========================================================================= Date: Thu, 19 Jan 1995 10:44:27 -0500 Reply-To: Journal of Virtual Reality In Education Complete Journal Sender: Journal of Virtual Reality In Education Complete Journal From: Dick Banks Subject: Building Tools for Education @Copyright DUJVRE and Ken Schweller schweller@bvc.edu 1994 Ken Schweller schweller@bvc.edu 49 Building Tools for Education -Ken (aka Ken Schweller) Over the past few years I have enjoyed building a variety of MOO tools which are presently being used here and about for instructional and educational purposes. These tools include the following Generics: - video camera, tape, vcr, tv - slide projector, lecture - conversational robot - classroom, and theater The cameras, tapes, vcrs and tv were built on mediaMOO as part of a Television Station. I had originally intended to broadcast live shows from the TV Studio but it turned out that folks were more interested in creating their own documentaries and sharing them with their friends, so I created a Tape Library. Tapes deposited in the library could be viewed on a demand basis by any and all players. Since that time tapes and tvs are being widely used for tutorials, interviews, film making, and class presentations. The slide projector was built to effect the swift presentation of bulky text and graphic material to large groups. This tool has seen wide use in seminars and colloquia. The Generic Lecture was built to help students present multiline material without the necessity of typing at break neck speed. The text is entered ahead of time line by line and given in any chosen order and speed. I found that students who were generally nervous giving class presentations were much more relaxed when they didn't have to type in their speech in real time. The Generic Classroom and Theater were designed to address unique MOO communication problems. Consider the problem of 'too much noise in one room'. The approach I used in the Generic Classroom was to divide the room itself up into subareas in the form of tables, sofas, chairs, rugs etc. Folks in a subarea formed their own local conversation group without disturbing others yet they could still 'hear' the teacher or anyone standing up. I took the opposite approach in designing the Theater. This time I interconnected 6 separate rooms allowing folks to see and hear folks in other rooms under varying degrees of communication control. The theater was intended to be much more than just a place to watch movies or see plays. It was designed as a presentation forum where the level of speaker/audience interaction could be subtly controlled on a sliding scale of absolute quiet to full 6 room interaction The Conversational Robot was originally designed as a toy. Since then it has seen serious educational use as a 'drill and kill' vocabulary tester, tutor, room guide, and information assistant. This is the tool kids have the most fun working with. Ken Schweller schweller@bvc.edu 50 I have thought a lot about what constitutes a really good MOO educational tool Here's the list of tool characteristics I've come up with. A good tool for MOO education must be: *Useful* - must serve a REAL pressing need. A clever tool that serves no important need is best recycled. *Easy* - must be VERY easy to use. A tool should have a familiar look and heft. The verbs should be easily guessable without using @exam and the consequences should be predictable. *Fun* - must be a bit whimsical. If folks don't enjoy using the tool, they won't. But not cute. *Powerful* - must be powerful enough for kids and professional researchers/educators. A tool must 'grow' with you as your moo experience increases. *Adaptable* - must be capable of use in many different unforseen ways. No one can predict what uses a clever person will find for a good tool. *Evocative* - must be a catalyst to evoke new ideas in users. Simply using a tool should suggest to the user new possibilities. I am still actively engaged in Tool making and welcome any suggestions from my colleagues on the design of the latest greatest tool. :) Author: Ken Schweller schweller@bvc.edu