My MUVEnation Workshop:Building word balloons and boxes for language learning games and fun!

SL Instructor: Misy Ferraris
Duration: 1 hour
Date and Time: 20th February:
17 UTC Time/8 am SLT
Location: MUVEnation sandbox

Overview:
introducing to manage LSL for languages teaching and building a nice box for giving class-materiala and wearable audio-text-balloons.
Pre-required skills and knowledge
basic building and scripting skills:
basic object editing skills: (build, edit, duplicate and link prims)
searching inventory
camera movements skills
editing textures
Objectives
editing scripts
make different boxes
discuss scripts and textures
answer participant’s questions about building and scripting
The workshop is reserved to a limited number of 10 participants for each session.
Process: step by step description of the process involved and tasks
I’m going to show how you can edit a script for different language teaching purposes. Then we will rez a box, add and modify scripts, sounds, textures and objects in order to build interactive boxes and balloons.
Performance indicators
Participants’ progresses will be assessed visually, by direct questions and answers.
Evaluation, if any
Particpiants’s feedback will be delivered in-.world by notecards or a feedback survey tool.
ResourcesAll the material (scripts, optional textures, sound, notecard with instruction) will be delivered by a folder giver at the beginning. The teacher will be use a builder bunny to rez the classroom space. Class will be with voice and text chat. Personal support will be through IM after the workshop.

Summary
The difficulties of managing a group of unknown participants in Second Life.
Situation: What was the setting in which this case study occurred?
Running a short building workshop designed for an international project on MUVEs held during a period for partecipants’ handout workshops. There were 9 participants and their SL skills were almost basic (except for one advanced).
Task: What was the problem to be solved, or the intended effect?
The task was to build interactive boxes and word balloon for language learning and fun. This was only an occasion to introduce how to manage LSL for languages teaching and building boxes for different language learning purposes (i.e. a nice box for giving class-material, wearable audio-text-balloons, a scavenger hunt box). The participants were asked to work in a personal building area designed for each of them to make the tasks at their pace.
Actions: What was done to fulfil the task?
We started in the personal Misy’s skyplatform on Emerge island where participants arrived using the teleport panel put at the meeting pint (MUVEnation sandbox).
The class material and instructions notecard were delivered to participants by some coloured givers on the platform.
Building tutorials were put on a podium in front of the participants and in their personal building area.
The instructions outlined the rules, provided a few building tips and materials
Building took more than one hour and not all the tasks were finished
Results: What happened? Was it a success? What contributed to the outcomes?
Some participants got lost or went away
On arrival some dispersed, some bumped on others or stayed in the middle of the platform
Only 4 persone officially enrolled
The communication channels were used mostly by local chat and less by voice, but there was an unordered use of IM
Even if I had a notecad reader for delivering instructions I didn't use it
Only two collaborative participants survived until the end. Some participated but not until the end of the workshop
Some avatars did not know how to edit, stretch objects or apply textures in a selected prim face
Two different interactive prims were built by the attending participants
Some participants struggled despite instructions and support
Only one participant stayed after the end of workshop asking for additional information and sharing personal experience
Only one participant completed the participant’s feedback and put it on the drop box
Lessons learned: What did you learn from the experience?
The workshop was pitched at what I would describe as intermediate level (as I advertised in my wiki page and in-world attachment) and required a set of building and manipulation skills that need practice. Scaffolding activities were one pathway to success, yet this created a quite tension between the rigidity of the format and the ability to be flexible to the teaching situation as it was. Having a small practical exercise before the main event is one valuable suggestion for both teacher and participants but… it is not enough.
My pre-workshop testing with a friend was in effect a scaffolding exercise for me but it couldn’t avoid the real difficulty as a teacher to have an unknown (for skills and experiences) group of participants.
Even if I had some previous experiences in teaching in SL I have a lot to learn and to remember for istance:
be a good multitasking
take a class runner
be ready to problem solving
use open and wide space (skybox is not good if you want to avoid tha lack of space for unexpected participants).
Finally, you can have planned the best tools, written complete instructions, managed technical aspects but remember….
… YOU CANNOT MANAGE PEOPLE AS WELL AS OBJECTS!
We’re unpredictable, so different even if when we think to have the same skills and ability, to share the same objectives and ideas …this makes a difference among all our experiences. But after living, socializing, learning, researching, experimenting and teaching in SL for about 2 years I can tell you this was another challenging and unique experience!
Many thanks to all for coming and participing. Sorry for people who cannot attend because of small space, of lack of prerequisites or for my mistake in posting time in UTC.
Keywords: interactive prims, language learning, building, collaboration, quiz