EightyDays Project

Prezi of my project

Test on Prezi

Final survey and results

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PDNVCN8

Problems, glitches, solutions....

The build itself has been going well but there have been a few frustrating points.

I created all the 'suspect' prims in the sandbox and had created Voki media for each which would stream to each prim. The Voki media cannot be saved anywhere or downloaded from site itself. This causes no problem in the sandbox. When we moved to Hudson Valley, I set out all the Voki streaming prims but my avatar was virtually uncontrollable. The graphics became clunky, movement was delayed and disjointed and chat was out of sync. Alan came to give me some advice and we experimented with switching off the media; everything went back to normal when I did this. We therefore concluded that the voki files are too large to be streamed into SL.

This was a major setback as the whole idea of 'flow' (Csikszentmihalyi 1990) depends on being 'in-world', in context and immersed. 

I started to look at other software available for text-to-speech audio files but none of them were of good enough quality. They also didn't have a choices of male/ female or a range of accents. Given the time constraints at this point I had to find a solution fast; had I been able to set out all the Voki prims earlier, I would have had time to make audio recordings using different people or even as Maureen suggested, film different people and then use these files on the prims themselves. However, as we moved to Hudson Valley quite late in terms of testing and delivery, the only option available to me was to link the Voki media to the prim and for the user to access it on a browser outside SL. This will obviously have an effect on 'flow' and immersion.

I also found that I was placing too much in too small an area in terms of graphics. I spent an entire afternoon placing 'mud' and trees into a small area of space. However, it was then really difficult to navigate through this area as leaves kept getting in the way of the view of the suspects and orientation was hard - in short, the small was too small. As Maureen suggested, my build needed to be broader and more open plan, less like a 'doll house' which will constrain users.

Initial building in the new site

I have begun to 'set the scene' for my tool, creating the context and scenario (Shank 2003).

I want to try to create a path around the space to direct learners between different suspects. I will create a 'reception' garden where the students can get to grips with the story, tool, task. They will then be able to follow the path in a circle which will take them to all the suspects and areas that need investigation. However, as suggested by Maureen, I will also create the space to be open plan so that users can take their own route if they choose or can 'double-back' on themselves if necessary..

Here is the reception area.

I need to learn how to put in a teleport pad so that students can teleport to this spot.

I have also been working on the Voki tool prims following the feedback from Maureen; she was not being able to see the 'play' button when she approached the prim.

I am finding it impossible to resize the image but I can resize the prim itself so I have made it wider in order to display the image better. I will also use the landscaping to stop the path a few 'metres' before the prim (I may even include an 'X marks the spot' locator) so that avatars can view the prim better (the prim has an automatic focus attached to it which is better activated from further away).

Flow

14min 50 seconds...
How does it feel to be in flow?

Concept of the tool

The tool will be a 3D interactive murder mystery used for the purpose of teaching and revising the language of modals of deduction in the past for ESL students.

The purpose of the tool is to create a situation where the learners need to use the language to complete the task and are immersed in a scenario that allows them to do so naturally.

Having been to the facebook page to receive language input (see earlier post on fb), the learners will arrive at the starting point in SL where they will receive a welcome note-card explaining the task. They will also be able to hear an audio from the first officer on the scene who gives some background details and a pointer to visit the body first.

The learners can then examine the crime scene and 'body' where there will be a note-card of the victim's details and some objects to collect which give more clues. this also allows for more 'interactivity' with the scene and for a more authentic experience as a crime scene investigator (Van Eck 2006)

After this, the participants can visit each suspect and hear an audio from them. There will also be a note-card for most suspects with further clues and info from the first officer. Each suspect will hint at who they thought committed the crime which will provide a path from one suspect to the next. However, the learners are free to explore in their own way and can revisit suspects or follow a different path throughout the quest.

Once the learners have gathered enough information, they will return to facebook to post their conclusions. this becomes the 'product' of the quest (Shank 2007)

I have tried to account for different learning styles as the clues are provided in different semiotic modes (Kress 2010); both in audio and visual format. There is also the key element of kinethesia as the learners move between the scene and suspects.