Posts Tagged ‘class meeting’

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Class 11: Team Presentations

April 18, 2025

The student teams have been working hard on their projects for the last two weeks and today we finally saw their completed presentations. Çağla Solak, aka Merino, joined us to record the videos for each team and also made a really nice introduction to the student Team Projects for the VWEC Student Challenge. All the team members were present and took part in the tour of their builds and the presentations. The work was very impressive and the performances were word perfect and delivered with confidence and professionalism. Amber Selenium also joined us to take the team photos.

Here is the introduction to the project from Çağla Solak, aka Merino (video courtesy of Çağla Solak):

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RED TEAM: Konrad Karolkiewicz (KONRAD1), Laura Bota (LauraBota), Vanesa Hotca Francesca (Vanesa26), and Derin Nur Özer (nyxiebiyxe). Team mentor: John O’Connor (Acuppa Tae). (video courtesy of Çağla Solak):

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BLUE TEAM: Alina Sandor (AlinaMarsiposa), Ava Fenton (phroggg), Emma Long (Emmagukkie), and Tuğçe Çetinkaya (tugcecetinkaya). Team mentor: Ersin İnal (Ginger). (video courtesy of Çağla Solak):

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GREEN TEAM: Oliwia Kowalczyk (oliwiakowalczyk), Dana Rusu (DanaR2507), Andreea Pasca (Pasca Andreea), and Raluca Pascaniuc (Raluca1984). Team mentor: Lia Pop. (video courtesy of Çağla Solak):

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Amber Selenium took the team photos starting with the Red Team: from left, nyxiebiyxie, Vanesa26, LauraBota, KONRAD1. (Photo courtesy Amber Selenium.)

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Blue Team: Ava, tugcecetinkaya, Emma, AlinaMariposa. (Photo courtesy Amber Selenium.)

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Green Team: DanaR2507, oliwiakowalczyk, Pasca Andreea, Raluca1984. (Photo courtesy Amber Selenium.)

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Class 3: Team builiding

February 17, 2025
Sitearm Madonna presents the theory of teamwork. Photo by Acuppa Tae

Meeting at Çağ campus this week we heard from Sitearm Madonna about how teams function and the roles of the team members. If you missed the class you can review the recording of the same class from last semester.

Then we had a look at the brief for the Student Challenge in a little detail to determine precisely what is expected. The detail is in the previous post Serious Simulations in the Metaverse. Some changes have been made to the teams for the Student Challenge which will be confirmed next week but, in the meantime the teams broke out with their instructors to confirm the team lead and assistant lead and share contact details. Both Red and Green teams met but nobody from the Blue team was in class so the members will need to catch up on that work in their own time.

After the breakout the full class met again and shared their progress. The Teams were asked to arrange to meet during the week to discuss the Student Challenge and select the SDG they will address. Following that we had a request from Nova, a PhD researcher at North Carolina University, to take part in a focus group about learning in virtual worlds. Anyone interested can let John / Tae know and he will share details.

Next week we meet at Çağ again when Valibrarian Gregg will talk to us about Metaliteracy and Digital Citizenship. Please arrive early.

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Class 1: Welcome to Second Life

February 10, 2025

This semester we are delighted to be joined by Prof Lia Pop from the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca in Romania – a member of the European University of Technology (EUt+) alliance with TU Dublin – and her students. We all met for an introduction to Second Life at the TU Dublin campus in Second Life (SL) where we friended each other, joined the TU Dublin group and spoke about the timetable for the semester. The importance of attending all the scheduled classes was emphasised. This is particularly necessary for the Student Challenge, which includes tuition on building in SL, an essential skill for completing the project. Also joining the class meeting was Dr Lucia Morales of TU Dublin and her PhD students TallNinja.

The schedule for the semester gives times for all class meetings that must be attended.

We explored the use of voice, Nearby Chat and Instant Messaging (IM) in SL, learning that IMs facilitate contact with anyone anywhere in SL. This can be very useful if you get lost or can’t find your way to where the class is meeting: just send an IM to a class mate or lecturer asking for a teleport (TP). This will enable you to go directly to the location. IMs are private and can be seen only by those who receive them. It is possible also to invite others to join an IM so that you can set up a private chat for your team or group. Saving a landmark (LM) so that you can TP there at a later time was then demonstrated and you were advised to save the TU Dublin campus as your ‘home’ landmark, making it easy to return there whenever you need to. The we practised teleporting away and back again.

Voice can be tempermental in SL, sometimes it can take a few moments before activating after logging on. There are a few things you can do to remedy this. First, try toggling the voice button on and off. If this doens’t fix it you might try logging out of SL and logging back in again. Always check your preferences to ensure you have voice enabled and the appropriate device is selected (eg, if you are using headphones they might have to be specifically selected from the dropdown menu in preferences). You must have voice activated even if you do not intend speaking in SL because if not, you will not be able to hear others speaking.

After going outside to the deck for a class photo we teleported to the Çağ (pronounced ‘chaw’) University campus to meet Magua (Prof Murat Gülmez) and Ginger (Ersin İnal) and their student. We set up three teams to work on the Student Challenge. Each team is to meet before the end of the week and select a Team Leader and an Assistant Leader. Their roles are to facilitate team meetings, ensure all team members are communicating with each other and generally try to support team development. Their role is NOT to do all the work or be responsible for team delivery. They will also be the spokespersons for the Team, with the Assistant taking over when the Leader cannot be present. To enable communication outside of SL each team was asked to agree on a communication tool. This will help with arranging meetings efficiently over the course of the semester. You could share email addresses or numbers for an app like WhatsApp.

Next week, each team will be asked to share the name of the Team Leader and Assistant Leader. We will have a talk from Sitearm Madonna on Team Building and have a briefing on the Student Challenge project. We will meet at the Çağ University campus at the usual time.

In the meantime, the Student Challenge will be launched on Saturday (see your local time on the schedule above) at the VWEC Student Challenge in Second Life. Please go there directly. If you need any help finding the location once you log into SL you can IM any of the class for a TP. This meeting will last no more than one hour.

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Class 8: Identity with Intent

December 4, 2024

Sitearm Madonna and Acuppa Tae introduced the concept of thinking about identity with intention, a way of thinking that allows us to deliberately develop our approach to presenting ourselves purposefully. The content of the class emerged from a talk we gave jointly at the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education (VWBPE) conference earlier this year.

Sitearm Madonna talks about identity as avatar. Photo Barbara Collazo

Second Life, through the use of avatars, allows for the opprtunity to choose an identity and so opens the door to considering identity not just in a virtual world but also in the natural world.

Avatar – Identity with Intent, presentation by Sitearm Madonna and Acuppa Tae. Recording courtesy of Sitearm Madonna.

Following the formal talk we demonstrated how easy it is to change the physical appearance of our avatars. Sitearm and Tae explained how to save your current avatar using the ‘My Outfits’ before changing your avatar either by editing your existing one or selecting a completely different avatar from the menu bar. You can also change your appearance by dressing your avatar in the wide range of clothing available freely, or to be paid for in stores, across Second Life or through the web at the Second Life Marketplace. We discussed how the simple act of changing your avatar affects how you feel about yourself immediately. Those of us who have been resident in Second Life for many years shared how attached we have become to our avatars and how strong the identification can be after such a long association. This is particulary noticable in those who attempt to fashion avatars that mirror their natural world appearance.

Demonstrating how easy it is to change the avatar’s appearance. Recording courtesy of Sitearm Madonna.

To close, Sitearm spoke about the many personality tests and team role identifiers that are used both by employers, teams and individuals to identify traits, stengths and weaknesses. Two of the most commonly used systems are the Belbin Team Inventory and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. He introduced a more recent addition, Principles You, that uses a cartographic in an attempt to explore the complex nature of personality archetypes and how they connect. This all comes with the warning that such tools are relatively crude and should not be taken as giving definitive descriptions however, they can be helpful in exploring our personalities and building effective teams.

Sitearm Madonna introduces the Principles You Archetype Archipelago. Recording courtesy of Sitearm Madonna

For example, Sitearm and Tae completed the free test offered by Principles You which yielded the following results:

  • Sitearm: Artisan; strategist, planner in CREATORS and ARCHITECTS
  • Tae: Inspirer; impresario, entertainer in ADVOCATES and ENTHUSIASTS
  • On the map Sitearm and Tae connect through the CREATIVE and LEADERSHIP islands.

You can visit the Principles You website to see the ‘archetypes archipelago’ and see how this approach offers a flexible approach to teambuilding.

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Class 4: Metaliteracy and digital citizenship

November 6, 2024
Valibrarian talks about literacy in the digital age and digital citizenship. Photo Barbara Collazo

We were joined by the Turkish students from Çağ University for this week’s class. Valibrarian presented on metaliteracy and digital citizenship introducing us to the topics addressed in her 2020 book book Metamodernism and Changing Literacy: Emerging Research and Opportunities. Following the main presentation we teleported to a ‘dark room’ to learn about the dark side of digital existence. Then, to finish on a bright note Val invited us to the Community Virtual Library for a lively discussion on the issues raised in her talk.

The dark side of the metaverse… Photo Barbara Collazo
The class concluded in the Community Virtual Library with a lively Q&A session. Photo Barbara Collazo

We were joined by PhD reseacher from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte who is looking at education in the metaverse. She invited the students to take part in a focus group to provide data for her research.

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Class 3: Teamwork and Collaboration

October 23, 2024
Project Teams gather at the Çağ University campus as class commences. Photo Barbara Collazo

Sitearm Madonna joined us at the Çağ University campus for today’s class on Teamwork and Collaboration. Here is a recording of Sitearm’s presentation:

Following the presentation we did a quick check-in with each team to answer the following questions:
1. Has your team held its first meeting?
2. Who is your Team lead and assistant lead?
3. How will your team communicate outside SL?
4. Did you discuss the brief for the Team Project?

All teams answered positively and have given some thought to the project and how they will address it.

Sitearm Madonna presents on the theory of team development and operation. Photo Barbara Collazo

Finally, we paid a quick visit to a build by one of last year’s Turkish students, Ovcel, demonstrating the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

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Class 1: Welcome to SL

October 2, 2024
Students settle in to their first class of the semester in Second Life. Photo by Barbara Collazo.

We got off to a good start this semester with a good show of students who all arrived well prepared. All had voice activated and were able to get their avatars sitting down ready to pay attention to the class content. This is not always an easy task and it demonstrated that participants had signed up for SL at least a few days before the class and had spent some time getting to know the basics – always a good sign of genuine interest and engagement. I also noted that participants were happy to use voice and IM to communicate and ask useful questions.

We quickly ensured that everyone had been added to each others friends lists, and that all joined the TU Dublin group so that we could keep in contact. There is some interest in upgrading from the basic avatars and students would like to customise them. We will return to that in the next class.

We were joined for some of the class by Barbara Collazo, a photographer, who was commissioned by The Avatar Scholar to record some images for the forthcoming issue which features an article I have written. We all went out to the deck to provide some variety for the photographs and to give us all a chance to stretch our legs (not that avatars get tired or stiff from sitting for long periods but, the people behind the avatars need to be stimulated by something different or there is a tendency to drift off and lose focus).

I explained the structure of our VLA, Brightspace, to the class and asked paticipants to spend some time reviewing the content – particularly the section for today’s and also the section on Assessment. It is important to be familiar with the assessment requirements because the work is spread evenly throughout the semester to ensure there is not too much pressure on students at the end of the semester, when all their other modules will require submission of work. I also reminded them that the schedule/timetable is available in the Introduction section and it is important to note that for reference. We will also welcome guest speakers joining to share their expertise on a range of topics and will go on site visits with some of them to see other places in Second Life.

John O’Connor / Acuppa Tae welcomes participants to the class in Second Life. Photo Barbara Collazo.

Then we made a brief visit to the campus of Çağ (pronounced ’Chá‘ in English) University where we will meet students from this Turkish university during the semester. We will also meet here for some of the talks by guest speakers. Following that we went to the VWEC Eduverse plaza where many of the academic institutions that have a presence in Second Life meet to share experiences and knowledge. There are many interesting events held in the plaza with a schedule giving the full listing. I particularly recommended the Expert Talks series on Friday evenings at 9:00 pm Irish Time.

Concluding, I gave the class their assignment to be completed before the next class: Explore Second Life with some colleagues from the class. Visit at least 3 different locations. Find them in ‘Search’, or ask other residents for recommendations, or simply select places at random. Participants were also asked to review the section in the Brightspace VLE on Class 2: Team Project – Virtually Sustainable?

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Class 5: From hammer to pixel

April 8, 2024

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Class 3: Abyss Observatory tour

March 11, 2024

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Class 2: Teambuilding

March 4, 2024

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