This is number three in (hopefully) a series of posts that will cover the creation of a new learning activity/game in Second Life using the Logic System, and demonstrating our new TranceFormational Learning approach to learning and training.


I've had a few distractions from the project over the past few days...at least those that have taken some of my work time away from me...but not thought-time. First, our media server is still down after our hosting service triggered their fire suppresion system during a fire inspection. And, of course, there are only 10 servers out of their entire farm that were pretty well totally trashed and not yet recovered...and yes...ours was one of them. But it mostly just served as a reminder that there are folks out there having a tougher day than I am, so god bless'm.

The bigger distraction happened today as Second Life released their new client browser. While I am grumbling about having to find where they have hidden all of the controls I knew so well, my mind is spinning thinking of the implications of the changes they have made to media. We can now stream Flash in-world and fully interact with it...or with any website. While I'm sitting here I am playing a flash solitaire game in SL. While that may not sound like much to a non-SL'er, all I can think of are the hundreds of business folks who have relied upon building those games inside Second Life, and who have suddenly been pushed a smidge closer to being irrelevant. This world certainly does change on a dime, doesn't it?

So I am adding new media elements to my thoughts about Project V. Along with being able to stream flash, we can now stream multiple media channels into the same space...opening the door to some great new immersive experiences. This will be an asset to TranceFormational Learning...and is making me re-write a good part of the project documents. But what great stuff!

VB's Dive Shop still serves as the home base for Project-V, and I plan to begin setting out early elements of the project over the coming weekend. We're going to begin with some basic in-world activities...get run some betas, get some feedback, and move on from there. I may also start revealing a bit more detail about the whole project...once the lawyers say it's "ok"...

VB's Dive Shop: http://slurl.com/secondlife/imagiLEARNING/44/68/21/

Won't this post look a lot better when the media server comes back up and you can see some images???

This is number two in (hopefully) a series of posts that will cover the creation of a new learning activity/game in Second Life using the Logic System, and demonstrating our new TranceFormational Learning approach to learning and training.


At this point, I have a big file filled with a big pile of questions and options, but not much in the way of answers and decisions. I'm not complaining...it's great to see the potential of this project and that is motivating...but, at some point I am going to have to pull some of this together into one of those things I've heard called a "plan". It is an interesting idea and I just might have to try it.

So overall, the idea is to create a learning activity in Second Life that takes full advantage of the opportunities that an immersive 3D environment offers. Five years of research in Second Life has led to my development of the model of TranceFormational Learning, that includes elements of game theory and design, engaged and active learning, as well as elements of NeuroLinguistic programming and other techniques for creating increased synaptic connections between the learner and the "learning". That's the goal.

At the core of this activity will be "some" actual learning content...something the learner is to "learn". That's the issue I am needing to clarify for myself now. My criteria are that it should be something that could benefit from the visualization capabilities of the 3D environment, as well as the audio and other "immersive" potential of Second Life. The topic should also be something that the learner can spend some time interacting with...making decisions about...following paths of exploration about...something that could serve as the core of a good "game".

Let me clarify that the "thing" I am creating is not necessarily going to BE a game. But it will include some of those elements that make a good game a good game. It will be highly visual and audio centric. It will allow the learner/player to make choices and decisions that will have direct impact on the activities that follow. It will allow the learner/player to try & fail, then try again as many times and from as many directions as they need to. It will let the learner/player know just what they need to do to "win", and will keep them fully informed as to how they are doing...authentic feedback. So while it may not play like a game, it will certainly create that 'flow' experience that is the key to a successful game.

I have made a couple of decisions about the project. First, it will involve scuba diving in Second Life. Why? Because it's my project, and I love scuba diving, and am currently land-locked in the midwest with snow and cold and yuck. Plus, Second Life has some pretty good ability to simulate diving. Plus, diving does add to that goal of being visually interesting, does include audio, and again...because it's MY project.


So my current challenge is to decide what the actual "learning" is going to be. It might use diving to teach learners how to use 3D coordinates to find their way around and "solve" something. It might teach some kind of mathematics or physics relating to diving. It might teach about environmental issues relating to something like reef management. Or diving just might be one element in the larger project and the learning could be something entirely different...something about history, journalism...who knows. Or perhaps the key learning is something critical to diving; how to select the appropriate drink at the bar following a really good dive.

So far, I have built the Dive Shop. Spent a lot of time v-diving, and creating several new tools that will allow me to create some highly interactive simulation activities. I just need that topic!

This is the first of hopefully a series of posts that will cover the creation of a new game in Second Life using the Logic System. Why? Well, several reasons.


I have people continually telling me that I need to blog, and talk about what I'm doing in Second Life and with learning in general. But I've just not gotten into the habit, and find it hard to blog, just for the sake of blogging. So, having something specific to write about will motivate me, get those folks off my back, and maybe have a few words here and there that are of interest to others.

A second reason for doing this is that I've been looking for a good way to explore the potential of the Logic System. I'd like to create something that has some possible learning value, that is fun, and that is in an area that interests me...just in case the whole thing is a major flop...at least the journey was worth it.

So, here we go. The goal is to create a "learning activity" on the Second Life platform that is "game-based", that uses the strengths of the Logic System, and is in an area that has special interest for me.

After some brief thought, here's what I'm thinking tonight.
I am going to create a game-based learning activity that involves the scuba diving simulation activities in Second Life. Yes, I am a scuba diver that is currently land-bound, looking out my Mid-Western US window at snow, ice, grey skys and single-digit temperatures. So it's an idea that hits all of the requirements.

I've got a few specific ideas running around in my head. Perhaps something environmentally-based...though there is already a great in-world trash-collecting simulation-game-activity in SL. There are still some possibilities there, but I'm also thinking about some kind of an activity that is based on marine life recognition...something that requires the player/learner to identify various fish and marine life and then "do" something with that. That could not only meet the criteria, but might make me a smarter diver whenever I DO get back into the water.

Something like a basic scavenger hunt sounds rather boring, but it's too early to rule anything out yet. Treasure hunts, solve the mystery, rescue the whatever...hmmm.

The Logic System adds the ability to easily have the learner/player follow logic paths, and have their follow-up input have impact on the game, or even elements of the environment. I can give them multiple paths to completion, with lots of options, and provide them with any kinds of resources I want to make available...or not. I could actually have their behavior rez (create) different in-world objects...like play with some breeding ideas, or the environmental impact of their actions and decisions.

Lots of possibilities.

What I do know now is that I want the learner/player to have multiple paths to completion, to authentically model elements of scuba diving (not 100% but at least some), to have the learner/player's decisions and actions to have authentic impact on the game/activity's progress, to have real learning involved and have it demonstratable and measurable, and to make it fun.

I will be building the game on my islands in Second Life, somewhere around "VB's Dive Shop" so if you are interested feel free to stop by and check the progress, and share some comments. I am also building new reefs and dive areas for the activity, so feel free to get wet while you are there.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/imagiLEARNING/44/67/21/

If you are interested in knowing more about the Logic System, we are putting more info here on the website, or you can try out the system yourself in Second Life:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/imagiLEARNING/94/18/23/

I will update this blog as I move forward...and we'll see where this little adventure might lead.

2/17

"If not now, when?"

As I read that question restated in Richard Bandler's Guide to Trance-Formation it made me stop. Sure, I've heard that statement before, but for some reason as I scanned across the words this time they jumped out at me. They seemed to sum-up much of the thinking that has been running through my brain over the past months, or maybe years.

Those who know me know that I have spent many years working with people trying to cope with changes taking place in their lives. For the past twenty years, that work has primarily been with educators and business people who are trying to understand and adapt to the changes taking place because of the cultural issues surrounding the pace of technology growth, the flattened world and the reality of "game-thought" in our learners, employees and others. During this time, I have led national and international educational programs, worked with businesses around the world, and have earned my PhD through my research in the use of virtual worlds as platforms for cultural change.

Through all of this, I've had lots of ideas of things I "ought to do", or "ought to write", or "ought to create". But while those thoughts emerged, I found myself not acting on them. It wasn't because of fear, or lack of conviction, but from something very real in this new culture. I was spending all of my time learning new "stuff", trying to keep up with the changes taking place...observing and reporting on what was happening rather than putting my experience and expertise to work and "doing", "writing" and "creating". I'll do that someday.

"If now now, when?"

As I saw those words, my synapses sparked and create a new connection in there somewhere. As the idea grew, it gave itself a name: The Year of Possibilities. It began to haunt my unconscious and finally my conscious thoughts with the question: "What might happen if you spent a year and really just saw what you could do, write and create?"

As I thought back over the past year, I was rather surprised by the amount of time I had spent responding to the same questions we have been answering for a very long time. "Is distance learning as good?" "Can games be used for education?" "Are virtual worlds on the way out?" The list was frighteningly long. We have responded to these questions over and over, yet they continue to be asked...which seems to mean we really haven't answered them.

In the past month, I have read more than three dozen blogs from educational and business leaders predicting the tragic end of something or other, or telling me what was wrong with yet another currently popular technology or practice. It has become very easy to criticize and negate things, and apparently it is also a very popular thing to do. But it is much more difficult to create things...rather than observing and critiquing something from the balcony, getting down on the floor and realizing something that did not exist before. I've grown weary of sitting in the audience.

I have ideas. They come from years of working with outstanding people in education, in professional game design, in corporate training, in technology, in virtual worlds, in brain research and psychology. I've decided that it is time to see if these mashed-up ideas really have anything to them. So I am announcing 2010 as the ImagiLearning "Year of Possibilities!"

There are some basic ground rules. Rule one is that I'm not spending time worrying about the nay-sayers this year. If people want to keep asking those same old questions over and over, that's fine...I feel no responsibility to respond again. Yes, distance learning works. Yes, using game concepts can be amazing learning experiences, and I don't know if virtual worlds are on the way out. I just know that they are powerful learning platforms for today. Those questions have been answered. Move on.

Rule two is that I'm not interested in spending a lot of time with drama or negativism. The focus is on possibilities, not fears. No, we will not be stupid and ignore real risks, but hey...its time to move forward.

Rule three is that we will produce. We will create an energy that fuels us, and work with partners who share our vision to create a synergy that will carry us beyond what we could do individually. There are no silos, just a shared vision for uncovering possibilities.

Rule four is...there is no rule number four. Only three rules. Very simple. No more worrying about the past, no more drama or negativism, and partnering to create new possibilities. That's it...The Year of Possibilities.

I've spent the past week updating my dream list, and now it is time to jump in with both feet and go to work. I'll use our website and this blog to let you know how it's going. If you share the vision, and are interested in getting down to work as well, drop me a note. It is going to be a year filled with revisioning learning, training, games, virtual worlds, business...many things. It is a Year of Possibilities!