SLOODLE Presenter
Posted by Peter | Filed under Education, Second Life, Sloodle, Software
I’ve just created and uploaded a new SLOODLE video, and this one is a kind of preview tutorial about the new SLOODLE Presenter tool which will be released in SLOODLE 0.4:
The purpose of the tool is to let you put together a presentation in Moodle, consisting of a series of images, webpages, and videos. Your students can then view the presentation in Moodle, or in Second Life. This is achieved by storing a list of URLs in the Moodle database, and then providing those to a script in Second Life. The object then fiddles with the parcel media settings to display the appropriate resource… so this requires that you either own the land, or that you can deed the object to the land-owning group.
This was originally suggested one afternoon at SLCC08… and being the crazy geek that I am, I skipped the parties that night (as I usually do anyway), and had the first prototype ready to demo over breakfast the next morning! 
Between research and other things, it has taken a while to get it to a releasable state… but it is nearly ready now!
There are a few caveats to mention:
- All resources must be hosted on the Internet (i.e. they have to be accessible by URL)
- Resources cannot be password protected (e.g. you can’t upload them into your Moodle course)
- Second Life only supports QuickTime and simple Flash videos
- Webpages in Second Life are non-interactive
We plan to release the first alpha version of SLOODLE 0.4 around the end of January 2009. Final release date is to be confirmed.
Citation Lottery
Posted by Peter | Filed under Academia, Software
For the most part, I’m a big fan of Zotero. It’s citation management software which works as a FireFox plugin, and is great for grabbing all the citation data off a web-page. It can often also find, download, and index the full-text PDF for you, which is seriously groovy!
Anyway, yesterday I did a mini-haul through some HCI texts, and took note of a good looking article by Sussane Bodker, called “Creating Conditions for Participation: Conflicts and Resources in Systems Development” (from HCI 11(3), 1996). Unfortunately, today, upon opening the PDF file which Zotero had diligently downloaded on my behalf, it turned out to be “Out of Scandinavia: Alternative Approaches to Software Design and System Development”, by Floyd et al, from HCI vol. 4, 1989.
At least it’s roughly the same topic… 
It’s the first time I’ve seen this problem, so I’m not going to complain too bitterly. I just think it’s quite an entertaining approach to research: pick a paper… any paper… don’t let me see what it is… and I’ll try to review it blindfolded…
“How to Write a Thesis”
Posted by Peter | Filed under Academia, Publications
I got a book from my university library, called “How to Write a Thesis”, by Rowena Murray (I’ve got it on 3-day loan only, which is a pest, so I might buy my own).
I’m not much through the book yet, but I am liking its encouragement and guidance for writing early and often, which matches advice from Prof. Malcolm Crowe at our induction day for new research students (waaaay back in September). It is particularly good at encouraging action in the here-and-now, rather than waiting until you ‘feel ready’, and in so doing, seeks to portray writing as a discipline, rather than an art, for academics (even one only just starting his PhD!).
Part of the aim of the book is to get its readers able to write 1000 words an hour, and it labours the point that is might seem scary and unobtainable… but that is is achievable if I follow what the book says. Sure, it might not be the most polished, high-quality 1000 words ever, but it ought to be decently coherent and have at least some semblance of structure. As such, I tried one of the first exercises, which was to write (i.e. type at the computer) for five minutes, on the topic of “what can I write in five minutes?”. Somewhat vague target, but I thought I’d give it a go anyway, under the book’s guidance to write non-stop, in complete sentences, using the first person (i.e. “I do this…”).
The result? 275 words which are in fact rather coherent and structured. I won’t post them here, but suffice it to say, if I kept that rate up for an hour, I would have 3300 words! I figured it could be a fluke, and that maybe I couldn’t keep up that rate for more than 5 minutes.
Indeed, I was proven correct… somewhat. Next exercise was to write, for no particular amount of time, about what particularly interests me regarding my research area. I ended up writing for 19 minutes, producing an oddly well-structured and coherent piece of writing, totalling 818 words. If I kept up that rate for an hour, I would have written around 2583 words. A little slower than the 5 minute flurry, but still rather faster than the book claims to help me achieve if I follow all its advice!
OK, OK… I know it’s not about word count. Of course, it helps that after 18 years of being a pianist (which helps with dexterity) and a number of years’ computer programming, I can type a little more quickly than your average computer user (>100 correct words per minute if I’m copying text verbatim). So I won’t be benefiting much from the book’s writing speed claims… but I’m sure it will help me structure stuff better, which is the important thing.
I’ve got to get into this other book too now, which is recommending everywhere… “How to Get a PhD”… sounds like the book for me!
Chemistry for the YouTube Generation
Posted by Peter | Filed under Education, University, Websites
OK, I know I’m guilty of the horrible generalisation of calling anything technology-related a “generation”… but it seemed like a good name for this entry. I’ll be brief! If you’ve never seen it before, I strongly recommend checking out the Periodic Table of Videos, starring some of the lovely folks from the University of Nottingham. It’s a series of videos, with one for each element in the periodic table, some short, some long.
It’s a wonderful endeavour, making lots of interesting chemistry facts available to folks like me who sometimes watch far too many videos online! Thanks Nottingham Uni dudes… great work!
Learning Through Play
Posted by Peter | Filed under Education, Misc.
Through my work and research in the university and on the SLOODLE project, I’ve encountered plenty of mention of constructivism in relation to education. However, considering my wonderful neice (who will be 2 in January), and my practically newborn nephew, I was quite interested by a recent Newswise article about constructivist play for young children.
The principle is that simpler toys encourage greater use of imagination and development of cognitive skills for very young children, but slightly older ones will benefit from more directly educational toys, such as board games and chemistry sets. The article quotes a great example from R. Keith Sawyer:
“For example, if you bought your child the toy cowboy from the movie “Toy Story,” the child will probably already be familiar with the movie, with the character and how the character talks and acts. That narrows the range of pretend play options or scenarios the child will engage in. However, if you get your child a generic cowboy toy, the child might act out scenes from “Toy Story,” but might also do something completely different.”
Watching my niece play with absolutely anything and everything she can get her hands on, from placemates to cuddly toys, certainly bears this out. I cannot suggest what she sees in the toys when she plays, as she’s too young to express much verbally (although for a not-yet 2 year old, she’s doing remarkably well with language… or maybe that’s just my proud uncle-ness talking!). At any rate, she manages to play equally well (if not better) with abstract objects as she does with realstic items.
I see very similar things with a couple of slightly older children at my church: one is about 2 and a half, and the other (who started school this year) is nearly 5. They certainly love acting out superhero scenes from series they watch on TV or DVD, but after church this past Sunday, they seemed to be having a lot more fun pretending an upturned toy table was a boat. It doesn’t look like a boat, nor is it in anyway seaworthy, and the carpet certainly doesn’t look (or feel) like the ocean, but those things didn’t matter to them… it was just a bit of fun. (Perhaps more significantly, they happily involved a bit of superhero stuff in the boat scene, but not the other way round.)
The slightly older kids (particularly the 4 year old) were capable of constructing more complex scenes than my little niece, but it all seems to be part of the same process. It leads me to wonder what learning is actually going on in these cases. Certainly getting the imagination active is great, and learning the difference between fantasy and reality is very important. Perhaps also through doing these things, they are experimenting with relationships, learning social skills. They are also using language to express themselves in their make-believe personae. Most importantly, I think, they are maybe learning to see things from another perspective — i.e. from the point-of-view of their character, rather than themselves.
I’m not a developmental psychologist though, so I’m probably just waffling. One wee thing I will mention though is that similar situations exist in video games for kids and adults of all ages — in bygone days, I remember having lots of fun racing a line around a bunch of dots on an old Spectrum. The hyper-realism of today’s games is great, but not necessary for fun, and can in many ways perhaps impede it.
Studying Games Development
Posted by Peter | Filed under Education, Games, University
The LA Times is running an article about studying computer/video games development at university-level. It is certainly impressive to see how many institutions are taking up this area, but in line with the quote from an EA employee, as well as many users on Slashdot, I am dubious about the wisdom of quite such enthusiastic uptake.
As was the case with many folks on the Computer Games Technology degree I studied, it seems that too many of the wrong kinds of folks are being attracted to the courses: people who like playing games (which admittedly is an important attribute), but are either unable to develop the necessary skills, or simply can’t be bothered doing the work. In part, I think the problem is people who come straight from high school into university — they are used to being spoon-fed all their education, and have never experienced a significant workload. University and the real-world are full-time endeavours, children… get used to it!
I am certainly all in favour of Higher Education, but only where appropriate. Students undertaking a course where they are likely to fail or drop-out is waste of time, effort, and money for all concerned. Furthermore, unless they manage to change to a different (more suitable) degree, it gives them a pretty bad start for any kind of career.
Virtual Theatre Studies
Posted by Peter | Filed under Education, Second Life, University
OK, so it’s not really a course in virtual theatre studies… but it’s pretty close: students at Kent State University are putting on a virtual play (in Second Life ®) as part of their final exam.
I know from my own experience in music and theatre that creativity often flourishes when your options are constrained. For example, one of my favourite exercises when I studied drama in high school was taking a short section of script, and acting it out in 2 or 3 different ways — we had to utilise techniques other than dialogue to convey differences of meaning. I should imagine that something similar is true of acting in Second Life — one must learn to focus on what is possible, and squeeze every drop of dramatic potential out of it.
In this case, there is great flexibility with costume, since you can make them look pretty much however you like. However, programming animations must be quite a laborious task, requiring careful thought and planning (you’d need to be very careful to keep everything in sequence!). The article doesn’t mention whether the dialogue is delivered by text or voice.
I love to see this kind of thing happening… it’s a genuine challenge for the students, and promotes great innovation. It also benefits the SL community as a whole.
Give them computing… but not too much!
Posted by Peter | Filed under Education, Games, Technology, Websites
All around the world, we are seeing the pros and cons of computers. Education is a major part of the thrust in various aspects of computing right now, whether it is computing classes for prisoners in Pakistan or senior citizens in Illinois, virtual classrooms for universities in India, or even a double-glazing company donating computers to a school in the UK.
As many people have alluded to, genuine computer skills are very important now. The existence of courses such as the ECDL shows this; it is not enough to say simply “computer literate” on your CV now… employers often want to know exactly how computer literate you are (which is entirely fair and valid, because being able to make a pretty Bebo profile is not what I’d call a ‘transferable skill’).
On the flip-side of the argument, I am sure we have all seen many protestations over violent video games. Beyond that, people are now complaining about kids getting addicted to web-games in local cybercafes, with very genuine concern that it could even lead to gambling habits in the future. On a personal note, I am rather appalled at how the number of online Bingo (and similar) sites has ballooned lately (there are numerous TV adverts for them here in the UK). I do not begrudge the choice people have to throw away their money as they see fit, but particularly in such a financial climate as this, convenient at-home gambling — often under the guise of a purely ’social’ activity — is rather a cruel enterprise.
As with everything, moderation is the key. I myself have fallen victim to over-use of computers in the past. Mind you, I don’t even rememeber what I did on the computer all day before I had an ‘always-on’ Internet connection! Perhaps one of the key skills that is not being taught is the most simple of all… how (and when) to switch it off!
“My Word Coach” — vocabulary training on DS
Posted by Peter | Filed under Education, Games, Software
It’s been a while since I used my Nintendo DS, so when I was in the shops today, I decided to buy “My Word Coach“. I’ve enjoyed the Kawashima games and so forth, and given my proclivity for linguistic misdemeanour, I thought I’d give this one a go too.
As is fast becoming tradition in this area, the game comprises several mini-games (most of which are unlockable as you go along), which you play for a while each day, to build up your score. Each mini-game involves a series of words, sometimes needing you to guess the missing letter, or match words to definitions, and so on. After a couple of games, it seemed to gauge my level well enough to provide a comfortable mix of vocabulary, such that I was confident with just over half, familiar with most of the rest, and encountered a handful of totally new words from time to time.
A particular feature I like comes at the end of each mini-game: you are shown a list of the words you saw during that round, and you can scroll up and down the list to see the definition of each one. Any words you got wrong during the round are shown at the top with little crosses beside them, so you can easily spot problem areas when you encounter them. I have not yet seen any longer-term reporting regarding particular words (e.g. a word you consistently get wrong), but maybe it’s there and I haven’t found it or unlocked it yet.
“My Word Coach” definitely has a certain character of its own, so it is not entirely leeching off its fore-runners in the field. However, there are areas where it lacks a little. For example, the handwriting-recognition is not perfect (at least seemingly not as sophisticated as the Kawashima games), and the graphical style as a whole seems a little bit dated. However, these things don’t really hinder the process, and I have certainly had my vocabulary taxed a little by it so far.
Conclusion? Best not to draw any final thoughts just yet, since I have only played it for a couple of hours, but my impressions so far are pretty good overall. I am certainly all in favour of any way to improve the nation’s dwindling competence in literacy, and given the recent successes of the Kawashima games at schools up North (Scotland), perhaps this is one effective way to do it.
Slightly Pointless Addendum:
Being the pedant that I am, I will have to take this opportunity to quibble on a couple of words I have seen in the game thus far. Firstly, it defines a “centurion” as a Roman guard in command of 100 soldiers, when in actual fact it was really only 80 or so most of the time. And secondly, it defines “Armageddon” as the final war between good and evil mentioned in the Bible. Well, it’s close… Armageddon is actually the place where the battle will occur, according to Revelation 16:16.
“DroidBattles” — makes learning assembler fun!
Posted by Peter | Filed under Education, Games, Programming, Software
OK, so it’s not exactly a ‘real’ assembly language, but DroidBattles seems to be an awesome bit of software anyway. The concept is really very simple — you program ‘bots’ (or droids) using an assembler-style language, and pit them against each other in an arena.
You start by selecting which components your bot will use, including CPUs, engines, armour, weapons, scanners, and so on. You then code it all up using the built-in language, assemble it, and you’re ready to go. The simple quick-start tutorial is a great starting point, showing you how to create a simple bot that goes in circles and shoots whenever something is in front of it.
The graphics are very basic, but certainly sufficient, so I’d recommend it as a fun way to help people learn more about assembler programming.
(I’m running it on Linux, but apparently it works on Windows too.)
