Using virtual learning environments to
support learners in virtual worlds
Kerri McCusker, Michael Callaghan,
Daniel Livingstone, Anna Peachey, Peter Bloomfield,
Maria Toro-Troconis, Ashish Hemani
TALK OVERVIEW
•
•
•
•
Overview of JISC funded project
Partners and roles
Learning support resources created
Acknowledgements
PROJECT OVERVIEW
PROJECT OVERVIEW
• Explore emerging pedagogical opportunities
offered by integrating virtual worlds and webbased virtual learning environments.
• Show how administrative capabilities of virtual
learning environments and the presentation layer
of virtual worlds, can be exploited and
subsequently enhanced through such integration.
• Develop, evaluate and disseminate effective
models of good practice.
PROJECT PARTNERS
CASE STUDY FOR PRACTITIONERS
• Tutorials and package of resources
• Aid understanding of the possible benefits,
processes and resources required to create
complex simulations in virtual worlds which are
deeply integrated into a virtual learning
environment
• Offers practical advice and guidance on how to
evaluate the students experience
• Quantify the effectiveness of this approach
FOUR PACKAGES OF RESOURCES
• Introduction to Second life, Moodle, SLOODLE &
the SLOODLE Tracker (Video tutorials)
• Introduction to Second life, Moodle, SLOODLE &
the SLOODLE Tracker (Case study resources)
• Practical implementation evaluation CPU
overview (Evaluate)
• Deploying your own CPU simulator (Deploy)
PACKAGE 1
PACKAGE 1
Introduction to Second life, Moodle, SLOODLE & the
SLOODLE Tracker (Video tutorials)
• Package 1 includes a series of video tutorials
which provide a practical introduction to Second
Life, Moodle, SLOODLE & the SLOODLE Tracker. It
guides the user through the practicalities of
setting up and configuring these platforms.
PACKAGE 1 VIDEO 1
Video 1: Introduction to SLOODLE and the SLOODLE
Tracker (8.35 Minutes)
This video gives an overview of SLOODLE and its
core functionality. It then introduces the SLOODLE
Tracker and demonstrates its proximity and tracker
sensor functionality and integration into SLOODLE.
PACKAGE VIDEO 2
Video 2: Installing SLOODLE and the SLOODLE
Tracker (12.41 Minutes)
The video shows you how to install and configure
SLOODLE and the SLOODLE Tracker. It demonstrates
how to setup the proximity and tracker sensor
functionality and to link it into SLOODLE. It then
demonstrates how to create a simple series of tasks
for users to complete inside the virtual world which
are recorded back into SLOODLE
PACKAGE 1 VIDEO 3
Video 3: Creating structured task based activities
using the SLOODLE Tracker (10.39 Minutes)
This video shows you how the SLOODLE Tracker
functionality can be used to create task driven and
structured user activities inside the virtual world
which can be recorded back into SLOODLE for
subsequent review and assessment.
PACKAGE 1 VIDEO 4
Video 4: Creating more complex task based
activities (9 Minutes)
This video shows you how the SLOODLE Tracker
functionality can be used to create more complex
task driven and structured user activities inside a
virtual world. An overview of the Fetch, Decode and
Execute simulation is shown.
PACKAGE 1 VIDEO 5
Video 5: Creating collaborative task based activities
(11.54 Minutes)
This video shows you how the SLOODLE Tracker
functionality can be extended to create
collaborative and structured team user activities
inside a virtual world. An overview of the Trechubet
physics simulation is shown.
PACKAGE 1 VIDEO 6
Video 6: Extending the SLOODLE Tracker (5.47
Minutes)
This video shows you how the SLOODLE Tracker
functionality is flexible and can be extended to
create collaborative and structured team based
user activities for different domain areas. An
overview of the Circuit Warz simulation is shown
which is used to teach users the fundamentals of
oscillator circuit theory using a competitive game
based approach.
PACKAGE 2
Introduction to Second life, Moodle, SLOODLE & the
SLOODLE Tracker (Case study resources)
• Package 2 includes a series of PowerPoint
resources which provide a practical introduction
to Second Life, Moodle, SLOODLE & the SLOODLE
Tracker.
PACKAGE 2
• Session 1: Introduction to Second Life
• Session 2: Advanced building tutorial (This
session is presenter led, an example project is
included)
• Session 3:Advanced scripting
• Session 4: Second Life exchange, blogs and
mailing lists
PACKAGE 2
• Session 5: Introduction to Moodle and Moodle
installation
• Session 6: Introduction to SLOODLE
• Session 7: Introduction to the SLOODLE Tracker
• Session 8: SLOODLE Tracker development and
integration
PACKAGE 3
Practical implementation evaluation CPU overview
• Package 3 is a series of resources and guides to
allow practitioners to carry out their own
evaluation of a complex virtual world simulation
PACKAGE 3
• Journal paper Engineering Education Island, Teaching
engineering in virtual worlds (gentle introduction)
• Case study “Creating interactive simulations in virtual
worlds integrated with virtual learning
environments”, describes in more detail the features
and functionality of the CPU simulator.
• “Computer Hardware and Organisation” module
specification which sets the context for where the
simulator would be used in a teaching semester.
PACKAGE 3
• Generic lecture is included (Overview of Fetch
Execute Decode Cycle of a CPU) used as a teaching
resource to provide an overview of the fetch, execute
and decode cycle of a CPU in the classroom
• Sample questionnaire is included (CPU simulator
evaluation questionnaire) which can be used to
evaluate the students experience after they use the
in-world simulation.
• A CPU questionnaire template is included (CPU
questionnaire template) to correlate the results of
the evaluation.
PACKAGE 4
Deploying your own CPU simulator
• Package 4 is a guide and resource to allow
practitioners to deploy their own copy of the CPU
simulator in your own virtual space for testing
and evaluation.
PACKAGE 4
• Shows how to deploy your own CPU simulator in
your own virtual space for evaluation (Video)
• Provides an overview of how to configure your
existing SLOODLE configuration to add the CPU
simulation.
• Shows how to unpack and rebuild the CPU
simulator in your own virtual space and link it
back to your existing SLOODLE installation.
• Free version of the CPU simulator with scripts
and assets is available in Second Life
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
• JISC for funding and supporting the VW/VLE project
• Other members of the project teams for the hard work
and support
• Special thanks to Peter Bloomfield
• Thanks to Edmund Edgar and Paul Preibisch
for support for the SLOODLE project
Further information
http://virtualworldsandvles.jiscinvolve.org/wp/
RESOURCES AVAILABLE ONLINE
• http://virtualworldsandvles.jiscinvolve.org/wp/
OUR WEBSITE
Visit sgvwtv.ulster.ac.uk
To view a large collection
of videos related
to our work
Serious Games & Virtual Worlds Team
Michael Callaghan – mj.callaghan@ulster.ac.uk
Kerri McCusker – ka.mccusker@ulster.ac.uk
Julio Lopez-Losada – jl.losada@ulster.ac.uk
Using virtual learning environments to
support learners in virtual worlds
Kerri McCusker, Michael Callaghan,
Daniel Livingstone, Anna Peachey, Peter Bloomfield,
Maria Toro-Troconis, Ashish Hemani