Week+4

=Week 4: May 24 - May 30=

Comparing Game vs Virtual World Platforms for Teaching & Learning
Selecting the best tool for the task is paramount when determining which game or virtual world platform to begin using for teaching and learning. Considerations might include cost, affordances of the platform, technical requirements for the institution/facilitator/end user, Terms of Service agreements and legal issues, and much more. Now that we have a comfort level with the Second Life platform, this week we'll briefly examine other virtual world platforms and discuss the characteristics or "facets" of each world type.


 * THIS WEEK'S MEETING WILL NOT BE HELD IN SECOND LIFE! SEE THE ASSIGNMENTS SECTION!**


 * First hour** - Meet in MetaPlace at MPCentral - look for Fleep!
 * Second hour** - Meet in World of Warcraft at the starting location - look for Fleept!

__**Assignments**__


 * Create an account on the [|MetaPlace] open beta system. Spend at least an hour familiarizing yourself with the user interface, and try building something in your own world. MetaPlace is a browser based virtual world, so there is no software to download or install.


 * Download and install the World of Warcraft 10 day free trial (if you don't already have a WoW account). **Get your character to Level 5 before we meet for class on Tuesday!** Create an account on the Nesingwary server (select United States, Normal to bring up list of server choices), and choose the Alliance - Dwarf race. You can (obviously) be male or female, and choose whichever class you prefer. If possible, try to use your Second Life first name or some variant/combination of your SL first and last name, so we can find each other. Don't level any higher than Level 5 on the character you plan to use for class! Feel free to experiment with other characters/races if you like.
 * Server: Nesingwary (Normal)
 * Allegiance: Alliance
 * Race: Dwarf


 * Reflection**
 * Forums Post 7: What was your impression of MetaPlace? How does it compare to Second Life? Can you think of ways that it might lend itself more easily to educational purposes, or do you think Second Life is better suited for education? Why?


 * Forums Post 8: Did you find Robbins-Bell's //Faceted Classification// paper helpful in thinking about the differences in virtual worlds? Which facets struck you as being particularly useful in an educational context? Were any facets potentially NOT helpful for teaching and learning?

__**Readings for Week 4**__
 * Robbins-Bell, Sarah, (2009), //[|Chapter 3 Method: Developing the Faceted Classification] (of Virtual Worlds)//, Draft paper.
 * Robbins-Bell, Sarah, (2009), //[|Draft Facets Chart] (of Virtual Worlds),// Draft chart.
 * Lastowka, Greg and Hunter, Dan, (2003),//[|The Laws of the Virtual Worlds]//. California Law Review, Forthcoming. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=402860
 * Bainbridge, Eric Gordon //[|Text Timeline: History of Virtual Worlds],// website
 * //[|Interactive Timeline: History of Virtual Worlds]//, Web History Project, website
 * Wikipedia article: [|History of Massively Multiplayer Online Games]

__**Project/Papers**__ Project/Paper #1 is due this week!!


 * Project 1**: Using the [|Projects & Events evaluation matrix], **attend two [|live events in Second Life]** and evaluate the experience using the matrix. Write a 2-3 page single-spaced paper describing your experience, and justifying your evaluation scores. Paper and evaluation forms are due June 26, 2009 at midnight EST to fleep.tuque@gmail.com. Final documents should be in either .doc and .xls format OR in Google Doc "Document" and "Spreadsheet" format. Username to invite is fleep513@gmail.com for Google Docs only.