Building a 3D Environment? Consider these Design Principles and Questions

Here is a table from Learning in 3D (shown below) that describes many different design considerations and the associated questions you want to ask when building a 3D learning experience.

Answering these questions will help you to develop effective instruction within 3D environments.

Design Principle	Key Questions To Consider
Instructionally Grounded	§  Is the learning intervention addressing a vetted business need? §  Are the learning objectives optimized to address the business need? §  Is and 3DLE the most efficient and effective mechanism for transferring the learning?
Participant Centered	§  Does the design place the participants in the center of the experience? §  What role(s) do the participants play in the experience? §  What actions and interactions can the participants take to encounter teachable moments within the experience?
Contextually Situated	§  What situational contexts best accommodate the learning objectives of the intervention? §  What is the role of the facilitator, other participants and the environment itself in creating an authentic situational context for learning?
Discovery Driven	§  What is the minimum set of guidelines that need to be established to catalyze action within the learning experience? §  What information or incentives can be selectively revealed within the learning experience to motivate engagement and collaborative action within the experience?
Activity Oriented	§  What is the set of episodic activities that will immerse the participants in the learning experience? §  What are the key actions and interactions within these episodes that trigger teachable moments for the participants?
Consequentially Experienced	§  How will participants be required to demonstrate their ability to perform? §  How is iterative trial and error and feedback built into the learning experience?
Collaboratively Motivated	§  How will collaborative and co-creative action on the part of the teams be incented and rewarded?
Reflectively Synthesized	§  How is personal reflection accommodated in the design? §  How are team after-action reviews accommodated in the design?

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Training for a Critical Incident in a 3D Virtual Environment

In many organizations, people need to receive training for unlikely but possible events (such as a blow out on an oil rig or the blow out of two engines on an airplane because of bird strikes.). These are critical incidents and 3D learning environments can help people prepare and train for these events.

Training in the MMORPG America's Army

The critical incident learning environment in 3D is when the learner is placed into an environment or situation similar to the real event in which they must use their prior knowledge to solve a problem. This could involve placing the learner into the middle of a disaster like a chemical spill or the aftermath of a hurricane, or into a more benign environment like a retail store where a shop lifting incident is occurring or a street corner during a drug buy. It could even be dealing with a crisis as part of a typical job, like what to do if, during surgery, a patient has a heart attack.


Example
As an example of how effective a virtual world can be for teaching how to respond to a critical incident, witness the life saving heroics of a gentleman named Paxton Galvanek. Galvanek, then only twenty-eight year-old, received “medical training” while playing the MMORPG America’s Army. In the 3D learning space, he learned to evaluate and prioritize casualties, control bleeding, recognize and treat shock, and administer aid when victims are not breathing.

Galvanek helped rescue two victims from an overturned SUV on the shoulder of a North Carolina interstate. He was the first one on the scene and was able to safely remove both individuals from the smoking vehicle. He then properly assessed and treated their wounds, which included bruises, scrapes, head trauma and the loss of two fingers.

"Because of the training he received in America's Army's virtual classroom, Mr. Galvanek had mastered the basics of first aid and had the confidence to take appropriate action when others might do nothing. He took the initiative to assess the situation, prioritize actions and apply the correct procedures," said Colonel Casey Wardynski, America's Army Project Director.

In the critical incident 3D learning design, the learner must respond to the situation properly by applying what she has previously learned. The facilitator can serve as part of the incident, or as an external observer who monitors and records the actions of the learner.
The three-dimensional aspect of this learning adds to the realism of the event. If multiple people are involved, the instruction can incorporate aspects of teamwork, collaboration, and co-creation into the learning outcomes of the critical incident.

The critical incident learning environment places learners into a situation similar to the real event, where they must use their prior knowledge to solve a problem. This use of a virtual world challenges team members to respond together to resolve an issue, incident, or problem. The individuals must act and react as they would during the actual incident. Immersion in a virtual world and then being forced to solve an unexpected problem provides learning in both the affective and cognitive domains. Figure 5.9 shows one of the authors, dressed as a fireman, preparing to extinguish a virtual fire caused by a sudden car accident in a virtual immersive environment (VIE).

Advantages
An advantage of this design is that learners are immersed in a dangerous situation, but are not actually in danger. This design captures the learners’ attention and provides them with a realistic environment in which they are forced to work together to solve an issue and are forced to think rapidly, as they would in the actual situation. It also provides an advantage over a simulation of a dangerous situation since the VIE involves multiple participants and in addition to learning how to react to the incident, the participants must learn to work together as they would in the event of the actual incident.

Disadvantages
Include the time it takes to program and develop explosions, spills, and similar disasters. It also takes time to program the various mechanisms such as fire hoses and other instruments to deal with the disaster. It can also be difficult for a facilitator to view all of a participant’s actions when so much is occurring at one time. Also coordinating all the people who are involved takes some work. Another caution is that while critical incident training in virtual worlds can increase the number of times a team can train together, it cannot totally replace physical drills or practice, most of the elements involved with critical incidents are psychomotor skills and, therefore, do require actual hands on practice in addition to the virtual world practice.
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Class Meeting in 3D World of Second Life

Learning in 3D Class sitting around conference room table.

Jumping into a virtual world can be a fun but scary and daunting place for first timers. As instructional designers, one of our "missions" is to help learners overcome the scary and daunting aspects so learning occurs.

One of my beliefs is that designers need to be made to feel like learners again so they can empathize with the people for whom they are building instruction. To that end, last night, I threw students into the 3D virtual world of Second Life. I purposefully did little instruction and then sent them off to explore the world and comment on the learning aspects of different places they had visited.

During the debrief a number of conclusions where drawn:

1) Throwing learners into a virtual 3D world is a big step, navigation needs to be clear, goals need to be clear and directions need to be clear.

2) Technical problems arise, not everyone could hear my Voice over IP. So I had to resort to typing so everyone could "hear." You need a back up or need to test and retest the virtual world so that learners don't need to worry about technology when they are in virtual worlds.

3) It take time to acclimate to clicking on items, using your arrow keys to move and, especially, using the camera to view what you want to look at.

4) Sometimes too much freedom is too much. Students indicated that talking off clothes, having too many clothes to choose from and not knowing exactly where to go can be overwhelming.

5) Flying was "weird" but fun.

6) Background noises are nice for ambiance, horrible when trying to have a discussion or meeting.

What did I miss? Any other "learning insights" from last night's class?

The class accomplished its goal of pointing out some difficulties in virtual worlds. We will eventually overcome all those difficulties and design and informative and effective educational session but a little "frustration" and "confusion" by an instructional designer makes for better designed instruction. Having been a student using technology makes you a better designer using the technology.

Here are some examples of past Machinima that students have done.

Visualization of Data from Ariella Furman on Vimeo.

Here is one done by a professional. See the original post Don't Forget the Power of 3D Machinima




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Three Approaches to Overcoming Objections to Learning in 3D

In Learning in 3D,we asked Steve Mahaley, of Duke Corporate Education for some ways he overcomes objections and resistance from executives and others to using 3D virtual immersive environments (VIES) for learning and collaboration, here is what he said.

To address this with our clientele, I usually refer to some of the research and writing on games for learning, including works by Gee, Squire, Johnson, Beck and Wade (who published the provocative book Got Game.) [Hopefully now he'll also refer to Kapp, O'Driscoll and Gadgets, Games and Gizmos for Learning.] I find that if I can help the decision-makers make the positive connection between good game design – the reason people become so hooked on the experience – and memory creation and retention, I can then move on to making a connection to serious gaming. First step; use good game design for serious learning outcomes.

Secondly, I often draw the analogy that an immersive 3D experience for serious learning is not really different than creating in-class role plays or doing other immersive experiences (such as outdoor team-building events). This helps make the connection that it is not about the game or the technology, it is really about designing an experience to get to relevant learning outcomes.

Finally, there is sometimes an objection related to perceptions of expense – that the 3D solution will be cost-prohibitive. The good news here is that the cost of technologies is coming down as the capabilities of standard hardware and networks in corporate environments has come up, lowering the technical and financial barriers to entry.

Links to books mentioned above:

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A Question about 3D Virtual Worlds that makes me Crazy

Constantly I am asked this question about 3D that really make me crazy. Here is my short rant.

1) Where is the empirical data about the effectiveness of 3D learning? We can't do anything until we see the evidence of its effectiveness for learning.
Seems valid. Let's see, I must have the evidence of the effectiveness of 3D learning under my pile of reports on the effectiveness of classroom instruction. I'm sorry, where are all those reports and all that evidence about the effectiveness of classroom training? Oh, there is not that much evidence on the effectiveness of classrooms instruction, what's that? Classroom instruction isn't that effective.

Instructor-led training is held up as the gold standard of training excellence because it is has been around for thousands of years but its not that GOOD. In fact, many studies show the transfer of knowledge from an instructor-led training session to on-the-job performance is dismal. Please, don't ask that question.

Ask...can people learn effectively in a 3D environment? or how does learning in a 3D environment contribute to job performance? or what elements of 3D environments make them effective for learning?...but please do not ask if it is as good at instructor-led training, we can only hope its BETTER.

Another answer I want to give when someone asks that question is, "Well I don't know right now where all that data is, why don't you wait for your competitor to conduct those studies. Then we'll know." If you want to be innovative, ahead of the curve and thinking outside of the

box...like all big companies claim to want, you can't wait until all the research is done. Research takes time, can be conflicting and is often hard to generalize especially in the field of learning...but companies want to know that it is "safe" before acting. You cannot stay ahead of competitors by being safe, you can't innovate by being safe. You have to make mistakes and learn to work with them.

Look at Google, they put out Lively and it failed so they pulled it. They put out Buzz...not working so well but they innovate, they'll keep putting something out and something will eventually stick...you can wait for the evidence but your competitors are not waiting they are acting. Google is the gold standard of innovation because...wait for it...they innovate.

Don't talk to me about innovating and out maneuvering your competition by waiting for research results. Didn't Tom Peters once say "Ready, Fire, Aim" is the way to go. Please, we'll all grow old waiting for conclusive evidence of results.

I am not sure Twitter waited for research to show that people would use it for learning and collaboration, I don't think Facebook did a lot of research either.

Sure, I live in academia and respect research and results but I think more and more people use "waiting for research" as an excuse for inaction. History books are not filled with people who waited for the research results before taking action.
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3D Virtual Immersive Environment: Conceptual Orienteering

Conceptual Orienteering is a learning archetype where learners are given activities or situations in which they are presented with examples and non-examples of environmental or situational conditions for the purpose of discrimination and creating an understanding of key concepts.

Orienting a learner to concept of how to properly lift weights without injury and for maximum benefit.

Image courtesy of Randy Hinrichs of 2b3d and author of an upcoming handbook about learning in 3D.

Teaching concepts involves providing the learner with examples and non-examples of the concept and then allowing the learner to determine the attributes that describe the concept. This allows the learner to recognize and apply the concept in a variety of different environments. In the archetype of conceptual orienteering, learners are shown a number of different items, examples, or situations which they can mentally compare. Then the facilitator asks the learners to identify the similarities and differences.

The process of side-by-side comparison allows learners to recognize and apply concepts in a variety of different environments. Learners studying to be FDA inspectors could be teleported from one manufacturing line to another to see the difference between inspecting a plant that creates medical devices versus one that creates ingestible drugs.

The goal is to provide a visualization of the differences to the learner who can then determine what attributes apply to the concept and what attributes do not. The learners can visually see attributes and do a mental comparison through the ability to instantly move from one location to another. These do not always need to be physical attributes. For example, you could create a 3D environment to resemble what it looks like to someone who is legally drunk and provide a frame of reference for the person attempting to understand the impairment that occurs when a person has too much to drink. The learner can then get behind the wheel of a virtual car and see and feel the effects of trying to drive while "drunk."

You can take this concept beyond physical items into the mental arena. For example, there is a location in Second Life that shows what the world looks like from the view of a schizophrenic. The idea is to give the learner a conceptual orientation of what it would be like to have the condition. The learner can then better understand the implications of the event or the condition. You can use the same concept to display what it would be like to work in a dimly lit coal mine, a confined space or other unfamiliar environment.

In other types of conceptual orienteering a participant can participate at both the macro and micro levels. You can shrink learners to the size of blood cells and propel them through the blood stream to observe a drug’s interaction with a virus. Or a person can fly over a proposed subdivision to observe the layout and intersection of roads and sidewalks. Or be transported to another time and place to observe customs of the people.

Steps to conducting a conceptual orienteering lesson
1. Introduce the learners to the environment or area that illustrates the concept.
2. Allow the learners to “experience” the concept.
3. Debrief the learners on their experience with the concept.
4. Ask questions to identify misconceptions and send them back to environment to clarify.

Advantage
One advantage is that a learner can experience a concept which is not otherwise possible because of time and space limitations or because of potential danger. They can stand in the middle of a tsunami or fly around a molecule. The 3D virtual immersive environment can also allow the learner to repeat the experience over and over again so they can really grasp a concept.

Disadvantage
Disadvantages include the time it takes to create the environment necessary to convey the concept. It is also sometimes difficult to determine the best environment to create to effectively immerse the learner into the concept. If the design is not established properly, the possibility that the learner may not learn the concept from the environment does exist.

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Presentation Recap for the U.S. Air Force’s Global Learning Forum

Agenda for the Global Learning Forum

Last night I had the privileged of presenting to the U.S. Air Force’s Global Learning Forum (GLF) group in Second Life at Huffman Prairie Chi. It was a great event.

GLF represents a collaborative group of educators from across government and private universities and organizations exploring and prototyping the use of open 3D worlds in support of learning. A little over a year ago Air University formed GLF to help support virtual collaborative prototyping efforts and research. The group now have over 300 educators, from across several universities, engaged in various collaborative efforts within the 3D world of Second Life. Second Life is used as our primary open access platform for collaboration.

Once a quarter, the group hosts an in-world GLF event on based on a theme of that is of interest to members. I had the opportunity to speak on the topic of "Learning in 3D" and also got to listen to some very engaging speakers.

The event kicked off with Dr. Arthur M. Langer the Senior Director of the Center for Technology, Innovation, and Community Engagement and Dr. L. Lee Knefelkamp, professor of psychology and education both of Columbia University talking about Digital Literacy.

Event kicking off with introductions.

Dr. Langer and Dr. Knefelkamp discuss a model to help understand the elements of digital literacy. 

Next, I spoke about "Learning in 3D" covering the concept of sensibilities and archetypes. Here is the set of slides that were used for the presentation.

Learning in 3 d for vwbpe

Slides used in my presentation. You can View more presentations from kkapp by clicking on these links.

Next, Dr. Fil J. Arenas spoke. He is currently an assistant professor of Organizational Leadership at the Squadron Officer College arriving and an adjunct professor at Troy University,
Montgomery campus in graduate studies. He spent 28 years in the military (14 USAF and 14 USN)and retired as a Lieutenant Commander, he served as a Medical Service Corps officer until he retired. He spoke about the Squadron Officer College (SOC) and how they are incorporating virtual worlds into their training program.

Dr. Arenas making a point about the Squadron Officer College educational program.

A look at the elements making up the Squadron Officer School.

Then, we had the privilege of touring the virtual campus of the SOC. We got to witness a holodeck like feature with different environments and toured the virtual facility.

At the SOC several aircraft are on display around the campus. 

The holodeck even had a scene from ancient Egypt complete with a scary mummy.

At the SOC information desk, we were able to pick up some freebies.

It was a wonderful tour of the SOC. Good presentations and great audience members, I had a great "virtual time."
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Don't Forget the Power of 3D Machinima

One creative element of 3D Virtual Immersive Environments that many people tend to forget is the power to create machinima.

"Machinima is the use of real-time graphics rendering engines, mostly three-dimensional (3-D), to generate computer animation. The term also refers to works that incorporate this animation technique." Wikipedia Definition.

Recently, Ariella Furman a Machinimatographer at Framedin3D emailed me to explain that with machinima, you can increase learning and collaboration on almost any topic. What it allows you to do without elaborate cinematic sets or budgets is to be able to tell a story cinematically. Learners then get to know the characters in ways you otherwise wouldn't wrap your mind around. The machinima stories connect with the learners using mulitiple senses. The machinimatographer records sound and visuals, then compiles the story strategically for learning results. (She also mentioned in her blog she doesn't like the Wikipedia definition of Machinima.)

The great thing about machinima is that it has no limitations. Anything you can imagine, can be achieved. Messages and learning events can be encapsulated in intriguing and unique ways.

Check out this great machinima done for IBM by Ariella and the team at Framedin3D that describes requirements planning. I think it makes some very abstract concepts, very real.

IBM Episode 6 from Ariella Furman on Vimeo.

Here is another interesting machinima illustrating the concept of "data". Again, machinima has the real ability to allow the learner to visualize abstract concepts and ideas and to make what seems intangible, tangible and "real." It can illustrate concepts in the way few other media can because of its versatility and cost effectiveness.

Visualization of Data from Ariella Furman on Vimeo.

To learn more about the process and concepts behind Machinimia check out Framedin3D's blog.


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What it means that MS LifeScience Award Goes to 3D Virtual Conference Design

Event
By now you've probably already heard that the Microsoft Life Sciences Innovation Award 2010 has gone to a project that uses a 3-D virtual environment to hold a virtual scientific poster session. The session, held by the pharmaceutical company Merck was conducted in Photosphere and featured the opportunity for scientists to gather and interact with each other. To learn, collaborate and exchange knowledge. This is the type of usage of 3D environments Tony and I wrote about in Learning in 3D

As MS announced as they gave the award:“The companies that received awards are on the cutting edge of integrating life sciences and information technology to advance research and benefit patients around the world,” said Michael Naimoli, U.S. life sciences industry solutions director, Microsoft. “By demonstrating quantifiable results, each of the award recipients is not only showing how Microsoft technology can be implemented to revolutionize the industry but also providing a road map for other companies that want to advance their own organizations.”

Results measured after the poster session demonstrated that the virtual environment was effective for scientific meetings and was well accepted by the current generation of scientists, suggesting that these environments can be used to deliver immediate value.

Analysis
The most fascinating features of this news to me are:

1) Microsoft recognizes the importance and significance of 3D. We've all read about IBM jumping into the 3D space and working hard to create a presence in 3D but one could always contend that they are being innovative because they are bringing innovation to their clients and want to "resell" 3D. But Microsoft with no known 3D product or initiative has recognized the importance of 3D for innovation. I wonder if they are not going to have a major push in the near future in the area of 3D? We know the company has a lot of resources and, although they sometimes arrive late to the party (internet browsers, game consoles)...once they arrive, they make a huge impact. It will be interesting to see what comes of Microsoft's interest in 3D.

2) The pharmaceutical industry is highly regulated and rightfully concerned about social media and what is allowed to be said and what is not allowed to be said. (see Pfizer's $2.3 Billion-Dollar Settlement)Yet, at least one pharma company (and I know of several others) has embraced 3D virtual immersive environment (VIE) technology. I think this is very telling. If an industry as highly regulated and concerned about messages can embrace 3D virtual world technology, other industries are not far behind.

3) In addition to being highly regulated, the pharmaceutical industry has been notoriously conservative in its approach to training. I know of several large companies that have just recently embraced the "new fangled" elearning and virtual classrooms and others who have started to innovate only to go backwards because of new leadership and these are the large companies, mid-sized and small pharmaceutical companies are even more conservative. So when a major pharmaceutical company not only embraces 3D virtual immersive environment technology but also applies for an award for using the technology, you can sense an industry moving in a particular direction. I see the pharmaceutical and medical device industry rapidly moving in the direction of 3D. This is further underlined by Kaplan-EduNeering's partership with Protonmedia.

4) Corporate monies are about to be thrown behind 3D in a BIG WAY. This is because of the link between pharmaceutical companies and the larger "healthcare industry". And the impact is huge. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Healthcare industry provided 14.3 million jobs for wage and salary workers in 2008, holds ten of the 20 fastest growing occupations and will generate 3.2 million new wage and salary jobs between 2008 and 2018, more than any other industry, largely in response to rapid growth in the elderly population. So imagine when pharmaceutical companies begin to offer healthcare providers 3D virtual learning, eduction and conference experiences then the trickle down impact will mean that 3D environments will impact over 14 million people in terms of training for their jobs. To me, the tipping point for 3D will be in the healthcare industry based on the resources and efforts of pharmaceutical companies.

Conclusion
Microsoft's interest in 3D coupled with the 3D efforts of the pharmaceutical industry will push virtual 3D world technology from the fringes of organizational training and collaboration efforts to the forefront of organizational learning and collaboration efforts. It is only a matter of time.

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Interesting Developments in 3D Learning and Collaboration Space

Some interesting developments in the 3D Learning and Collaboration Space.

First, it looks as though Linden Labs, the developers behind Second Life, may be downsizing their corporate efforts (Second Life Enterprise Edition). Two sources indicate that Linden may actually be shutting down their Enterprise operations. While this has not been totally verified by dozens of data sources. The story seems to have broken in a number of places, Virtual Worlds News reports that Linden Lab Lays Off 30 Perfect Of Staff. And Massively, a blog that provides daily information about MMOs. Reported the following in an article Linden Lab laying off staff, closing Singapore office:

...there are signs of what seems to be a significant series of layoffs in progress at Linden Lab.There's a pattern at work when various key staffers are about to depart from the Lab fold. A sudden rise in job-oriented social networking (particularly reconnecting with ex-Lab staffers), a sudden burst of recommendations and references, and so forth. We watched it all over the weekend, in some very unusual places. Some staff have already gotten notice, while others are evaluating their options in case they're tapped in a subsequent round.

Most or all of the team that engineered the Second Life Enterprise product was let go not long after it went into production...At this moment, our information is far from complete but it's a pretty good bet that if you're a part of the Lab's market-development or business-development groups, you're already clearing out your desk this week.

Additionally, sources inside the industry indicate that Linden seems to be more focused on its customer-focused 3D environment than its business-to-business efforts. This can't be making IBM happy. They where one of the first to invest corporate resources to incorporate Second Life into enterprisewide options, as I reported back in 2008.

Second, ProtonMedia, the developers of ProtoSphere has announced a strategic partnership with IBM (specifically the Global Services Division.) Here is what the press release indicates:

IBM and and ProtonMedia have entered into a teaming agreement that will result in the delivery of innovative, 3-D virtual collaboration and communication solutions engineered specifically for global life sciences organizations. Under the terms of the agreement, ProtonMedia’s ProtoSphere technology will be the basis for customized, 3-D virtual collaboration environments to create high-performance workplaces. IBM’s Global Business Services division will provide consultancy, integration, deployment, and installation services to life science customers around the world, leveraging the ProtoSphere platform. The companies are also in discussions for cross-marketing initiatives for their solutions.

See press release here.

I find the announcement of the two issues, the potential closing of the Linden Enterprise Edition and the teaming of ProtonMedia and IBM to NOT be a coincidence. IBM, if you remember, was one of the first large organizations in Second Life and was a pioneer in using Second Life for its clients and now it is moving toward another 3D virtual immersive environment vendor. Interesting development.

Third, yesterday, the University of Washington Virtual World Certificate officially had its first graduation. The graduating class has Deborah Frincke, Chief Scientist for CyberSecurity Research, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory as our guest speaker. Deborah has been instrumental in supporting the students in the development of Cybersecurity Island, which they presented to the attendees shortly after graduation. This year the student speaker was Valibrarian Gregg, aka Valerie Hill, MLS, Lewisville ISD and PhD Student at Texas Woman’s University. She reflected on the journey her classmates have made this year, which has been prestigious and arduous. The student's worked hard and excelled at mastering virtual worlds in theory, design, development and big ideas. This is one of the first virtual world certificate graduation of which I am aware and it means that people are seriously studying the subject and becoming experts in building virtual immersive environment for educational, corporate and government uses.

Here is the 411 (information) on the Virtual World Certificate program.

Fourth, and perhaps most important (tongue firmly in cheek). An announcement was made that SpongeBob is going to be made into a 3D virtual world. According to Worlds in Motion.

Viacom division MTV Networks Asia and Singaporean developer GigaMedia Limited announced plans to co-develop and jointly publish a massively multiplayer online game based on animated TV series SpongeBob SquarePants.

I find these announcements interesting as the 3D virtual worlds begin to separate into distinct offerings. The industry seems to be more clearly and firmly drawing the line between companies that support 3D virtual worlds for games and as social networks and companies that are seriously focused on the corporate advantages of 3D virtual worlds. The industry is undergoing some interesting but necessary changes as some players become more corporate focused and others become more consumer focused.
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3D Slideshows and Interviews

Here is a list of the 3D Slides I've posted on Slideshare and some interviews about 3D. (all in one place).

Slideshows

Learning in 3D

Learning in 3D: Examples, Samples and Models

Learning in 3D: Postcards from Learning in 3D (Presentation to Best Practices in Virtual Worlds)

3D Learning Archetypes

Why 3D? (Presentation given at Penn State)

Interviews

RWD Speaks about Using 3D Virtual Environments for Learning and Collaboration

Interview with CEO of ProtonMedia and President of Kaplan-EduNeering on 3D in Compliance Training and Collaboration

Interview of Tony and Karl at Metanomics (Done in world of Second Life)

Karl Kapp on Learning in 3D (audio interview)

Video Visit with Learning in 3D co-author, Karl Kapp (at the ProtonMedia blog)


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ASTD International Conference Learning in 3D Recap Video and Slides

Here is a link to the video of the presentation Tony and I did at the ASTD conference a few weeks ago courtesy of Protonmedia. (Once you follow the link, you will need to scroll down to view the video on the post.)

Also, here are the accompanying slides if you want to follow along "at home."

Learning in 3D: Examples, Samples and Models

View more presentations from kkapp.

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A Lot Happening in the 3D Space

Last week a lot of 3D news occurred, here is a round up of some of the highlights:

• I stopped by the ASTD booth of Digitell, Inc. and met James A. Parker, the President, who said his booth was buzzing the entire conference and a lot of people were interested in 3D webinars. Digitell is company that owns VirtualU a 3D virtual immersive environment that has been used for everything from meetings to rock concerts. Learn more about their 3D solution here.
  
  
• As announced first on this blog, ProtonMedia announced a strategic partnership with RWD on heals of another announcement of a strategic partnership with Kaplan-EduNeering. I think these two activities signal a real "serious" look at moving 3D virtual immersive environments into organizations at the enterprise level. Stay tuned for more big announcements in the enterprise space for 3D virtual worlds.
  
  
• ThinkingWorlds, the 3D simulations software created by Caspian Learning, just announced a joint venture with Bohemia Interactive, a well known military simulations company with the VBS2 engine also known as Virtual Battlespace 2. VBS2 is a fully interactive, three-dimensional, PC-based synthetic environment specifically developed for military training, mission rehearsal and analysis.According to Chris Chris Brannigan, of Caspian, the "main driver of the partnership is to bring rapid authoring and thin client delivery to VBS2 and therefore into the military simulations arena."
  
  
• Additionally, ThinkingWorlds announced they are bringing immersive simulations through Java applets to the browser. ThinkingWorlds demonstrated this capability at ITEC Conference in London. The capability is currently in testing with military clients and over the next month Caspian will add in SCORM and other functionality. Java gives the ThinkingWorlds application many advantages for delivery - it is almost ubiquitous, it can be delivered securely and it is very portable and easy to host by any client.
  
  
• Linden Labs, makers of Second Life, announce the list of the Top Ten: 2010 Linden Prize Finalists. The prize recognizes a Second Life Resident, or team, for an innovative inworld project that improves the way people work, learn, and communicate in their daily lives outside of the virtual world. There were 130 finalists and I am happy to say our friends at the Uncle D's Storyquest project are among the finalists. I visited with them a few months ago and blogged about it in Using Virtual Worlds in the Conspiracy to Create an ah-ha Moment so congratulations to Marty and Jena.
  
  
• Sue Todd, president of Corporate University Xchange-- leading provider of corporate university research, benchmarking, and advisory services for helping organizations transform corporate learning--wrote an interesting piece she calls Long Live 3D Learning where she discusses three encounters she's had lately with the concept of 3D for learning and collaboration. She ends her post with Improved performance. Stronger ROI. More and better education. Yes 3D Learning – it’s looking like you have a bright future ahead.
  

It looks like things are happening in the 3D space, to learn about important aspects of 3D check out my post at The Tech Dimension called Three Things to Know about Learning in 3D Environments to gain additional understanding of why 3D is starting to take hold. __

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Five 3D Environments on Your 2D Laptop

Here are five products on the market today that allow you to escape the 2D environment of your laptop and add a third dimension to your file structure, navigation and functionality. 3D interfaces are starting to appear everywhere for your laptop, iPad or other portable computing devices. Check them out.

One:
Recently, Google has purchased a 3D interface that is pretty slick for the desktop called BumpTop...here is a video showing how it works:


Two:

You can do a semi-3D search with SpaceTime 3D which shows web pages scrolling one after another in a carousel format.

Three:

Tactile 3D allows you to organizing your files and directories customizing their position in a 3D space. All common file operations are supported and can be shown in 3-dimensions.

Four:

The 3B Browser lets you take any web site or photo and place them in a personalized 3D space, your 3B room. You can add many web sites and have a complete gallery where you, as an avatar, and a friend or two can walk around a 3D space and look at the web sites together.

Five

The company 3DNA provides different 3D Add-on Worlds to explore and customize for an immersive and entertaining desktop. 3DNA is not a replacement for Windows - it works seamlessly with your current set up, while providing 3D environments in which to view your information. You can hang photos on your walls and explore 3D spaces with many different environments to choose from.

So, you might not be ready to jump into a 3D world like ProtoSphere, OLIVE or Second Life but, are you ready for a 3D environment to make your laptop a little less...boring and a little more productive?

If you'd rather check out 3D worlds see:

• Still More Alternatives to Second Life: More 3D Worlds to Explore
  
• A Few More Alternatives to Second Life
  
• Alternatives to Second Life (continued again)
  
• Alternatives to Second Life Continued
  
• Alternatives to Second Life

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3D Video Game Revolution is Close

While venturing into a 3D world is interesting, exciting and opens all sorts of possibilities, it is equally as exciting to have a 3D world surround you. And while some people believe that the 3D and virtual world "bubbles" have popped, I'm not one of those people.

There are too many happenings in and initiatives in 3D gaming for me not to believe that a 3D-revolution is very, very close.

For example, the first ever 3D-Gaming Summit was held earlier this month where dozens of game developers, business executives and other stereoscopic 3-D gaming advocates converged to discuss the future of 3D in a living room near you. As indicated in the article titled 3-D Video Gaming Aspires To Become Spectacle states:

For many modern games, the leap to 3-D is actually just a step. The medium is well suited for 3-D because the majority of today's games are created in three dimensions, making conversion a snap. Eisler said more than 400 current PC games, including "Battlefield: Bad Company 2" and "Resident Evil 5," can be played in 3-D with the right equipment.

You can also check out a video of part of the conference through this link Games want slice of 3D action

Also, the latest update to Sony’s PS3 enables the support of 3D stereoscopic games on the console (although games specifically written to this software update won't be widely available but Sony does forecast that 3D televisions would make up between 30 per cent and 50 per cent of all TV sets it sells in the financial year beginning in April 2012. One market drive many see behind the sale of these sets are gamers purchasing 3D video games.(Source: 3D games on PS3 take a step closer.)

As a bridge to the full scale adoption of 3D video games, the software company NVIDIA has a product called 3D Vision™ which helps to transforms PC games into full stereoscopic 3D right out of the box, without the need for special game patches. You can learn more about it here.

Once 3D is fully entrenched in the consumer market, it won't be long before it is in the training and collaboration market, that's why it is important to understand how 3D learning environment are best designed and leverage for real learning results. Today 3D takes place in a computer screen, tomorrow it will take place in the same space you are physically occupying.

Learn how to design 3D spaces in Learning in 3D. The book explores all the ways in which a 3D learning space should be designed to leverage the affordances of 3D and make learning truly immersive and those skills will be need by learning designers in the not-too-distant future.

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3D Classroom Visit at the University of Washington

Tony, Randy and Karl looking out over the 

audience and explaining Learning in 3D.

Last night Tony and I had a chance to visit with some 3D pioneers at the University of Washington. Randy Hinrichs, Managing Partner of 2b3d and Affiliate Faculty for Virtual Worlds at their iSchool was a large contributor to Learning in 3D and has been run an interesting program to promote the use of 3D virtual worlds.

The full year curriculum is designed to skill up entrepreneurs in using virtual worlds. Once a learner completes the program, they will be able to select and use 3D learning environments, design and develop 3D learning environments, measure and market 3D learning environments. Additionally, learners gained information about using simulated environments to enhance all types of organizations, including online communities, education, retailing, political expression and military training.

Listening to great ideas and innovation in the world of 3D Learning.

We had a great discussion about elements of the book and then asked the group of learners what questions and comments they wanted to share with us. They had some great comments and insights into 3D virtual world learning and gave great descriptions of how 3D is making an impact.



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Creating the Right Environment for Your 3D Learning Experience

An important element in creating effective learning in a 3D virtual world is to create the right environment. Since virtual immersive environments are, by definition, immersive, the environment plays a critical role in the training process.

A 3D world can be realistic like putting a person in a sales situation and asking them to perform or it can be more surreal like having a doctor walk through a giant heart to gain another perspective on human anatomy.

To create the right environment, you need to ask yourself some questions.

• Should the learning be in a realistic environment?
  
• Can it be in a more stylized or surreal setting or even a setting not possible in real life?
  
• What do the learners need to do in this environment?
  
• What role does the environment play in the learning process?
  
• Is the environment a backdrop to the learning experience or an integrated element required for learning?

When the learning environment requires realism, virtual worlds are an effective solution. They can mimic the physical world by realistically depicting cityscapes, vehicles and machinery. If the fidelity required to ensure optimal performance is high, virtual worlds can provide the necessary realism. The graphical and auditory realism of many virtual worlds allow for highly realistic depictions of realistic objects. This can be critical when teaching the operation of gages, dials and switches. It also provides an authentic environment in which the learner can practice. Virtual worlds can also allow for the inclusion of realistic settings, clothing and weather conditions. All of these visual cues become encoded in the learner’s mind and make it easier for him or her to recall the learning in the exact setting in which it is required.

 On the other hand, VIEs can provide the learner with an immersive experience in which he or she could not otherwise venture. For example, a person can be dropped into the center of a volcano or shrunk to the size of a molecule and explore the blood stream or even experience life as a member of the opposite gender. VIEs can provide a context for teaching difficult to grasp concepts through immersion of the learner into a completely foreign environment. When considering the creation of a virtual world learning experience keep in mind the importance of the environment and make that a key element of your development process. __

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