How ’bout this apple for the teacher?
(Image by Ramona.Forcella)

What would a full year’s virtual world curriculum look like?

The 2009-10 school year should see significant improvements in the functionality and stability of the OpenSim application; yet, the platform is likely to still be experiencing growing pains. So how could that virtual world be utilized across an entire school year?

Based on experiences with one Boston high school, I suspect that the best results will come from combining synchronous sessions with ample opportunities for—and some requirement of—independent work. The first sessions would occur in class (or computer lab), with the instructor present. Later, assigned projects could be pursued like homework…ideally, the school would make computers available for individuals. The first phase of implementation could address the basics:

Orientation

Familiarization with client viewer; navigation, communication, avatar appearance, preference settings

Basic building

Applying color and textures, linking prims, minor prim torture, modelling a RL object

First Project

This should be a simple assignment; possibly with no relation to content area (i.e., build a car, a house), simply demonstrating basic skills.

Early experiences with the Boston students revealed an important gap for these learners: they had not experienced a virtual world. Imagine being told to build something in SL if you had never even seen The Ivory Tower of Primitives or wandered around Help Island. They had no taste of the many flavors of content being created with this technology. So, the next phase of the curriculum might begin with a visit to an existing build in another sim, or possibly another grid.

First Field Trip

Visit another region/grid and report on experience. The destination would not necessarily contain material that is related to the students’ subject area. This first trip is simple exposure to a variety of content and design techniques…to get the imagination going, whip up some inspiration. The report could be submitted individually (paper, digital doc) and a class discussion about virtual world design should follow, sharing discovery and insight.

Second Project

This could be a more complex assignment, requiring several skills or design elements (exhibits and displays are suitable goals at this stage). This project should be related to the subject area.

Second Field Trip

Visit another region/grid and report on experience. This destination should be related to the subject area, if possible. Here, students could be given the option to produce a report in the virtual world. Reports could vary from simple oral presentations to VW exhibits, and on to collaborative multimedia blog/forum/wiki projects.

Finally, the year should culminate in the implementation of what may be SL’s most subtly seductive feature: We are in it together. The social aspects of Second Life® continue to surprise me. In fact, after just two years in SL, I have already collaborated with more people than I did in a decade with HTML, JavaScript, CSS and Flash Animation.