High Fidelity 36

Mission is almost completed! We have put instructions, contact details and map of all the space in telepoint house. Furthermore, all the words in word corridor have their own explanation, pictures and example sentences. And we have tested the space through VR, every thing looks awesome!

This Saturday is AUT Live, we are looking forward to being the volunteers and show our design on that day.  

High Fidelity 34

What a terrible day! Darryl had intended to record the words for us, but the space crashes all day. I have packed the sandbox to Andi, however, she can not load it in her PC either. We have no way to solve the problem.

Reflection
When we apply new technology in education, it is common to meet several problems on technology.

High Fidelity 33

The words corridor has almost been done. Every word has its explanation, example sentence and corresponding picture. The next step we should do is recording the pronunciation of those words by Darryl and other professors.

When learners go across this street, they can learn the unique words in NZ by themselves.

High Fidelity 32

When I enter the space today, the website added by Andi make sounds automatically even if I do not go into the room which it is in. That's a problem we should solve in case the sound bother the learners. 

In addition, more unique words in NZ and explanation of them have been placed in the space and they will be accompanied with corresponding pictures later.

High Fidelity 31

Some words and explanations of them are added on words corridor. Accompanied with NZ background,  learners could study several unique words in NZ. The phonetic symbol and example sentences will be also shown on the board soon.

High Fidelity 30

Awesome! Our clothes shop is almost completed. People can try some of the goods when they click on them. Besides, learners are able to know about some commonly used conversation during the process of consuming. And we intend to add more information signs and exercises later.

High Fidelity 29

Java script of choice questions has been done. I find a friend of mine to make the script. His major is IT and good at programming. According to our requirement, the answer will turn green if the uses choose the right one. The program could be used to test words' familiarity of the learners.

Reflection
Some programs in virtual learning space need specific skills like programming language. It is really a challenge for the educators and designers since they may lack of such skills or the building of space should involve more specialized persons with other skills.

The script sample shows below:

1 Which would you like, a cup of tea or a glass of milk?

---________.I think I'll just have a glass of water.

A.Both

B.Neither

C.None

D.Either

2 I've never seen ___ match before.

A.such an exciting

B.so an exciting.

C.such an excited.

D.so an excited.

3 We usually ____ hello to each other.

A.tell

B.talk

C.such an excited.

D.say

High Fidelity 28

These days,  the clothes shop is being built consistently. Some shirts and jeans are made in Blender; some are downloaded from Internet; some are grabbed from other places.

Reflection
During the process of building clothes, I feel the limitation of technology. In the future, educators and designers in the virtual learning space may need more professional skills in building space.

High Fidelity 27

Today, I changed the menu in Fish&Chips shop into another one with pictures. The colorized one could make learners be willing to scan the menu and buy the products since the brain love colors.

In fact, there are several kinds of fish like Hoki in Fish&Chips shop of New Zealand. I just choose some of them in this space.

High Fidelity 26

There is a problem when we are building our space. That's the technique. For instance, we are going to upload an words exercise program in it. But we are not good at Java Script as Arts students and the process of High Fidelity are harder than the one in Second Life.
So, the creation in HF need more professional skills and it is a really challenge for the designers and educators.

High Fidelity 25

I have collected several clothes for creating a clothes demonstration room. In New Zealand, there are some unique words of clothes and we are going to give learners some examples here.

To show various kinds of clothes, a hanger is essential. I find it on Net but the format is not correct.
Therefore, I input it in Blender and then exported a right one.
We will continue filling the hanger with different clothes in the next few days.

High Fidelity 24

Although we have finished the Fish&Chips shop several days ago, some contents in it have been modified consistently.
For the menu, we have changed the one with pictures into the pure text one. However, we intent to add some images again.
For the food on the table, they can be moved and grabbed by the users now.
All the alteration are for the convenience of learners to have a better experience in this learning space.

High Fidelity 23

Except for indoor rooms, we also have outdoor spaces for learners to exchange their opinions and relax themselves.

Outdoor learning spaces provide learners with chairs, blackboards, recreational centre, etc. The place outside the room could make learners feel more relaxed and give them another experience different from the traditional learning spaces.

The next thing I intend to do is that modify the menu in Fish&Chips shop.

High Fidelity 22

We have uploaded several textures of Queen Street  to make all the scene has NZ style.
The pictures are chose from Google or took by ourselves. The shops, buildings and banks which are the same as the real ones on Queen Street. And the cobbled road extends to every shops.

One of the biggest problem that we should solve this week is to try to make a script which could operate the words exercise.

High Fidelity 21

So far so good! All the high fidelity files could be packed up now, so I am able to work on it on any computer and do not need to worry about the loss of the contents.

Andi is still trying to make the sky box better. And I begin to add the instruction of the educational space which is focused on New Zealand English. The aim of our design is not only teaching ESL, but also provide learners with NZ culture environment.

High Fidelity 20

Well done! We have solved pack-up problem. The reason why we could not find the 'sand box' before is that the file has been hidden. We just need to tick 'Hidden Items' in View.

Another thing is that someone respond to us that maybe we should update our server to invite others to our own space.

High Fidelity 19

Andi is trying to make the sky box more authentic.

And I have added  a supplementary menu in our fish shop.

Besides, I got some replies from the peers in HF forum.
For the problem of sky box, one of the peers replied that there is a couple of ways to map the sky box and he might want to make sure which method we use and then give us the suggestions.
For the problem of visiting other's space, I got the similar respond that maybe there is some problem on server.

High Fidelity 18

Here is the to-do list of this week:

1. Make the fish shop more complete.

2. Modify the sky box to make sure it showed as circular distribution.

3. To design an exercise board outside the fish shop.

4. Complete the Instruction part.

5. Build a clothes shop.

6. Try to back up the sandbox so that we can explore our space in another computer.

7. Solve the problem why we can not visit other's place.

High Fidelity 17

Everything goes well except I can not enter Andi's home and she can not either.

Andi made a sky box which is based on city scene in NZ. So I choose city road to match the sky box.

The next thing we need to do is that we should add more things with NZ style to enrich the learning space.

High fidelity 16

After discussing with Darryl, we have decided to build some shops in our learning space to demonstrate NZ pattern. The first shop we are going to build is Fish & Chips shop. Since these shops are really common in New Zealand.

At first, I find a nice house which is suitable for being a shop. Then we filled the shop with contents step by step. Andi made delicious fries and I designed the menu inside and sign outside the house. And I saw the house is kind of dark, so I add some light to illuminate the space.

All the content that we add is to show NZ patterns to learners. Although the process is not easy, we believe we can do better in the following days.

High fidelity 15

These days, I placed some architectures in the learning space where some materials could be displayed. Different buildings have different styles. And I really like the opening space which is surrounded by palm trees. Soft chairs and material boxs are also provided here. Learners are able to communicate freely with others in this relaxed area.

One more thing is that a theme should be determined which could connect all the single areas.

High Fidelity 14

Today I add an apartment from the market, and something amazing happens! The sky box can be changed automatically.

I intend to utilize this island as an introduction island. We will put more content on it later and see whether we can make advances in building and designing.

High Fidelity 13

Andi and me intended to build a learning space where learners can study English. Besides, we are eager to add story line in the learning space. But it seems difficult to combine English teaching with story line. Therefore, we decide to change to introduce something like English culture and make our place more like a way through several passes.

Here are some of my ideas about the place:

The culture introduction could be divided into several parts and showed in different islands;

Each islands could be connected with story line;

Make learners feel that the learning space is like an adventure island rather than a traditional classroom.

High Fidelity 12

Good news!

We are able to upload our land to High Fidelity. Since I change the texture into the color that Blender already provides. Maybe it is a better way to upload our islands.

Although it is a simple one now, we can make it bigger and add a number of contents on it. Anyway, this is a good start.

High Fidelity 11

This week, we are going to build the main islands in Blender. Since the plain is the foundation of learning spaces.

The process of building goes well, however, there are two confusing problem when I am trying to export it.

1. The content can not be exported as FBX format;

2. The content becomes transparent when it is uploaded to High Fidelity.

I am going to solve these problems for the rest of this week.

High fidelity 10

As we mentioned before, we are going to divide the learning space into three parts. Therefore, we need several teleport points to connect them. We found that we can transfer to another place immediately through changing URL in user data of teleport points. However, the hardest thing is to find the exact name of the place that we create in order to fill the correct URL in. We will work the problem out later.

High fidelity 9

Yesterday, we have completed a draft of the learning space in HF. Here comes the explanation of this map:

The space is divided into three parts - one island for self learning, one island for lecture and another one for relaxing. For the layout, my peer Andi and me hold different opinions. Andi claims that we could build a lecture hall only permits the learners who pay for the tickets in. However, in my opinion, non-profit institution may provide more learners with opportunities for studying.

We are going to put some necessary introduction on the first/main island. And we can get to another islands from here through several teleport points and bridges. 

On the island for self learning, there are a number of note cards for reading, course recordings, small games which could help practice and teaching videos. Students can have access to teaching materials anytime and anywhere.

I think both opening-space lecture rooms and indoor one could be built in one island in order to make the completed learning environment.

In addition, we are also going to construct an island for relaxing. The learners here can share their experience, play some games and keep in touch with peers. 

Last but not least, leaving designers and tutors' contact information is essential for learners.

High Fidelity 8

We found that HF is like a universe which is endless yesterday. For instance, we can build another zones/sky, such as mountains, sky box and ocean, outside our own sandboxs.

Maybe I will build several islands around the original sandbox which have different affordances and are connected by a story line.

There are some questions we should think about which are summarized by Darryl before we start to design and build the space.

1. What are you going to "teach"?
2. What learning situation are you going to create?
3. How will the affordances of VR/HF influence the learning/teaching situation?
4. Will the teaching situation/lesson involve only the student user/or the student user and a teacher/learning facilitator?
5. How might VR story world/narrative 'theory' impact on what you do? distance/movement, etc.

High Fidelity 7

Well done! we can upload the contents with texture now. The one thing we should do is that we should upload both content and texture to HF. Since we are always uploading contents separately,  it does not work reasonably.

In addition, we find that the domain in HF is boundless, which is different from Second Life. We can add sky box outside our own sandbox and do not have to consider the scope of the place.

High Fidelity 6

High fidelity provides users with a large number of texture that we can download freely. After building a content with texture in Blender, I uploaded it to HF. However, the texture disappeared.
That is really a big problem since architecture without texture may not offer learners with an attractive place.

Therefore, the most tough issue that we should solve is how to upload contents with texture to HF in the coming week.

High Fidelity 5

Since there was some problem when I logged in at studio, I did not use the computer which I used before. Then, something strange happened. The contents I uploaded in my sandbox disappeared.

Is it related to the computer or the account that we use?

I changed my account into Darryl's and made some contents in his sandbox in order to find whether the contents in sandbox are related to the account that I use. And when logged in my account again, I was surprised to find the contents made in Darryl's sandbox appears in my account.

We could make an assumption here that every computer only contains one sandbox and all the users share the one in this computer.

High Fidelity 4

I attended a lecture of Lynette Wallworth and Mike Jones yesterday. They gave me quite a lot inspiration on the way of designing the learning spaces in virtual world.

The point of story elements could be emotional expectations which push learners to explore the learning spaces and also make the process of teaching smoother. Mike pointed out that causes and effects are of great importance in building a space with story line.

High Fidelity 3

Fortunately, the issue came up yesterday has been solved in another way. Although we still can not upload the content with texture, we are able to fill the surface with color. Maybe we could find the effective approach later.

In addition, I also learned how to build 2D curve. That's a good way that we can  made a number of content. In the following days, I am going to learn more skills in Blender in order to lay the foundation of building in High Fidelity.

High Fidelity 2

Today, I continue to learn use of Blender. Skillful operation of Blender is of great importance in building learning spaces in High Fidelity. The tutorial videos in Youtube give me quite a lot instruction.

Besides, I also learned how to upload the things from Blender to High Fidelity. The most important program is the sandbox asset server. It is an easy way to get my content in-world so I can start building. First, we should click on Asset Browser under the Edit drop-down in Interface. When it opened, just hit the Choose File button and choose the content I want to upload. Then you can find your file through the list in Asset Browser and press Add To World to add the content to your domain.

Issues:
The uploaded file always appears in High Fidelity without texture.

High Fidelity 1

We are going to explore High Fidelity this year.

At the beginning of this semester, we should be familiar with operation of High Fidelity.

The purpose of my research is to design a learning space in High Fidelity, therefore, learning how to use Blender is one of most important parts at the moment.

This week, I have learned some basic operation in Blender, e.g.,

A: check all
Shift+C: standardizing
7: Top View
5: orthographic View
1: Front View
3: Side View

Then, I try to build something in Blender and move them into High Fidelity.

Issue:
I am not familiar with the process of manage my Asset Server content. And I will solve this problem next week.