d41523a3_ds_Best_Practices_in_Education__Title
[Plot] 64 [Abstract] A group of educators and builders with decades of combined experience in virtual worlds, Spicy Vanilla aims to promote collaboration in the design of top-shelf educational content. Its first project—the Basic Skills Gauntlet—will be presented as both a work in progress and a working, complete activity. The activity is designed as a game, to assess a new user’s proficiency with a few of the basic skills needed to interact in the virtual world (such as using pose-balls, camera control, etc.). New users are often asked to explore educational content soon after registering an avatar in SecondLife™ or OpenSimulator. With no practice beyond orientation, lacking experience with interacting and using the many features of the client viewer, how can we expect them to succeed on their own? The collaborative process itself, along with design principles and techniques revealed in the process, will also be a part of the presentation. “When someone experiments and innovates in a transparent manner, we are able to learn more than simply the content. Observers learn the process and method of innovation in design and delivery of learning materials.” —George Siemens The plan for this inaugural Spicy Vanilla project is to produce an open source, bare-bones kit, one that can be customized for use in any region, modified to fit any theme. [Real Names/ Avatar Names] John Wallace/Azwaldo Villota [Title] 
Spicy Vanilla – Building on the Shoulders of Others
VWBPE 2013 Posters | Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education
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