mistakes we have made 09 03 29
DESCRIPTION
Presentation for JISC RSC event in Cambridge on 31st March 09. Re learning from our mistakes on the Schome Park Programme (see http://www.schome.ac.uk/). Event tag is #rscevw09TRANSCRIPT
Peter TwiningJISC RSC Conference
Cambridge, March 2009
Acknowledgements: The Schome Park Community
NAGTY, Innovation Unit, Becta, OUwww.schome.ac.uk
• Why use virtual worlds?• An overview of the SPP
• Phase 1• Phase 2• Phase 3
• Complexity• Recruitment & Retention• Conclusions• Discussion …
www.schome.ac.uk
you seem to be very good at managing the forum Ach, I should have had enough practise by now, and made enough mistakes...
(Schomer A May 08)
www.schome.ac.uk
What should schome be like?
Like now only better
‘Meaning of space’?
Dif
fic
ult
or
imp
os
sib
le in
th
e p
hys
ical
wo
rld
Playfullness & boundary testing
March to April 07149 13 to 17 year olds (39>5hrs)10+ staffSP (+ wiki, forum and micro blogs)Physics, Archaeology, Ethics & Philosophy, +
PlayfulLearning (subjective)but …Scale & retention? G&T
June to December 0785 students (34 > 5hrs, 21 from P1) 20+ staffSP, forum, wiki (and micro-blogs)Governance and Student led activity + Machinima
Informal activity Governance Ethosbut … Recruitment & retention Support Complexity …
January to May 08+ Schome Park beta108 students (54 > 5hrs, 24 from P2) 30+ staffStudent/Staff led activity
Informal activity Student projects Testing cultural boundariesbut … Recruitment & retention Complexity …
www.schome.ac.uk
Another thing I didn’t like was how everything was based around the forum and the wiki. It’s like “having to read a manual” the whole time when you are playing a video game.
(Schomer B May 08)
Phase 1 Phases 2 & 3a
Focus on SP (forum optional) Forum essential (buddies, planning)
Build anywhere above 200m Need planning permission
… the bureaucracy, which I'm to a large extent responsible for, started to cause quite a lot of friction. With hindsight, I was too keen to keep the status quorather than try new things, … we lost the focus somewhat that, in the end, the government was meant to be a means rather than an end.
(Schomer A May 08)
www.schome.ac.uk
Experimentation vs control
Focus on Product Focus on Process
Product-Process dimension
Bureaucratic
Simple
Reg
ulat
ion
dim
ensi
on
‘Serio
us’
Playful
www.schome.ac.uk
Students Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3
Consent forms sent 250 Hundreds Hundreds
Consent returned 149 117 125
Avatars set up 149 85 108
> 300 mins 39 34 (21) 54 (24)
… People were very interested, it seemed that it just wasn’t the right time. …
(SParker B email Dec 07)
… I then discovered that the local authority block second life and were not keen to give me access at school. This is under dispute at county level but at this in time not resolved. …
(SParker C email Dec 07)
… In the end I felt it was impossible to go to the school and say, in effect, 'this is a project for just the richer ones among you' and so I didn't pursue. (SParker A email Dec 07)
We had on going connection issues with the students computers and the network at school. Student's computers would freeze, not connect, start flying and freeze in fly mode over the ocean, and blue screen. (SParker D email June 08)
www.schome.ac.uk
Adapted from http://tallblog.conted.ox.ac.uk/index.php/2009/01/22/eventedness/
Dave White (2009)
Communal
Individual
Isolated BelongingCo-presence
Eventedness
Eventedness:
the se
nse yo
u are part of a
share
d endeavour
Co-presence
: the se
nse yo
u are present w
ith other p
eople
MUVE(e.g. Second Life)
a: what’s the point?
There wasn’t really an aim to it. It was just “wander round, do whatever, build”. At least in other virtual worlds there are challenges like building up levels, gaining skills and other things which give a sense of accomplishment.
(Schomer B March 09)
MUVE(e.g. Second Life)
www.schome.ac.uk
a: what’s the point?b: socialising
Adapted from http://tallblog.conted.ox.ac.uk/index.php/2009/01/22/eventedness/
Dave White (2009)
Communal
Individual
Isolated BelongingCo-presence
Eventedness
Eventedness:
the se
nse yo
u are part of a
share
d endeavour
Co-presence
: the se
nse yo
u are present w
ith other p
eople
Well, I think some people felt a bit intimidated by the already existing friendship groups, but people have fitted in really well. (Schomer C May 08)
www.schome.ac.uk
a: what’s the point?b: socialisingc: shared endeavour
Adapted from http://tallblog.conted.ox.ac.uk/index.php/2009/01/22/eventedness/
Dave White (2009)
Communal
Individual
Isolated BelongingCo-presence
Eventedness
Eventedness:
the se
nse yo
u are part of a
share
d endeavour
Co-presence
: the se
nse yo
u are present w
ith other p
eople
MUVE(e.g. Second Life)How do you think that [self-
governance] worked?I think it worked very well for people who were involved in the first phase. I don't think it worked so well for new people.
(Schomer D March 09)
www.schome.ac.uk
Design grammar (Gee 2003)
Epistemic frames (Shaffer 2006)
Castronova, E. (2007) Exodus to the Virtual World. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.Gee, J.P. (2003) What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.Shaffer, D. (2006) How Computer Games Help Children Learn. New York: Palgrave Macmillan
Virtual worlds = new frontiers (Castronova 2007)
www.schome.ac.uk
www.schome.ac.uk
www.schome.ac.uk
www.schome.ac.uk
i found that it is very intresting coming into a new world and trying to become aapart of a new community. i know when i first came in that i was a bit unsure but when i met some of the other schomers and how helpful there were i became part of the community very quickly
(Schomer E May 08)
“It seems as though in too many cases it's been through making a bad misjudgement about what the ethos is and being strongly reprimanded by the alrwady existing members, or through seeing this happen to someone else. Being more tolerant of the mistakes would be much preferable, but I can't claim to do it myself, so I think I have to do some eye-plank extraction already. :-)
(Schomer A May 08)
www.schome.ac.uk
It’s a riskYou will make mistakes
If you don’t what will you learn?
Lots of other mistakes!
www.schome.ac.uk
www.schome.ac.uk
Forum activity New …
topics posts
Phase 3b 2008 May 83 1486 April 121 2300
Phase 3a March 114 1602 February 100 2394 January 166 5274
Phase 2 2007 December 137 2768 November 142 2627 October 123 3017 September 111 2186 August 115 2356 July 165 3592 June 269 6884
SP closed May 203 9310 Phase 1 April 152 1381
March 162 1265
www.schome.ac.uk
Learn about
Learn by becoming
Learn by doing Learn through role play
www.schome.ac.uk
Individual constructi
vist
Sociocultural
AcquisitionParticipati
onKnowledge
Commodity
Creative process
(knowing)
www.schome.ac.uk
‘Curriculum’
Externallydefined
Externallyconstrained
Freelynegotiated
Self-determined
Cur
ricul
um d
efin
ition
Traditionalschool
Group A’sprep work
Imposed Free choiceImposed choiceSelf-imposedcommitment
Curriculum choice
Discrete
Integrated
Dissociated
Authentic
No control
In control
De-motivating
Motivating