This
year 8 schools and around 80 students and staff embarked upon their own
individual journeys into Skoolaborate. Some
schools experimented with introducing students to Skoolaborate during normal
curriculum time. These sessions generally allowed staff to take whole classes
through the orientation towers.
In
other schools, students accessed Skoolaborate during after-school clubs and at
home.
Regular
‘staff’ meetings have been a constant feature this year. These have been valuable
sessions for professional networking, training and discussing new projects.
At
the beginning our dilemmas group clearly tried to be too ambitious with
building projects. We learned a hard lesson here because we experienced a
significant student drop-off because we did not engage them early with some
achievable activities.
Within a short space of time we started making progress, developing interesting approaches to ethical issues. In one activity, the ‘Dilemmas’ group invited all students within Skoolaborate to contribute to the building of a giant tapestry. Each contributor created a double-sided panel with an embedded note-card explaining their choice of ethical dilemma from past or present.
We
were extremely pleased with the level of engagement in this activity and hope
to continue it into next year. Another successful initiative invited
collaboration between students to create cartoons filmed within Skoolaborate.
Students were encouraged to develop strong storylines, play around with their
avatars appearance, build sets and props and use the camera tools. In
some schools, cartoons produced in curriculum time, outside of Second Life,
were imported in-world and showcased on display boards.
Meanwhile students were producing some amazing builds on Canada island. Our students really appreciated the opportunity to experiment with different building techniques and learned a lot from some of the ‘neighbourly’ tensions that arose through competition for space. Here is Mudbud’s fantastic replica of Titanic.
One
school in particular, Warden Park, has produced some really interesting
projects based around human rights issues highlighted by Amnesty International.
Walk into the ‘modern slavery store’ and interact with objects that explore the
complex issue of where and how everyday products have been produced for the
international market. This project encourages all members of the Skoolaborate
community to add their own exhibits.
The
‘Great Firewall of China’, largely created by Chopsly, is a particularly well-researched
and impressive build. It is structurally in proportion and uses interesting
media elements to encourage visitors to reflect on the theme of Internet
censorship in China ‘The Great Firewall
of China’ has received many positive comments from the
Skoolaborate
community, as well as, provoking some interesting discussion. There were some
members who questioned the appropriacy of associating such a strong national
icon with a negative issue and whether it was acceptable to place media onto
its inside walls. This provided an interesting opportunity for Chopsly and
others to openly debate the issues as part of the ‘values’ unit. Whilst there
was no ultimate resolution, students and staff found these debates to be
educationally enriching for those involved.
Some
in-depth evaluation videos with students and staff can be viewed here –
http://microsites2.segfl.org.uk/view_page.php?id=1625
The Machinima group has had a very successful summer, producing a spoof 1960s American Sci-Fi movie. The group met on a Tuesday evening and involved a range of students both from SEGUK as well as from the whole Skoolaborate community. Britta, an expert in Machinima, kept the group focused and helped students undertake their varied roles.
Students
were invited to develop a storyline and in the end we decided to use a plot
written by Clairedustycins. Many people helped
with the building of an impressive set that once complete resembled a fully
functioning town, complete with farm, church, café, school, post office, cinema
and park etc. Students developed their own costumes and special animations were
created to enable the characters to fulfill the variety of different roles. The
project has been great fun and the students learned a huge amount about media
literacy as well as honing their Second Life skills.
The
final Machinima can be viewed here –
http://skool-machinimators.ning.com/video/the-invasion-of-the-avatar
AhoySEGUK
– September 2009
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