This 4 week course gives participants a weekly tour on 1 topic covered at VWBPE 2012 or the Virtual Worlds Unsymposium
Course starts with virtual world field trips to educational sims in Second Life. Week 2 introduces Machinima and its educational uses. Week 3 is an adventure in the MMORPG World of Warcraft with an educators' guild. Week 4 wraps up the tours on the Bleeding Edge with emerging tech and education that includes virtual, blended and augmented realities.
Anyone can follow a course on P2PU. Participating is the next level of engagement. The sign-up is a space where interested individuals can express their interest and background in the topic and commit to working with the rest of the participants. Please answer the following set(s) of questions if you want to become a participant or organizer.
This set of signup questions is common to all study groups, courses, ... in P2PU. The answers to these questions will be public once you get accepted.
This set of signup questions is particular to this course. The answers to these questions will be public once you get accepted.
Do you think there is a difference between a virtual world and a MMORPG?
Do you think most people would agree with you?
This set of signup questions is particular to this course. The answers to these questions will be visible to all participants once you get accepted.
Let's see wherever everyone is.
Please let us know which worlds or MMORPGs you are in regularly?
What other worlds or MMORPGs have you explored?
Bio:
Location:
Standard Set Answer:I work in virtual worlds.
I'm interested in what others are doing.
I think it's a little late for me to help with the course organization
Bio:
Location: Calgary
Standard Set Answer:Understand P2PU
Yes
Bio:
Location: Denver
Standard Set Answer:1. Creation of similar environment for classroom use.
2. Get a better understanding of moocs
3. Sue. Sounds fun and a way of getting to know about gaming environment.
Bio:
Director of educational research, development and consultancy company.
Location: Wellington, New Zealand
Standard Set Answer:Very interested in the use of virtual worlds for educational simulations.
Hope to discover some good examples of effective use of VR in education.
Not sure about helping with course organisation.
Yes...in as much as the MMORPG is likely to be more structured by the narrative of the game, and a VR may be more open ended. Would most agree...I think so?
Bio:
Location:
Standard Set Answer:I believe that learning cannot be always an individual activity; I think that being surrounded by people which shares your same interests and share their knowledge and opinions with you is the best way to get stimulated and to achieve true life-long learning. At least, that's what I feel would work for someone like me :)
I do feel the difference between virtual world and MMORPG: I think a virtual world is a platform, a place in which you are immerged but it has no tasks in itself; it's a platform, you choose what to do in it, if wandering around or being active, eventually by choosing to start a particular game and have a challenge, in which you might have something to achieve. I would say that MMORPG is a particular kind of virtual world, you know you join a game from the beginning, you are in the game from the beginning, even if you choose not to play. Of course you can just explore the world from that moment on, but you will be surrounded by people who will have goals, and skills to improve, and missions... and you should be well aware of the risks you'll be finding wandering alone.
Bio:
EFL professor, passionated about learning and teaching. Edupunk at heart.
Location: Maracaibo, Zulia - Venezuela
Standard Set Answer:I love teaching,learning, adventuring, connecting in vvirtual worlds. I hope I can learn more and connect to fellow educator from the world. I'd love to help if I am needed.
There's a big difference.. and that's the power of creativity you have in a virtual world.. you are the one in command and you design your own world.
Bio:
Specialised in Learning & Development, Perforamance Management, Coaching and Instruction Design. Joined SL in 2009 looking for innovative tools for learning then in the same year joined OSgrid. In SL I am involved in teaching and learning languages & I have experimented with coaching.
Location:
Standard Set Answer:I am interested in the topic because it is part of my original interst in innovative tools and techniques for learning and development especially the use of Virtual Worlds. I participated in the VWBPE in 2011 and 2012 and several MOOCs and I see this activity as a continuation of my learning and experimentation.
I am sure that any type of participation that I get into whether by being very active and visible or lurking will mean learning from pears, discovering what and how others have been using VWs and games for learning something that I believe also inspires me and trigger new ideas and my own creativity. I think, also, that a broader perspective helps me in forming my own opinion about what it suitable in my situation.
I am very much interested it the course organization although I am too late now, I guess, but as this is the first VWMOOC it's a kind of a sandbox (although aren't they all?! :) ) and I hope to have more time to be much more active in the subsequent ones.
My immediate response would be yes, they are different. Virtual World are mainly environments where you can do many things including playing a game. To me VWs are the beginning of a 3D internet. You browse around and go from one sim, region, estate, island to another following your interest, be that education & learning, art & music, business, socializing, information etc. Every site (sim, island etc.) may have their own rules but what you do in general doesn’t' have to conform to a specific strategy or plan and doesn't, in general, include the idea of Winning or Losing, unless of course you're playing a game while you're there.
MMOPG on the other hand (and this is only from hear say and general impressions as I've never tried any) are games, have more rules and strategies with a main focus on winning or at least not losing. I understand that you're always playing a role and what you do may impact other players results. I know that many educators are starting to use them for learning but that doesn't mean that they are not games. In the corporate world I've used games and game like activities for years in training adults and found it to be a very effective way for the learners to experience firsthand and later reflect on their experience which means deeper and more meaningful learning.
I think that many people that I've met and discussed this difference with do agree with me but whether most people would or not is difficult to answer. I think it depends on how their focus. and I think while the difference was very blurry earlier it is getting clearer to more people, but again it depends on their focus.
For example of different focus:
1- Over the last two years I met many people who had come into SL for the sole purpose of learning a language. To them it was never a game. They didn't change their opinion of outlook even after they ventured outside the learning environment because from the start they were (though anonymous sometimes) were there as themselves to learn not to play and while learning you can socialize, make friends, explore and share.
2- Those who started SL as a game, while inworld they're always playing, role playing, sinning and losing etc.. When you listen to them they are usually referring to it as a Game. However, some of them changed their focus when they discovered that they can learn a language or attend a science talk or volunteer in a support group of RL people with disabilities or experience or attend a RL conference inworld etc.. At the moment many of them started looking at the VW as a PLACE where they'd been playing but then found some other things to do that is not a GAME.
Pehaps VWs is a general name for all 3D environments while MMORPGs are just one type and it is more on the gaming side? !
i am sorry this turned to be such a long answer to the question, but these are my initial thoughts that I would love to explore further with an open mind to see what else is there :)
Bio:
Faculty Instructional Technologist
Location: LI
Standard Set Answer:Researching, writing, and teaching in the area. To learn more about the world of games and simulations/vr in education. Sure.
Well, the terms have to be stipulatively defined and I think if done well, co-exist somewhat.
Bio:
Visual Arts practitioner and teacher (secondary), focused on working in alternative educational settings like Rudolf Steiner, online schools etc.
Currently studying Design and Technology, specialising in Industrial Arts and Graphics and Multimedia technology.
Gamer of sorts
Location: Byron Bay
Standard Set Answer:I am a teacher that would like to develop professional connections with other educators using and planning to use virtual worlds and rpg games in education.
Strengthen my understanding of professional practice using MMORPG's and Virtual Worlds in curriculum planning and implementation.
Yes, but probably to late (3rd week) I am a member of Cognitive Dissonance and could help take new players through World of Warcraft content.
Yes, a virtual world is an environment that tends to be user generated, with or without tools provided and an avatar is usually an extension of the person navigating or creating within that environment. For example Second Life, Open Sim etc. An MMORPG is typically an environment that has been created with a specific genre and ruleset or Lore and your avatar is an extension of a character you 'roleplay' in that environment (to a lesser or greater degree).
Content creation is often limited or non existant outside creative use of third party software like fraps for videoing and other software for editing it into a format like machinima. Ones experience is within a 'game' world and the avatar progesses along a more or less linear path to an 'endgame'. Notable exceptions are Neverwinter Nights 1 and 2 where user generated content and Dungeon Master controls allowed for unique story lines and events.
Would people agree with me...depends if they are nubs SL'ers or gamers!
Bio:
Riven is the Director of the Steelhead Public Library on SecondLife. In RL, I'm Jean Hewlett, Librarian at a University of San Francisco branch campus.
Location: California
Standard Set Answer:One of my reasons for taking this course is to learn about distance education software. Creating this account has been an education in how to make the process unpleasant and demanding for the student.
Bio:
new media manager at Mediafin, the publisher of the business newspapers De Tijd and L'Echo.
interested in virtual worlds, finance, philosophy, digital culture.
Location: Antwerp, Belgium
Standard Set Answer:I'm interested in this course because I'm working on a peer2peer learning project (with Howard Rheingold), and I've been exploring virtual worlds and augmented reality since a few years now. Wondering how to leverage virtual worlds but more specifically gaming environments, virtual worlds, location apps, social discovery apps, and mixed reality applications in learning processes.
Since I'm very busy working on the peeagogy project, I'm not sure I can help with organizing. However, I'll check whether there's anything useful I can do - and of course I'll blog about the experience.
I think 'virtual world' is more general, it also includes places which are non-gaming and non roleplay-gaming. Second Life for instance can be a place to conduct business, do brainstormings, have training and edu sessions. Massively multiplayer online role-playing games are like World of Warcraft. I think many people don't see the difference or are not familiar with these terms.
Bio:
Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Standard Set Answer:i'm coowner of a development company that focuses on virtual worlds and education. I hope to learn more about all the possibilities.
There is a difference between a virtual world and a mmorpg. A mmorpg is set in a virtual world, but a Virtual World does not have to be a mmorpg. A race game could be in a Virtual World, like need 4 speed world, but it has nothing to do with the RPG part of MMORPG.
Most people won't agree because they generaly don't want to really think what a word actually means.
Bio:
I am an artist, designer, new media producer and lateral thinker focused on the convergence of creativity, community, social good and the future.
aka Rhiannon Chatnoir inSL
www.twitter.com/RhiannonSL
www.facebook.com/JoyceBettencourt
www.linkedin.com/in/JoyceBettencourt
Location: Boston, MA
Standard Set Answer:I am interested in virtual worlds and online MMO game spaces for a combination of social, educational and online community focused reasons.
I have worked since 2006 using virtual worlds and online game spaces for philanthropic andeducational learning goals with entities such as Global Kids, the MacArthur Foundation, NY DOE, Georgia Tech, ASU, USC, BeliefNet and more.
I also cofounded the metaverse development company in 2007 (http://www.thevesuviusgroup.com) and am a founding board member of the metaverse focused nonprofit AvaCon.org that organizes the yearly Second Life Community Convention and other user of virtual worlds and MMO resources/events.
I hope to connect and learn with others using these spaces via participating in this course and am interested in helping out where I can.
There is often one distinct difference between virtual world spaces and those of massively multiplayer online games. Though both rely on the user experiencing the world through the use of an avatar, most virtual worlds are very open-ended and though they may included game play like elements, they do not revolve around them in the same way a MMORPG or MMO does.
Also, in a RPG focused MMO, one's online identity are mostly shaped by gameplay and story elements of the game world itself that lend to users roleplaying (speaking and acting) in a way that would different from their normal physical selves. A virtual world, due to that same openendedness does not require or call for roleplaying, though it certainly does happen and often in themed and interest based virtual communities. In most cases, how one expresses their identity in a virtual world, isnt very different than they would in any online social platform and closer to their normal personality.
Bio:
A.B.D., lots of varied interests, project manager (education/publishing).
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Standard Set Answer:#1 VWBPE conference
#2 I hope to learn and apply the learnings immediately
#3 YES, let me know how I can help.
Yes.
Yes.
Bio:
Instructional Technology Coordinator for a large school district in Virginia.
Location: Virginia Beach, VA
Standard Set Answer:Attended VWBPE and wish to participate in the conversations.
Yes, I believe there is a difference between a virtual world and a MMORPG and most would agree with me.
Bio:
Teacher
Location: Denmark
Standard Set Answer:Ubs....very late for me...or morning...time zone CET....Like Rosavioletta!
Greetings
Jens
Bio:
I'm an Earth Science / Environmental Science teacher (5-9 / 7-12 Certified NYS) and I've been on ISTE Island and in SL for five years.. I "Cut my teeth' on VR with SL during my insightful Mentor's insistance from SUNY during my M.A.T. Graduate Degree studies for New Teacher preperation and certification. I'm so glad I'm a PIONEER! I remain humbly TEACHABLE therefore... at varying levels... There's RISK and perceived levels of FEAR at every turn in becoming Technologically 'savvy'... The key to 'success' thus far for me has been in who I surround myself within virtual and augemented reality... Teaching and Learning.. will NEVER be the same...
Thank GOD I run with COOL AVATAR'S!!!
(RL) Jack Mosel @moseljack
Location: NY / USA
Standard Set Answer:I am interested in becoming more proficient and leveling up, so to say, with honing my Building skills and content creation and curriculum design in Virtual Worlds.. I've been "In-World" for five years on ISTE Island in Second Life.. I have many references from being a good doobie there! :).. LOL...
As an educator (Licensed in NYS Secondary 7-12 Earth Science), I am a pioneer in my district in making strides to present and educate of our venue (VR Ed.). I am a bit of a "mascot" so to speak on ISTE Island and have been "Involved" at many an event, Know most of the influential folks there and have not actively involved myself in creating and building (shame on me) for lack of better understanding as to actually use building and scripting tools with proficiency and mastery.. I have getten much better at this and want to dive into serious engagement with creators, shakers and movers in VR Worlds.. I have vwery creative abilities and I have not sat idly by altogether.. I have been a great Cheerleader for all VR Education activities and have built a very impressive following, which includes influential administrators in my district and within NYS. Students are my biggest fans.. I do this for them.. Mostly because they say "Mr. Mosel... WHEN are we going to learn in this way... It's so Cool!"...
I'm intersted in helping any way I can..
I think an MMORPG and a Virtual World have much in common. To differentiate between them (here) in public, would polarize me one way or another. One man's/woman's fancy, one man/woman's fare... MMORPG's like WOW are really great learning environments... A teacher / leader needs to facilitate what the learning opportunity IS though and keep it to the task at hand.. I know pioneers in this advent and I have the UTMOST respect for them... (Hi Peg!).. :)
I think VR Worlds are for creation and also are relinquished to the directive's of the facilitator/educator for curriculum cohesiveness and content connection. the ability to use and to create in.. VR Worlds.. are endless and vast. I am here to achieve this for myself and then to offer freely, my work to all I encounter.. I believe a well done build with effective content creation adherring to curriculum, can lead to boundless opportunity for educator's to "Teach" anywhere...
Bio:
I'm an educator and an explorer and student of virtual worlds -- the interactive Second Life, recently World of Warcraft, and always books and films.
Location: Wisconsin and Second Life
Standard Set Answer:*I'm looking for opportunities to learn more about teaching and learning in virtual worlds, including digital storytelling and role playing.
*I hope to learn more about the above.
*Sure, I'd be interested in helping, if I'm able with my limited skills and time.
*Yes, I think there is a difference - but I'm basing that on what I've read about MMORPGs, none of which I've played. I'm a resident in Second Life and see SL as an environment that can include games.
*Most people in Second Life and other virtual worlds would probably agree with me; the general public, well, probably not.
Bio:
I currently work in the Innovation in Learning Center at the University of South Alabama where I am enrolled in the Instructional Design & Development PhD program. I am a travel agent and hope to be a consultant in the travel industry upon graduation. I am also a Coffee News franchisee and as such am very involved in using social media to reach clients and constituents. I am also an adjunct faculty member in the Continuing Studies program at Tulane University and am always seeking ways to energize my course content with technology.
Location: Mississippi/ Alabama Gulf Coast
Standard Set Answer:Stasia Weston, the TOUR GODDESS, convinced to enroll in this course to learn about
machinima to increase my skill set as an instructional designer.
I hope to learn new skills and network with others who are learning together.
I am not interested in helping with the course organization at this time.
Yes, games have objectives and most virtual worlds do not. People may or may not agree, depending on their level of understanding.
Bio:
Lifelong learner, instructional designer, writer...
About Me sections always make me philosophical, so I'm thinking about that.
Location: Raleigh, NC US
Standard Set Answer:I'm an instructional designer and "recovering" gamer. I learned a great deal of non-traditional things from my time in MMPORGs. The implications of this type of learning are fascinating to me.
I'm simultaneously trying to get my feet wet in the MOOC world and looking for possibilities to expand "what I do for a living" into something more meaningful to myself and others.
I'm not ready to organize yet; this is my first time participating at all. But maybe, sometime.
I think MMPORGs are a subset, existing in a virtual world, with a specific ruleset.
Honestly, I'm not sure if most people would agree, and haven't read up on the current thinking on this. I spent a good while immersed in an MMPORG a few years back, and have kept a bit of a distance since deciding to stay "IRL".
