Module 7 Shari Wickline EDT-780

Task 1: Habbo Hotel United Kingdom I found the Habbo Hotel to be very easy to use. I thought the interactive room feature were cute. I could see students having fun using this particular world. I liked how you put sticky notes with questions and comments for us to look at. I did leave some comments right on some of the sticky notes, I signed them SLW. I did write down two of the question that you posted so I could comment on them. 1. How do you like my room? I really liked both of the rooms. The 451 Allyn was fun. I just loved that I could open the refrigerator and then fill them bath with bubbles. I also thought being able to teleport using the phone booth was fun. The English room was very nice; I was even able to sit on the toilet. 2. How do the articles for the week effect my profession? There would definitely be an impact on my profession if virtual worlds would be used to teach students. The training that would need to be made available to educators would keep a technology coordinator very busy, as well as the maintenance. 3. What would I tell someone who thought this was not realistic? I would explain to them that although some of the features seem unrealistic, they really are not. Everything your Avatar does, say or experiences is something that could really happen. I especially like the virtual training rooms a lot of universities and companies are setting up. What a great way to simulate a variety of scenarios without needing to use real individuals or currency.

Room Descriptions: Lakewood owned by Veresm. The room is slightly L shaped; it has one door on the left wall and a double window towards the back, near the fire place. There is one red and one grey carpet, a red vinyl chair, a red television with a rabbit ear antenna, a grey square table and a tall cactus. Throughout the room there are a total of 12 chairs - 8 brown, 1 blue, 1 yellow and 2 with blue upholstery. There is a green sofa with yellow pillows, a phone booth that will take you to an English room and an American flag. The claw tub was filled with a bit of water and I was able to turn it into a bubble bath. I was also able to open the refrigerator. It was full of food and I even had an ice cream. The sticky notes were fun to read. There were 2 yellow and 1 pink notes on the wall, a wooden stand and a door mat. 451 Allyn owned by Veresm. I entered the phone booth in the Lakewood room and it teleported me to another L-shaped room. The room was really nice and inviting. There were 4 yellow and 3 red heart sticky notes hanging around the room. On the one side of the room there was a white shelf full of books, a double window and a yellow carpet. I had to laugh when I saw the four-poster bed with a toilet next to it. A separating wall sectioned off the sleeping area. There is a blue table with one blue chair and one chair with blue upholstery sitting on top of a purple oval shaped rug. The love seat and a reading chair also had blue upholstery. In the center of the floor there was a rubber duck, a mounted fish on the wall, a small window with bars, an award, a door mat, a television on a stand and a little round end table.

After looking around the rooms I went searching for libraries. I ended up doing a search for libraries and many choices were quickly made available. I ended up just choosing three various ones from the list to see what they were like. The first one I found was only a square room. It contained two end tables, a round stool, a white shelf with books and a brown table and 4 brown chairs. The second library had a pot of red roses, an empty wooden book shelf, a corner cabinet, a double window with

clouds floating by, a blue table with 4 blue chairs and a wooden table with 2 stools. It seems like there was a lot but everything was empty. The final library I toured was also a square room, but it had much to offer. There were two white shelves full of books and a pot of red roses. In the corners there were 2 blue/grey couches with a potted palm plant between them. One of the major things I noticed was how easy it is to create a room that would simulate an actual classroom. I am going to look into building a large library to see what all is involved. As these resources advance and administrators accept that this is the trend, and it is not going away, this will become the classroom of the future. I viewed the video and no the United Kingdom is not the only hotel site. There are 17 hotels in all and each one can be accessed in the areas native language. I loved how the architecture of the hotels mirrored the buildings of the area they are located. Some of the locations are The article, Habbo Hotel to Turn Back On In Phases, is on a blog managed by BBC NEWS Technology. The article discusses the safety of minors while in Habbo Hotels. The site went on lock down and is slowly releasing some of its restrictions after concerns of pedophiles using the site to gain access to minors. The firm responsible for Habbo Hotel will be turning back on in phases while using moderators and various technology software to monitor for undesirable interactions. BBC. (2012). Habbo Hotel to turn back on in phases. BBC NEWS Technology. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18536172.

Second Life Main Grid I watched the videos about Second Life. I found the one that discussed the evolution of Second Life to be rather interesting. It was interesting to learn that individuals can set up real store in a virtual setting. The fact that real money can be exchanged is something that would appeal to many corporations in future years. I liked how the money that is being exchanged in Second Life had its own name and

look, but that it can be traded in for U.S. currency. The Warner Brothers lot and the Star Wars Island where characters can reenact the movie scenes seems like something many males would like. Something I had not noticed was product placement, but it was mentioned in the video. I could see this becoming really big for companies to regularly add to various areas. The second video about the Global Kids Teen Second Life Party should a different side to how the sites can be used. It would make for an interesting way to have large groups from all areas of the globe pull together to rally for topics of concern. I liked the volcano they built and then at the end they blew it up. These types of features would be interesting to use with science students. I visited four universities while I was exploring. There were so many schools from all over the world that have islands. I visited Ball State University, University of Cincinnati, Pennsylvania State University and California University Northridge. Ball State had a small, but nice campus. I was able to visit the technology building. It was a very large open space with a projector screen. I was not able to get the slide show to work though. The University of Cincinnati was very large. They even have a Second Life Orientation so students can learn how to navigate the Second Life University. There are so many classrooms that it is almost over whelming. I did find it interesting that one of the courses was a Second Life class. Pennsylvania State University did not have a lot of options that I could find. There was an art museum and teleports to various Japanese themed places, but it seemed very deserted. California University Northridge had a very nice site. It looked just like a real campus and was not over crowded with rooms and signs.

Ball State

University of Cincinnati

Pennsylvania State University

California University Northridge

When I went to the Teen Second Life site I visited a really neat library. It was called the Temple Library of Seshat and it was very, very fancy. The library was designed in dedication to Seshat the Ancient Egyptian Goddess of libraries and books.

Posing in the Temple Library of Seshat

A look at the Library

Task 2: The article, Second Lifes Role in a Curriculum, by Denise Harrison gave great examples of how virtual worlds could benefit students. The article discusses how Professor Tony Cider uses Second Life with his astronomy class. He chose not to any permanent buildings on his site, except a planetarium that allows students to get a more hands-on approach to studying the material (Harrison, 2009, p. 1). Creating a limitless sandbox supplies an environment for students to experience and discover astronomy in a simulated setting (Harrison, 2009, p. 1). Although it takes some time to get everyone comfortable with using the resource, the learning that occurs makes it worthwhile (Harrison, 2009, p. 2). Using Second Life gives students a chance to have real-world experiences they would never be able to do in person. The second article, Why Virtual Worlds Why Now?, is from a blog that is managed by the Broadcast News for ICT in UK Education. Like the article by Harrison, I found this article to offer great insight into positive situations where virtual worlds are being utilized. The

realizations that this is the future of education would be easier to adapt to if everyone approached it with an open mind. There should not be anyone that would read the articles, or watch the videos, and not see something positive about some aspect of using this technology in a classroom. Being creative with the tools will provide a way to really advance how and what students are learning. They would be able to become fully engaged in a situation where they need to use various facets of the prior knowledge and experience. I have to admit that I have been apprehensive in the past about the idea of teaching using virtual worlds. I no longer feel that way, with so many examples of how it can be successful in providing the students with learning opportunities they may never have in real-life it seems like a transition that needs to occur.

Harrison, D. (2009). Second lifes role in a cuuriculum. Campus Technology. 1-6. Retrieved from http://campustechnology.com/Article/2009/03/18/Teaching-in-the-Trenches-SecondLifes-Role Broadcast News for ICT in UK Education. (2009). Why virtual worlds - why now? Educators in Virtual Worlds on Open SIM: the Pioneers. Retrieved from http://www.l4l.co.uk/?p=592.