SEGUK 2009-2010 Review
By Chris Pim on Monday, September 27, 2010 - Related Tags:- news, SEGUK
Overview
It has been an interesting year for SEGUK schools, characteriesed by the consolidation of existing projects and attempting to attract more schools and students. In fact we have had a drop-off in student numbers but those students have been more actively engaged than last year. We have also had new schools join and a lot more members of staff, including volunteers who have been helping with language teaching and machinima projects. We have also hired in a developer to do some SLoodle development that has allowed us to create some interesting language learning tools that interface with a Moodle platform, a virtual learning environment that a lot of Secondary schools use here in the UK.
Ahoy
Virtual School Build
After a busy year in Skoolaborate the "building team" are well underway constructing their first 'VIRTUAL SCHOOL' of the future based on 'Building Schools for the Future' guidelines. Once the school is built the collaboration already under way between our secondary school and its local junior schools, will really come into play. Ongoing meetings have been arranged for younger students to exchange ideas and present their work on Bordon Eco-town to install into the virtual building, whilst the building team is 'up and ready' at the sharp end to postion and place the material in-world.
The year has been full of collaborative and training events, such as skills-based construction lessons from Ahoy, Clairdustykins, Dobby and Mudblud, and joint membership between the building team and Britta's Machinima group. The virtual lands have had many visitors from all over the world such as Canada, South America and Portugal, our World Leader and his team have endeavoured to make them very welcome and to guide them around the site. The team has made numerous presentations to governors, teachers, county architects, local councillors and other students in various schools. All have been stunned by the quality of work produced!!
As teachers we have been thrilled by the way students have taken to the concept of virtual learning and are now almost completely independent in their progress. The Virtual Team leaders have learned scripting; importing Google sketchup files into Second Life; creating, buying and selling clothes and buildings to other Skoolaborate members, in what could
become a small 'economy' in its own right!! Now that the present Sl team is experienced with some members moving on to higher education, it is time to teach the younger enthusiasts what they have learned, and next academic year it will be their responsibility to pass their knowledge on.
MillwoodMC
Lingualand - teaching and learning languages
Lingualand is nearing completion and attracting much interest from the Second Life community!
There are 3 main sections for each language 'parcel' of land:
(1) The teaching chalet.
Here, learners can interact with each other and their teacher, and .. most importantly .. with objects which relay their activitiy to a Moodle site.
Elek
tra has had tution from Fire on how to set all this up. In summary, the moodle site can generate a script which is placed into the SL objects thereby getting them 'talking to each other'.
Pupils enter the chalet and click on the registration booth. This automatically links them to the Moodle which can keep a record of their activities and successes.
A Vending machine allows them to collect any items which the tecaher wants themn to have .. a written task . a sloodle T shirt .. or even a Galaxy Cow!
Once clicked, the chat console will send a record of any text chat made during a session .. great for keeping a record of what has been done an dfor letting peopel who cannot be in Second Life feel part of it all.
Assignements can be easily posted into the Assignments box .. making it an easy job for learners to submit them, and teachers to collect them.
Golden cups await you in the 'Scavenger Hunt' corner .. just pick up a clue which will take you to the next cup, and with each cup found you will be rewarded with points! This can be a fun way of showing that you understand instructions written in different langauges, gives you some physical activity, and could take you on an interesting tour of all teat Skoolaborate has to offer!
Take the modern, glass elevator to the next floor where you will find some sloodle quiz chairs. Sit on one and answer the multichoice questions which appear bottom left. If correct, your chair will move up and your marks will be added to the scorebaord. Can you get the highest marks for the week?
Meet up with your teacher and frineds on the top floor to carry out quizzes which can be timed to give that little extra 'buzz'!
(2) Arcade games
Either take the elevator back down to the ground or walk off the roof ... and you will find yourself in the zone for playing arcade games. Thsi si where you can come even if noone else is there ... see how high a score you can get, and the person with the most points at the end of the week will win a prize!
(3) The beach!
Finally, you may want to chill out and relax in converstauion with others. So head for the beach where language areas are defined by flag-coded sun umbrellas and cushions! This is the most important part of the island .. we want people to enjoy themselves .. play games .. and talk!
ElektraAS
Machinima - 'Follow the digital road'
Work has begun on a new machinima with a team comprising students and staff from 3 SEGfL schools. Led by Britta, progress this year has been brisk and we already have a basic plot, a rather bizarre parody of 'The Wizard of Oz'.
This year we aim to use expertise of some of the staff to produce versions with audio in different languages e.g. French or Spanish.
The machinima group meets every Wednesday at 8 p.m.
What is the basic plot?
A new take on 'The Wizard of OZ'.
The two main characters, ordinary boy and girl, have been 'binge surfing' and get sucked into the Internet. As the two main characters follow the 'digital road' in this new world, they encounter a host of different characters in their individual settings/habitats.
In their search for a way home, the two main characters encounter both beauty and danger, in so doing discovering the truth about themselves...that the way home lies in their own hands and that there is nothing in life to discover...absolution lies within themselves.
Each setting/character is a metaphor for the possibilities that exist within the Internet...both good and bad.
Visit the Skoolaborate Machinima NIng website
Ahoy