Metaplace gives you the power to create, share, and live in your own unique virtual world. Hang out with friends, build your space, grow your community, and have fun. It’s not just for techies anymore — it’s for everyone who uses the Web today.

I find this a very opportune invitation as we’re getting very comfortable with the potential uses of virtual worlds in class and sense that we’re ready to design both prototypes and research agendas. I’ve only had a couple minutes in world, but am pleased by the style and layout of the site. Although I don’t think I can spare too much time right now building a place in Metaplace, I will certainly put it on my To Do list and hopefully get back to it in early May to give it due attention.

Once it’s out of beta, I’ll share screen capture of my initial foray into Metaplace.

I had to edit from another browser, in fact…

"Look, the ipods are sprouting!"

First, the photo of the “ipod planter” demonstrates how these two teachers are taking a challenge head on to make sure the devices are easily accessible - in this case to alleviate having to push a rather heavy, cumbersome cart around the teachers have built what I call an ‘ipod planter”. The solution not only makes it easy for kids to access the devices, but gives them a warm, cozy place to rest in between uses.

Second, I was completely unprepared by how natural the children act when using the ipods for an educational exercise. On the day I visited, the language arts teachers asked the kids to check out their ipods from the “planter” and give me a tour of how and what they use them for. Some kids were playing a networked, turn-taking game that included a chat feature, Mancala FS5 (Free).

Some kids were playing chess. Some kids were playing typing and other educational focused games. The highlight of the day was when the kids shared the collaborative podcast they had created under the direction of the teacher. I understand that these activities may not sound particularly innovative to some of those who have more experience along these lines, but I suppose the surprise for me was realizing just how “uneventful” this all was to students and teacher. That is, having the ipods and being fluent in use was part of their normal school day. Though this is merely an anecdote for now, I am still very enthusiastic about the possibilities of using and developing for this rather impressive mobile internet device.

Once I get permissions in place, and our project web site is up and running, I’ll provide more concrete details on where we are now on in the process and where we plan to go in the coming months.

Another term that came out of last night’s discussion, was design thinking. Although I have yet to find a definitive definition of the term, Fast Company has an article, Design Thinking…What Is That? that dances close enough around the idea to get the gist. From my understanding, it’s the type thinking exhibited by folks in professions such as industrial, interaction, and instructional design - a cognitive ability to deal with ill-structured problems in a disciplined, yet innovate, fashion. It’s an ability to deal with ambiguity and less-than-desired outcomes as well.

2009 VT G.A.M.E.R. Lab Virtual Guest Scholar
(via videoconference)

Dr. Dmitri Williams
Annenberg School for Communication,
University of Southern California

“The mapping principle and other oddities:
Recent findings from the Virtual Worlds Exploratorium”

Thursday, 26 February 2009
12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.    
123A Burruss Hall

• Open to all Virginia Tech faculty, staff, and students.
• Scholar’s presentation will be followed by Q&A and discussion.

Dmitri Williams is an Assistant Professor at the Annenberg School for
Communication at the University of Southern California. His research
interests lie in the social impacts of newcommunication technologies and
online communities, with a special interest in games and virtual worlds.

More on the series and upcoming talks can be found on the series flyer.

Playing Spore on iPod Touch.

On an admittedly small scale, we are working with a single middle school science teacher and her class to design an endogenous game experience with Spore.  Our ambition is to take a gradual approach by working a lesson plan at a time and then expanding to other topics, classrooms, and schools.

Of course, there are those who are much more ambitious, which is the case of Quest to Learn (Q2L). As the mission statement notes, Quest balances:

traditional academic needs with the reality that students today can and do learn in different ways, often through work with digital media, games, online networks, and mobile technologies…Quest supports a dynamic curriculum that uses the underlying design principles of games to create highly immersive, game-like learning experiences for students. Games and other forms of digital media also model the complexity and promise of “systems.” Understanding and accounting for this complexity is a fundamental literacy of the 21st century.

This sounds like a very timely, well-conceived plan for teaching middle and high school students in the 21st century.  It will certainly provide an interesting case study and petri dish for many of the theoretical principles and design statements being covered in our class. Also, it will be interesting to compare our small efforts in rural southwest Virgina to the urban setting of New York City.

"Xi Bao" - my creature just after making land.

As I play Spore I’m trying to keep in mind ideas from Gee’s, What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy (2ed). We’re using this text to help better justify and articulate why spending up to 50 hours (and more) of course time playing COTS video games and exploring Second Life. This being the first week, I have nothing more to report that I’ve made it past the Cell Stage. My creature, who still retains his cell name (”xi bao” is Mandarin for “cell”), admittedly not a creative moniker.

CALL for PROPOSALS
Proposals due: March 21st 2009

DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois- USA
October 6-9, 2009

You are cordially invited to submit a proposal for the 41st Annual Conference of the International Visual Literacy Association (IVLA), October 6-9, 2009, in Chicago, Illinois.  IVLA’s annual conference provides scholars and researchers, teachers and students, artists, and other professionals with interests and activities relating to the multi-disciplinary field of Visual Literacy, an opportunity to present their work, and constructively interact with peers. The conference facilitates exchange of best and innovative practices, presentation of research results, discussion of work in progress, and showcase of art installations. Paper presentations, symposia and panel sessions, roundtable discussions, workshops and demonstrations, poster sessions, and visual exhibits are invited.

Game On! Blacksburg, VA

NEW! Teacher Session: This year, IVLA is organizing a special half-day session for K-12 educators who can also earn CPDUs through their attendance. This half-day session will be filled with useful and practical information about visual literacy. Teachers will have the opportunity to learn more about visual literacy and how it can be integrated into the curriculum, as well as receive practical advice and suggestions for projects. For this session, we are looking for lively, captivating topics, hands-on activities, instructional and learning strategies, standards-based projects, quality resources, and clear evaluation rubrics that teachers can put to immediate use with their students. Topics need to be short, creative, and directly related to K-12 education. If you feel that you have a topic that will fit into this special session, please submit your proposal as a teacher session. NB SIGTE members please identify yourselves in your proposal submission!

IVLA 2009 CfP - Full details