where they currently stand with online experience and social media. Facebook naturally being the big winner and for many their only or most significant experience.

Due to the nature of the course, much of the work done by the 11 students in the class was completed on the web and is accessible to all. However, the course syllabus, weekly assignments, most posts and comments are inside Moodle, the Learning Mangement System (LMS) used by my university.

Each week’s assignment has explored ways to develop a positive professional online identity utilizing various tools and tips. Everything from LinkedIn to profile pages, google+, twitter, professional facebook pages, blogs, websites, domain names, and more. The course is winding down and we are starting week 13. This week’s assignment is on having an impact, and it’s partly what led me to write this blog post.

My belief is that anyone with access to the web can have an impact, and that we can all utilize and benefit from the online tools available to us. Whether that means creating a positive professional identity for yourself to help in your job search, utilizing social media tools like twitter for professional development purposes and to make connections, creating professional facebook pages, blogs or websites to promote yourself in your area of expertise, or for other ways to contribute to changing our world. The Internet and social media tools have enabled and empowered us like never before in our history.

An important technology I regret not having time to explore in this course has been the amazing impact online videos can have (often propelled by other social networks). Whether it’s using video to creatively promote yourself in a job search, to be recognized as an expert in a specific field, personally branding yourself, or to simply provide another fomat for valuable content to reach your audience, video is an increasingly important tool.

By now, with over 86 million hits on their single Youtube upload in less than one month (much more if you count others’ uploads), most have at least heard of the Kony 2012 - Invisible Children campaign. This post isn’t about that campaign (which I realize has its critics), but about how being innovative and using the Web and social media, the campaign spread beyond anyone’s dreams. As a TRMA585 student posted on twitter on March 7th:
 “The power of social media comes alive! Very moving. #TRMA585 should watch. KONY 2012: http://t.co/P60PuinC via @youtube”

What I find especially interesting is how others have been able to build on the original campaign. Two compelling related but unaffiliated examples having an impact are: How Technology Is Helping Kony Victims in Uganda and The Next KONY 2012? Invisible Children Co-Founder Releases ‘I Am Mother’

I think most will agree with this Read Write Web post that social media ROI doubts can be put to rest. As I've stated, the Internet has provided “A Way to Have a Voice That Matters.” It’s up to all of us to decide how/when/where and if we want to use that voice.

Exploring Augmented Reality Apps on iPhone 4

I've been fascinated by augmented reality (AR) for a while and have posted in the past (scroll) on this technology as it relates to education. Many feel the potential of AR is huge, though for various reasons it will take time to mainstream.

The Gartner's 2010 Hype Cycle shows AR has 5-10 years to mainstream adoption. The 2010 Horizon Report, commonly used by educators to scan the landscape of emerging technologies for teaching and learning, has listed Simple Augmented Reality Time-to-Adoption: Two to Three Years.

I've long had an interest in testing AR but my previous iPhone 3 (not 3GS) did not have the built in technology necessary to use AR. In most cases, handheld devices must have a compass and GPS to be able to use AR. The flickr set below shows examples of AR app tests on my iPhone 4, which I've been running mostly in downtown Portland, Oregon, USA. The set and descriptions can also be viewed on flickr



I'm excited about what I'm learning as I test AR apps in the city. I see challenges after using these apps, but the potential has become more clear as well. I'm also encouraged by the fact that there are smart people working on moving this tech forward. O'Reilly radar recently posted a good article titled "How augmented reality apps can catch on" and there are creative thinkers/innovators in higher education working on practical uses for teaching and learning.

For now, my plan is to keep testing and I hope to soon find someone at my university interested enough to collaborate with me on creating an AR tour of our campus and main library. Seems like a good first step. I've seen a few examples of how a handful of higher ed institutions are beginning to use AR. I'd love to learn of more. Comments are most welcome.

About Connectivism

The simple Common Craft style video below provides a clear explanation of connectivism. I believe it's an important learning theory for educators everywhere to understand in this digital age. I first heard the term some time ago and remember googling and reading the wikipedia entry. Then I read this article by George Siemens titled "Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age. The quote below is from a paragraph in the conclusion of the article.

Connectivism presents a model of learning that acknowledges the tectonic shifts in society where learning is no longer an internal, individualistic activity. How people work and function is altered when new tools are utilized. The field of education has been slow to recognize both the impact of new learning tools and the environmental changes in what it means to learn. Connectivism provides insight into learning skills and tasks needed for learners to flourish in a digital era.

And here is an ELI Podcast session from Jan 2008 titled "Connectivism" presented by George Siemens. Would love to see comments on this. How important is this theory? How valid?

The Networked Student

Second Life - PINK FLOYD THE WALL

I am continually amazed by the levels of creativity I see in Second Life. It doesn't matter whether you love or hate Pink Floyd or the message here. What matters to me is that Second Life is a platform where this form of expression can take place. And it will only get better. I am so glad that I can be a part. Incredible that some still do not see...



Thanks to all who contributed. And thanks for the machinimatography, editing, and sharing, Gary Hazlitt/Hayes. Wonderful work by all, I can't stop watching it...looking forward to the long version.

Today's Second Life CEO Post & Education

I have been too busy to blog lately so I've been keeping a Google doc of links to some excellent news stories published recently on SL. I'm linking to this post today because every link I had saved to blog about is included in the post linked here and more.

Today the new CEO of SL, Mark Kingdon, wrote a post titled "My First Two Months at Linden Lab."

Mr. Kingdon makes strong and verifiable comments on education in SL, which I'm happy to share and which confirms what many educators involved in SL believe. Below is the section from the post linked above on education. The entire post is interesting and a worthwhile read. It includes links to some other recent noteable articles on SL including info on the big topic of interoperability from the IBM/Linden Lab partnership. There are plenty of hard facts in this post. Yes, he shares his enthusiasm and some will say bias as well. But who wouldn't.

Using the virtual meeting environment for education is an even more exciting killer app. Dozens of universities are buying land from us or working with other inworld providers every week and the pace is accelerating. Seventeen of the top twenty universities in the US have land in Second Life.

To keep track with what’s happening in education in Second Life, check out the SLED Blog. A list of recent news stories are below

* The Christian Science Monitor discusses how students from all over the world are able to study abroad through Second Life.
* Government Executive.com writes how government agencies like the center for Disease Control and Prevention are increasing their presence in Second Life to increase public awareness.
* CNET reports that the San Francisco Exploratorium will be streaming live footage of a Solar Eclipse in Second Life expected on August 1st.
* The Industry Standard reports that Cigna will try to make health education more accessible by creating its own island in Second Life.
* ComputerWeekly.com discusses how the British Computer Society has launched an e-learning specialist group in Second Life.
* The Dallas Morning News presents an article on using Second Life for higher education.

What makes Second Life so amazing for these things is the interaction between students and between universities. Voice is the key enabler. With a headset, residents can talk with other residents just as they would in the real world. With the 3D spatial voice in Second Life, residents can walk from one conversation to another as if they were actually hanging out before or after class. Serendipitous conversations just aren’t possible with other forms of online learning, teleconferences or videoconferences.

And since I'm highlighting the education/educators section of this post, I'll go ahead and include a snapshot of one thing that's been keeping me so busy these days. As explained in the post here, many universities are offering classes to students in SL. This summer I enrolled in a 3 credit hour intensified course from the Boise State University Education Technology program. My course is titled "Teaching and Learning in Second Life." And that's what I've been doing the past few weeks. That along with working full-time and assisting a prof from my own university with a course offered to doctoral students in our university's Education Program. More on that next week after my BSU course if completed.

The snapshot above (click to enlarge) I've included here is from my class fieldtrip today to Monash University in SL. We toured the facility and spoke with the owner/builder responsible for the work they are doing there to teach students the Chinese language and culture. It was one of the best examples I've seen yet of effective use of a virtual environment in teaching and learning.

An Academic Librarian - Leading My First Discussion in Second Life

Here is the event announcement from the SLED (Second Life Educators) calendar (click to enlarge). I am excited about this opportunity. And though it is an informal discussion, I have been regularly attending these weekly information literacy discussions in SL for some time now and always learn something useful to my work as an academic librarian. And most enlightening for me, in some ways, has been that the majority who attend are not from the USA. These discussions have helped me to consider information literacy with a broader perspective. I'm thankful for that alone.

About Sheila Webber,(the Infolit iSchool Island owner) - She is a Senior lecturer (i.e. a faculty member - most faculty in UK universities aren't called professors!) in the Department of Information Studies at the University of Sheffield, where she has taught since 2000.

Sheila has been a wonderful role model for me and gracious enough to invite me to lead one of her discussions. I am learning a great deal from her - not only about information literacy, but about teaching and learning in Second Life. Here is a link to her shared information literacy blog, and here is a link to a bio, which includes some of her many publications. And that doesn't include her work in SL. You will want to take a look at her "Adventures of Yoshikawa" blog for that.

I do not know how she finds the time to accomplish all that she has. I am inspired by what Sheila has done as both an information professional and a SL resident. She saw the potential in this wonderful virtual world to take teaching and learning to the next level, and she is giving it her all.