Highlights from 33 Classes with Lyr Lobo in an Animoto Video

To celebrate our Second Life classes from 2006-2012, here is an Animoto video with highlights from 33 classes. More detailed videos are offered in the Blog archives.

Animoto video by Lyr Lobo

Today, Colorado Technical University hosts 4-7 classes per term in Second Life. Animoto creates free 30-second videos from your images and turns them into a music video. The music in this video is Winds of Change by Jap Jap and available in Animoto's royalty free music collection.

CTU Celebration for Winter 2012 in Second Life

Wonderful Celebration party with EM 210, EM 835, EM 840, CS 820 and CS 855, plus some of DCS 3 joined us! *cheers*

AutoTint Remote Window Tinting System Project

Class project for CS 820. Great job!


Make your own photo slideshow at Animoto.

Back to the Future

It is great to see you again during our Fall term at Colorado Technical University. Thank you for posting your research plans and accomplishments in your class introductions.

On Saturday, October 10th, I gave a workshop on Emerging Media as a Mind Amplifier at the Doctor of Management Symposium. I'll be holding an abbreviated version of it during the DCS Symposium this week. The photo shows William Kamkwamba demonstrating a windmill that he created out of a bicycle as noted in one of the Ted Talks videos.

During this Fall 09 term, I am teaching two of my favorite classes, CS 820 Usability and Interaction and CS 855 Futuring and Innovation.

CS 820 uses an empirical testing approach to identify how to understand and support people and their interaction with systems better.

CS 855 examines the future by reviewing past forecasts and predictions, examining think tank processes, and studying what scholars use today to strategize and impact the future.

I'll post notes on this blog for both classes and highlights from my research for you to enjoy.

Our Second Life sessions include 30 minutes of course content, 20 minutes of Second Life skills and 10 minutes for research discussions and tips. If you wish to meet after our sessions, let me know.

And now, back to the future! *cheers*

CS 820 Week 3 in Second Life

On Thursday, April 30, we held two sessions in Breeze and created recordings of the following topics: selecting measurement attributes, setting goals, creating the usability specification and designing the test procedure, test plan and experimental design.

In Second Life, we gathered to discuss building techniques and created a stool, fountain head and lamp. For those who missed it, the notes are in a notecard giver within the lamp sculpture in front of the building information signs. (See the example at the top left). Click the lamp to get a copy of the notecard. It has instructions, textures and a sample of the finished product.

We also distributed texture folders (through stone), four sound folders, vehicles and the Lyr scripts folder. In the scripts, the tip jar/genie bottle script has examples of how objects can interact with the local chat log or via instant message.

If you did not want the chat log to spam the data collected to the test subject, you could have the object instant message the test conductor privately with the data collected. This is not required for our projects, but good to know. Another method is the llOwnerSay() function. Objects then communicate only with the owner or avatar that rezzed the object.

We are going to hold another Second Life class on Saturday, May 9, 2009, so look for it on the Calendar. The Breeze recordings will be posted on Moodle on Friday.

Have a great weekend!

CS 820 Spring 2009 - Classes 1 and 2

Greetings to our CS 820 Usability and Interaction class. Paul Thor and I are delighted to share this class with you.

We have met twice using Adobe Acrobat Connect (Breeze) and Second Life in April 2009. Our second SL class session was smooth as we moved from our Breeze discussion to building skills in Second Life.

Our first class focused on these Second Life skills:

• creating a Second Life account
• using voice in Second Life
• movement and camera controls
• introduction to the build menu
• introduction to sitting on objects (right click and sit/relax)
• tour of a device that rezzes new scenes (like a holodeck)

During our tour, we visited a coffee shop, the solar system, a Japanese tea room and we returned to the ground to remove and rebuild the castle in about 15 seconds or less. The tour device kept removing content too fast for comfort. *blinks and grins* I need to reset the scripts before we use it again.

During our second class, we used the Build button in the bottom center of the display to learn how to rez or create a primitive shape (called a prim), name our box, set the permissions for it, create a simple script, color it and take it into the inventory. We also noted how content that is returned to us is returned to the Lost and Found folder in the Inventory.

Our class building activities included:

• create a box
• name it using the General tab
• set the permissions to copy/mod/transfer
• used the Contents tab to create a New Script
• used the Texture Tab and color white icon to color the box
• copied our box using the shift key and one of the green, red or blue arrows
• used the shift key to left click both boxes
• used control L to link both boxes into a single object
  

Once we were finished editing the box, we clicked it and noted that it stated in the local chat log that the box was touched. This feature is handy for collecting automated measurements during usability tests.

With this script, we can collect a log that lists the interaction objects that are touched. In the preferences menu (ctrl P), and the Communicate tab, you can display the time in the chat log and store it for later use.

We also tested a student project from a past class. Students received a copy of the procedure for the test plan by touching a box that gave them a notecard with the test cases and instructions on it.

Notecards are Second Life content files that allow us to add text, and drag objects, images, landmarks and other content from the Inventory to the card for easy distribution.

As time progresses, we will examine different types of interfaces, how to texture your creations, how to prototype your class project and conduct usability tests with our class. In addition, you will receive freebie folders of content, including vehicles, tools, a touring HUD, a notecard with landmarks for visiting other sites, more texture folders, scripts, sounds and access to an online tool that writes scripts for you.

See you at the residency and online! *cheers*

CS 820 Spring 09 Begins

Greetings to CTU's CS 820 Spring 2009 class on Usability and Interaction!

You've heard of the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition? No? Well, for those who are not fans of Star Trek Deep Space Nine, they are a humorous set of rules that offer bits of wisdom. I jotted down a few to guide our discussions early in the course.

Calongne's Rules
(for Usability and Interaction)

Rule 1: Uncertainty is not our friend.
(or the user's friend, for that matter!)

Rule 2: The "change your mind task" is the most commonly performed task. We should see a "change your mind" task in each usability test and final project.

Rule 3: Save time and number your discussion contributions. It is easier to tell when content is missing.

Rule 4: When in doubt, the general rule for every assignment is to "describe 3-5 of ...."

Exceptions include the number of user classes in your user profiles activity (2) and the number of pages required for your informal lessons learned paper (2-3).

Rule 5: We get very excited when a student makes a mistake or demonstrates a lack of understanding. It is an opportunity for learning. Points are not deducted until the activity is complete (or we grow tired and the course ends).

Rule 6: Learning comes first. It just looks like rule 6.

Rule 7: Check back for more rules! Don't hesitate to propose new rules. *grins*

CS 820 Class, Nov. 5th

After a wild week of classes, conferences and cool tools, I'm back online! *grins* This post serves as a record of this week's Second Life accomplishments in CS 820 and the plans for our next class.

Our Week 5 class began with a discussion of research and our analysis of the IAS Moodle. For Second Life skills, we studied camera controls and avatar movement. In addition to moving on ground, the class learned to fly and land!

We discussed the range of the text chat log (20-40 meters from your avatar) and the concept of spatialized voice over IP in Second Life.

Next, we reviewed virtual world physics via a simple collaboration activity. The students created spheres, enlarged them, made them physical and learned to pass objects between avatars.

To learn new 3D modeling skills in a virtual world, each student rendered a tube and learned to change its shape to create a one-prim stool, fountain and lamp. We learned to texture a single face of the project by using the Select Texture radio menu in the upper left corner of the build/edit menu.

Texturing the lamp led to a discussion of alternatives for horizontal and vertical repeats, a subject that we will reinforce in a later lesson. *grins* If you would like a copy of the lamp project, textures and instructions, left click the lamp sculpture at Acheron LV426 on the grass next to the castle.

We ended the class with a quick discussion of how to prototype our initial project ideas. My rough draft of the Security Control Interface Portal (SCIP) took about 5 minutes to model. The strength of 3D prototyping is that it gave the class a context for discussing alternative features, styles and behaviors.

For tomorrow's class, we are going to take student project ideas and model them, examining alternatives and planning textures. Our new virtual world building skills will include:

• Linking Objects
• Editing Linked Parts
• Setting Permissions
• Transfering objects

See you online! *waves*

CS 820 Class 2 - Moodle Analysis and Camera Control

Wednesday's CS 820 class in Second Life was great fun as we shared our research and writing topics, discussed the analysis of Moodle and learned to use Second Life.

If you have issues running Second Life smoothly after touring in it, your cache may be congested. Use the ctrl key + p to access the preferences (under the Edit menu), select the Network tab and the Clear Cache button. Quit Second Life and restart the software. It will take a minute to clear the cache.

Initial Recommendations from the Moodle Analysis:

• Need for consistency
• Location of assignments and handouts
• Integrate with campus email
• Embed a link to Outlook access for MyCampus
• Schedule sensitivity for full-time working students

Second Life Camera Control:

• Lock your camera on an object or avatar with the Alt key + left click
• To circle around the object or avatar, use the View menu, Camera Controls and the left-hand wheel - can also do it by holding down the ctrl key + alt key + left mouse button and moving the hand slowly.
  

Building Content in Second Life: First Activity

• Click the Build button
• Select a shape (we used spheres)
• While in edit mode, hold the shift key and drag an arrow to copy the sphere
• Stretch the sphere by selecting the Stretch radio menu in the top left corner
• Drag on one of the white, green, red or blue boxes. White is proportional; Green, red and blue stretch in a single direction (x,y, or z - left-right, forward-back, up-down)

Student Project Ideas:

• SCIP - Security Check-in Point
• Digital Dashboard
• Moodle

Next Wednesday at 7:00 PM Mountain time, we will discuss how to leverage our interface metaphors in the low fidelity prototypes, learn a few more Second Life building skills, and discuss the next assignment. See you online!