FAS and the Learning Technologies ProjectFAS and the Learning Technologies Project

FAS: 62 year-old, non-profit research group that works to apply practical solutions drawn from science and technology to some of the world’s most pressing issues.

Learning Technologies: a project within FAS that aims to create a major national R&D program for using information technology to improve how we teach and learn

Typical Model of an Instructional Technology Project

$250K grant +

Two years of Work

Some Statistics

• Average age of a web page is 75 days

• 0.5% of web pages disappeared each week

• 3% of the objects in digital libraries are no longer accessible after one year

Transformative Potential

• A revolution in the way knowledge and expertise acquired and measured

• A revolution in the way learning is delivered

• A revolution in the way learning systems are created

Our working definition of a VW

• Online, [3D], shared environments that allow multiple users to create content and experiences, collaborate, and communicate with other users [through the use of an avatar].

• Can model elements from both the real and imagined worlds, including physically and historically accurate topography and natural phenomena such as gravity, motion, and climate.

Goals:

Engage learners, ages 8 – 14, in challenges and mysteries that can only be solved by understanding

• the origins of writing and the path from pictures to phonetics

• Mesopotamian society, business practices, and trade

Demonstrate new ways to reassemble artifacts and knowledge about them now spread across many different museum and library collections

Features:• Accurate historical and scientific information

• 3D photorealistic simulations of cities & temple complexes that allow open-ended exploration and discovery

• Contextualization of museum artifacts used by characters in virtual environments

• Question & answer management tools to stimulate learning

• Compelling, age-appropriate challenges and assignments

Digital Assets from Project

Post Babylon: New Objectives

• Greater flexibility in visitor experiences

• “Outsource” vendor support and connectivity

• Cater to research activities, in addition to learning

• Increase participation: create Open-to-all Contribution Model

• Provide annotations facility• Add Intelligent &

autonomous agents• Interactive spoken dialogs• Reusable data & metadata• Common architecture for

multiple worlds

Extending concept of Discover Babylon to online collaborative and

visualization spacesCreate and integrating tools, frameworks and communication protocols to:

• Support and display multiple types of sources and perspectives – Link and move easily between related texts, images, objects, sound and products of the

mind (test predictions) – Serve interdisciplinary and international audiences

• (Re)construct objects and spaces, layered to provide:– Interoperable and reusable content– Rigorous academic standards – New academic findings – Varying layers of complexity – Multiple interpretations

• Lower the barrier for participation– Collaborative building– Production facilities for content creation – Peer Review – Communication facilities for meaningful conversation & debate

A New Publication DimensionPossible replacement: link and make accessible findings, ideas and

“lab workbooks” and raw material of scholarship often lost after article is published

How it would work:• Select a theme (location/period)• Create a framework to accept inputs

– Architecture– Material Culture– Arts (musical performances, dance, theatre)– Economic activity (behaviors)

• Provide services allowing new publications to be converted to observables in the VW and linked to other forms of publication (e.g. provide modeling/scripting services to subject experts as publication staff services)

• Provide peer review• Provide indexing and permanence

Is this for real??

Virtual Worlds and EnginesA3 Awakening Habbo Hotel Second Life

Activeworlds Home Sims 2 Online

Adellion Infinity Quest for Earth Sora City

Asheron’s Call Kaneva Spore

Blink 3-D Lineage 2 Squeak

City of Heroes Little Big Planet Star Wars Galaxies

Club Pengium Piko Island There

Coke Studios The Manor Tower Chat

Croquet Many One Traveler

Cybertown Metacrasher Ultima Online

Cyworld Metaverse Unreal Technology

Dark Age of Camelot Metaverse Roadmap Project Virtual Ibiza

Disney Toontown Microsoft Flight Simulator Virtual Magic Kingdom

Dreamville Mokitown Voodoo Chat

Dubit Multiverse VPChat

Entropia Universe Muse VZones

Eve Online Olive Webkinz

Everquest Paraverse Why Robbie Rocks

Final Fantasy XI The Palace Whyville

Gaia Online Playdo Wonderlands

Google Earth Runescape World of Warcraft

Raw NumbersEstimated VW population to reach 50 million (8 out of 10 Internet users) by

2011. Currently:• Second Life:

– 10th most popular MMO– Estimated number of users: 9.6 million– Estimated monthly uniques: 187,000– Target audience: 18+ yrs old

• Neopets:– Estimated number of users: 147 million– Estimated monthly uniques: 4.2 million– Target audience: 5+ yrs old

• Club Penguin:– Estimated number of users: 12 million– Estimated monthly uniques: 4.7 million– Target audience: 6-14 yrs old

Data based on http://gigaom.com/2007/05/20/virtual-world-population-50-million-by-2011/ , Sentient Service, A Quick Guide to Virtual Worlds and online data

User generated content: an important and economic phenomenon

• Only the 10th largest MMO• Monthly averages for time spent in world:

2.3 million hours• 100 terabytes of data have been created

by “residents” since the world’s inception.*

*about five times as large as the Library of Congress, with its 20 million books.

Functional requirements for creating & continuously improving worlds:

• Project management tools – identifying team leaders, contributors, reviewers– scheduling and notification– managing payments for services as needed– commenting, rating, upgrading

• APIs for object creation and adding metadata – 3D formats– Text, images, video, sound, textures, VOIP– Scripts, motion capture– Metadata (including SCORM)

• Converters to push standard formats into virtual world viewers/platforms (Croquet, Wonderland, Active Worlds, Second Life)

• Data-base structure – Input/Output– Searching– Version Control – Links to large digital repositories

• Assessment modules• Managing payments for services as needed• Connecting to object repositories• APIs for scripts, AI, physics engines, simulations, character motion & emotion• Version control• Storing and rating experiences

Functional Requirements for Using the Virtual Worlds to Learn

• Design tools for projects, games, assignments, performance tests• Search capabilities • Storing and rating these experiences• identifying students and connecting to student records (including

private records)• Identity and trust management (access, privacy)

– instructors, tutors, counselors, guides, role players, scheduling and notification

– students and connecting to student records (including private records)• Storing and rating experiences • Management of cash assets

– Payments to instructors, counselors, others– Payments to IP holders– Payments from students

• Management of abusive behavior

Plug-ins

Virtual Worlds

Contributors Roles

Collaboration Framework

ResidentsVisitors

Admin

Role PlayData Management Modules

Data

Store

Non-Virtual World Databases

Reference Data & MetadataLink/Relation to VW Assets

User Data

Inte

ract

ion

L

og

ic

Second Life Multiverse WWW

Common Architecture

Common Simulation Logic

Simulation Environment

Custom Interface

Info

rmat

ion

Referen

ce Data &

Metad

ata

Non-Player Mechanics

Plug-ins

Virtual World n..

Reviewers ManagersDevelopers

Users

Cre

atio

n

Reference DataReference Data File Formats Metadata Source

Pictures Jpeg, gif, bmp, tif, png, tga,

Title, Description, Subject, Resource Type, Origin/Owner (Author/Creator), Political Era, Age, Date of creation, etc.

Self-created, Proprietary Repositories, Online

3D Models 3ds Max, Maya,

CAD Data AutoCAD, Pro/Engineer

Architectural Data Sketch Up, AutoCAD,

Animation Gif, Flash, BVH, etc. Title, Subject, Activity/Content Description, etc.

Self-recorded, Proprietary Clips, Online, Movie Clips, Songs Clips

Video Youtube Avi, Mov, MPEG

Voice Over MP3,wmv, Title, Subject, Content Description, Author, etc.

Audio Clips MP3,wmv,

Text Txt, doc, pdf, rtf, ps, html

Title, Description, Subject, Resource Type,Owner,etc.

Articles, Novel, Poems, Essays, Wiki, Encyclopedia

Question & Answer XML,AIML

Foreign Language Material ???? ????

Case: New User

City Blue Print

View References

Back

Ziggurat Item References

Users view Reference material.

Picture 1 Picture 2 Picture 3

Reference Link 1

Reference Link 2

Reference Link 3

Back

Job Assignment

Current Job Assignment Status

Assigned To Contribute As Assigned Date

Chetan Luo Team Member 11-Oct-07

Ashleen Kamachi Team Member 12-Oct-07

Neel Corvale Team Member 15-Oct-07

Planed End Date

20-Oct-07

25-Oct-07

20-Oct-07

How do you wish to Contribute?

Estimate End Date:

Save

As Team Member

As Individual

Cancel

Annotation

Federation of American Scientistswww.FAS.org

Technical Challenges

• High Latency• Third Party Plug-ins (Server & Client Side)• Single Sign On • Modular Architecture• Open Standards

– Third-Party 3D File Formats– Inter-Database Connectivity– Survivability of Content– Multiple Avatars

• Inter-Virtual World Communication & Content Synchronization

• Jargon

Policy Challenges

• How much is Open Source, under what license?• How to link in proprietary systems• Financial models to ensure sustainability• Operating highly secure sites• Managing Change in educational institutions

(experimenting with dramatically new approaches to curriculum design, assessment, role of humans in the loop, where & when learning takes place)

Key Points

• Lowers barrier for content creation– joins scholars and experts– provides project management tools

• Enables review and editing (like a wiki) with attribution and citation (not like a wiki)

Current Project

• History of Racism in the Western World

• Discover Babylon (3200 BCE)

• City of Gilgamesh (2200 BCE)

• Algebra I

• AI project

Current VW Work

• Virtual Worlds wiki: Vworld.fas.org

• To tour our island and the Medulla framework, contact:

mroper@fas.org

Next Steps

• Recruit additional federal, academic, philanthropic and corporate groups

• Develop a set of performance criteria (system requirements) for a broadly interoperable platform

• Charge a team of experts to begin to develop middleware tools that will allow the community to begin working together

• Begin to build new instructional systems or convert existing instructional systems so that they operate on the selected platform or platforms.

Open Questions

• Is this technology on your radar?• What disciplines are most suited?• Who else should be included?• Successful models or suggestions for bringing

the faculty to the promised land?• What evidence do we need to convince you/your

cohort that this technology is important?• What kinds of benefits should VWs offer?• Concerns?

For further information, comments, questions, (or complaints!) please contact me:

Michelle Roper

mroper@fas.org

202.454.4683