Key words/Searches
Virtual environments
Second Life
Computer games in Education
Adaptive Play
Adaptation
Play
Second Life and Interactivity
Simulation
Cybernetics
Complex Adaptive Systems
Open Systems
Feedback loops
System theory
Interactivity
Search Locations
Internet search (Google and Youtube)
Digital Games Research Association Database (digra[dot]org),
Journal of Virtual Worlds
IFIP-EC-NEWS International Federation for Information Processing ENTERTAINMENT COMPUTING NEWS service
RezHed online Hub (Forum) http://rezedhub.ning.com/
Second Life Educators forum http://www.simteach.com/wiki/index.php?title=Second_Life_Education_Wiki
Second Life Grid http://secondlifegrid.net/slfe/education-use-virtual-world
Newsgroup/Mailing list
Eschoolnews http://www.eschoolnews.com
Eschoolnews contains the latest news, information, and resources on how secondary/high school educators are using technology in the classroom.
IFIP-EC-NEWS International Federation for Information Processing
Latest news and announcements to the entertainment computing community.
Centre for Learning in Virtual Environments(CliVE)
http://clive.merlot.org/
Is a collaboration between The Center for Advanced Technology in Education (CATE) at The University of Oregon, Sun Microsystems, and MERLOT to create two complimentary spaces - here on the World Wide Web and also within 3D space - for comparing, contrasting, and informing educators about the potentials and challenges for learning and teaching in Multi-User Virtual Environments.
Books:
Heim M 1998, Virtual Realism - New York, Oxford University Press
Michael Heim examines the world of virtual reality and discusses its effect on our present and future lives. He explores the uses of virtual reality for industry and the military, as well as for art and entertainment. He argues that there must be a balance between virtual reality and reality itself. This "uneasy balance" he calls virtual realism.
Gee J 2003, What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy, New York, Palgrave Macmillan
James Gee discusses how video games are not just a mode of entertainment but have the attributes to be a key tool in developing education, that is not only engaging but fun. He argues that there are elements within computer games that can be conducive to learning making mind-numbing tasks more enjoyable. He discusses his own principles of learning comparing them with traditional based systems. James Gee pushes the argument that more should be made of computer games in education.
Hayles K, 1999, How We Became Post Human, Chicago, The University of Chicago Press
Katherine Hayles examines embodiment in technology and the journey to the virtual age.
Weiner N, 1961, Cybernetics: or Control, and Communication in the Animal and the Machine, Massachusetts, Da Capo Press
Looks at feedback & control theory.
Weiner N, 1988, The Human Use Of Human Beings: Cybernetics And Society, Massachusetts, Da Capo Press
Founder of cybernetics Weiner explores the relationship between computers and humans. Wener hoped that oone day that machines, computers etc would help mankind to ease its workload. This book examines the implications of cybernetics for education, law, language, science, technology.
Articles:
Becker K 2005, How Are Games Educational? Learning Theories Embodied in Games, Vancouver: University of Vancouver
Discusses the initial resistance to the use of gaming technology to improve learning and how with time, the value of using computer games is now becoming widely accepted as a tool to improve pedagogy. He tries to explain how two learning theories by Cagnes and Garderner coincide with existing game design. The article explores how game designers employ multiple approaches to both aid and challenge players that can be used to improve learning in education.
Galarneau L 2005, Authentic Learning Experiences Through Play: Games, Simulations and the Construction of Knowledge, Vancouver: University of Vancouver
Lisa Galarneau discusses how initially there was a great rush to use computer games and e-learning to improve education but lack of inventiveness and focus in their design, left them being just chocolate-covered broccoli ie the content and teaching methods used within the games was unchanged from their non-game origins. Allowing the learner to take control of their own learning at their own speed using games technology leaves the student at the center of the own learning, they have the control.
Internet
Elmo! 6thAugust, viewed 29/10/09 http://www.rikomatic.com/blog/2009/08/gie09.html
This blog provides excellent links to lots of information regarding games in education.
Angel Del B, Torrente J, Ger Moreno P and Manjon B, 2009, Bridging the Gap: Adaptive Games and Student-Centered VLEs, http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2009LNCS.5686..130D 11/12/09
Freidman D, Donenfeld A and Zafran E, 2009, Neurophysiology-based art in immersive virtual reality, International Journal of Arts and Technology, Volume 2, Number 4, pp 331 – 347.
Manslow J, 2002, Learning and Adaptation in Games, Boston,Charles River Media,
Merrick and Mahe, 2009, Motivated Reinforcement Learning, Berlin, Springer
Simon N, 2007, “Musuem 2.0”, blog 18/7/07, “Jumping into Art in Second Life”, viewed 11/12/09 http://museumtwo.blogspot.com/2007/07/jumping-into-art-in-second-life.html
Thompson D, 2007, The Impermanence of the Build: In Second Life, as in Life, Nothing Lasts Forever, viewed 11/12/09 http://dusanwriter.wordpress.com/2007/12/18/the-impermanence-of-the-build-even-in-second-life-nothing-lasts-forever/
Maisano M, 2009, DEFINING EXCELLENCE….. Responding to the Cultures of the Technological Classroom, RezEd, viewed 17/1/10
http://www.rezed.org/profiles/blogs/defining-excellence-responding
Posting on a blog that questions concepts of Culturally Responsive Teaching but more broadly the concept must be broadened to Responding to the Cultures of the Technological Classroom. Looks at the current system of testing and the comparing of scores of low-achieving students with high-achieving students. Asks why we have neglected or masked the wonderful individuality and learning diversities of our students.
Pedigan L, Professor James Paul Gee shows the world the importance of video games, viewed 13/12/09
http://www.gamezone.com/news/07_03_03_06_17PM.htm
This site contains an excellent interview with James Gee who is a real advocate in the use of computer games for education. He discusses how many games have good learning principles built into them and the fact that this is supported by the latest cognitive science. He states that traditional education methods like skill and drill and multiple-choice test are killing deep learning. He discusses his learning principles within game play and the fact that many educators are trapped within their specialties and don’t broaden their horizons. Thus they see the video game more like a book than what it really is, a way to take part in complex systems and learn from them. It is the games that are not about point and shoot but about building environments and solving problems through his or her actions.
Browning D, 2010, architectureanddesign, Design goes digital in Second Life, 27th January available from: http://www.architectureanddesign.com.au/article/Design-goes-digital-in-Second-Life/509878.aspx, viewed 6/2/10
Description of Portrait Island situated within SL, which consists of virtual art exhibitions by the Gallery, containing work by artists from all over the world. One artists description of how his work “Doppleganger” is explored in detail describing how he sees the virtual; as a different way of representing space and art.
Browning D, 2010, architectureanddesign, Design goes digital in Second Life, 27th January available from: http://www.architectureanddesign.com.au/article/Design-goes-digital-in-Second-Life/509878.aspx, viewed 6/2/10
Description of Portrait Island situated within SL, which consists of virtual art exhibitions by the Gallery, containing work by artists from all over the world. One artists description of how his work “Doppleganger” is explored in detail describing how he sees the virtual; as a different way of representing space and art.
Second Life Augmented Reality in Physical Space
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hc9k3ptb_Xk
The installation involves the user wearing a headset with a webcam, looking through goggles and using a paddle to "liberate" a 3D avatar from within Second Life.
How Second Life is being used in Education (search)
Skill Mastery Hypodrome
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tIufh6x5Fc
The Skill Mastery Hypodrome is an environment in which students can learn, develop and practice interview skills that will help them progress on their career pathways and achieve their life goals.
The Hyperdome was built for Foundation Studies (Bridging Education) as part of the Second Life Education New Zealand Project. Acitivites provided in this build are designed to enhance communication skills, specifically the skills needed in an interview situation. Here students will select appropriate clothing for an interview.
This environment allows students to experience virtual interviews, to take on the roles of both interviewer and interviewee, and to develop confidence in answering and asking questions in a professional manner. The opportunity to rehearse variations of the interview scenario will lead to further enlightenment through reflective evaluation and deliberation on their own behaviour in action.
Education and Professional Development: Classrooms without Borders
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqR3fSGGKoQ&feature=related
A machinima on the professional development opportunities that can be found in the virtual world of Second Life. Filmed at ISTE, Discovery Educator Network, Atlantis Seekers, and the Teacher Networking Center. Explores team building exercises, digital story telling, cultural exchange, teaching tools, online research skills and communication
Second Life: Open Education and Virtual Worlds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3sblfBjh_4&feature=related
Charles Nesson and Rebecca Nesson at Harvard University examine Second Life and the opportunities and problems that this virtual environment confronts.
International Society for Technology in Education -- ISTE Second Life
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aP137QgYKvQ&feature=related
ISTE Island is a virtual online space that allows educators to meet up and swap thoughts and learn new ideas and technology to improve education. The video has a few testimonials highlighting how ITSE has changed their lives.
Second Life for the University
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXpNMUadpms
Pod cast tour of the Nottingham University's new campus in Second Life. Demonstrates how they are using SL to improve the delivery of education and to aid in research, as well as provide a support sturcture for their students. How to reference etc! Also mentions students using SL to research the use of wind farms and the best places to put them. (Experiental learning)
Reflexive Architecture, Second Life Machinima
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBtma6YXAis&feature=PlayList&p=E463A030869DD1D4&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=5
Reflexive Architecture, by Keystone Bouchard, Jon Brouchoud. Installation on Architecture Island and exhibition on Info Island for artslib. Excellent SL build that demonstrates various adaptive play installations.
Reflexive Architecture: Active Glass, Columns, Sound
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Tq3PD7PMGQ&feature=related
Similar to above
Reflexive Architecture
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5UCyKznlQ0&feature=related
Similar to above
Youtube
Interactive Architecture
Interactive Architecture is an illustration of the concept that digital projections can interact with the surfaces upon which they are projected.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzCB-IJ2YsY&feature=related
Interactive Mirror in the HK Coliseum.
http://www.youtube.com/user/dacaco
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F3rnV3-6VM
Video demonstrating how a mirror generates light shows from how people interact with their reflections.
Guggenheim museum NY with Traxon's LED
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzYjVZ5vMRc&feature=PlayList&p=2998BB8C87316E6E&index=19&playnext=2&playnext_from=PL
Crazy LED floor in the Guggenheim museum of NY. Using LED boards with Sound to Light function with ecue lighting control.
Playing on a light up floor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yl0l3ZdLZ_8&feature=related
This video demonstrates how the movement of people on a floor within Singapore Science Museum, generates a light show according to how people interact with the light.
Painting with Light - Live Video Feedback Session
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfrAC0eraZw
This video shows a Painting With Light workshop, with dancer Ellen McCarthy and other participants experimenting and interacting with a video camera and projector in a feedback-loop.
Barry Hale: INTRAFERENCE MIRRORS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfrJXrzoCwU
Video artist Barry Hale manipulates a simple video feedback loop to create evolving images in real time.
Metaverse
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCWyDjojVeE
This video demonstrates the results of artist Derek Lerner mixing of virtual and real realities, infinite space, multi-user online 3D collaborative environments, and time travel. This resulting video was prompted about his thoughts about the concept of virtual space and Second Life in general as well as blurring lines between simulation and real.
He was asked to contribute work to the NOKIA Trends Lab project and started to think about the level of connectivity and immersive experience handheld wireless hybridized multifunction devices offer, resulting in a type of virtual space. It reflects the sense he gets when walking down the street taking photos, listening to the radio, & then uploading images to a server is of a disjointed reality where his mind is in another place but body is walking down the street.
This inspired him to use a NOKIA N93 to film video feedback loops creating abstract video drawings as a metaphor for 3D immersive virtual space. Infinite syndicated regurgitated communicative white noise evoking feelings of becoming so intertwined with digital communications that the grayness of life as we currently know it is a blurry place of virtual and real.
Reflexive Architecture, Second Life Machinima
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBtma6YXAis&feature=PlayList&p=E463A030869DD1D4&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=5
Reflexive Architecture, by Keystone Bouchard, Jon Brouchoud. Installation on Architecture Island and exhibition on Info Island for artslib. Excellent SL build that demonstrates various adaptive play installations.
Reflexive Architecture: Active Glass, Columns, Sound
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Tq3PD7PMGQ&feature=related
Similar to above
Reflexive Architecture
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5UCyKznlQ0&feature=related
Similar to above
Second Life Interactive Architecture S.O.N.A.R version 1.2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_bHZFGnMRw&feature=related
S.O.N.A.R (Self Organizing Nebulous Architectural Response)
-A fluid virtual architecture that develops and responds to avatar presence and movement.
More at www.projectsonar.com A collaborative project between avatar Far Link (Michael DiTullio) and Involve3D.
Wikitecture Tree Demo, Second Life Machinima
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3eWKIJxzyc&feature=player_embedded#
Interesting adaptive interface
Second Life First Life Dance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InCiE1AXc0o
Interactive installation at the Royal school of architecture in Stockholm. Dancers interact with their virtual counterparts in second life.
Responsive Architecture Creating Spatial Experience
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohceTgsS7eg
Another example of how architecture and 3d meshes can interact with avatars.
Reflexive Architecture; Avatar Trails - Visual Traces
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPGElH9UJEY
More Jon Brouchoud
Reflexive Music Installation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfFnq8CxkIM
More of Brouchouds series of experiments centered on reflexive music, within the percieved boundary between music and architecture in a virtual world.
Friday, 19 March 2010
Discussion on the use of Second Life to explore semiotics
At the end of the Adaptive Play tests I decided to ask the students what their views were on Second Life and its use to explore semiotics.
Initially the students were very quiet and nervous abouting airing their views but once prompted they started to become more confident, some more than others. Some saw the relevance of the Adaptive play sessions and understood why I was introducing it into the sessions. They realised its advantages over tradional methods of teaching semiotics and seemed keen to use SL further, especially if it involved team work and the development of explorable spaces.
Initially the students were very quiet and nervous abouting airing their views but once prompted they started to become more confident, some more than others. Some saw the relevance of the Adaptive play sessions and understood why I was introducing it into the sessions. They realised its advantages over tradional methods of teaching semiotics and seemed keen to use SL further, especially if it involved team work and the development of explorable spaces.
Final deconstruction as part of the Adaptive Play tests
For the final part of the Adaptive play test I asked my FdA Animation and Multimedia Design students to deconstruct Hogarth's Marriage A-la-Mode: 2, The Tête à Tête (1743-5)
Students found the task quite difficult this time around and had to be prompted to reveal their thoughts about the meaning of the painting. As time went on the conversation became lighter and the students started to open up and discuss the imagery used. Some intersting comments were made and it was good to see an improvement in their understanding of the task.
The deconstructions done in the real world and in Second Life gave them a good grounding in Semiotics allowing them to approach their work from new perspectives.
The students will explore semiotics with much more detail later on in their course, specifically within the History of Design and Visual Culutre module.
Students found the task quite difficult this time around and had to be prompted to reveal their thoughts about the meaning of the painting. As time went on the conversation became lighter and the students started to open up and discuss the imagery used. Some intersting comments were made and it was good to see an improvement in their understanding of the task.
The deconstructions done in the real world and in Second Life gave them a good grounding in Semiotics allowing them to approach their work from new perspectives.
The students will explore semiotics with much more detail later on in their course, specifically within the History of Design and Visual Culutre module.
Monday, 1 March 2010
Second test of the Adaptive Play Prototype
For the second test students were asked to deconstruct Dali's The-Persistence-of-Memory.
Second test part 1
Adaptive play within SL can be used to vary the challenges for a user, help players with artistic visualisation and encourage other ways of seeing.
Snapshots of structures from Second Test
Double click images to enlarge.
Dali's painting is textured onto a basic primitive within Second Life, this is the facilitator for the deconstruction of the painting in the surrounding virtual space.
These aerial views of the adaptive play space demonstrate how the students have begun to think how their models are placed to reflect their thoughts and the concepts evoked by the painting.
Here one student has thought about his composition of simple meshes and tried to texture them appropriately. This was a step on from the last test where most of the students just created boxes. Student modelling skills have grown over the few sessions that have been run and I am sure they will continue to do so. The virtual environment allows imagery to be placed on both sides of an object. The student not only has to think about the space immediately around their location and that of the image to be deconstructed, but also on surfaces that would not normally be visible in the real world.
Students had the freedom to create what ever they wanted and to use imagery that captured their emotional responses to the painting. This time to "play" in what would normally be a strictly planned out session allowed creativity to flow with open ended experimentation.
This freedom to experiment with ideas is lacking within the confines of the lecture theatre, where History of Design and Visual studies are set. Second Life provides an space where innovative thinking can take place. Problems or ideas can be examined from different angles and points of view.
Being able to interact with artwork and manipulate the surroundings can enhance the students understanding of the concepts of design and layout. Use of colour, shape and sculpture, form vibrant virtual spaces that the students become part of. Being part of the artwork allows them to see the painting from a different perspctive, allowing deeper embedding of knowledge that might normally be overlooked or forgotten.
“Virtual reality (VR) art often deals with issues of embodied interaction vs. the fantasy of disembodiment: on the one hand, unlike traditional desktop computers, VR allows full-body interaction; on the other hand, VR allows one to experience disembodied presence in an immaterial, abstract space.” (Freidman D, Donenfeld A and Zafran E, 2009)
The first test gave the students a basic understanding of semiotics and the skills to create basic low polygon models. Having fun in Second Life, building objects with others, really helped the more quiet students interact with their peers. Those that were struggling with the techniques and navigation, asked for help from others and unconsciously reinforced both parties understanding of the theories and processes involved.
“Society can only be understood through a study of the messages and the communication facilities which belong to it; and that in the future development of these messages and communication facilities, messages between man and machines, between machines and man, and between machine and machine, are destined to play an ever increasing part."
(Weiner N, 1954 )
Students learnt by simply changing certain parameters within their models or by applying suitable textures, the whole connotation of the artwork and that of the surrounding area can change. This adaptive behaviour within the space demonstrates that the students are starting to understand the deconstruction process.
They learnt that the placing of imagery and models can change the context of an image. Being able to walk around their work, fly above a scene or change the size of their avatar, allowed them the chance to see the results of their efforts from a variety of perspectives. This experience will hopefully allow them to do same thing in the real world and look at imagery in different ways. This is a skill many of them did not realise they could take advantage of and use in their own work.
“There is an emergent trend in Technology-Enhanced Learning advocating for the use of educational videogames and game-like simulations. Educational videogames have key advantages such as their suitability to convey concepts or to increase students’ motivation. Another key feature of educational games is that their high level of interactivity can provide fine-grained adaptation and performance-tracking mechanisms. This interactivity can open new possibilities in the e-learning field in terms of adaptive learning experiences, compared to those offered by more “traditional” hypermedia contents”. (Angel Del B, Torrente J, Ger Moreno P and Manjon B, 2009)
Every student is different so an adaptive space in which to play and experiment with creativity can only help with the progress of education. Two quotes from Albert Einsetin seem very appropriate at this time for me.
Imagination is more important than knowledge...
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education.
Surely Second Life or any VLE would have brought a smile to his face.
In the first test most of the models where just boxes or basic primatives placed in straight lines or perpendicular to each other. No one really stretched their imagination or dared to be different from their peers. By the second test however there was a distinct change. Not only had the designs of their avatars become more inventive but the whole approach to the task was much freer and expressive. The students tried harder to capture what they saw in the painting.
The basic modelling skills they had were put to good use and their was distinct jump in creativity. Images were more searching in their interpretation and layout braver and bold. Yes fewer students took part, but more thought was put into how all the objects and textures interact with the painting and the space around their deconstructions.
The students had fed back their experiences of the first test into the second. There was little need to explain the deconstruction process the second time around, as the first experience was so embedded in their experience. They had used their tacit knowledge this time and the results speak for themselves
Less of the imagery was denotational with more space being occupied with textures that had clearly been thought over. There was more intelligent design.
The space and visuals created reflected the student consciousness in a way that could be explored. They could walk around the world rather than just gaze at a description or a painting, physically being able to interact with their interpretations their minds and artistic skills had modelled. This encounter between the deconstructor within SL and the message is a kind of feedback loop. It is these feedback loops that can be developed in SL that makes VLE like this so useful. SL ticks all the boxes when making use of a variety of learning styles.
“ From my experience with the virtual reality simulations at the Human Interface Technology Laboratory and elsewhere, I can attest to the disorientating, exhilarating effect of the feeling that subjectivity is dispersed throughout the cybernetic circuit. In these systems, the user learns, kinaesthetically and proprioceptively, that the relevant boundaries for interaction are defined less by the skin than by the feedback loops connecting body and simulation in a technobio-integrated circuit.” (Hayles K, 1999)
The student interprets the images then sees the image in a different or deeper way. The resulting deconstructions then become more complex and require interpreting themselves. Every model or texture the student makes provokes a reaction from the student and from their peers. Second Life also, in the way the models are displayed, which again provokes another response and interpretation, and so the cycle or loop is repeated until the end of the test. This interpretation is instant as is the reaction to the work. The student understands the painting by understanding how to take it apart.
The deconstruction of the painting within SL, is constantly changing with each model that is added by a student. The deconstruction itselfs feeds back into the interpretation. Students became absorbed in the process with some wanting to continue after the test was finished. Being able to approach difficult concepts, express ideas or theories using visual facilitators is part of being a succesful designer or animator. SL is a tool that can take advantage of this. Not only is it fun for the user but they get immediate results and can walk around their handy work in a way that is impractical in the real world, or at least very difficult.
The following passage is from a letter by Albert Einstein in it he seems to highlight the importance of visual imagery to explore ideas.
"The psychical entities which seem to serve as elements in Designing in Virtual Space 129 thought are certain signs and more or less clear images which can be "voluntarily" reproduced and combined....The above mentioned elements are, in my case, of visual and some of muscular type. Conventional words or other signs have to be sought for laboriously only in a secondary stage, when the mentioned associative play is sufficiently established and can be reproduced at will.”
The students stepped through the mirror that is the computer screen and interacted wih models and textures to deconstruct a painting on a virtual box. Simply by using technology the students were familair with, a task which would normally be considered as not relevant by many of them, became interesting and fun to do.
Making use of Second Life for exercises like the tests conceived, seem the way forward in capturing student interest in what they consider mundane modules. Not only does it require a small learning curve but results are instant, pandering to a generation with short attention spans. I have a wide age demographic on my courses so finding ways to reach all, with a variety of learning styles is always a challenge.
The tools available within SL and the advantages of the virtual space itself, make learning difficult design concepts more fun and easy to comprehend. The young students identify with the game technology whilst the mature students see its capabilities. This in itself is a good reason to experiment further with the platform.
"Recently, a new generation of multi-user virtual worlds has emerged in which users are provided with open-ended modelling tools with which they can create and modify world content. The result is evolving virtual spaces for commerce, education, entertainment and social interaction. In general, these virtual worlds are not games and have no concept of winning. However the open-ended modelling capacity is nonetheless compelling." (Merrick and Mahe Chapert 9, 2009)
By the end of the test students were creating spaces within spaces. These on their own were worth exploring and interpreting.
Bibliography
Angel Del B, Torrente J, Ger Moreno P and Manjon B, 2009, Bridging the Gap: Adaptive Games and Student-Centered VLEs, http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2009LNCS.5686..130D 11/12/09
Freidman D, Donenfeld A and Zafran E, 2009, Neurophysiology-based art in immersive virtual reality, International Journal of Arts and Technology, Volume 2, Number 4, pp 331 – 347.
Hayles K, 1999, How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodiesin Cybernetics, literature, and Informatics, Chicago, The University of Chicago Press
Manslow J, 2002, Learning and Adaptation in Games, Boston, Charles River Media
Merrick and Mahe, 2009, Motivated Reinforcement Learning, Berlin, Springer
Simon N, 2007, “Musuem 2.0”, blog 18/7/07, “Jumping into Art in Second Life”, viewed 11/12/09 http://museumtwo.blogspot.com/2007/07/jumping-into-art-in-second-life.html
Thompson D, 2007, The Impermanence of the Build: In Second Life, as in Life, Nothing Lasts Forever, viewed 11/12/09 http://dusanwriter.wordpress.com/2007/12/18/the-impermanence-of-the-build-even-in-second-life-nothing-lasts-forever/
Thomas F, WWW, Designing in Virtual Space, HitLab, viewed 6/3/10
Weiner N, 1954, The Human Use of Human Beings: Cybernetics and Society, Boston, Houghton Mifflin
Second test part 1
Adaptive play within SL can be used to vary the challenges for a user, help players with artistic visualisation and encourage other ways of seeing.
Snapshots of structures from Second Test
Double click images to enlarge.
Dali's painting is textured onto a basic primitive within Second Life, this is the facilitator for the deconstruction of the painting in the surrounding virtual space.
These aerial views of the adaptive play space demonstrate how the students have begun to think how their models are placed to reflect their thoughts and the concepts evoked by the painting.
Here one student has thought about his composition of simple meshes and tried to texture them appropriately. This was a step on from the last test where most of the students just created boxes. Student modelling skills have grown over the few sessions that have been run and I am sure they will continue to do so. The virtual environment allows imagery to be placed on both sides of an object. The student not only has to think about the space immediately around their location and that of the image to be deconstructed, but also on surfaces that would not normally be visible in the real world.
Students had the freedom to create what ever they wanted and to use imagery that captured their emotional responses to the painting. This time to "play" in what would normally be a strictly planned out session allowed creativity to flow with open ended experimentation.
This freedom to experiment with ideas is lacking within the confines of the lecture theatre, where History of Design and Visual studies are set. Second Life provides an space where innovative thinking can take place. Problems or ideas can be examined from different angles and points of view.
Being able to interact with artwork and manipulate the surroundings can enhance the students understanding of the concepts of design and layout. Use of colour, shape and sculpture, form vibrant virtual spaces that the students become part of. Being part of the artwork allows them to see the painting from a different perspctive, allowing deeper embedding of knowledge that might normally be overlooked or forgotten.
“Virtual reality (VR) art often deals with issues of embodied interaction vs. the fantasy of disembodiment: on the one hand, unlike traditional desktop computers, VR allows full-body interaction; on the other hand, VR allows one to experience disembodied presence in an immaterial, abstract space.” (Freidman D, Donenfeld A and Zafran E, 2009)
The first test gave the students a basic understanding of semiotics and the skills to create basic low polygon models. Having fun in Second Life, building objects with others, really helped the more quiet students interact with their peers. Those that were struggling with the techniques and navigation, asked for help from others and unconsciously reinforced both parties understanding of the theories and processes involved.
“Society can only be understood through a study of the messages and the communication facilities which belong to it; and that in the future development of these messages and communication facilities, messages between man and machines, between machines and man, and between machine and machine, are destined to play an ever increasing part."
(Weiner N, 1954 )
Students learnt by simply changing certain parameters within their models or by applying suitable textures, the whole connotation of the artwork and that of the surrounding area can change. This adaptive behaviour within the space demonstrates that the students are starting to understand the deconstruction process.
They learnt that the placing of imagery and models can change the context of an image. Being able to walk around their work, fly above a scene or change the size of their avatar, allowed them the chance to see the results of their efforts from a variety of perspectives. This experience will hopefully allow them to do same thing in the real world and look at imagery in different ways. This is a skill many of them did not realise they could take advantage of and use in their own work.
“There is an emergent trend in Technology-Enhanced Learning advocating for the use of educational videogames and game-like simulations. Educational videogames have key advantages such as their suitability to convey concepts or to increase students’ motivation. Another key feature of educational games is that their high level of interactivity can provide fine-grained adaptation and performance-tracking mechanisms. This interactivity can open new possibilities in the e-learning field in terms of adaptive learning experiences, compared to those offered by more “traditional” hypermedia contents”. (Angel Del B, Torrente J, Ger Moreno P and Manjon B, 2009)
Every student is different so an adaptive space in which to play and experiment with creativity can only help with the progress of education. Two quotes from Albert Einsetin seem very appropriate at this time for me.
Imagination is more important than knowledge...
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education.
Surely Second Life or any VLE would have brought a smile to his face.
In the first test most of the models where just boxes or basic primatives placed in straight lines or perpendicular to each other. No one really stretched their imagination or dared to be different from their peers. By the second test however there was a distinct change. Not only had the designs of their avatars become more inventive but the whole approach to the task was much freer and expressive. The students tried harder to capture what they saw in the painting.
The basic modelling skills they had were put to good use and their was distinct jump in creativity. Images were more searching in their interpretation and layout braver and bold. Yes fewer students took part, but more thought was put into how all the objects and textures interact with the painting and the space around their deconstructions.
The students had fed back their experiences of the first test into the second. There was little need to explain the deconstruction process the second time around, as the first experience was so embedded in their experience. They had used their tacit knowledge this time and the results speak for themselves
Less of the imagery was denotational with more space being occupied with textures that had clearly been thought over. There was more intelligent design.
The space and visuals created reflected the student consciousness in a way that could be explored. They could walk around the world rather than just gaze at a description or a painting, physically being able to interact with their interpretations their minds and artistic skills had modelled. This encounter between the deconstructor within SL and the message is a kind of feedback loop. It is these feedback loops that can be developed in SL that makes VLE like this so useful. SL ticks all the boxes when making use of a variety of learning styles.
“ From my experience with the virtual reality simulations at the Human Interface Technology Laboratory and elsewhere, I can attest to the disorientating, exhilarating effect of the feeling that subjectivity is dispersed throughout the cybernetic circuit. In these systems, the user learns, kinaesthetically and proprioceptively, that the relevant boundaries for interaction are defined less by the skin than by the feedback loops connecting body and simulation in a technobio-integrated circuit.” (Hayles K, 1999)
The student interprets the images then sees the image in a different or deeper way. The resulting deconstructions then become more complex and require interpreting themselves. Every model or texture the student makes provokes a reaction from the student and from their peers. Second Life also, in the way the models are displayed, which again provokes another response and interpretation, and so the cycle or loop is repeated until the end of the test. This interpretation is instant as is the reaction to the work. The student understands the painting by understanding how to take it apart.
The deconstruction of the painting within SL, is constantly changing with each model that is added by a student. The deconstruction itselfs feeds back into the interpretation. Students became absorbed in the process with some wanting to continue after the test was finished. Being able to approach difficult concepts, express ideas or theories using visual facilitators is part of being a succesful designer or animator. SL is a tool that can take advantage of this. Not only is it fun for the user but they get immediate results and can walk around their handy work in a way that is impractical in the real world, or at least very difficult.
The following passage is from a letter by Albert Einstein in it he seems to highlight the importance of visual imagery to explore ideas.
"The psychical entities which seem to serve as elements in Designing in Virtual Space 129 thought are certain signs and more or less clear images which can be "voluntarily" reproduced and combined....The above mentioned elements are, in my case, of visual and some of muscular type. Conventional words or other signs have to be sought for laboriously only in a secondary stage, when the mentioned associative play is sufficiently established and can be reproduced at will.”
The students stepped through the mirror that is the computer screen and interacted wih models and textures to deconstruct a painting on a virtual box. Simply by using technology the students were familair with, a task which would normally be considered as not relevant by many of them, became interesting and fun to do.
Making use of Second Life for exercises like the tests conceived, seem the way forward in capturing student interest in what they consider mundane modules. Not only does it require a small learning curve but results are instant, pandering to a generation with short attention spans. I have a wide age demographic on my courses so finding ways to reach all, with a variety of learning styles is always a challenge.
The tools available within SL and the advantages of the virtual space itself, make learning difficult design concepts more fun and easy to comprehend. The young students identify with the game technology whilst the mature students see its capabilities. This in itself is a good reason to experiment further with the platform.
"Recently, a new generation of multi-user virtual worlds has emerged in which users are provided with open-ended modelling tools with which they can create and modify world content. The result is evolving virtual spaces for commerce, education, entertainment and social interaction. In general, these virtual worlds are not games and have no concept of winning. However the open-ended modelling capacity is nonetheless compelling." (Merrick and Mahe Chapert 9, 2009)
By the end of the test students were creating spaces within spaces. These on their own were worth exploring and interpreting.
Bibliography
Angel Del B, Torrente J, Ger Moreno P and Manjon B, 2009, Bridging the Gap: Adaptive Games and Student-Centered VLEs, http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2009LNCS.5686..130D 11/12/09
Freidman D, Donenfeld A and Zafran E, 2009, Neurophysiology-based art in immersive virtual reality, International Journal of Arts and Technology, Volume 2, Number 4, pp 331 – 347.
Hayles K, 1999, How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodiesin Cybernetics, literature, and Informatics, Chicago, The University of Chicago Press
Manslow J, 2002, Learning and Adaptation in Games, Boston, Charles River Media
Merrick and Mahe, 2009, Motivated Reinforcement Learning, Berlin, Springer
Simon N, 2007, “Musuem 2.0”, blog 18/7/07, “Jumping into Art in Second Life”, viewed 11/12/09 http://museumtwo.blogspot.com/2007/07/jumping-into-art-in-second-life.html
Thompson D, 2007, The Impermanence of the Build: In Second Life, as in Life, Nothing Lasts Forever, viewed 11/12/09 http://dusanwriter.wordpress.com/2007/12/18/the-impermanence-of-the-build-even-in-second-life-nothing-lasts-forever/
Thomas F, WWW, Designing in Virtual Space, HitLab, viewed 6/3/10
Weiner N, 1954, The Human Use of Human Beings: Cybernetics and Society, Boston, Houghton Mifflin
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