Running head: Virtual Worlds One 1

Virtual Worlds One

Jeanne Stork

Blue Marble University

Virtual Worlds One 2

All questions are quoted from the course syllabus (Wilson, 2018).

King Tut’s Tomb

“Question #1. King Tut’s Tomb. Please review the Heritage Key collection of videos on

YouTube. From the above Syllabus, the following video will get you to the page of videos on

You Tube:

http://youtu.be/_dO2Iy2NUBM

As an educator, compare the presentations of Tutankhamun’s tomb by:

(A) Virtual world, as exemplified by Heritage Key

(B) Virtual reality, as exemplified by Google Expeditions [Please recall your earlier course and

assume you have all hardware, software, and goggles ready to go]. Start

here: https://vr.google.com/ ans see if you can find a Google Expedition to King Tut’s tomb;

also look here (Google Play)

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.eonreality.kingtutvr&hl=en

(C) YouTube videos: Examples, there are many more to choose from:

http://www.nationalgeographic.com.au/videos/egypts-treasure-guardians/see-the-treasures-

inside-king-tuts-tomb-4423.aspx

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxjtpscRnE8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFk1ETcnRTI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZWB5-aXMXQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRskZs7YRZM

Now, having reviewed the above, please compare the 3 methods in terms of time to construct and

deliver to your class, quality of the finished product in terms of accurate representation of the

artifacts, your opinion as to relative student appeal and interest.

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[You might want to consider a break down by age/level, such as primary school, middle school,

high school, college/adult learner]”

Virtual Worlds

Heritage Key Media has several videos on YouTube that demonstrate how people used a

virtual world and avatars to look their virtual historical site, King Tut Virtual. The first Heritage

Key (2010d) video that I looked at is an introductory sample of historic sites from around the

world and different periods in time. The viewers are supposed to feel as if they are soaring by the

sites in hot air balloons. The King Tutankhamun (King Tut) site has archeologists who dig in the

ground and fly by King Tut’s Tomb, which appears to be floating in space. It is a mixture of

things that someone might actually see (i.e. the archeologists working) and fantasized

enhancements designed to spark students’ interest. For instance, the archeologists and King Tut’s

death mask appear to be floating in space at the end of the video segment. While I would not use

this video clip to help me to teach any real content, I could use it at the beginning of a lesson to

help engage students’ imaginations.

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(image from http://youtu.be/_dO2Iy2NUBM)

Other videos of Heritage Key Media’s virtual world experiences focused specific

elements within King Tut’s Tomb. Students could examine an Alabaster Perfume Case from

King Tut’s tomb (Heritage Key Media, 2009a), a Cosmetic Jar with Recumbent Lion (Heritage

Key Media, 2009b), some of the External Trappings of Tutankhamun's Mummy (Heritage Key

Media, 2009c), and Tutankhamun's Golden Death Mask (Heritage Key Media, 2009de). When

the website was fully active, students could pick up and interact with the representations of

historical artifacts; there was a video to teach students how to interact with the different scenes

and elements (Heritage Key Media, 2010b). Additional video tutorials included controlling the

camera – your point of view (Heritage Key Media, 2009d), personalizing your avatar (Heritage

Key Media, 2010a), and moving around (Heritage Key Media, 2010c). Navigating the site seems

simple, but students did need to read the text that was presented about the scenes and items, so I

would not recommend Heritage Key’s King Tut Virtual for younger classes.

Although the video citations are included in the reference section of this paper, the direct

links to the King Tut videos are listed here for easy access.

The Alabaster Perfume Vase from Tutankhamun's Tomb up Close in King Tut Virtual:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ohCwoP0B3k&index=5&list=PLC9A454B645E93400

Cosmetic Jar with Recumbent Lion (Shot in King Tut Virtual):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AYyBp0oZcI&list=PLC9A454B645E93400&index=4

External Trappings of Tutankhamun's Mummy (Shot in King Tut Virtual):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAdnO2A35ho&index=2&list=PLC9A454B645E93400

Tutankhamun's Golden Death Mask:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAdnO2A35ho&index=2&list=PLC9A454B645E93400
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Heritage Key is now owned by Business Trends Around the World (2018) and is much

less interactive. It would have been interesting to know about this site in its heyday. I can

imagine students creating their own avatars, visiting historical sites, then writing about their

experiences. These virtual excursions might have even provided inspiration for students to

conduct additional research and create their own videos about historical events and sites around

the world. I can especially see some of the high school students in my school being motivated by

Heritage Key’s former King Tut’s Tomb virtual world.

Virtual Reality

Both King Tut VR and King Tut VR2 (EON Reality, 2015 and 2016) provide students

with opportunities to view rooms and artifacts within King Tut’s tomb up close in three-

dimensions. EON Reality states that viewers can experience “Exclusive Access” (EON Reality,

2018a) to an “Accurate Recreation” of “the Tomb of King Tutankhamun in Virtual Reality”

(EON Reality, 2018b). The videos at https://www.eonreality.com/portfolio-items/king-tut/ and

https://www.eonreality.com/portfolio-items/tutankhamun-journey-howard-carter/ show some of

what these apps can present to students. The goal of both apps is to immerse students in history

rather than to give students detailed history lessons about the life and death of King Tut.

Neither of these apps have been updated recently. King Tut VR is from December 8,

2015. The audio would not play on my iPhone 8 Plus with iOS 11.3.1 but it worked worked on

my iPad Air 2 (same iOS) but there is no mono-vision option, so the images were doubled on the

iPad. King Tut VR2 is a few months newer (June 3, 2016) but I still had difficulties. The King

Tut VR2 app also only had audio on my iPad. There is a mono-vision version that I could use

with two-dimensional images (but retaining the 360 degree view as I rotated around with my

iPad). The app opens like a regular three-dimensional video flying toward the November, 1922
Virtual Worlds One 6

mounds. I could move my iPad to look all around the rocky landscape, but I got stuck when the

announcer told me to dig. I tried holding the image steady for two minutes where King Tut’s

Tomb should be but that did not work. I tried to find directions on the web and found none. I

returned to the phone app and tried in the stereo/three-dimensional view, but I still could not

figure out how to unbury the stairs that lead to King Tut’s Tomb. I wish I had a teenager who

could show me what to do … or good directions.

(video screen shots: top two: https://www.eonreality.com/portfolio-items/king-tut/,

bottom: https://www.eonreality.com/portfolio-items/tutankhamun-journey-howard-carter/)
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Videos

The list of videos from this section’s assignment (page 2, section C of the assignment) are

presented here, in the order in which they were previously mentioned. The video See the

Treasures Inside King Tut’s Tomb (National Geographic, no date) shows a two-minute thirty-

second overview of how King Tut’s Tomb was found and how Egypt is preserving the artifacts.

Hidden Chamber in King Tut's Tomb May Contain Nefertiti (ShantiUniverse, 2015) is a six-

minute video that hypothesizes that Queen Nefertiti burial tomb may share a will with King Tut's

Tomb. The comments below the video demonstrate that this is a controversial proposal and that

any attempt to open a small section of the wall to see what is on the other side will be seen by

many people as either disrespecting the dead or further ruining historical artifacts. Howard Carter

and Tutankhamun's Tomb (Bill P, 2007) is interesting for its archival photographs, audio clips,

and video (which are supplemented by reenactments and general narration). The Mystery of

King Tut's Tomb (CNN, 2016) can be viewed as a follow-up to Hidden Chamber in King Tut's

Tomb May Contain Nefertiti because it covers more recent attempts by the Egyptians to scan

under the earth to determine what, if anything, is directly adjacent to King Tut's Tomb. These

videos all contain more historical information than I was able to find in the Heritage Key virtual

world or the virtual reality apps.

I also found many good videos for students of all ages at Discovery Education (2018). I

have a subscription for Discovery Education through my school district, but I am only posting a

screen-shot here because most readers will not have access to these videos. Discovery Education

is included here to demonstrate additional video sources that may be available to help students

study King Tut’s Tomb. The image on the next page was captured from

https://app.discoveryeducation.com/learn/search?q=king+tut&group=video&type_name=Full+V
Virtual Worlds One 8

ideo.

Compare and Contrast for Educational Uses

My choice of media would depend on several items: pre-existing supplies, age and

academic level of the students, and my academic objective for the activity. 3D goggles are not

recommended for younger children by my school district but might be a good motivator for older

students. Cost, then, becomes a factor for 3D/VR lessons unless the school already has the

supplies. The virtual world approach, as used by Heritage Key, intrigues me and may fit into a

middle or high school computer science class, but the necessity of creating and learning to

control an avatar may be too time-consuming for many social studies classes. Many social

studies rooms will also not have enough computers so negotiating who is able to use the limited

supplies and when becomes an issue. Even if navigating the virtual world becomes group work,
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say with six students per group, then there will still probably not be enough computers for all

groups to work at the same time, but it can work if the virtual world is included as one part of a

larger project with a variety of tasks and the groups rotate. For the rest of this section, the

following assumptions are in place that the class has all necessary equipment for all options

(computers, VR goggles, projector, and any other needed devices), that everything is working

properly (i.e. my iPhone issue with King Tut VR and King Tut VR2 – which I think I could have

solved if there were thirty-six hours in each day), and that the purpose of the lesson is to learn

about ancient Egypt instead of primarily learning about modern technology.

Starting with the youngest students first, I would choose a video with early elementary

students, roughly ages five through seven (what we call grades k-2 in my school – kindergarten

through second grade). These students would be more likely to have dizziness and disorientation

with the goggles and it would take too much instructional time to teach them how to create their

avatars and to navigate a virtual world. A well-made video, specifically created for the younger

grades, combined with pauses for class and/or small group discussions, would be a good medium

for peaking their interest and helping the children to understand the historic and social concepts

being taught. Videos work well at all levels, if they are carefully chosen and not allowed to just

play from beginning to end, but I think that videos are the only viable option for the younger

students.

I would like to see older elementary students, and possibly middle school students, using

the 3D goggles for a more immersive experience. Like the videos, there would have to be times

when the goggles are removed for discussion and processing the images. I have seen first-hand

how my older elementary students are more engaged with 3D experiences than they are with

videos and I think that the same could be said about middle school students. Middle school
Virtual Worlds One 10

students could also benefit from the virtual world and avatar approach, but I feel that at this age

the necessities of teaching how to customize and maneuver the avatar to walk around and

manipulate virtual objects would take over the lesson. Middle school students who are already

comfortable with virtual worlds could benefit from that approach, but for now I will place with

including them in the 3D immersive experiences where they can focus more on the images and

less on technical skill.

I think that most high school students would pick up the technical skills necessary to

navigate a virtual world very quickly. The virtual world experience would give them an

opportunity to interact with representations of ancient locations and artifacts in a more

personalized manor. I can see a virtual world introducing a topic such as King Tut’s Tomb that

would become the basis for a research project. The avatar would enhance the learning experience

instead of detracting from the content. In real-world museums, students cannot pick up and

examine King Tut’s death mask, but such an exploration is encouraged in a virtual world. This

type of exploration would help make history come alive for high school students and could

motivate any generally disinterested youth to engage in additional reading and writing (research)

assignments.

I have presented an idealized view of how all three techniques can be integrated into

education. Often, it is money and available resources that decide how lessons will be taught. For

instance, many of the classes in my school have an interactive white board, but not all. I have a

set of 3D goggles that my students can use only because I bought them myself. The computers in

my computer lab are all about five years old. I always have to consider the realities of my

infrastructure when I plan any technologically in-depth lesson.

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Google Poly and Google VR

“Question #2: Compare and Contrast Google Poly [ https://poly.google.com/ ], and Google VR

[https://vr.google.com/ ] In your discussion, please include your analysis of educational

applications if any.”

(image from https://vr.google.com/)

Google VR Components

Google VR (Google, 2018) has many different components: Blocks, Cardboard,

Daydream, Earth VR, Expeditions, Jump, Poly, Tilt Brush, and VR180. Google VR has become

the umbrella title for the entire suite of Google’s virtual reality experiences and creation tools. It

is difficult to compare Google VR with Google Poly because Google Poly is one of the many

tools in the Google VR Suite. I will try my best in the subsection, “Google Poly Compared and

Contrasted with Google VR.” Prior to that subsection of this paper, each component of Google

VR is briefly summarized. Finally, this section will end with a discussion of the educational

applications of some of the aspects of the Google VR suite.

Blocks (https://vr.google.com/blocks/) is three-dimensional object creation tool. The

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three main tools in Blocks are shape, stroke, paint, modify, grab, and erase. With these tools,

artists “can create models as simple as a mug and as complex as a spaceship.” These model

objects are full three-dimensional representations so that the can be viewed from any angle and

used in larger 3D projects.

Cardboard (https://vr.google.com/cardboard/) is Google’s inexpensive 3D viewer that

uses corrugated cardboard as the frame. There are a wide variety of apps from Google and other

developers that are designed to be viewed on Google Cardboard goggles. My students had

difficulty with the goggles; some people had double-vision when using Google Cardboard with

my large iPhone 8 Plus. The problem could have been their small faces or my large phone, or a

combination of the two. I saw double with some apps but not with all of the apps.

Daydream (https://vr.google.com/daydream/) provides a visually immersive and

interactive Virtual reality (VR) experiences and games using specialized Android phones with

Daydream headsets and controllers. I do not have an Android phone, nor am I willing to pay

almost $400 for the stand-alone headset and controller, so I was unable to assess the Daydream

platform, but it looks more immersive than the Google Expeditions of which I am familiar.

Students are able to virtually walk through the 3D experiences and can sometimes even interact

with elements by using the electronic wand that comes in the kits. I have used similar virtual

experiences with my students and found that some students got dizzy from the moving 3D/360

degree pictures.

Earth VR (https://vr.google.com/earth/) lets students take virtual field trips to many

locations around the world. Students can look at locations from the ground as if they are walking

around them or from the air as if they are flying. Students can access three-dimensional images

of specific locations that appear to be all around them. Students can be virtually transported to
Virtual Worlds One 13

the locations that they are viewing when they use either the Oculus or HTC Vive headsets.

Images can also be experienced in two dimensions on the computer and most mobile devices by

using the mouse/touch screen/track pad to move around the images. Either way, the pictures

cover spherical fields of view (360° lateral and vertical).

Expeditions (https://edu.google.com/expeditions/#about) have a wide variety of

educational virtual field trips that teachers can use with their classes. The expeditions are neither

interactive nor can students move through the images, but students are able to look all around

them (in a 360 degree circle), up, and down and see 3D wrap-around images that engage my

students more than standard educational videos. Each expedition is a series of three-dimensional

365-degree images that simulate looking around each image from a center focal point with a

teacher serving as the tour guide. For instance, students can explore several different rooms of a

castle museum or look around Antarctica, including an ice cave and a penguin habitat. These

expeditions are more immersive than a flat screen video.

Jump (https://vr.google.com/jump/) “is Google's professional VR video solution.”

Jump consists of a 3D/365° video camera and video creation/editing software. At the time I am

writing this report, there are two cameras highlighted on the Jump website and the Jump

Assembler software. There is also a Jump Start community to assist filmmakers and help them to

network with each other.

Poly (https://poly.google.com/) is a receptacle for objects and backgrounds that can be

used to create virtual reality and augmented reality projects. Many of these items can be edited

using Google’s own creation and editing tools: Tilt Brush and Blocks (both described

elsewhere). There is a search function for finding specific three-dimensional items. There is also

a tour feature, which can help teachers to design virtual fieldtrips for their students. Advanced
Virtual Worlds One 14

students can use the tour feature to create their own presentations as part of a research project.

Tours that have been created and shared by other people can also be accessed through Google

Poly. Information, maps, and additional details can be imbedded into each picture as popups. The

tour function is a new addition to Google Poly and does not necessarily need 3D goggles to

engage students. The following three images are from a tour of Antarctica (Piercy, 2018).
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Tilt Brush (https://tiltbrush.com/) Tilt Brush uses 3D goggle systems to let you “paint”

in the space all around you. It is currently available for the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift systems.

With the goggles providing a wrap-around 3D experience and the controller acting as a

paintbrush; users can virtually paint all around, above, and below them. Users can share their

creations with other users if they so choose by uploading their creations to Poly. In addition, Tilt

Brush is one of the editing tools that work with Google Poly’s editable objects.

Tour Creator (https://vr.google.com/tourcreator/) Tour creator is not listed in the

diagram of Google VR tools, possibly because it is new or because it is marketed for educational

uses (but can be used by anyone). In my school, this new Google site is a better for creating

virtual tours than the tour creator function in Poly because something in Poly’s tour creator is

blocked in the building. Tour Creator is still in Beta; it has possibilities for the future but still

needs some development. I submitted the following comment to the feedback link, “I would like

to see a complete search feature. For instance, if I was creating a tour of Antarctica, I would like

to be able to pull up items related to Antarctica. Likewise, I would like to be able to search the

Tour Gallery for tours based on topic. This way, I could search for Antarctica to see if a pre-

existing tour already meets my needs.”

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VR180 (https://vr.google.com/vr180/) Google VR180 cameras capture video and still

photographs in 3D that can be shared and viewed with 3D goggles or in standard 2D without

goggles. The VR180 app (on Google Play and Apple’s App Store) assists transfers images to

devises and maintains a personal library of your content. The app also facilitates sharing images

to the device’s Camera Roll or Photos app. Videos can be shared directly to YouTube. Images

are not captured in 360 degrees, but the VR180 cameras look much easier to use for non-

professionals than the Jump cameras. For instance, Jump cameras have sixteen or seventeen

cameras covering a full 360-degree field while VR180 cameras have only the two cameras

needed to record three-dimensional images.

Compare and Contrast Google Poly and Google VR

Comparing and contrasting Google Poly to the entirety of Google VR is a difficult task.

Google Poly is primarily a library where developers can find items that they can use in the

creation of their own virtual reality (VR), virtual world (VW), and augmented reality (AR)

projects. Google VR is an entire suite of offerings; including web-based software, specialized

goggles, and 3D cameras; that includes almost all of Google’s virtual reality offerings (Tour

Creator has not yet been added). Google Poly is one of the many pieces of Google VR. The

educational uses of a few of Google VR’s component parts and how they fit in with Google Poly

are highlighted next, beginning with Google Expeditions.

Google Poly was designed to be used by VW/VR/AR creators and editors as a content

library while Google Expedition experiences are generally full educational virtual field trips that

were created by professionals. If the content is the focus of the academic unit, then I would use

Google Expeditions. I would use Google Poly if the primary objective was to teach about three-

dimension creation, such as in a computer science or arts technology class. Poly and Expeditions
Virtual Worlds One 17

can be combined in computer science courses that focus on both academic and technical skills;

Students could begin with a virtual trip in Expedition then build their own content related to that

Expedition’s theme by searching Poly for items.

Tilt Brush and Blocks are creation/editing tools whole Poly is primarily a library. They

serve different functions, but working together, they allow students to locate objects that they can

use in their projects, modify those objects to their personal needs, then post the objects back to

Poly to share with other people (giving credit to both the original designers and themselves as

editors). Students who are preparing for possible careers or college-level study in computer-

aided design would benefit greatly by this type of creative project that combines several VR/AR

tools. Although different, all of these Google VR components have educational uses and can be

combined to create an in-depth academic project.

Google Poly would also work nicely with Tour Creator and Earth VR. Students could

create their own tours by combining items found in both Poly and Earth VR to demonstrate

subject area content and technical knowledge. Once again, Tilt Brush and Blocks could be used

to edit Poly items, if needed. Teachers could also create tours for their students if existing

Google Expeditions do not meet the needs of their classes. As I mentioned earlier, Tour Creator

is still in beta and has some growing to do before it is a fully functioning educational tool. I

suspect that Poly will also gain additional functions to make it more appealing to teachers and

students as it becomes more widely used. Currently, Poly does have a tour creation function, but

I was unable to get it to work properly. I suspect that Tour Creator will supersede Poly’s tour

creation function in the future.

The Jump camera may be way outside the budget of most high schools, but I can see

some schools investing in the VR180 camera. Like jump, it comes with its own editing software.
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An immersive (but not 360 degree) VR experience could be created by high school computer

science students by combining video recorded with the VR180 camera with objects found on

Poly. I can imagine students engaged in an in-depth project where they record a video, capturing

the foreground and background in three dimensions, then add objects from Poly to increase the

interactivity of the experience. While a camera is not necessary to use Poly in the classroom, if a

school has the time and the money to teach these video production skills it will enhance

educational projects by adding additional student-produced content to projects that make use of

Poly’s library.

Returning to King Tut’s Tomb, students could create their own virtual world projects by

combining a wide variety of Google VR components with historical content from their teacher

and their own research. This new virtual world tour of King Tut’s Tomb would be a fitting

project with a focus on both traditional historical information and modern technological skills.

When I was in high school, history was a dry subject for some of my friends, but creative

projects sparked their interest. This would be the modern version of creating King Tut’s Tomb

out of cardboard, clay, and paint and may spark the imagination of those students who are not

inspired by traditional tools. Not everyone will excel in this technological approach, just like not

everyone could make a representation of King Tut’s Death Mask out of clay that resembles the

original, but Google VR could become an important aspect of the modern teachers’ bag of tricks

to reach and educate our students.

I have taken a non-traditional approach to comparing and contrasting Google Poly with

Google VR, but I have tried to highlight potential educational uses of Google Poly and some of

the other tools included in Google VR along the way.

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Alice and OpenSim

“Question #3. This question is a preparatory question for Virtual World’s 2, in which we ask

students to play around with a virtual world platform. In your next course, which is lab based,

each student will be asked to work on some aspect of virtual world creation. Your platform may

be either Alice (alice.org) or OpenSim :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenSim_(simulation_toolkit)

http://opensimulator.org/wiki/Media

https://simtk.org/projects/opensim/

The purpose of the exercise for the next course is to see if anyone can create anything in this

very difficult medium.

The purpose of this question is for you to study each one in sufficient detail in order to

select the platform you will use for the next course. We do not want time wasted puttering

around in the next course trying to figure what platform to use. When choosing a platform

be sure to look at the many helpful Youtube videos. In particular, Alice has been around a

long time, has a huge following, and many many instructive videos. [The staff recommends

you select Alice for your project, but OpenSim may have more meaning to a prospective

employer, although more difficult in our opinion].

Please state for your answer to this question, which of the two platforms you have selected

for use in Virtual Worlds 2,.”

OpenSimulator

After reading the OpenSimulator (2017) material online, I feel that it would work best in

colleges and some high schools with dedicated personnel to oversee and troubleshoot the
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software. The developers themselves state “Depending on what you want to do with

OpenSimulator, setting it up and keeping it running will require a fair amount of technical

knowledge. … Please be aware that the learning curve for operating OpenSimulator is steep,” (at

http://opensimulator.org/wiki/Download). College computer science majors who are already

familiar with programming languages such as C# may find this an ideal addition to their studies.

I could not find any information on OpenSimulator’s compatibility with Windows 10, but a little

bit of research showed me that Windows 10 was released in July, 2015 and the most recent

version of OpenSimulator was released in August, 2017. I downloaded the zip file, opened it,

and soon discovered that it OpenSimulator is too complicated for a full time teacher (who often

puts in ten-hour days) and part time doctorate student to handle. There are just not enough hours

in the day for me to learn everything that I need to know to be an effective OpenSimulator user.

Alice

I next moved to Alice. Alice uses block programming, so it is perfect for students who do

not have a background in programming languages (Carnegie Mellon University, 2017). Like

Open Simulator, Alice is free, but it is designed for people who are not computer programmers. I

took some programming courses in my undergraduate days (Basic, Cobol, Fortran, Pascal,

Assembler, and another now-obsolete language), but that was a very long time ago and I

remember very little about text-based programming. Alice better fits my current skill set and

time limits. The next question became whether to try Alice 2 or Alice 3. I decided to download

Alice 2 and try it with my more advanced students because it appears to be slightly simpler

(https://www.alice.org/get-alice/#why). I, personally, am intrigued by Alice 3’s ability to show

the Java code, but some of my students tune out when I show them the text so that is not enough

of a reason to test Alice 3.

Virtual Worlds One 21

Downloading and installing Alice 2.5 on my work computer (macOS Sierra – 10.12) only

took a few seconds. The window with the tutorial opened as soon as I opened the program.

The tutorial is too advanced for my students, but it is perfect for me. I am confident that after I

finish the tutorial I will be able to assist the students in my two most advanced classes to build

something small in Alice 2.5. I next decided to satisfy my curiosity and downloaded Alice 3.4.

As I suspected, Alice 3 is somewhat more advanced than Alice 2 and would be better for middle

or high school students in my school, given the nature and severity of the students’ disabilities.

Alice 3 also takes up approximately twice the hard drive space, so I have since deleted it to clear

room for the graduation video that I will be editing at the end of June.

My Choice

As I have previously stated, I have chosen to use Alice 2.5 to develop something simple

for the next Blue Marble University course, Virtual Worlds Two. I feel that I can learn more

about developing a virtual world when the in depth learning that OpenSimulator requires will not
Virtual Worlds One 22

hamper my efforts. I have now completed the Alice 2 tutorial and am confident of my ability to

build a simple project using this platform. Whether or not any of my students will be able to

participate is yet to be seen, but I will try to involve them to the best of their abilities.

June is always a difficult month for my students because they do not want to be inside

studying. I have already promised my less academic students another virtual reality lesson with

3D goggles in June. Alice 2 will become an interesting project for my two most advanced

classes; those students did quite well with last December’s Hour of Code lesson and may

succeed with this new challenge. I will, of course, scaffold the project and simplify vocabulary

and other concepts so that students processing at or below a second grade level can participate.

Readers of this Virtual Reality One paper will have to return to read Virtual Reality Two for the

results of my virtual reality trial.

Virtual Worlds, Real Lives

No discussion about virtual worlds would be complete, in my opinion, without linking to

a video that directly demonstrates educational uses of this technology (District 75 New York

City, 2011). My school district uses its virtual world to help teach students with developmental

delays and/or emotional disabilities everything from banking to shopping for apartment

furnishings. Students practice skills in the virtual world before they attempt real-life

demonstrations. The video at https://vimeo.com/30557307 is several years old now, and our use

of virtual worlds as an educational tool has grown, but I still think that this video demonstrates

some of what is possible. High school students still participate in the virtual world project, but

additional virtual reality tools have been added to their instruction. Some of the recent projects

can be read about at http://3d.district75.net (NYCDOE District 75 and Learning Times, 2018).
Virtual Worlds One 23

The link for additional information that is included with the video has become outdated, but the

project continues to thrive. The virtual world used by New York City Department of Education’s

District 75 runs on the Second Life platform and was originally designed (and continues to be

maintained) by caring professionals who are trained and self-taught to use Second Life and often

work beyond their paid hours (as do we all!).

I have met a few different teachers who described how the virtual world experience

helped students to navigate the real world. In one example, students who were reluctant to create

shopping lists and to learn how to budget their money were highly motivated if their avatar was

going to the virtual grocery store first. Students were able to practice appropriate social

behaviors before having to engage in conversations with strangers in the community. Students

practiced interview skills in the virtual world, then role-played those skills, before actually going

on job interviews. Students also practiced how to handle themselves when things go wrong;

everything from not having a green light or walk sign when they want to cross a street, to

counting their change because they did not have the correct money, to handling rude people. The

list of real-life skills that students can be exposed to in the safety of a virtual world before

needing those skills in the community is almost endless. Teachers integrated these virtual world

lessons into academic and life skills classes with the support of trained coaches from the school

district and the business/not-for-profit communities. It is truly amazing what can be

accomplished when people work together.

Virtual Worlds One 24

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