This week I was treated to another fantastic seminar introducing me to immersive technology. This week's topic certainly challenged me to think how I could use this emerging technology with my students. Last Friday night I downloaded Unity Player, software that enabled me to explore the two sample educational virtual worlds provided by our seminar leaders and I first explored the Christmas In Unity game developed by Heritage Christian Online School and then a new virtual world on Saturday where our seminar was hosted in a virtual classroom experience. When I first started moving my Avatar, a much better looking version of myself around, I was immediately reminded of my experience playing RPG games on XBOX years ago. In the summer of 2008 I blew out the ligaments in my left knee playing a friendly game of baseball and I was laid up for several months. A good friend who felt sorry for me as I couldn’t ride and enjoy the glorious summer we were having, dropped off his XBOX game console and some of his favorite games. While not an avid gamer, my brothers and I had rented Nintendo gaming systems in University sometimes playing into the wee hours of night. I remember epic battles of James Bond Golden Eye, that kept us entertained for hours. I remember playing until it felt like the screen was burning holes in your eyes and when you finally allowed yourself to sleep all your brain would allow you to see were continued images of the game you had just played for the last 8 hours. In any case recovering from injury and not very mobile I attempted an RPG game that was recommended by my friend called Grand Theft Auto. The game started you as a low level criminal in a virtual world and I was amazed by the size of the world as you could travel from city to city, choosing, or commandeering any form of transportation you could find. The purpose of the game was to follow a loosely based story and build your criminal empire. I remember being pretty hooked despite being appalled at the moral message of the game itself. After more hours of playing the game than I care to admit, I distinctly remember my breaking point. My character was able to work out in a gym in order to improve his physique, and I became obsessed with this task, returning to the virtual gym as much as the game allowed me. As I looked down at myself, chip crumbs on my shirt, and the pathetic shape of my body as it started to succumb to this sedentary activity that I had been engaged in almost completely for the past 3 days I felt ashamed. I turned the game off, took a shower and hobbled into my car and drove the gym. For the next 4 weeks I went crazy with rehab exercise and I have never really felt the desire to play an RPG games since.
When I was exploring the educational virtual worlds provided to us this week, it strongly reminded my of my experience playing Grand Theft Auto, except there were no cars to steal, or pedestrians to run over. Still that icky feeling returned and I felt myself rejecting this style of learning. That said, what impressed me the most during this week was what Gord Holden’s students had been able to teach themselves and create in these virtual learning environments.
Many of my current students are obsessed with MMOW (Massively Multiplayer Online Worlds) and MMRPGs (Massively Multiplayer Role Playing Games) In an assignment for my History 12 class last semester I had students attempt to publish their own Wikipedia articles with the goal of teaching them the value and shortcomings of Wikipedia as a resource. As part of this assignment we discussed relevance and audience. Many of my students chose to write articles about famous MMRPG players, citing the size of the online tournaments, the millions of viewers and even the massive stakes that are up for grabs. From a viewership and financial perspective MMRPGs would probably compete against many minor professional sports in terms of interest. Still, outside or recognizing the students interests and relating to them, I have no personal interest in these games or virtual worlds. As much of my extracurricular involvement centers around coaching and promoting outdoor and mountain bike clubs I would much rather be involved with “real” sports over virtual ones. Personal bias aside I think that to dismiss immersive technology or to not support students who were interested in it would be a mistake. I think that there is a tremendous opportunity for students to showcase their learning in a virtual world. I believe that if the pedagogy allows for a diverse spectrum of presentation as many inquiry based approaches do, this style of presentation and creativity could be a viable form for students to demonstrate and facilitate their learning. I look forward to working with students who want to learn using student appropriate virtual environments, but I am pretty happy to leave my Avatar days behind me.
When I was exploring the educational virtual worlds provided to us this week, it strongly reminded my of my experience playing Grand Theft Auto, except there were no cars to steal, or pedestrians to run over. Still that icky feeling returned and I felt myself rejecting this style of learning. That said, what impressed me the most during this week was what Gord Holden’s students had been able to teach themselves and create in these virtual learning environments.
Many of my current students are obsessed with MMOW (Massively Multiplayer Online Worlds) and MMRPGs (Massively Multiplayer Role Playing Games) In an assignment for my History 12 class last semester I had students attempt to publish their own Wikipedia articles with the goal of teaching them the value and shortcomings of Wikipedia as a resource. As part of this assignment we discussed relevance and audience. Many of my students chose to write articles about famous MMRPG players, citing the size of the online tournaments, the millions of viewers and even the massive stakes that are up for grabs. From a viewership and financial perspective MMRPGs would probably compete against many minor professional sports in terms of interest. Still, outside or recognizing the students interests and relating to them, I have no personal interest in these games or virtual worlds. As much of my extracurricular involvement centers around coaching and promoting outdoor and mountain bike clubs I would much rather be involved with “real” sports over virtual ones. Personal bias aside I think that to dismiss immersive technology or to not support students who were interested in it would be a mistake. I think that there is a tremendous opportunity for students to showcase their learning in a virtual world. I believe that if the pedagogy allows for a diverse spectrum of presentation as many inquiry based approaches do, this style of presentation and creativity could be a viable form for students to demonstrate and facilitate their learning. I look forward to working with students who want to learn using student appropriate virtual environments, but I am pretty happy to leave my Avatar days behind me.