:::: IMMERSIVE EDUCATION CONTENT REVIEW, RANKING, TAGGING, VETTING ::::

WHAT: Immersive Education content review, ranking, tagging, and vetting [MEETING]
WHEN: FRIDAY MARCH 21, 2008 from 1-2pm EST
WHERE: Second Life (EduIsland: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Eduisland/158/60/22/)
TRANSCRIPT: >>LISTEN TO THE AUDIO TRANSCRIPT NOW<<

.:: join the Immersive Education Second Life GROUP for in-world event invitations ::.

Join us in EduIsland (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Eduisland/158/60/22/) to discuss the process for reviewing, ranking, tagging and vetting Immersive Education learning environments and the content they are comprised of. An overview of the Education Grid will be presented with a focus on proposed requirements for 1) Support for multiple asset types and content formats, 2) Quality control and legal vetting, 3) Multi-tiered metadata architecture, and 4) Content linking and associations. See Meeting Materials below for an overview of these draft requirements.

Special guest Dr. Jonathon Richter (University of Oregon) will demonstrate the potential for using in-world content review tools, such as the Second Life SaLamander HUD (heads up display), to review and rate Immersive Education content. Richter will discuss how the HUD may be enhanced to support any Immersive Education virtual world platform including Croquet and Wonderland.

This meeting starts at 1pm EST (10am pacific / Second Life time) and ends at 2pm, with additional time beyond that allocated to questions and further discussion.

MEETING MATERIALS: 

>> Metadata Example : In-world Usage Scenario <<

Immersive Education content (digital media assets stored in the Education Grid) may be associated with a rich variety of metadata that enables the objects, animations, audio files, and videos that comprise Immersive Education environments to “know what they're related to” and also “know what's related to them”. Consider, for example, a 3D Anubis sculpture that might appear in an Egyptian history Immersive Education learning environment. In a non-learning environment, such as a traditional computer game or virtual world, the object would have no knowledge or information associated with it other than its own visual representation (what it looks like). In an Immersive Education environment, however, the object itself may be associated with a wide range of related and interlinked learning resources that are available upon selecting the object (clicking on the object; actuating it). When a user touches the Anubis object, for example, they could be presented with a pop-up context menu that displays related topics that link to associated learning materials. In this way the Immersive Education learning experience can be greatly enhanced by enabling digital media assets to be associated with knowledge metadata that can be presented to the end user (learner) through hyperlinks as illustrated by Figure 1 below:

Figure 1: This Anubis object has metadata associated with it that enables users to learn more about the object and its relationship to other objects. In this example the learner has chosen to view a video that details recent Egyptian excavations of Anubis shrines. Users of the system can also rate objects, tag them with metadata, show related objects and environments, and search for other learning materials.

>> Education Grid Requirements Specification : Working Draft EXCERPTS <<

Section 2.8 Support for multiple asset types and content formats

Immersive Education revolves not only around 3D content but also many other asset types and content formats (e.g., text, images, audio, video, mini-games, etc.). Support for multiple asset types and representational formats is a requirement of the Education Grid and all Immersive Education client-side platforms. The Education Grid must support content services for a variety of modern asset and content formats, whereas client-side platforms must be capable of handling multiple content types natively or provide a framework for pluggable application components to handle existing and, as yet, undeveloped content types.

Section 2.9 Quality control and legal vetting

Immersive Education content (i.e., comprehensive immersive learning experiences and any digital media content assets such experiences are comprised of, such as 3D objects, images, videos, mini-games, and so forth) must be adequately reviewed, categorized and tagged with metadata prior to being formally accepted into the Education Grid. Content submission and review processes may include peer-review and asset tagging by users (lay persons), educators, and domain experts alike. Content may be further categorization by trained digital librarians. Content review and tagging is an ongoing process that shall continue over the entire lifetime of an asset that has entered the system; users, educators, domain experts and digital librarians shall be able to review and tag content continually and at any time.

Content must be properly vetted for distribution and usage rights before being accepted into the Education Grid. Content metadata must therefore identify content authors and copyright holders and also convey licensing and distribution rights.

TBD (To Be Determined): User-created content and self-publication are fundamental drivers of the modern World Wide Web. Examples include YouTube, Wikipedia, and other so-called "Web 2.0" sites. A low barrier to entry in terms of self-publication can facilitate rapid growth and widespread usage of new technologies such as Immersive Education and the corresponding Education Grid. A credible argument can therefore be made that setting too high of a barrier to entry when it comes to publishing content into the Education Grid may stifle its potential . Careful consideration must therefore be given to the minimal level of quality control and vetting necessary for content to be accepted into the Education Grid. It may be desirable, for example, to allow content to be accepted into the system with merely a single positive rating (by a credible source) provided that the individual who submitted the content also granted distribution rights at the time that the content was submitted. Automatically accepting content into the system by mere virtue of the fact that the content is already being used by an educator is another mechanism to consider, which constitutes an implicit acknowledgement of quality (at least one educator sees some value in that content as he/she has used it for teaching/educating).

Section 2.10 Multi-tiered metadata architecture

The metadata model will include provisions for qualitative analysis, raking/rating, and tagging by domain experts (subject matter experts), educators, students (learners) and all other users of the system. Content search services must support searching by any tier of metadata and by any combination of metadata tiers. At a minimum the system should support at least the following three tiers (levels) of metadata:

1. Domain experts - a domain experts, also known as a subject matter expert (SME), has special knowledge or skills in a specific area.
2. Educators - teachers, professors, corporate trainers and other educators who are not domain experts (subject matter experts) for the type of content they are ranking, rating, or tagging.
3. Students (learners) and users - users of the system who are not educators or domain experts.
   

Section 2.11 Content linking and associations

The metadata model will include provisions for associating (linking) all manner of assets to any other asset (e.g., associating with a piece of content any type or quantity of 3D models, videos, research papers, book chapters, Web pages, reports, forums, etc.). Allowing content assets in the system to be associated (linked) with any type or number of others asset will enable a rich information system that benefits users, content creators, educators and researchers.

>> VIDEO: In-world Content Review Concept Demonstration <<

View the SaLamander HUD (heads up display) video at http://blip.tv/file/571587

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: AVATAR TRACKING AND ANALYSIS :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

WHAT: Avatar tracking and analysis meeting, demonstrations, discussion [MEETING]
WHEN: FRIDAY MARCH 14, 2008 1-2pm EST
WHERE: Second Life (Casablanca: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Casablanca/135/87/26)
TRANSCRIPT: >>LISTEN TO THE AUDIO TRANSCRIPT NOW<<

.:: join the Immersive Education Second Life GROUP for in-world event invitations ::.

Join us in Casablanca (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Casablanca/135/87/26) to discuss how avatar tracking and analysis will be used to record activity and assess student performance within Immersive Education learning environments. An overview of avatar tracking and analysis relative to the Education Grid will be discussed, with a focus on Education Grid requirements for open APIs and interfaces, protected learning environments, usage metrics, and anti-spoofing mechanisms (see Meeting Materials below for an overview of these draft requirements).

Special guest Prof. Hilary Mason of Johnson and Wales University will demonstrate real-time usage metrics in Second Life and discuss how this research may contribute to Immersive Education standards that can be supported by any virtual world platform including Croquet and Wonderland.

This meeting starts at 1pm EST (10am pacific / Second Life time) and ends at 2pm, with additional time beyond that allocated to questions and further discussion.

MEETING MATERIALS: 

>> Hilary Mason's in-world Presentation Slides <<

Download the slides shown in-world (inside Second Life) during this meeting:
2008-03-14_Immersive_Education_avatar_slides.zip

>> Real-time Metrics Graphs <<

>> Education Grid Requirements Specification : Working Draft EXCERPTS <<

Section 2.4 Open APIs and interfaces

To the extent possible the Education Grid will be built using existing open standards for Internet-based communications and data transfer (i.e., TCP/IP, HTTP, etc.). The Immersive Education Initiative will design, develop, document and publish open Application Programmer Interfaces (APIs), protocols, and interfaces to provide software developers with comprehensive, flexible and open access to the Education Grid.

Section 2.13 Protected learning environments

Immersive Education requires the establishment of learning environments with varying levels of protection. Public environments will impose the fewest restrictions and enable the widest distribution of learning assets and virtual classroom experiences. Private learning environments may also be created with restricted access only to authorized users in order to provide safe learning environments —especially for young children who, for example, should only engage in multi-user collaborations that involve their fellow classmates and their teacher(s).

Protected environments with restrictions on permitted content may also be provided to enable quick and easy means for educators, parents, administrators, and facilitators to control access to categorical ranges of content (c.f., video and entertainment rating systems).

Section 2.14 Usage metrics

Varying utilization metrics will be required ranging from realtime playback (re-play of an experience in real time), audio/video and image recording and capture, to data reduction mechanisms for quantitative evaluation and assessment. Educators and students alike should have the capability to record and play back educational experiences for purposes of citation, historical records, safety measures, further study and/or assessment purposes. Informed consent shall be obtained in all scenarios where session recording is possible. Additional usage and tracking mechanisms (such as avatar navigation tracking, storing pages of text opened and read, logging video segments watched by the user, etc.), may be provided as completion metrics and for assessment.

Section 2.16 Anti-spoofing mechanisms

The need to permit a wide range of representations (i.e., avatars) for individuals in Immersive Education is self-evident. However, the capability to tie multiple and fanciful avatars to specific users must be provided. The capacity for anonymity may be preserved in some spaces, but in order to create learning environments that are safe, protected and secure anti-spoofing mechanisms must be implemented.