2011 Sessions

As an increasing number of global companies and organizations express interest in using 3D Virtual Reality as an environment in which to host meetings and create collaboration and education spaces, good design considerations for creating effective and usable environments become more crucial. With 3D spaces still a new and novel environment for most organizations, first impressions and ease of use are crucial to adoption and success. Designing well for a positive user experience is a key factor in encouraging utilization and ensuring a positive first experience.

Just as there are basic considerations for good design in real spaces and face-to-face events, so, too, virtual space design has its own special considerations. Designing well for comfort, ease of use, and effective transmission of information remain paramount considerations in both venues.

What are the special requirements of virtual spaces, and how do we focus on the specific good design standards for 3D simulated environments?

Using experience gleaned from creating applied environments on the specific building platform of Second Life, SL Gold Solution Provider William Prensky, CEO of the Chant Newall Development Group, LLC (CNDG), will discuss some of the problems and solutions that govern usable spaces and usable space design in totally immersive 3D. An exciting component of this presentation will be participation in an actual meeting taking place in merged hybrid reality – participants in this meeting will be joining both live at LEEF and simultaneously in a virtual space in Second Life.

A question and answer period in both Real and Virtual Reality will conclude this presentation.

Attendees will learn…

• Design considerations for virtual world spaces
• Techniques for designing effective and usable environments
• Key factors for increasing utilization
• Special requirements for 3D simulated environments

Presenter:

William L. Prensky
CEO
CNDG – Gold Solution Providers in Second Life

While most of us recognize the value of immersive learning simulations, many myths about their development often deter managers from introducing them into their organizations. The belief that simulations are expensive, time consuming to produce, and require advanced technical know-how often rule out the use of this incredibly effective learning experience.

During the session, we will introduce the Experience Design methodology which will provide participants with an approach to capture and articulate experience in a way that can be deployed as a simulation. We will then introduce participants to NexLearn’s Simplicity Simulation Authoring Tool which will enable them to produce an engaging and effective simulation in the workshop. We will emphasize the instructional design and media techniques attendees can implement immediately into their efforts. We will compare and contrast—and ultimately disprove— the myths associated with simulation development.

Attendees will immediately be able to utilize the techniques and ideas presented during the session to quickly produce highly engaging simulations. If attendees have the technical knowledge to produce a PowerPoint presentation, they will be able to produce an engaging simulation that puts their students into contextual situations and environments where they can “learn by doing” – all within 10 minutes.

Attendees will learn…

• How to produce a highly engaging and effective learning simulations
• Instructional Design techniques used to produce immersive learning simulations
• Design and layout techniques used to produce immersive learning simulations
• How to combine procedural and social interactions to produce realistic, virtual student experiences
• How to develop a simulation in a team environment (including SMEs)

Presenter:

Ken Spero
Managing Director
CNDG – Gold Solution Providers in Second Life

The educational value of immersive virtual environments has been successfully demonstrated through military and industrial applications. Virtualization enables learners to engage in multi-sensory, experiential learning in a safe environment. Immersive virtual worlds provide learners with the ability to make decisions, solve-problems and experience real-time consequences. Immersive virtual environments also allow demonstration of knowledge and skills in a contextual environment.

Historically, the cost of virtual reality programs was prohibitive. This barrier has been eliminated through the development of open-source virtual environment platforms such as Open-SIM. Development tools and skills for Open-SIM virtual worlds will be explored in this session. NewWorlds, a secure multi-user virtual environment, built in Open-SIM will also be explored.

Attendees will learn…

• Technical needs and steps for setting up an Open-SIM environment
• Introductory development skills in Open-SIM
• The outcomes of a multi-user virtual environment in K-12

Presenter:

John Branson, Ed.D.
Director of Ed. Research, Development and Technology
Chester County Intermediate Unit

This session will take attendees step by step through the fundamentals of creating a game design document from a set of learning objectives. Game concept, genre, target audience, project scope, gameplay/mechanics, the story/setting for the game, game levels, and artificial intelligence concepts will all be designed based on established learning objectives. Technical requirements, art and asset requirements, and management needs will also be identified as part of the game design document exercise.

Attendees will learn…

• Best practices for game design document structure
• The evolution of gameplay/mechanics, story/setting for the game and game levels from learning objectives
• Procedural needs for game development and management

Presenter:

Dorothy Phoenix
IT Specialist/Courseware Engineer
IBM

We know that the best learning experiences are the ones that challenge, stimulate and engage. We see the level of engagement that game experiences provide and we want that for our learning experiences.

One of the key elements in creating fully engaging game experiences is the concept of Flow – creating game environments that keep players in tenuous balance between their level of ability and level of challenge. The state of Flow has been described as being “fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus [and] full involvement,” but what are the critical elements necessary to create this state?

In this session, we will take a look at the way games and other entertainment media create Flow states, and why learning is an inexorable part of this type of engagement.

Attendees will learn…

• How Flow is created in games
• Key elements necessary for creating Flow
• How to apply Flow to learning environments and curriculums
• How to make learning “Hard Fun”
• How to ensure Flow through game balancing and play testing

Presenter:

Julie Dirksen

Independent Consultant
Usable Learning

Whether it’s eLearning, websites, or video games, designers of interactive media must find ways to compel users to progress through their products. Regardless of the type of media, whether the purpose is to entertain or to educate, people are motivated in similar ways. With the sheer scale of the game industry, game developers have dedicated a great deal of time and resources to finding ways to engage players that could also be applied in the design of eLearning software.

Rick Raymer, An experienced game designer now in the eLearning space, will share his experience with using proven game mechanics and motivational techniques to strengthen interactive experiences. Instructional designers can apply the practical suggestions in this session to broaden their skill sets, and to ultimately improve their eLearning material by enhancing learner engagement and enjoyment.

Attendees will learn…

• Proven game design methods that can enhance new and existing eLearning materials
• Motivational techniques that compel users to complete eLearning programs and to participate in learning communities
• Practical knowledge for creating more engaging, fun, and effective eLearning software

Presenter:

Rick Raymer

Gaming and Simulation Coordinator
North Carolina BioNetwork

Since 2008, Rick Raymer has been managing the production of eLearning software and games for the North Carolina Community College System’s BioNetwork organization. Rick has been designing video games professionally since 1996. He has produced over forty games with titles on every major gaming platform including consoles, PC’s, handheld devices, and mobile phones. Before entering the game industry, he created computer animations for engineering, marketing, and training purposes. Rick has a degree in Industrial Design.

Faced with the challenge of tight e-Learning project budgets, many project teams turn to templated tools for development, which may constrain the instructional designers and may not effectively allow for virtual practice. This session will demonstrate concrete strategies for creating inexpensive but engaging immersive learning environments that allow for virtual practice of skills and transfer of learning. In this session, participants will see concrete examples from five e-Learning programs and will walk away with immediately implementable ideas and strategies.

Attendees will learn…

• The benefits and value of immersive learning environments (ILE) compared with other instructional strategies
• Each of the ILE design document steps: program goals, target audience, performance objectives, context, challenge, activity, feedback approach, architecture
• Ways to maximize ILE training budgets

In addition, participants will see five examples of immersive learning environments and learn features of each. The group will also brainstorm other graphical styles that could be applied.

Presenter:

Tracy Bissette
President
WeejeeLearning

The session will focus on exciting projects in the works to make the Shareable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) more suitable for games, simulations and virtual worlds.

SCORM has been around for 10 years and the interoperability it enables between Learning Management Systems and development tools has allowed an entire online training industry to blossom. But doesn’t the world have enough page turners? The interactive learning enabled by games, simulations and virtual worlds will unleash the full potential of online learning…but only if industry standards can remove the friction preventing growth.

The history of SCORM, what it does and what it was never intended to do will be discussed. Initiatives like Project Tin Can, Advanced Distributed Learning’s (ADL) Future Learning Experience (FLEX) Project and the Learning, Education, and Training Systems Interoperability (LETSI) Run-time Web Services (RTWS) Project will also be explored. These exciting projects from ADL and LETSI are a move in the right direction to make SCORM and its successor suitable for games, simulations and virtual worlds.

Attendees will learn…

• The purpose of SCORM
• Projects that will make SCORM more suitable for games, simulations and virtual worlds

Presenter:

Mike Rustici
Owner
Rustici Software

Organizations often focus on the technical integration of new technology adoptions but neglect the equally critical people and process side of new technology adoptions. This session will provide organizational strategies for addressing employee adoption of new technologies, framed within the new technology adoption continuum. A case study of the application of these strategies will be provided in the context of a large, global pharmaceutical company’s challenge of implementing a virtual world platform.

Attendees will be able to:

• Discuss common organizational and cultural barriers that can cause a new technology to fail
• Describe the new technology adoption continuum
• List specific, actionable tactics for each phase of the new technology adoption continuum that can help ensure organizational adoption of a new technology

Presenter:

Koreen Olbrish
CEO
Tandem Learning

Introduced by researchers from the University of Sussex, the term “digital outcasts” describes users with disabilities who are left behind as technology advances. Virtual environments offer new forms of engagement that bring greater fidelity and complexity to the online space. As a result, the very concept of “accessibility” has evolved into something deeply immersive and complex. With their emphasis on 3D graphics and complex interface controls, virtual worlds would appear to have little to offer people with disabilities. However, a surprisingly vital demographic exists. People with a wide range of disabilities, including visual impairments, motor skill disorders and cognitive difficulties, have turned to virtual worlds to find entertainment, education, commerce and fellowship. This session will explore several case studies in order to understand how an inclusive approach removes barriers to access, as well as the educational opportunity virtual environments provide to users with physiological and cognitive disabilities.

Attendees will learn…

• How People with Disabilities Use Virtual Technologies
• What Video Games Teach Us About Human Behavior
• How to Sustain Inclusivity

Presenter:

Kel Smith
Principal, Anikto LLC

As company and organizational use of Virtual Reality and Social Media and Online Gaming grows and gains in acceptance, serious attention is being paid to how companies, educational institutions and organizations establish a workable and intelligent policy and best practice for employee/member/student representation through an avatar account. There are many issues to consider, including the appropriate ways in which to represent oneself and the organization supporting the activity and legal ramifications of providing official access to these environments. We will look at some of these issues during this session and raise questions which are vital to the discussion about establishing an organization-wide policy. Information will be presented by a panel consisting of a corporate HR policy-maker, a legal expert, an education leader and a military official.

Attendees will learn:
• Logo and organizational representation by avatar accounts – What are the responsibilities of the organization and what are the responsibilities of the employees/members to portray the organization in the appropriate light?
• Mixed entry – organizational accounts vs. private accounts
• Corporate image as reflected in employee/member deportment in virtual worlds
• Contact with inappropriate content – What is the responsibility of the avatar to follow company guidelines?
• Organizational ambassadors – How to represent your company, institution or organization in a manner in keeping with both best practices and policies?
• Legal issues – What is the actual responsibility and liability of the employer or organization in virtual worlds and social media access?

Presenter/Facilitator:

William Prensky, OMD
The FutureWork Institute, Inc.