Designing share virtual environment (Active world) for learning.

Group Members:    Chan Kam Kuen  (1992182488)            Fok Man Yee( 2010884064)   Kung Hiu Tung (2010884480)               Kwong Ka Lap, Timothy (2009966673) 

HKU MITE 6304 Group B

IntroductionVirtual learning environments are commonly used in e-learning. In recent years, three-dimensional immersive virtual worlds are an emerging medium being used in both traditional classrooms and distance education (Dickey, 2005). In our group project, we tried to imply a 3-D virtual world as a virtual learning environment for learning. The learning topic is Discovery Hong Kong in which students learn that Hong Kong is an organic combination of various elements, including local culture, natural attractions, infrastructure and gastronomic delights.

Dickey, M.D. (2005). Brave new (interactive) worlds: a review of the design affordances and constraints of two 3D virtual worlds as interactive learning environments. Interactive Learning Environments, 13, 1-2, 121-137.

Learning Design of our project

• Topic : Discovery Hong Kong

• VLE Platform: Active Worlds

• Target students: Secondary Two students (F.2)

• Prior knowledge & ICT skills:

Blogger, active worlds, email,

Active World

• Durations: 8 lessons (3 weeks)

Image source: http://chinese6atmsjhs.wikispaces.com/Hong+Kong

‘Discovery Hong Kong’ includes 4 sessions, i.e., Hong Kong Popular Place, Hong Kong Nature, Hong Kong Cuisine and Hong Kong Festivals.  Hong Kong Cuisine : students can learn that Hong Kong is a place with extensive influences from Canton and other parts of China. Hong Kong is an international city. It lives with people of every class.  All live in harmony with others

Hong Kong Nature : students can explore the beauty of Hong Kong country parks and the formation of Hong Kong GeoParks. By forming a team to visit those parks, students can compare the information gain from virtual world and real world and to understand the environment deeply. So that to aware the green environment and protection of it. Hong Kong Popular place : students have chance to explore their home town via collecting photos, video/voice records, and stuffs that represent the place over there. For part two of this session, student can make use all the stuffs that they collected before, and hand-on experience when they go there, that can help them to prepare the itinerary for the foreign visitors. (this learning by doing method, can assess student learning via their final product that submit to the blog.) Hong Kong Festivals : students can explore traditional Chinese festivals in Hong Kong. Students are asked to introduce Hong Kong traditional Chinese festivals to oversea tourists by using Photostory. 

Learning Design of our project

Learning Objectives

References:Bloom’s Taxonomy Verbs adopted from the web site http://www.teach-nology.com/Diagram adopted from http://pediatricinc.wordpress.com/2009/10/30/blooms-taxonomy-in-a-medical-practice/

Students will learn –•Describe their general impressions on Hong Kong;•Summarize some key features in each of the four areas (Hong Kong

Popular Place, Hong Kong Nature, Hong Kong Cuisine and Hong Kong

Festivals) in Hong Kong;

•Design a suggested trip for tourists to Hong Kong;

•Produce a presentation for introducing Hong Kong to tourists;

•Organize their learning portfolio by weblog.

Essential skills emphasis

Students are expected to learn / apply the following skills during the learning tasks.

Cooperative skills Students form groups to finish the learning tasks. Students participate in collaborative learning.

 Communications skills Students will participate in collaborative learning. Blogs are used as communication tools. Team blogs which students can communicate about their team work. Help desk blog which enables students to get help from teacher.

Information skills  Lots of resources (web sites, video, audio) are provided in this authentic environment. Stu are encouraged to evaluate, reflection, interpret and critique information provided.

Image adopted from http://www.ryanrwatkins.com/how2elearn/course.htm

Learning StrategyScenario

•Students are asked to act as representatives of the Hong Kong Tourism Board to introduce Hong Kong to oversea.

Learning tasks•Formative learning tasks in each session. Different tasks and guided questions are provided in each session (Hong Kong Popular

Place, Hong Kong Nature, Hong Kong Cuisine and Hong Kong Festivals).

Students are guided to learn each session by finishing these

formative learning tasks.

•Summative learning tasks (Final assignments) of the topic.

Final assignments are provided in order to evaluate

students in the topic.Image adopted from http://www.discoverhongkong.com

Guided questions and formative learning tasks are provided in each session. For example, clear task instructions are given in the entrance of Hong Kong Nature section.

clear task instructions in each session

Summative learning tasks (Final assignments)

Students are asked to -

•design a suggested trip for tourists to Hong Kong

•Use ICT tools (e.g. Photostory) to produce a presentation for introducing Hong Kong to tourists

•Post their learning portfolio of each task in each session in their group blog

Image adopted from http://www.pharmacy.unc.edu/faculty/faculty-directory/research/centers/center-for-educational-renaissance-and-educational-initiatives/folder.2008-09-20.2431673730

Learning Resources

Lots of learning resources in the related topic are provided for

students in each sessions. Different

types of learning resources are included,

such as, video, audio, pictures,

text, websites.

Learning Strategy

Pictures and related website link are provided.

Video link are providedRelated website link are provided.

Collaborative learning •Stu are asked to form groups to learn.• Face-to-face discussions are provided in in traditional classrooms lessons. •After school, group blogs and Active World provide a platform for students to work collaboratively. These ICT tools provide Computer-mediated communication (CMC) learning environment for students to work together.

Active World (Synchronicity CMC) – live chat room

Weblog (Asynchronicity CMC) – comments, discussion forum

Students participate in collaborative learning with these platforms. The learning activities provided aim to encourage students reflection, discussion and critique.•Blogs / Active world are used as social networking

communication tools among students.•Help desk blog provided in which enables students to get

help from teacher•Blogs in each session allow students to post their reflections,

comment and share among students.

Learning Strategy

The following diagram show how the teacher uses weblog to achieve students' collaborative learning.

Learning Strategy(Choice of technology platform)

• Virtual learning environments : three-dimensional immersive virtual worlds (Active World) – text, video, audio, webpage link, chat room.

• ICT tools : weblog, email, multimedia tools.

Image adopted from http://www.kaplaneduneering.com/kappnotes/index.php/2010/03/virtual-worlds-best-practices-in/

Virtual worlds may be utilised for the "communication spaces”.

Communication in virtual worlds can take both verbal and nonverbal forms (Robbins, 2007). Verbal communication is typically established synchronously with the text-based chat function, which is usually available in the virtual world environments. Nonverbal communication can be established through avatar appearance, avatar posturing and gestures (Robbins, 2007).

Conversational model is applied in the learning design of the topic.

Learning Strategy(Choice of technology platform)

Conversational model is applied in the learning design of the topic.

Learning Strategy(Choice of technology platform)

Design Overview

'Discovery Hong Kong' is designed as a theme park. It is divided into 4 sessions : Hong Kong Popular Place, Hong Kong Nature, Hong Kong Cuisine, and Hong Kong Festivals.

Each session includes several tasks for students to complete.

Bird view Floor plan

Clear Overall instructions are provided on the entrance of the theme park , such as,

- Project Description - Tasks Details which link to group blog - Floor plan ( a brief overview of the ‘theme park’ that students will explore)

Design Overview

Clear Overall instructions on the entrance of the theme park

Clear route/signs are provided in order to guide the students to different sections in the theme park "Discovery Hong Kong“.

Design Overview

Clear route/signs are provided

Help Desk is provided. It provides –

-Help desk discussion forum (in form of blog) to let students ask questions and seek help from teacher.

-Contract teacher with email. Some students may prefer use private email to seek for teacher’s opinion, rather than open discussion forum.

-Student Group blog registration. Students need to register before they start the exploration. They need to create team blog for team and collaborate using team blog. When they register, they need to put team blog link and assignment link.  The assignment link let other teams access their assignment and give comments.

Design Overview

Clear instruction sign about the learning objectives of each section are provided to students.

Design Overview

clear instruction sign

Different learning resources are provided in the virtual world, such as, web site, audio, video, etc.

Design Overview

Video of task introduction is given before students exploring the session .(Mayer's pre-training principle)

  

 

Introduction about Hong Kong Cuisine is given by means of Multimedia tool (Voki)

Learning theories behind the learning design.

Constructivism

Constructivism as a paradigm or worldview posits that learning is an active, constructive process. The learner is an information constructor. People actively construct or create their own subjective representations of objective reality. New information is linked to prior knowledge, thus mental representations are subjective. (www.learning-theories.com/)

In our project, teacher acts as a facilitator and students act as information constructor.

In our virtual learning environment, authentic environment and different learning resources (e.g. websites, video, audio) are provided in order to help students to construct their knowledge. The scenario provides rich descriptions and information about different elements of Hong Kong. In each site of four sectors , there are activities that require learners to answer questions.

Guided questions is essential to facilitate students’ thinking and construct their knowledge. In each section of our virtual world, clear guided questions and learning tasks are provided.

Collaborative learning environment are a must as students are arranged to work in form group. Students need to answer questions and post their comments to their group blog. And they need to comment on other group posts.  (Social Constructivism)  Students can learn further through these collaborative learning environment.

Gagne nine events of instructionsMultimedia, such as Voki and video, used in the learning design aims for attracting the attention of student and stimulating their motivation.

Pre-training principle of Mayer’s Principles for the design of Multimedia Learning states that people learn better from a multimedia lesson.

Learning theories behind the learning design.

Anticipated Difficulties

 • Hardware of computer system is essential for running Active world.

• Faster Internet connection is also important for supporting the program Active world.

• It is time consuming for building Active World.

Conclusions

In our group project, we tried to imply a 3-D virtual world (Active World) as a virtual learning environment for learning. The learning topic is Discovery Hong Kong in which students learn more about Hong Kong in the learning design. Compared with traditional VLE (e.g. Moodle), shared 3-D virtual environments (e.g. Active World) attract students attention, interests and motivation. These VLE platforms allow different types of course materials delivery, such as text, multi-media, website link, and also provide communication tools, such as chat room, email. The project provides us useful hand-on experiences in applying 3-D virtual world as a virtual learning environment for learning design.