Phase 2: Inside Looking Out

Testing power-users for interest in classroom discourse

• Phase 1: Outside looking in
• Phase 2: Inside looking out
• Phase 3: Designing a multi-modal classroom

In an effort to see if the technical audience would have an interest in real education in a virtual environment I did a series of interactions in various virtual locations. This phase of the project also included getting feedback from colleagues in the form of a group project for a course on Interactivity given by Professor Daniel Schwartz from the Stanford University School of Education.

For our class project we designed an interactive environment targetted toward museum patrons. We designed what we liked to call "a museum where you can break things." In an effort to bring real-world art together with the power of virtual reality, we conceived an environment where art appreciators could manipulate objects of art in ways that would in reality be destructive. They could cut paintings to bits to see the landscape of the painted surface, they could copy or reproduce objects of art with their own personal flair, and they could also see and appreciate pieces created by other users. This project stimulated an intense discussion on a subject of particular interest to the class, the impact of physical manipulation on learning (Glenberg, 2004).

In addition to the Museum project, I also observed and partly recorded several other virtual interactions that were all dealing with actual learning or classroom discourse practices. In World of Warcraft, several colleagues from the LDT program decided to do an informal experiment to guage players' interest in classroom learning. We found a public location and began openly discussing classroom education. Over the course of the discussion several other individuals stopped to observe our discussion and some even inquired as to what we were doing. One interested player even went so far as to share his perspectives with us as seen in the image on the right.

My involvement with the LIFE Center also contributed to this phase of my project. The LIFE Center began investigating Second Life and the possible uses for student education as well as research. I was one of the first few Second Life users to get involved and begin working on their virtual island called Terra Vita. During a conference call to get to know each other better a few of us began interacting through the Second Life engine rather than exclusively voice and video communications. What ensued was an informal class on how to build objects in Second Life and how that might facilitate the mutual interests of the group. Again, the mixed modes of virtual environment and actual interaction made for a much more "life-like" experience for everybody.