middleclassgirl.com

I am putting this public so I keep to task, it won;t make much sense to you, but it will to me:

1. Finish Recordings

2. more pictures

3. podcasting software

4. tighten intro space

5. Ask Jo for help on build.

…I’m back, baby, like George Costanza.

I thought (*rolls eyes*) that I needed some ‘what is this all about’ billboards to put on the plot. This is what I have come up with:

This space is experimenting with ways to teach ‘history’ using Second Life.

Rather than creating a simulation that presents an exact replica of an historical period, building or event, this space aims to engage the participant in what history eductors describe as ‘historical understanding’.

Whilst crucial to forming an historical understanding, the ability recite dates or recreate an image, reconstruct a timeline of events or piece of writing that provides a narrative, these elements do not immediately help students to form a more complex historical literacy.

This ‘historical literacy’ enables students to analyse, deduce, compare, contrast and criticise historical evidence in order to come to a more complete understanding of the past which gives them the chance to engage in higher order processes such as being able to empathise and understanding causation and motivation.

More information about Historical Understanding and Historical Literacy can be found on the wiki accompanying this project.

So, what do you do in this space?

This space is intended to be used in conjunction with face to face classroom teaching, however the activities or experiences offered her could be used as a starting point for those interested in the topic.

The broad aim of this project is to get visitors to the space to consider some of the evidence that is presented to them about early squatting life in south-east Australia during the early colonial period (c.1800 – 1860). Visitors are then asked to take the ‘Evidence Box’ and to construct their own colonial settler’s hut.

The ‘Evidence Box’ contains many virtual artefacts and the basic building prims / locks to construct a hut. The idea is to construct a hut that is constructed with some sort of historical reasoning based upon the evidence and (fore knowledge) that has been presented.

A replica, which is but one interpretation, will be provided, but each visitor’s construction or the construction that they build will act as a discussion point for demonstrating the historical reasoning behind their choices.

An important element of historical inquiry is to learn that history is multifaceted and that there are many interpretations of the past. Often things can be contested. This is one of the most fascinating and enjoyable aspects of history yet one of the most frustrating for students to grapple with.

It is hoped that his space will introduce students to this complex element of historical understanding.

Even though I have built a few things in Second Life, it is by no means where my skills are - one of the things that I find most difficult when i am building in SL is getting the measurements and positioning correct. I don;t have much problem with the concepts or the creative look of the build but when it comes to creating a replica, my skills are lacking.

Tonight i started building a prototype for the hut that the participants will build when they visit the project. As i was building though, it made me think more about what I want the project to be. Just building an object in Second Life is not enough, from the history education point of view. it would be like getting a student to create an illuminated manuscript without having studied the craft, culture and rationale behind creating them in the first place.
It kind of reassured me that even though I have been spending a lot of time on (even just thinking) about the resources that I want the participants to use, these do remain a cruscial part - so that even if you hadn;t read much else, what you have in SL will put you on the right track.
And, building there, all on my lonesome, made me think how much energy i draw from other people. I love listening to, debating with and discussing *things* with people and i hope that the exercise here gets people talking as well.

One thing that has been nice to be reminded of over the past couple of days is the way that Second Life is a collaborative platform.

I think I have posted elsewhere in these ramblings that in my ten years as a classroom teacher, I never really expereinced any ‘teamwork’ where there was such a free and open exchange of ideas. Maybe this was the culture of the place in which I was teaching, but, to be fair, I think it also has a (little!) bit to do with personality.

In any case,  I was astounded at the bonnehomie in the community of educators in Second Life when I joined  and the way that I have maintained and developed those professional and personal relationships. Yesterday, Lauren O’Grady presented a seminar on IWBs for our association, in April Dean Groom will run a session with me on Web 2.0 for History Teachers, last week the wonderfully talented Kerry Johnson coached me through how to get an audio stream running in SL via YouTube and Jo Kay has been a constant source of  support and inspiration (apart from ‘wow-ing’ participants our Annual Conference last year. These are all connections that emerged from Second Life.

And now, to be working with someone like Konrad Glogowski is just amazing - to be able to receive feedback and hear ideas from someone who has such diverse expereinces from which to draw (and a measured temperment!) is humbling.

Oh my, can you feel the love? I am not disingenuous when I say these things - even though one might assume I am writing with my tongue in my cheek.

The first update in a little while. Sorry for my absence. It’s not been for lack of thinking about it, believe me.

I feel I am at a stage now where I can see the project being ‘doable’ as some things have taken shape on the space.  And, after some great discussions with Konrad and Jo, I feel that I need to reiterate the function of this project.

The virtual classroom space that I am designing is meant to be but one component in the many steps that would allow history to be taught. I do not want the space to be a mere place for making replicas of historical periods or a place that bombards visitors with lots of resources to read or activities to “do” in the classroom although this latter suggestion may be something that could support the learning experience in a 2d Wiki or blog etc.

What I do want the virtual classroom project to be is a place where you will be able to carry out a task in-world which would have an objective of enabling the participant to engage in some sort of historical thinking and demonstrate some degree of historical understanding.

This is a good focus for me as I have come up with some ideas of displaying resouirces in the space and then have been trying to nut-out how they would be used in world. For example, I have some historical sketches and paintings on display on the sim; to ensure bibliographic details were included (good historical practice!) I have attached notecards with full bibliographic citations on them. The problem was, as soon as I did this, I started to think that I should be including more information on them - for example my interpretation of the picture or ways that this picture could be used in class. However, after discussions with Jo and Konrad, my thoughts, and original concept, were crystallised further and I decided that that would not really be conducive to the way that Second Life could be used in History Education.The journey continues…

Just a small progress report: Managed to get half a dozen or so ‘documents’ on to the space - the pictures have notecards attached to them which identify the source and one of them has diary entry attached to it to elucidate on the illustration further. I haven;t built a structure or entrance hall, but to tell you the truth I would like to keep it as ;natural as possible.

To do: obviously need some sort of introduction or instruction part to the space so people understand what it’s all about - eh Alfie?

At the moment, I am reading A guide to the Cantos of Ezra Pound which hopefully will help me with my reading of that work. The inscription, on the frontispiece is from a letter that Pound wrote to the author, William Cookson, in 1958:

Textbooks contain MINIMUM of what the student NEEDS to know

What appeals to me about this is that it is not suggesting that textbooks are out of date or wrong or not stimulating (granted, Pound did not have to ‘worry’ about the internet) but that ‘knowledge’ is gathered from many sources and many experiences. Likewise, getting students to blog, or to create a wiki, or to create a story or to enact something does not give them the sum of all knowledge but form these experiences new knowledge can be gained. I hope that the space in the Virtual Classroom Project enables students to build upon their knowledge that they may have gained from a textbook, history book, documentary or museum visit by critically analysing, debating and deciding upon the way their understanding of the past is represented.

As I have gathered and selected some evidence that i would like to have on display at the Virtual Classroom Project space, I have had to show some unusual restraint, knowing that i cannot possibly include ‘everything’. It’s funny to me because one of the things that I try to reassure teachers who are teaching senior classes of history for the first time is that they “cannot include everything”.
However, I do feel like I am missing one important element which is the impact that colonisation had upon indigenous communities in Australia. In a dream world where this was a project that had a much longer time period to develop, I would love this to be a feature - especially if the space, which is to be ‘colonised’ had features of existing inhabitants. How interesting it would be to see the choices that students would have to make when they were creating their space.
Anyway, it is not to be. Simply because I really need to get a workable space up and running within a limited timeframe.
Regarding the documents I have chosen so far, I have quite a few illustrations and paintings from the period depicting colonial life. I have quite a few letters and written documents, but I think it would be best to choose two or three simple descriptions. The last thing that I want is swathes of text that people have to read in-world. I think it would also be kind of fun trying to work out if I could create a recording of some of them.

Anyway, better get onto it.