Learning seems to be that much more effective when you’re unaware that you are learning. When you are engaged and interested then the learning becomes almost accidental. This is how I try to run my courses and this is the approach I would like to try in this activity.
I would like to put this mission in the form of a quest whereby students, through fulfilling the requirements of the quest, will also garner the skills necessary for negotiating Second Life.
The quest could take almost any form but perhaps, given the boundary stretching facilitated by Second Life, a quest based on the Harry Potter series would be effective (in the Teen Grid or perhaps Lord of the Rings in the Second Life grid).
A scenario could be established, for example, As Harry Potter you are asked to take on a new identity in order to steal into Voldemort’s lair and steal the Rosicrucian Chalice of Paracelsus (or some such thing).
The first step would be to disguise yourself as a servant of Voldemort’s. Some instructions could be given in a book or on a poster (or even in a notecard). A picture could be provided in a frame and then the student could try to make the avatar as close to possible as the avatar in the picture. Of course, the necessary materials would need to be available in the standard inventory. This would help the student master the skills of manipulating an avatar’s appearance.
The next section would deal with getting around. Certain clues or objects could be placed around the specifically constructed build to entice students to master the skills they need. Once they succeed in getting the object, they could be given instructions on how to obtain the next object. Once all of the objects have been completed (and hopefully, the skills mastered), the objects could combine to form some other object or could be used at specific times for specific purposes and so on. Maybe they would have to sit in a boat to cross a river, walk through some terrain and then run to escape a ferocious beast. Then they would have to fly across a great chasm to get to the other side.
In order to master the skills of looking around and zooming in on objects, students could be required to read books or small print, etc in order to determine the next part of their quest. I haven’t worked this out totally but you get the idea!
This design utilizes the features that we identified as being necessary for a successful orientation:
I would like to put this mission in the form of a quest whereby students, through fulfilling the requirements of the quest, will also garner the skills necessary for negotiating Second Life.
The quest could take almost any form but perhaps, given the boundary stretching facilitated by Second Life, a quest based on the Harry Potter series would be effective (in the Teen Grid or perhaps Lord of the Rings in the Second Life grid).
A scenario could be established, for example, As Harry Potter you are asked to take on a new identity in order to steal into Voldemort’s lair and steal the Rosicrucian Chalice of Paracelsus (or some such thing).
The first step would be to disguise yourself as a servant of Voldemort’s. Some instructions could be given in a book or on a poster (or even in a notecard). A picture could be provided in a frame and then the student could try to make the avatar as close to possible as the avatar in the picture. Of course, the necessary materials would need to be available in the standard inventory. This would help the student master the skills of manipulating an avatar’s appearance.
The next section would deal with getting around. Certain clues or objects could be placed around the specifically constructed build to entice students to master the skills they need. Once they succeed in getting the object, they could be given instructions on how to obtain the next object. Once all of the objects have been completed (and hopefully, the skills mastered), the objects could combine to form some other object or could be used at specific times for specific purposes and so on. Maybe they would have to sit in a boat to cross a river, walk through some terrain and then run to escape a ferocious beast. Then they would have to fly across a great chasm to get to the other side.
In order to master the skills of looking around and zooming in on objects, students could be required to read books or small print, etc in order to determine the next part of their quest. I haven’t worked this out totally but you get the idea!
This design utilizes the features that we identified as being necessary for a successful orientation:
- Organisation: once one part of the mission is achieved, instructions for the next part are delivered.
- Appropriate skills levels. The activities will be csaffolded so that students quickly gain confidence in the environment.
- Support: students will have access to notecards and other resources that will help them if they difficulties. Others could be on hand to help students with difficulties.
- Activities are varied and interactive.
- Students can interact with other participants or it might be a good idea to send them out in pairs.
So, let me know what you think!
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