Max Chatnoir and Clowey Greenwood - Science and Education in SL chat log

[18:03]  Nasus Dumart: Welcome to the Guest Lecture Series at Molaskey's Pub!

[18:03]  Nasus Dumart: Tonight's topic, 'Science and Education' is a topic that interests a large majority of Second Life residents.

[18:03]  Finn Lanzius: hi again folks

[18:03]  Nasus Dumart: When conducting research for our book, 'The Unofficial Guide to Building Your Business in the Second Life® Virtual World' (AMACOM 2009), I met Max Chatnoir and had a very enlightening conversation with her.


[18:03]  Nasus Dumart: After our conversation, I decided that, although science and education are not usually included in business tech books, the innovative fields of science and education in a 3D environment HAD to be included in this book because of what we can learn from them.

[18:04]  Nasus Dumart: The scientists and educators of Second Life® have embraced Second Life® in commendable ways.

[18:04]  Nasus Dumart: Second Life is a user-created interactive world, which exists in real time.

[18:04]  Nasus Dumart: Scientists and educators are experimenting with the potential for virtual 'classrooms' through a virtual world, serving 'the greater good'.

[18:04]  Nasus Dumart: University students, and any interested Second Life® explorer, can observe and participate in several structured experiments and learn about the real world and the possibilities through the virtual world.

[18:04]  Nasus Dumart: This interesting and informative lecture will begin shortly. Let me just remind the audience of the structure of this event.

[18:05]  Nasus Dumart: This will be a type-chat event.

[18:05]  Nasus Dumart: I will ask that the audience to refrain from room chat until your host and Lecturer have completed their presentations.

[18:05]  Nasus Dumart: At that time, the audience will be encouraged to participate in a lively period of Questions and Answers.

[18:05]  Nasus Dumart: Tonight’s lecture will go according to a schedule. As moderator, I will give prompts as to when we will proceed.

[18:05]  Nasus Dumart: This transcript, including audience participation, will be made available on http://Molaskeys-Pub.com immediately following the lecture.

[18:06]  Nasus Dumart: Please make note of tonight’s schedule:

[18:06]  Nasus Dumart: 6pSLT-6:10 - Getting situated - now

[18:06]  Nasus Dumart: 6:10-6:15 - Max Chatnoir and Clowey Greenwood Intro by Nasus Dumart
[18:06]  Nasus Dumart: 6:15-6:30 - Max and Clowey address the crowd
[18:06]  Nasus Dumart: 6:30-6:45 - Q&A
[18:06]  Nasus Dumart: 6:45 - 7pSLT - wrap up Q&A / mix-n-mingle
[18:07]  Nasus Dumart: Open bar reception - after
[18:07]  Nasus Dumart: ;)

[18:07]  Nasus Dumart: Please use this time to invite others to join you. You may offer this SLurl™ as a landing spot - http://tiny.cc/XPgAi

[18:07]  Nasus Dumart: If you are taking any snapshots of tonight's event, please share them with the Molaskey's Pub Group on Flickr at http://tiny.cc/AULDo

[18:07]  Nasus Dumart: We will begin shortly.

[18:07]  Troy McLuhan: The reason for not interrupting at a RL lecture is obvious: your voice interferes with the voice of the speaker. In SL, what I type does NOT interfere with the speaker. You can read what they type as well as what I type with no confusion whatsoever . Why impose rules designed to prevent audio interference in a text conversation?

[18:08]  Nasus Dumart: We are keeping this uniform to other successful Lectures

[18:08]  Troy McLuhan: Did you experiment with what works best?

[18:09]  Zen Zeddmore: wait. This IS going to be voice? I thought you said it wasn't.

[18:09]  Max Chatnoir: I can start

[18:09]  Nasus Dumart: Well, we are transcribing

[18:09]  Nasus Dumart: for the website

[18:09]  Max Chatnoir: I just want to tell you a little about Genome.

[18:09]  Nasus Dumart: so it works best

[18:09]  Nasus Dumart: wait - I have more

[18:09]  Nasus Dumart: :)

[18:09]  Max Chatnoir: Oops, sorry.

[18:10]  Nasus Dumart: Okay, let's begin!

[18:10]  Zen Zeddmore: so i have to relog to enable my voice because of that miscommunication

[18:10]  Clowey Greenwood: no it's text - not voice

[18:10]  Max Chatnoir: OK.
)
[18:10]  Max Chatnoir: Genome was built with the idea of having virtual laboratories

[18:10]  Nasus Dumart: This evening's discussion will be about Science and Education in Second Life®.

[18:10]  Nasus Dumart: As many know, or are surprised to know, Second Life® is used everyday in practical ways that reach beyond social networking and entrepreneurialship.

[18:10]  Nasus Dumart: There are scores of educators that have tapped in to the 3D interactive advantages of life online.

[18:11]  Nasus Dumart: Why just talk about an ecosystem when you can walk through one?

[18:11]  Nasus Dumart: Why just talk about cells, genetics and the human anatomy when you can demonstrate them in real time (and virtually life-size)?

[18:11]  Nasus Dumart: Although they are using it far differently than other sectors of SL™, the education leaders in Second Life are making it possible for anyone to learn by examples set by these RL scientists and educators with a passion for teaching (and learning).

[18:11]  Nasus Dumart: Science and education are such an innovative sect of Second Life that an entire virtual continent has been formed.

[18:11]  Nasus Dumart: This continent is known as 'Scilands'.

[18:11]  Nasus Dumart: Scilands is a virtual continent of science and education based organizations including Nasa, JPL, Exploratorium, Tech Museum of Innovation, Genome Island, Biome and many more.

[18:12]  Nasus Dumart: When you search 'Scilands' in the 'places' under 'any category' in the Second Life® search, you will find several Universities and science organizations in the group charter.

[18:12]  Nasus Dumart: Elon University, for one, boasts 'home of the Apollo 11 Moon Sim'.

[18:12]  Nasus Dumart: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is experimenting with atmospheric conditions in a virtual environment.

[18:12]  Nasus Dumart: On Genome Island, you can explore biology from the perspective of a cell.

[18:12]  Nasus Dumart: Biome and BiomeII are where life thrives in a virtual setting.

[18:12]  Nasus Dumart: 'Sci-lands' is a PG rated sim that welcomes Second Life® residents young and old to interact and explore as if they were on a 'virtual field trip'.

[18:13]  Nasus Dumart: You can learn about a cell by climbing inside one.

[18:13]  Nasus Dumart: You can brush up on your knowledge of chromosomes and genetics.

[18:13]  Nasus Dumart: Observe the atmosphere by seeing a real time map of real world weather and take a dip in 'the gene pool' - lol.

[18:13]  Nasus Dumart: You can (safely) experiment with genetics, emergency medicine, astronomy, space rockets, and all that kind of fun stuff.

[18:13]  Nasus Dumart: They make science fun, because that's how they see it.

[18:13]  Nasus Dumart: Joining us tonight from 'Scilands' are Max Chatnoir and Clowey Greenwood.

[18:14]  Nasus Dumart: Max Chatnoir is Mary Ann Clark of Texas Wesleyan University
Clowey Greenwood is Dr. Carolyn Lowe of the NMU School of Education.
Max Chatnoir runs Genome Island
Clowey Greenwood is the creator of the islands of Biome and Biome II and a leader of the group 'Teaching Science'.

[18:14]  Nasus Dumart: Together, here at Molaskey's Pub, they will present some fascinating ways of using the virtual world of Second Life to teach their specialty - science.

[18:14]  Nasus Dumart: Please welcome this evening's guests of the Lecture Series, Max Chatnoir and Clowey Greenwood ~

[18:14]  Nasus Dumart: Big Applause!

[18:14]  Apple MacKay applauds
[18:14]  Nasus Dumart: ♪♫♥ Cheers!! ♥♫♪
[18:14]  cre8tivefemme Chemistry: ♪♫♥ Applauds!!! ♥♫♪
[18:14]  Zeena Stoop: ***** APPPPPPPLLLLAAAUUUSSSSEEEEEEE***********
[18:14]  Finn Lanzius: ♪♫♥ Applauds!!! ♥♫♪

[18:14]  Max Chatnoir: :-)

[18:14]  Zen Zeddmore: WooHoo

[18:15]  Mindy Starek: :)
[18:15]  Max Chatnoir: Thanks so much for having us join you

[18:15]  Max Chatnoir: in this beautiful spot.

[18:15]  Max Chatnoir: I just want to say a little about Genome, so we'll have time for questions.

[18:16]  Max Chatnoir: Genome is centered around genetics,

[18:16]  Max Chatnoir: and includes about 50 different activities.

[18:16]  Max Chatnoir: The island is divided routhly into four sectors.

[18:16]  Max Chatnoir: The Abbey, which was on the screen when you came in,

[18:16]  Max Chatnoir: is about Mendel's laws and related experiments.
 
[18:17]  Max Chatnoir: What you see on the screen now is the terrace,

[18:17]  Max Chatnoir: which has a lot of animal experiments.

[18:17]  Max Chatnoir: This is the gene pool, where population genetics will be.

[18:17]  Max Chatnoir: And the tower is where most of the molecular genetics is.

[18:18]  Max Chatnoir: I have a virtual office in the tower, in which

[18:18]  Max Chatnoir: the computer links out to the university WebCT/ Blackboard page.

[18:18]  Max Chatnoir: so students can get assignments directly from inworld.

[18:18]  Max Chatnoir: I'll just show you a few experiments.

[18:18]  Nasus Dumart nods

[18:18]  Max Chatnoir: This is a garden in which the progen of hybrids appear.

[18:19]  Max Chatnoir: you get a new set of progeny every time you click on the garden.

[18:19]  Max Chatnoir: And this is the Big Cell,

[18:19]  Max Chatnoir: you can pop in and out of it and talk to the organelles.

[18:19]  Nasus Dumart: (wow)

[18:19]  Max Chatnoir: one of the cell links takes you to the chromosome gallery.

[18:20]  Max Chatnoir: which you saw fleetingly before somebody advanced the pictures.

[18:20]  Max Chatnoir: We can just skip the blood typing experiment.

[18:20]  Max Chatnoir: The mixollamas here are about genetic diversity.

[18:20]  Max Chatnoir: And everything is interactive, illustrating various genetic principles.

[18:20]  Max Chatnoir: OK, I'll let Clowey take over.

[18:21]  Nasus Dumart smiles

[18:21]  Clowey Greenwood: Hi, I am a science educator at Northern Michigan University which is located in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. My background is in biology and pedagogy. I was formerly a high school teacher.

[18:22]  Clowey Greenwood: I am going to go through a few slides - the first have words and then I have some snapshots of Biome and Biome II.

[18:22]  Clowey Greenwood: But first I would like to mention that Biome, Biome II and Genome are open areas - many of our visitors are from other universities or just people who like to come visit and play and maybe accidentally learn something

[18:23]  Nasus Dumart giggles

[18:23]  Clowey Greenwood: There are a lot of different strategies that can be used in SL. Discussions can be rich and meaningful

[18:24]  Clowey Greenwood: Field trips and guest speakers are real advantages - hard to do many of these things in RL.

[18:24]  Clowey Greenwood: I do a lot with student presentations in a variety of formats. I would be glad to discuss those with you later if you like

[18:24]  Clowey Greenwood: I teach grad courses in Science Ed - we have at least one of my students in the Audience - Zeena Stoop.

[18:25]  Clowey Greenwood: I also use SL for undergrad bio courses and integrated science courses

[18:25]  Clowey Greenwood: These are some of the benefits. You can't walk through a cell in RL. You can't make 15 generations of kitties in a semester - let alone in the 15 minutes in SL :D

[18:26]  Clowey Greenwood: my grad students love the format and now almost demand that we have our classes here.

[18:26]  Clowey Greenwood: these are the main drawbacks to education in SL. Max and I have studied many of the student perceptions in some research we have been conducting

[18:26]  Zeena Stoop: this is an amazing way to learn and discuss in a virtual world

[18:26]  Clowey Greenwood: and we are getting better at overcoming many of them.


[18:27]  Clowey Greenwood: I have a list but to save time I will just show the pictures.

[18:27]  rivkeh Serenity: sorry to interrupt-i just got here

[18:27]  Clowey Greenwood: On Biome we have a coral reef that contains nearly every phylum of animal, a microscope that has one-celled organisms you can "hang out" with

[18:28]  Clowey Greenwood: there is a very, very large "tree of life" and on it is a tree house for each of the kingdoms of life. The top snapshot is of the plant room.

[18:28]  Clowey Greenwood: the Butterfly Pavilion is about more than just butterflies - it also teaches about microscopy

[18:29]  Clowey Greenwood: the learning center has 2 main-floor classrooms, a conference room and a cave classroom.

[18:29]  Clowey Greenwood: the student & faculty center is a place our students can call home and also a good place to just hang out. there's some free clothes and things there too

[18:29]  Clowey Greenwood: anyone is welcome to them.

[18:29]  Nasus Dumart smiles

[18:30]  Clowey Greenwood: And this is our cave classroom. It is set up now for new people. there is a slide show, a video player that plays tutorials (Torley's videos) and some links to free materials.

[18:31]  Clowey Greenwood: Finally, Biome II is an authentic ecosystem of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It is white because the UP is still white - probably until April :D

[18:31]  Nasus Dumart: :)

[18:31]  Clowey Greenwood: I know I flew through those but I would like to make sure there is time for questions

[18:31]  Nasus Dumart: Wonderful work you are doing

[18:32]  Nasus Dumart: It certainly does seem like that went quickly

[18:32]  Max Chatnoir: We'd be happy to have questions.

[18:32]  Nasus Dumart: we can take the next few min and open up to questions from the audience

[18:32]  Clowey Greenwood: I will put this slide show up in the cave classroom as well for those who would like more time with it

[18:32]  Nasus Dumart: the next 30 min, in fact

[18:32]  Nasus Dumart: lots to cover

[18:32]  Hollow Prim: you mentioned a classroom and tutorials for new users- do your students spawn in your region or elsewhere in SL?

[18:33]  rivkeh Serenity: I'm late, would you say where you find the cave classroom

[18:33]  Max Chatnoir: I have them come into Genome directly.

[18:33]  Max Chatnoir: And I like to take advantage of the SciLands Orientation Walk.

[18:33]  Clowey Greenwood: I suggest you go to the Biome Home and there is a teleporter there

[18:34]  Clowey Greenwood: http://slurl.com/secondlife/BIOME/75/115/54

[18:34]  rivkeh Serenity: how do i start to teach my students to set up exhibits on SL? my college has a site, and i want them to use it for a project

[18:34]  Clowey Greenwood: It really depends on what kind of project you want them to do.

[18:34]  Clowey Greenwood: If it is a slide show type presentation then have them make it in PowerPoint but, when they save it, save it as jpg

[18:35]  Zen Zeddmore: The new LSL functions pertaing to prim touches (face, xy_position, face_normal, etc) seem very alive with potential for science demos. Is anyone exploiting these or looking into them?

[18:35]  rivkeh Serenity: the class is Health and Disease, and I'd like to them set up, well, in my classroom it would be posters or animations

[18:35]  Max Chatnoir: We both have "sandboxes" where students can learn to build.

[18:35]  Georgianna Blackburn: QUESTION: Do your students take advantage of the collaborative nature of SL or do they tend to work independently?

[18:35]  Clowey Greenwood: I have not Zen

[18:35]  rivkeh Serenity: If thecollege owns a site, do they have to pay to build?

[18:36]  rivkeh Serenity: I'd want my students to work in groups

[18:36]  Clowey Greenwood: The graduate students I have work collaboratively almost exclusively.

[18:36]  Max Chatnoir: They tend to work independently or in small groups.

[18:36]  Nasus Dumart: Great questions! Keep them coming!

[18:36]  Clowey Greenwood: The undergraduates tend to work often in small groups. Very few of my students work independently

[18:36]  Clowey Greenwood: rifkeh - no, once they own the site they are free to build

[18:37]  Clowey Greenwood: up to the prim limit of that sim

[18:37]  Filthy Fluno: rifkeh sounds like a yenta tellbenta

[18:37]  rivkeh Serenity: A topic might be learning about AIDS transmission or diabetes complications (previous instructor has done that)

[18:37]  Filthy Fluno: nu?

[18:37]  Hollow Prim: you mentioned there were lists of drawbacks to teaching in SL- care to elaborate?

[18:37]  Max Chatnoir: The major problems are due to the demands of the SL browser.

[18:38]  Clowey Greenwood: There are some students who have computers that won't run it or won't run it well. I didn't have many of those since our students are all issued university laptops

[18:38]  Clowey Greenwood: doing SL from home if you have a dial-up is not feasible

[18:38]  Max Chatnoir: You need to have good computers available or teach in a place where students are likely to have their own.

[18:38]  Jadyn Firehawk: i have a question... as a newbie to SL, where do i begin? what is the first step "up" on the learning curve for all of this?

[18:38]  Nasus Dumart: good question - the learning curve...

[18:38]  Clowey Greenwood: and the only other drawback is some students just don't like it but then some don't like tests either

[18:38]  Clowey Greenwood: lol

[18:38]  Max Chatnoir: I would visit some of the current sites and talk to people.

[18:38]  Hollow Prim: :)

[18:39]  Karkie Zeplin: :0

[18:39]  Vic Michalak: QUESTION: Are all of the students in an actual classroom and you use SL to enhance the learning experience? Do you ever have students who are not physically in the same space (like from other universities)?

[18:39]  Clowey Greenwood: yes, talk to people. I am on full-time sabbatical until fall - come talk to me and I'd be happy to work with you

[18:39]  Clowey Greenwood: my graduate students are never in the same place

[18:40]  Max Chatnoir: I've only had students from my own university doing organized classes, but a lot of people from all over visit the SciLands.

[18:40]  Clowey Greenwood: My undergraduate students have some face-to-face time

[18:40]  Clowey Greenwood: so Vic, I do both

[18:40]  Zeena Stoop gave you Illustrated Guide to Biome and Biome II.

[18:40]  Max Chatnoir: Second Life can be used in a lot of ways.

[18:40]  Max Chatnoir: For full immersion classes right down to demos.

[18:40]  Zen Zeddmore: I always direct newbs to torley's vids

[18:41]  Clowey Greenwood: Interestingly enough, my graduate students who are already practicing teachers, take to SL better than my undergraduates

[18:41]  Nasus Dumart: :)

[18:41]  Nasus Dumart: Torley Vids are really good

[18:41]  Finn Lanzius: ivory tower

[18:41]  Design Siemens: ivory tower is good, too

[18:41]  Nasus Dumart: yes, indeed!

[18:41]  Jadyn Firehawk: interesting, clowey, i just heard a report that undergrads and younger are not as technologically savvy as many presume them to be

[18:41]  Nasus Dumart: really, Jadyn? Interesting.

[18:42]  Clowey Greenwood: I think part of the problem is also that they think if they don't already know how to do it they shouldn't have to learn

[18:42]  Hollow Prim: I'd recommend NCI as a resource for just about everything, for new folks

[18:42]  Clowey Greenwood: the "oldsters" know they will have to learn and are more open to it.

[18:42]  Vic Michalak: [Graduate student comment not surprising.... Notes: The average age in SL is about 33 and people over 50 are in SL twice as many hours as people half their age...]

[18:42]  Max Chatnoir: ISTE also has a lot of stuff for teaching.

[18:42]  Apple MacKay: the oldsters actually know how to learn on their own as well

[18:43]  Jadyn Firehawk: self directed learners, free choice learners
\
[18:43]  Finn Lanzius: ones you get the basics down

[18:43]  Clowey Greenwood: yes and in here love to do so. Some of my graduate students have more difficulty than others but they all like it.

[18:43]  Karkie Zeplin: What is NCI?

[18:43]  Max Chatnoir: The kids in my full immersion class really loved it.

[18:43]  rivkeh Serenity: where do they go to learn how to load images/presentations onto the college site?

[18:43]  Clowey Greenwood: I have been teaching online courses for a long time - about 9 years - and this is the best way according to students

[18:43]  Hollow Prim: New Citizens Incorpororated

[18:44]  Jadyn Firehawk: thank you hollow

[18:44]  Georgianna Blackburn: QUESTION: Have you integrated guest lectures into the curriculum at all, or held mixed-reality events?
[18:44]  Max Chatnoir: I think the more experience they have in world, the more comfortable they feel. It's like any new technology.

[18:44]  Hollow Prim: if you search NCI you will find them

[18:44]  Finn Lanzius: yes

[18:44]  Clowey Greenwood: that would be an easy thing to teach rifkeh. I can show you sometime in just a couple of minutes

[18:44]  Max Chatnoir: That's what's great about SL --

[18:44]  Max Chatnoir: it's a very flexible environment.

[18:44]  Clowey Greenwood: I have used a number of guest lecturers

[18:45]  Nasus Dumart: Max - when we met last August, or so, you were preparing for the SLCC08. Will you be breaking away from the SLCC this year?and - Why?

[18:45]  Clowey Greenwood: I have done mixed-reality events at conferences but not in class

[18:45]  Max Chatnoir: I hadn't thought about breaking away.

[18:45]  Max Chatnoir: Clowey and I have presented in several different groups, including this year's SLCC.

[18:45]  Nasus Dumart: Will there be an education track at SLCC 09?

[18:45]  Jadyn Firehawk: what is SLCC?

[18:46]  Clowey Greenwood: I have to put in a plug for my wiki which has information for new folks too. it is found at http://cloweygreenwood.pbwiki.com

[18:46]  Nasus Dumart: SLCC = Second Life Communnity Convention

[18:46]  Max Chatnoir: Second Life Community conference.

[18:46]  Jadyn Firehawk: ty

[18:46]  Clowey Greenwood: I am sure there will be and I hope to be there although I'm not sure whether I will have funding for it

[18:46]  Clowey Greenwood: If you get the chance to go I highly encourage you to do so

[18:46]  Zen Zeddmore: the XY_touch functions are very nice. One thing they permit is making an effective laser pointer for use on a slide presentation.

[18:46]  Nasus Dumart: that's the story for many this year - unfortunately

[18:46]  Max Chatnoir: It is one conference where you're likely to meet other SL people.

[18:47]  Clowey Greenwood: That's interesting Zen

[18:47]  Clowey Greenwood: I will have to experiment with it.

[18:47]  Jadyn Firehawk: is SLCC a RL or and SL conference?

[18:47]  Max Chatnoir: So it's like image mapping?

[18:47]  Clowey Greenwood: both

[18:47]  Mia Kitchensink: RL

[18:47]  Max Chatnoir: Both.

[18:47]  Zen Zeddmore: Many people use them as analog slider controlls

[18:47]  Clowey Greenwood: I can attend in SL but I really enjoyed the RL part of it

[18:47]  rivkeh Serenity: I'm afraid my laptop is running out of juice-I'll check out your wiki, Clowey, and hopefully we can connect another time so you can show me some of these basics . Thanks

[18:48]  Nasus Dumart: The SLCC 08 was held in Tampa last September - there were many education classes to attend

[18:48]  Nasus Dumart: This year will be in San Francisco in August

[18:48]  Max Chatnoir: The education group was pretty big.

[18:48]  Nasus Dumart: yes, it was

[18:48]  Nasus Dumart: impressive, really.

[18:48]  Apple MacKay: yes I heard Sled Broke from SLCC though no?

[18:48]  Clowey Greenwood: It really helped me to realize how personal Sl really is.

[18:48]  Nasus Dumart: me too, that's why I asked.

[18:49]  Finn Lanzius: have to go folks thanks for this lecture and I will make it a point to visit

[18:49]  Clowey Greenwood: I knew those people when I met them in RL. chatrooms do not have the same dynamics as SL

[18:49]  Nasus Dumart: Thanks, Fin. tc

[18:49]  Max Chatnoir: There was a whole group there just from SciLands.

[18:49]  Clowey Greenwood: Please do Finn - thanks for coming

[18:49]  Design Siemens: nite finn

[18:49]  Finn Lanzius: i will

[18:49]  Max Chatnoir: We felt perfectly comfortable hugging people we had met only in SL. We felt like we had really met them already.

[18:50]  Nasus Dumart: lol - right Max!

[18:50]  Nasus Dumart: same here.

[18:50]  Clowey Greenwood: that's very true


[18:50]  Max Chatnoir: I think that SL is more like RL than like a web site.

[18:50]  Max Chatnoir: I've spent hours talking to students here.

[18:51]  Nasus Dumart: When I interviewed Grady Booch of IBM for my book, he explained how there is the 4th dimension in this 3D world. It is Human Interaction

[18:51]  Max Chatnoir: Some of them even said, they had more instructor access than they did in their RL classes.

[18:51]  Clowey Greenwood: my students began using SL for office hours even though I was on campus

[18:51]  Clowey Greenwood: I found that interesting

[18:51]  Max Chatnoir: I think they open up more here.

[18:51]  Clowey Greenwood: I would agree Nasus

[18:51]  Design Siemens: very

[18:51]  Georgianna Blackburn: I hear comments all the time that scientists don't have time for social networking on sites such as Facebook, Twitter or SL in particular... would you comment on that?
[18:51]  Hollow Prim: do your students tend to explore outside of your project?

[18:51]  Clowey Greenwood: hmmmm - Max - do we socialize?

[18:51]  Max Chatnoir: LOL

[18:52]  Nasus Dumart: Yes, indeed, Clowey. I refered to it several times. Makes perfect sense

[18:52]  Clowey Greenwood: lol - I guess it depends on the person

[18:52]  Clowey Greenwood: The SciLands people are VERY social.

[18:52]  Nasus Dumart: :)

[18:52]  Troy McLuhan: I know many scientists who use social networking things like Facebook

[18:52]  Max Chatnoir: Socializing just happens in SL.

[18:52]  Georgianna Blackburn: :)

[18:52]  Clowey Greenwood: I also have a Facebook page but I haven't really used Twitter

[18:52]  Max Chatnoir: But I have to admit, I don't Twitter.

[18:53]  Hollow Prim: it's hard to make up things to say.

[18:53]  Nasus Dumart: LOL

[18:53]  Clowey Greenwood: However, I made an account and former students are "following" me so maybe I need to

[18:53]  Nasus Dumart: It's funny how peopel are telling everyone what they are up to every minute of the day!

[18:53]  Nasus Dumart: *people

[18:54]  Apple MacKay: it ties into a greater group dynamic if you actually can connect the dots

[18:54]  Clowey Greenwood: I know but sometimes I check out my daughter to see what she's up to. hehe

[18:54]  Clowey Greenwood: Not really - she's 26.

[18:54]  Hollow Prim: communication moves so fast I'm a bit afraid time is about to implode.

[18:54]  Nasus Dumart: 2D social networks and 3D interactive virtual worlds like Second Life are very different

[18:54]  Max Chatnoir: I agree.

[18:54]  Clowey Greenwood: maybe this will lead to time travel. "In 15 minutes from now I was..."

[18:54]  Hollow Prim: heh

[18:54]  Jadyn Firehawk: lol

[18:54]  Nasus Dumart: lol

[18:55]  Jadyn Firehawk: we will become a temporal singularity

[18:55]  Clowey Greenwood: I agree and I think SL is very personal

[18:55]  Max Chatnoir: Do you ever find yourself looking for a teleport panel?

[18:55]  Nasus Dumart: yes.

[18:55]  Max Chatnoir: In RL?

[18:55]  Jadyn Firehawk: lol max

[18:55]  Clowey Greenwood: in a very real "real world" type of way.

[18:55]  Nasus Dumart: You can express yourself, present yourself any which way you choose

[18:55]  Clowey Greenwood: I've certainly thought it would be nice to have one

[18:55]  Hollow Prim: no, but I dreamed that I knew someone was in my house because of the green dot on my map.

[18:55]  Max Chatnoir: I think it removes a lot of barriers.

[18:56]  Nasus Dumart: and yet - a safe distance remains - there's a comfort level here

[18:56]  Clowey Greenwood: yes, and sometimes that is interesting in itself. I like to be a tiny (little animal-type) and it is interesting how many highly educated people are in that group.

[18:56]  Max Chatnoir: Yes.

[18:56]  Nasus Dumart: right

[18:56]  Georgianna Blackburn: QUESTION: Do you have any thoughts on how using an interactive virtual world for teaching effects the grades of students, meaning do you think this environment aids in their learning?

[18:56]  Apple MacKay: we have a large group of tinies that come to the concerts here

[18:56]  Max Chatnoir: I really respond differently to Clowey as snow leopard.

[18:56]  Apple MacKay: regulars

[18:57]  Zen Zeddmore: We know that large animals use more resources and we are green conscious people

[18:57]  Clowey Greenwood: Actually we do. I was able to track students who used Genome and compare them with former students who did not

[18:57]  Max Chatnoir: Yes, I think this is a very good learning environment.

[18:57]  Troy McLuhan: Excuse me... I'm going over to watch The 2nd Question show

[18:57]  Max Chatnoir: good to see you, Troy.

[18:57]  Nasus Dumart: Good night, Troy - enjoy!

[18:57]  Clowey Greenwood: We tracked a number of semesters of each and we found that there was a 4% increase in grade (half a grade level) and that the difference was significant

[18:58]  Nasus Dumart: thanks for coming tonight.

[18:58]  Georgianna Blackburn: great!

[18:58]  Apple MacKay: thats impressive

[18:58]  Nasus Dumart: We are approaching the top of the hour.

[18:58]  Clowey Greenwood: I think it is because you can't really fake it to do well on Max's activities - they really had to know it

[18:58]  Nasus Dumart: are there any more questions from the audience?

[18:58]  Max Chatnoir: Yes, every student has to be engaged.

[18:58]  Wesely Engineer: Is there a trick to getting students to stay on task and not just chatting back and forth?

[18:58]  Max Chatnoir: You can just look over somebody's shoulder.

[18:58]  Max Chatnoir: Well, it's ok if they chat.

[18:58]  Mia Kitchensink: We will post the chat log on the molaskeys-pub.com website

[18:58]  Clowey Greenwood: Please don't hesitate to IM one of us with questions or just a tour.

[18:58]  Max Chatnoir: So long as they get the work done.

[18:59]  Max Chatnoir: Yes, we'd be happy to show you around.

[18:59]  cre8tivefemme Chemistry: ♪♫♥ Applauds!!! ♥♫♪

[18:59]  Nasus Dumart: ther is no rush on my part

[18:59]  Karkie Zeplin: *:-.,_,.-:*'``'*Yayyyyyyy!!!!*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*

[18:59]  Nasus Dumart: just being conscious of the time

[18:59]  Clowey Greenwood: I am a pretty good facilitator for group discussions. for individual work in small groups, I didn't bother to worry about it

[18:59]  Wesely Engineer: Thank you!

[18:59]  Jadyn Firehawk: thank you!

[18:59]  Clowey Greenwood: yw

[18:59]  Max Chatnoir: I had one 2 hour discussion a week,

[18:59]  Nasus Dumart: lol - wow!

[18:59]  Mia Kitchensink: Also this topic is in the book shown on the pub website

[18:59]  Max Chatnoir: and the kids would often not notice it was time to stop.

[18:59]  Nasus Dumart: actually - that is not unheard of

[19:00]  Nasus Dumart: SL time is warped!

[19:00]  Nasus Dumart: goes quickly

[19:00]  Clowey Greenwood: my graduate students met every day for 3 hours for 2 weeks last summer in SL.

[19:00]  Clowey Greenwood: their choice

[19:00]  Vic Michalak: Max, the attention situation was what prompted my question about students in the classroom --- easier to keep attention when students are right there--- more difficult with remote students and even more difficult with remote instructors...

[19:00]  Zen Zeddmore: I can't imagine spending less than 8 hours a day in SL

[19:00]  Max Chatnoir: Well, you can't just come in an veg.

[19:00]  Clowey Greenwood: Hmmm - I haven't had much problem but when someone isn't involved I ask them a question specifically.

[19:00]  Max Chatnoir: and veg.

[19:00]  Nasus Dumart: lol Zen

[19:01]  Zen Zeddmore: lol?

[19:01]  Clowey Greenwood: Like "Zen, what do you think about that?"

[19:01]  Max Chatnoir: because your head starts to droop.

[19:01]  Clowey Greenwood: if they went to get a beer I know it

[19:01]  Georgianna Blackburn: lol

[19:01]  Nasus Dumart: spending 8 hours a day in SL?

[19:01]  Zen Zeddmore: There's a lot to do here

[19:01]  Nasus Dumart: I used to do that

[19:01]  Clowey Greenwood: hmmmm - only 8?

[19:01]  Nasus Dumart: I know!

[19:01]  Max Chatnoir: I think of it as the ultimate socratic environment.

[19:01]  Clowey Greenwood: and I love accidental learning

[19:01]  Zen Zeddmore: as i ssaid. LES THAN

[19:01]  Vic Michalak: Good description..

[19:01]  Clowey Greenwood: I have learned a lot in here

[19:02]  Max Chatnoir: You really can encounter your students verydirectly and very personally.

[19:02]  Max Chatnoir: And I think that's a good thing.

[19:02]  Max Chatnoir: The presence of an instructor is important.

[19:02]  Nasus Dumart: Yes. There is a sense of 'presence'

[19:02]  Zen Zeddmore: too much time tweeking stupid little stuff to perfection.

[19:02]  Max Chatnoir: You don't want to just leave them alone.

[19:02]  Clowey Greenwood: for distance courses it's the best way. My colleague is a little miffed because he says i "ruined" his classes - the students want him to teach in here.

[19:02]  Nazz Lane: another good one nasus .. thx for the invite ..cya's later

[19:03]  Nasus Dumart: Thanks Nazz!

[19:03]  Nasus Dumart: tc

[19:03]  Apple MacKay: tc Nazz

[19:03]  Nasus Dumart: Well - we can continue the chat informally

[19:03]  Max Chatnoir: Sure, happy to.

[19:03]  cre8tivefemme Chemistry: waves bye ..thank you great lecture ..again :)

[19:03]  Nasus Dumart: Apple is going to post the transcript on http://Molaskeys-Pub.com in a few minutes

[19:04]  Nasus Dumart: ♪♫♥ Cheers!! ♥♫♪

[19:04]  Clowey Greenwood: bye Cre8tive

[19:04]  Nasus Dumart: Thank you all for coming tonight

[19:04]  Max Chatnoir: Oh, great.

[19:04]  Nasus Dumart: and thank you Max and Clowey for a wonderful presentation

[19:04]  cre8tivefemme Chemistry: :)
[19:04]  Nasus Dumart: :)
[19:04]  Georgianna Blackburn: ♪♫♥ Applauds!!! ♥♫♪
[19:04]  Mia Kitchensink: yes
[19:04]  Nasus Dumart: ♪♫♥ Cheers!! ♥♫♪

[19:04]  Apple MacKay: Thank you Everyone for your time tonight

[19:04]  Max Chatnoir: We enjoyed it.

[19:04]  Georgianna Blackburn: excellent lecture

[19:04]  Nasus Dumart: :)

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