Multi-User Virtual Environments for Kids, Teens, & College Students

A while ago, I wrote a post, Interactive Multimedia for Social Skills, Understanding Feelings, Relaxation, and Coping Strategies, that continues to get hits from readers looking for on-line social skills resources.  Since that post, there has been a growing interest in the use of multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs) and related interactive games for children, teens, and young adults.  MUVEs appear to have the potential to help young people develop important social skills, such as cooperation, collaboration, and teamwork.

In this post, I'll focus on Multi-User Virtual Environments (MUVEs) and also take a look at 3D game/virtual world environments designed to support social/communication skills and mental health. 


Whyville
Whyville was one of the first virtual environments for children, established in 1999.  It is currently sponsored by the Center for Disease Control, the Getty Museum, and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Whyville Virtual World Tour (2008)

Resources
Everything Whyville!


QUEST ATLANTIS
Quest Atlantis was created by Sasha Barab, the Jacobs Chair in Learning Sciences, Indiana University.  In classroom settings, students work together on computers as a team to learn science, math, reading, and writing in a game-based virtual environment. The following video is from the Learning Channel. Sasha Barab, Beth Spataro, a teacher, and students discuss their experiences with Quest Atlantis at the Rogers-Herr Middle School in Durham, North Carolina. 

Virtual Mesa Verde




"The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has granted more than $1.8 million to the Indiana University School of Education to expand the immersive learning environment "Quest Atlantis."...Sasha Barab, associate professor and Jacobs Chair in Learning Sciences and Instructional Systems Technology and the director of the Center for Research on Learning and Technology, created the Quest Atlantis project. It is a learning and teaching tool for students ages 9-12 that uses a 3-D, multiuser environment to immerse children in educational tasks."
Resources:
Quest Atlantis Research Site
IJLM International Journal of Learning and Media (beta) Transformational Play and Virtual Worlds: Worked Examples From The Quest Atlantis Project
Conceptual Play 
Learning Gains
Thomas, M.K., Barab, S.A., Tuzun, H.  Developing Critical Implementations of Technology-Rich Innovations: A Cross-Case Study of the Implementation of Quest Atlantis (pdf)  J.Educational Computing Research, 41(2) pp. 125-153, 2009.
Barab, S. A., Gresalfi, M., & Arici, A. (2009).Why Educators Should Care About Games. Educational Leadership 67(1), pp. 76-80.
Barab, S., Thomas, M., Dodge, T., Carteaux, R., & Tuzun, H. (2005). Making Learning Fun: Quest Atlantis, A Game Without Guns (pdf) Educational Technology Research and Development, (53)1, 86-107
EcoMUVE
EcoMUVE is an ecosystems science curriculum for middle school students that is an outgrowth of the River City project developed by Chris Dede and his colleagues at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. 


Video of an early build of EcoMUVE
Resources
River City Research
Metcalf, S. J., Clarke, J. and Dede, C. (2009) Virtual Worlds for Education: River City and EcoMUVE,(pdf) Media In Transition International Conference, MIT, April 24-26, 2009, Cambridge, MA.


NASA MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online)



Astronaut:  Moon, Mars and Beyond

"The power of games as educational tools is rapidly gaining recognition. NASA is in a position to develop an online game that functions as a persistent, synthetic environment supporting education as a laboratory, a massive visualization tools and collaborative workspace while simultaneously drawing users into a challenging, game-play immersion...Astronaut: Moon, Mars and Beyond will be a 'first-person-exploration' game that will also include traditional role-playing game (RPG) elements for both single-player and team-based space exploration, but with a realistic twist. Everything in the game will be crafted based on real NASA technology, as well as on prototypes from esteemed academic institutions for the next generation of robotics, spacecraft, spacesuits and space habitation...The game will allow players to utilize the latest technology from Big Stage, which enables photos to be transformed into virtual avatars. Players will be able to see themselves within the game world, if they so desire, or else use the game's editor to create their own characters." -John Gaudiosi, Big Downloads First Look at NASA's Unreal Engine 3 based MMO

Resources
Learning Technologies NASA STEM Learning MMO Games Plan (pdf)
Overview of the GSFC Integrated Design Center (IDC) Including the Mission Design Lab(MDL) and the Instrument Design Lab (IDL) (pdf)
NASA MMO FAQs
EduSim
EduSim has evolved since I last featured it on this blog.  According to the EduSim website, maintained by Rich White, EduSim is a 3D multi-user virtual world and authoring toolkit designed for use on classroom interactive whiteboards, but also used on laptops and desktop computers.  The application is a version of the core Open Cobalt Metaverse Project. 

"Edusim has been tested and works on the Smartboard, Activeboard, Interwriter, Polyvision, Mimio, eBeam, and even the Wiimote Whiteboard. Edusim is extendable allowing multiple classrooms to connect their interactive whiteboards for collaborative learning session. Edusim as a concept seeks to model a new we to engage student through "immersive touch" by leveraging 3D virtual environments on the interactive surface or classroom interactive whiteboard."


RuneScape
Constance Steinkuehler is an educational researcher who focuses on massively multiplayer online games and virtual worlds from the perspective of learning sciences and new literacy studies.  She's an Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and is affiliated with the UW-Madison Games, Learning & Society (GLS) group.


According to a post on the Massively website, "Steinkuehler has announced that she's got the Nation Academy of Education / Spencer Post-Doctorial Fellowship to do a cognitive ethnography on RuneScape. The study aims to show the educational merit of games designed for and played by youths instead of adults, which is what is typically studied, and to examine the impact of gameplay on their everyday lives, social relationships and school work...Cognitive ethnography is used to study the processes that effect the work carried out within a setting, whilst noting the effect of the material world and social context of the actions and social practices carried out. To put it in a simpler way, it studies how the social norms and social structures are created for a group of people who share a common culture, in this case RuneScapeplayers. You can read her proposal abstract over at her blog." -Jon Shute

World of Warcraft in School 

To get an idea of how World of Warcraft can be used, take a look at this video that was produced by members of the Virtual Worlds department at AFTRS, Australia's national screen arts and broadcast school.
Skateboarding for Real in World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft: Intergenerational WoW Study, Focus on At-Risk Youth
Jason Allaire, a gamer and psychology professor at NC State, has a proposal to involve 100 high school students considered to be "at-risk" in an after-school program, with mentors, aged 60 years old or older. Jason is involved in the Gains Through Gaming Lab, a collaboration between NCSU and Georgia Tech.  


SECOND LIFE
I haven't posted about Second Life in a long while.  There is quite a bit of catching up to do. Here is a short introduction to Second Life, using a garden as a metaphor:

Teen Second Life - Info from the Teen Second Life Wiki:

"The Teen Second Life was created to provide a safe place for education projects for those 13-17 years old. Unlike main Second Life, in the Teen Second Life, Linden Lab significantly restricts entry, purchase of land, and activities to those that support the education projects in Teen Second Life...Linden Lab only allows adults (anyone 18 and older) in the Teen Second Life who have had a background check completed, and who are either educators responsible for an education project in the Teen Second Life, developers assisting in the development of projects in the Teen Second Life, or the person responsible for managing activities on business islands in the Teen Second Life...Adults and businesses in Teen Second Life do not have any access to the Teen Second Life Mainland (Teen Second Life); that area is reserved exclusively for Teens."

Teen Second Life and the Field Museum
According to information from Vimeo, Teens in Chicago and New York went digging for fossils in Zambia this summer, without leaving home, thanks to a technology enhanced science camp run by Chicago’s Field Museum in partnership with Global Kids. Watch the video produced by Ben Wolff.

I Dig from Spotlight on Vimeo.
Resources
Global Kids

Global Kids' Digital Media Initiative

Learning at the Edge:  Transforming After-School Spaces into Learning Networks 

University Applications of Second Life
Claudia Kimbrough used Second Life in two College of Management courses at North Carolina State University, part of the Learning in a Technology-Rich Environment (LITRE) research program.  These courses were taught in 2007.


Resources:
Virtually Online Learning and Teaching (VOLT)
LITRE


Second Life in Nursing Education
The video below demonstrates a patient simulation in the virtual world of Second Life by MUVErs,  used in nursing courses,  with funding from University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh, Accelerated BSN program.
Medical Simulation in the Virtual World of Second Life



Multi-touch Second Life - 100" screen with modules for sensing, integrated with opensim client.

100" Multi touch screen with Second Life from junhee, yeo on Vimeo
The following video shows how the above system works with Zentitum Wonder Island:

100" MultiTouch System with Zenitum Wonder Island from junhee, yeo on Vimeo.
IMG512 is the Interactive Media Group of Zenitum Entertainment Computing, in Seoul, Korea. The team  focuses on interaction and user interface design, including multi-touch, gesture, and other means of physical computing.  

RELATED

Milton Broome's Virtual Psychology

Milton Broome is Simon Bignell's Second Life avatar. In real life, Simon Bignell is a psychologist who lectures at the University of Derby in the UK.  His current research is a project that is looking at the effectiveness of using the Second Life platform to support people who have been diagnosed with high-functioning Autism and Asperger's Syndrome, focusing on social/communication skills. 

Bignell, S.J. (2009). Psychology on Second Life? Learning, Support and Research in 3D Online Multi-user Virtual Environments. Keynote Lecture at McCord Museum. International Conference on the Use of the Internet in Mental Health, McGill University, Canada.

Psychology on Second Life?: Learning, Support and Research in 3D Online Multi-user Virtual Environments.

View more presentations from Simon Bignell.

Bignell, S.J. (2009). Teaching and Learning in Online Virtual Worlds. Invited Talk. International Conference on the Use of the Internet in Mental Health, McGill University, Canada. May 2009. Videocast: http://tinyurl.com/m5zst6

David Coyle, PI and PlayWrite

David Coyle is a research fellow with the Computer Science Department at Trinity College who designs technology to support mental health interventions.


Personal Investigator(PI)
Personal Investigator is a 3D game designed for teens that implements Solution Focused Therapy.
PlayWrite
PlayWrite "is a system which allows mental health care professionals to create and adapt therapeutic 3D computer games, which can then be used in adolescent mental health interventions."
Resources
Coyle, D., Doherty, G., & Sharry, J. (2009). An Evaluation of a Solution Focused Computer Game in Adolescent Interventions.Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry. 14(3) pp345-360
Coyle, D., & Doherty, G. (2009). Clinical evaluations and collaborative design: developing new technologies for mental healthcare interventions. ACM CHI'09 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. pp.2051-2060.http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1518701.1519013
Coyle, D., Doherty, G. (2008) Designing Adaptable Technologies for Talk-Based Mental Health Interventions (pdf). ACM CHI'09 Technology in Mental Health worksop
Coyle, D., Doherty, G., Sharry, J., & Matthews, M. (2007). Computers in Talk-Based Mental Health Care. Interacting with Computers, 19(4), pp.545-562. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.intcom.2007.02.001. (abstract)
Coyle, D., Doherty, G., & Sharry, J. (2005). Adaptable Computer Gaming for Adolescent Psychotherapy - Extended Abstract.CyberPsychology and Behavior, 8(4), pp.311-312.
Coyle, D., Matthews, M., Sharry, J., Nisbet, A., & Doherty, G. (2005). Personal Investigator: A Therapeutic 3D Game for Adolescent Psychotherapy. International Journal of Interactive Technology and Smart Education, 2, 73-88. Preprint (PDF).


CITEd Resources
Learning with Computer Games and Simulations
Multi-User Virtual Environments for Education
Multimedia Instruction of Social Skills

Kindlelab Project: Open source & 3D immersive educational tools for K-12 education

Here is the plug:

The Kindlelab Project

"... Kindlelab is a consortium of educational designers, developers, thought leaders, and teachers working together to ensure open source and 3D immersive educational tools find their way into the K-12 educational setting. Any organization, individual, or company whose goal it is to ``ensure open source 3D immersive educational tools find their way into the K-12 educational setting`` are eligible and welcome to submit their application to be considered as a partner or contributor to this consortium. To become a partner submit your application here. For more information about how our consortium can help you with design, development, and consulting projects on your open source 3D immersive education project send us a note at info@kindlelab.com "

The Kindlelab Project is just starting up, and includes organizations such as the Immersive Education Initiative and the Reaction Grid. Open source software platforms related to the Kindlelabs Project include the Opensimulator Project, the OpenCobalt Project, the Wonderland Project, and Edusim.

Rich White, of the Greenbush Southeast Kansas Education Service Center, is the guy driving the KindleLab Project. He's known for his involvement in the Edusim project, ".. a slimmed down version of the core Open Cobalt Metaverse Project. Edusim is a 3D multi-user virtual world platform and authoring toolkit intended for your classroom interactive whiteboard (but equally powerful on the students laptop or desktop computers !).."

Even through there are funds from the stimulus package earmarked for technology in the schools, it is not enough to outfit every teacher's classroom with shiny IWB's. There are solutions out there! The following video by Rich White demonstrates how to make an interactive whiteboard for little cost, using a $20.00 BlueTooth adaptor, a $25.00 tripod, an existing projector, and an ordinary whiteboard. This concept is based on Johnny Chung Lee's Wiimote Project.

KindleLab on the WiiMote




Here's a screen shot of a KindleLab cell lesson/project by Rich White:






RELATED

From Rich White and Greenbush TV:

How to use Google 3D Warehouse to Build & Share Colbalt & Edusim Virtual Worlds

EduBlogorama: Vote for your choices in the 2008 Edublog awards!

I started blogging because it was a requirement for an educational technology class I was taking a few years ago, and after I discovered I had followers, I never stopped.

It has been interesting to see how educators have grown to embrace blogging. Ideas once shared only in teacher lounges and workrooms now resonate across cyberspace, and networks of educators from around the world are sharing resources and collaborating like never before.

About a year ago, I discovered Classroom 2.0, a social network for those interested in Web 2.0 and collaborative technologies in education. I figured at least some of the members of Classroom 2.0 might also be bloggers, so I posted a topic in a forum on Classroom 2.0: Let's Share Links to our Blogs! I was amazed at the flurry of responses! Educators of all kinds, from around the world, participated in the discussion, and as a result, the International Edubloggers Directory was born, the creation of Patricia Donaghy, an ICT teacher in Dublin, Ireland. There are now 465 members of this group.

My thoughts about the future of blogging were quoted in Technorate's series about the "State of the Blogosphere 2008":

“There will be more blogs used in education, particularly among K-12 students and teachers. Bookmarks will merge with blogs for those of us who use our blogs as note-pads or filing cabinets. Blog archives will be viewed as a rich source of cultural history. Blogs will be a means for more collaborative team work. People will expect businesses, media, and print organizations, even government organizations, to have some form of blog, in order to promote communication. Blogging will also help to provide insight to businesses about their consumers.”

BLOGORAMA!

Edublogs is sponsoring the 2008 EduBlog Awards, or "Eddies", the fifth year of awards. There are sixteen categories of awards this year, representing a wide range of edubloggers and blogs.

Since this blog serves as one of my on-line filing cabinets, I decided to post links to ALL of the edublogs nominated for the 2008 EduBlog Awards. If you have the inclination, visit some of these blogs, then go to the Edublog Awards website and cast your votes!

Best Teacher EduBlog: Teaching in the 408 Mrs Cassidy’s Classroom Blog Science Of The Invisible The Cool Cat Teacher Practical Theory dy/dan Web.Cad.6abc Kevin’s Meandering Mind Creating Lifelong Learners Teaching College Math Bald Worm’s Blog Betty’s Blog Songhai Concept Bellringers Science Teacher Sliced Bread The Journey Reflections on Teaching Cliff’s Notes Endless Forms Most Beautiful OllieBray.com Nashworld Box of Tricks Mysterious Teaching The Why of it all Always Learning On an e-journey with Generation Y ICT in my Classroom Educating Alice Kenneth’s ESL Blog

Best Individual EduBlog: Mobile Technology in TAFE Education Investigation Learn Online Teaching Learners with Multiple Special Needs Bionic Teaching SCC English Nadstar’s Blog Teachers at risk John Connell Doug - off the record Mathemetics Learning The Scholastic Scribe Newly Ancient Chrisina’s Classroom Early Childhood blog Cliotech ICTlogy Theology in the Vineyard Computer Science Teacher - thoughts and information from Alfred Thompson Darcy’s blog The Edublogger Teaching and Learning Design The Bamboo Project All teachers are learners - All learners are teachers Sarah’s Musings Using Blogs in Science Education Learning with ‘e’s What It’s Like on The Inside EFL20.com Generation YES Blog Betty’s Blog Teach42 Creating Lifelong Learners Always Learning The English Blog David Truss: Pair-a-dimes for your Thoughts

Best Resource Sharing EduBlog: Free Technology for Teachers Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day/ Mobile Technology in TAFE Videoconferencing Out on a Lim Woodchurch Science Teach J: For Teachers of Journalism and Media Langwitches Edina Publich Schools NUA Program http://blogs.scholastic.com/whats_new/ ZaidLearn Teaching College Math Around the Corner - MGuhlin Stephen’s Web meta-ot Discovering Biology in a Digital World Thumann Resources Creative Teaching Welcome to NCS-Tech Jane’s E-learning Pick of the Day Learning technology teacher development blog

Best Class Nominations: A really different place Risley Roarer’s Blog Learning Area 20 Al Upton Extreme Biology English Advertising Class Mr. Kootman’s Class Remote Access

Best Educational Wiki: eToolBox The 2008 Comment Challenge Kidpedia Educational Origami WikiEducator S.D.Public School, Pitampura Learning in Maine Digitally Speaking Clif’s Wiki Miss Baker’s Biology Class F-ALT Salks Periodic Table Flat Classroom Project 2008 School AUP 2.0 Useful Wiki Digital Media Across Asia

Best Educational Use of Video/Visual: Digital Ethnography Tamaki Intermediate School Geography at the Movies Flick School Video 2 Zero Steve Spangler blog Moving at the Speed of Creativity Murdoch University Island in Second Life Qik MAMK TEFL Clips The Common Craft Show

Best Educational Use of Audio: Wicked Decent Learning Project Xiphos Twenty Minutes for Tech Teachers Teaching Teachers Parents as Partners Bildum im Dialog Integrating ICT Bit By Bit Secondary Worlds Ed Tech Talk

Best Educational Use of a Virtual World: Jokaydia Discovery Education Second Life Drexel Island Edunation Oh! Virtual Learning! Literary Worlds

Best Educational Tech Support EduBlog: The Edublogger The Clever Sheep The Wired Campus UK Web Focus Geeked Tech Tutors Teach42 Teacher in a Strange Land Off on a Tangent efoundations JoeWoodOnline Teachers love Smartboards Langwitches Around the Corner-MGuhlin.org

Best Librarian/Library EduBlog: Lorcan Dempsey’s weblog UoL Library Blog Paul Walk’s weblog Hey Jude Joyce Valenza Blue Skunk Blog TechnoTuesday

Best eLearning/Corporate Education EduBlog: Britannica Blog eLearning Technology Presentation Zen Windows to Open Source Making Change Tech Tools Laurel Papworth TechnOT Andy’s black hole Janet Clarey

Most Influential EduBlog Post: The Future of Online Learning- 10 Years On - Stephen Downes Becoming a more reflective Individual Practitioner Why Can’t Inner City Kids Learn The Glass Bees Planning to share versus just sharing The Time is Now Be an elearning action hero President-elect Barack Obama The truth is Out There The New Digital Divide? Order for Closure Getting our Knickers in a twist? The Macgyver Project: Genomic Dna Extraction And Gel Electrophoresis Experiments Using Everyday Materials Monkey Business Ten Tips for Growing Your Learning Network

Best New EduBlog: Fled: Flexible Learning Education Design Yuichi’s Games Angela Maiers Huzzah Dkzody’s Weblog 2JE Shining Stars Chrisina’s Classroom Early Childhood blog Journeys on the road Human Teaching in Second Life Fiona’s Journey Christy Bowman Technology in The Classroom Thumann Resources

Best Group EduBlog: Salford University Occupational Therapy Education blog SCC English WorkLiteracy The Stratford Sentinel Mortarboard Blog Pontydysgu Brandon Hall Research Workplace Learning Today Scholastic News Blog Digital Learning Environments Tomorrow’s Trust The Chancellor’s New Clothes ECO group 360 Leader Talk PortablePD.CA Youth Voices

Best Class Blog: A really different place Risley Roarer’s Blog Learning Area 20 Al Upton Extreme Biology English Advertising Class Mr. Kootman’s Class Remote Access

Best Use of a Social Networking Service: EFL Classroom 2.0 Fireside Learning Classroom 2.0 Maine Holocaust Education Network Youth Voices MACUL Space Principles of Biology Ed Links Teen Second Classroom My Learning Space

Lifetime Achievement Award: Stephen Downes Scott Leslie Will Richardson Nancy White David Warlick Chris Lehmann Graham Wegner Michele Martin Jay Cross

Virtual Worlds and Games in Education: Link to posts

If you are interested in learning more about virtual worlds and gaming in education, take a look at my recent posts on the Interactive Multimedia Technology blog. Sharon Burns did an excellent job in her video overview that includes virtual worlds for children, such as Whyville.

More about Virtual Worlds in Education: Link to Edutopia's articles and resources.

Post from Johnathan Tarr, HASTAC, about Sharon Burn's Virtual Worlds Tour ( includes an 8-minute overview video)