Technorati claim code: UEDV838NH3WP

The European Union, through the LifeLong Learning program has granted DOT and 5 other European partners an aid of 300,000 euros for a project whose total budget is over 400,000 euros.

The project, which lasts until late 2010, will develop a virtual world designed for language learning in Open Sim and a specific methodology for language learning in virtual worlds.

V-lang will test the application and methodology with 40 groups in 3 European countries. The testing will take place in English, Spanish and German.

This DOT led project has come forward thanks to the engagement and support of Iniciativas Innovadoras (Navarra) along with four other European partners:

• Research Academic Computer Technology Institute, Patras, Greece
• Warsaw Academy of Computer Science, Management and Administration Warsaw, Poland
• Soros International House de Vilnius. Lithuania
• DIALOGE SPRACHINSTITUT Lindau, Germany

On 15 and March 16, 2010 we will have the first non-virtual meeting of all partners in Pamplona.(Spain).

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Technorati claim code: UEDV838NH3WP

Virtual Worlds and Augmented Reality What solutions provide for e-learning?

On Wednesday 24 February at 18 hours I am participating in a workshop on Virtual Worlds and Augmented Reality at EXPOELEARNING 2010, the IX International Congress of e-learning.

The session will focus session on Virtual Worlds and Augmented Reality.

The workshop has got a sort of original format: a real-time discussion of a practical case to which companies in various sectors provide their own solution.

The meeting will be coordinated by Ruth Martinez (@aureamemotech), Director of ELEARNING3D, SL. Along with DOT there will be companies such us UTOPIA COMPUTER SOLUTIONS (java for cells) and ARPA SOLUTIONS SL (Augmented Reality).

I am very likely to talk about DOT-AULA, our  OpenSim based solution for virtual worlds.

ELEARNING3D S.L, http://www.elearning3d.es

DIENTEAZUL S.L, http://www.dienteazul.es/index.html

DOT-SECONDLIFE, http://www.dot-secondlife.es/

ARPA SOLUTIONS S.L, http://www.arpa-solutions.net

EXPOELEARNING 2010, http://www.expoelearning.com

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Technorati claim code: UEDV838NH3WP

In a post on Rezzable, Jon Himmoff makes a critical review of his one year experience with Open Sim.

The work is complete and accurate. While he values very positively the improvements of late ( “OpenSim works, is getting better and will be the future of the 3D Web”), he  identifies 10 points that OpenSim needs to improve.

In this post I intend to summarize the 10 points and discuss briefly the post in Rezzable.

First the point on which I have nothing to comment, if not fully agree.

1. Physics is weak. The proposed solution is to replace the current engine with a more effective. There is nothing wrong.

2. Permissions. Open Sim has a long way to go. Agreed.

3. Documentation scarce. Ok

4. Admin Tools. We must have more information about the user, inventory and server memory. Perfect

5. Mesh support for mesh is needed. Ok

6. Scripting. Should be improved. But the good news is that you can program modules at the server level.

7. Movements between grids bad, but improving.

8. Concurrent users. Sim vs sim Second Life (50 approx) is superior to OpenSim (20-30). But in a single server we can hold 6 regions with less prims and get up to 400 users per server, compared with only 50 concurrent Second Life. We are working on many fronts to improve the ability of concurrent users, as does OSGrid.

Just two short comments. We work on developing virtual worlds for businesses and institutions Mostly education and training.

In our approach to OpenSim, the development of a currency like the Linden Dollar is not necessary. In fact the entire system of buying and selling that works in Second Life now creates more noise than benefits for our learning orientation.

Voice, on the other hand, is a priority for us. In fact it is one of the areas where we work harder. Having fought a long time against Asterix and FreeSwitch (open source), Teamspeak and Vivox (proprietary), our job now is to integrate Mumble (open source), which provides high quality sound, positional audio features and could arguably hacked into activating Lip Sync.

Source: Top 10 OpenSim Issues and Performance Update

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Second Life and OpenSim virtual worlds are the best known and most used by Universities and other academic institutions in the UK, according to a comprehensive study by Virtual World Watch.
They asked what use virtual worlds and why they chose them.

Second Life was chosen for his 6 years of constant development, it is not necessary to purchase a server, because of the great community that exists and the amount of resources that are available cheaply or free.

OpenSim is attractive because, compared to Second Life, ‘land’ does not carry the same expense, there are fewer security issues, there is no dependence on a single commercial vendor, and it is easier to configure how private your environment is; content can also be ported from Second Life.

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DOT Aula is a virtual world that allows you to make people and groups at different locations work together more efficiently and naturally.

DOT Aula is a 3D region with auditorium, several seminar rooms, areas for the breaks and an exhibition area.

• Gestures and facial expressions to aid communication
• Visualisation of Powerpoint and PDF pages
• Video and desktop streaming
• Website streaming
• Language support
• Chat and instant messaging
• Web application for the organisation of users and permissions management
• Assistance and support

vComm Aula is based on OpenSim and can be hosted externally or run on the intranet behind the firewall. The hosted version is available as a finished image at Amazon Web Services.

All elements of vComm Aula are also available for Second Life.

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On March 8^th we met in Mendoza (Argentina) the Ambassador of India R . Viswanathan to submit our proposals for collaboration for V-language.

V-LANGUAGE is a v-learning English Course that we are developing in Dot. We will comment on it later on.

Some facts: according to the British Council, between 2000 and 2010 students studying English in the world will move from 1000 to 2000 million, due mainly to the Chinese market (250 million students of English in 2008, 20 million more each year). Hundreds of thousands of teachers of English are needed in the world (only China needs 1 million new teachers right now). Moreover, India is the second country in the world of English speakers (90 million), behind the United States (250 million).

Thanks to Raul Carrizo, president of FUMPADES (World Foundation for Social Development), who was with his wife Alejandra, the DOT people (Eduardo Valencia, Javier Selva, Mauricio and Karina Magni and Rodolfo Giro) had the opportunity to have a full day of meeting with the ambassador, his wife Kasthuri, and their children Vijay and Raja. The meeting culminated in a visit to the wineries of Mendoza La Rural. Finally ate the typical Argentinian asado in the traditional wineries Salentein.

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From 3 to February 5, the LERANTEC-2009 fair took place in Karlsruhe (Germany).  LERANTEC is an international venue for experts in  e-learning and knowledge management. Among more than 200 vendors who gathered there, we (Eduardo Valencia and Javier Selva, joined Volker Gässler of VCOMM.

At the booth for the presentation of the DOT CLASSROOM. 

LERANTEC-2009 is a major appointment for the experts in e-learning and knowledge management, as well as the most important of this kind in Germany. Learntec is the right place for the presentation of the latest products, applications and services in this sector, accompanied by conferences and other special events and forums. 

DOT did not want to miss the meeting to present DOT Classroom and accompanied VCOMM at the F6.1 booth of the fair. 

The benefits of DOT CLASSROOM

DOT Classroom  focuses on several key factors: virtual reality, feeling of immersion, cooperation and cost saving.

DOT classroom is a virtual environment that allows companies to facilitate communication between individuals and groups located in different places. Avatars and environments are similar to the real ones, which allows to hold training sessions in an immersive way, while helping them overcome the obstacle distance. 

The effect of virtual reality is that the user receives the impression of actually being emotionally close to others in the same environment. Furthermore, the virtual learning becomes more relaxed and the participants end up feeling a lot less tired than when using a web conference or videoconference. 

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Most people who learn English around the world have very few opportunities to practice with native speakers. 

Most times, learning English is about language immersion: a longer or shorter stay in London, San Francisco or Dublin. 

It is very significant that in order to save time and money, a number of English students in Spain travel to the “British Towns” of Aldeaduero (Salamanca), Valdelavilla (Soria), etc. (see http://www.morethanenglish.com/puebloingles/index.asp). The formula is to bring together Spanish and English speaking people for 8 days. A department of the company managing those British Towns on Spanish soil, is responsible for identifying speakers abroad who have the motivation to come to Spain to participate in this kind of language immersion programs. 

However, it is not necessary to go to London or some of the charming mountain villages to enjoy a language immersion.

 Language Lab offers an immersive learning environment through Second Life. They have created a “VIRTUAL VILLAGE” inhabited by native English residents, who are also specialists in language teaching. 

Language Lab offers “conventional” English classes within Second Life and events within the “virtual village”:  four sims (islands) that make up  an entire city where students meet English speaking residents. 

The Language Lab system has significant advantages: 

     * The prices are very reasonable: from 29.90 U.S. dollars per month (3 hours classroom and 20 hours of events), $ 44.95 (6 classes, 30 hours of events) to $ 77.95 (8 classes, 40 h . events). 

     * One can make a sizeable time of English practice every day in a safe and pleasant environment. 

     * You can talk with native speakers who represent the actual varieties of English. 

     * It is easy to build a social network of English-speaking friends: teachers and students.

El sistema de Language Lab tiene ventajas significativas:

• Los precios son muy razonables: de 29.90 dólares por mes (3 horas de clase y 20 h. de eventos), 44,95 $ (6 clases, 30 h. de eventos) a 77,95 $ (8 clases, 40 h. de eventos).
• Es posible realizar la cantidad de práctica que uno pueda dedicar al aprendizaje del inglés, todos los días en un lugar seguro y un ambiente agradable.
• Es posible hablar con nativos reales que representan a los diferentes variedades del inglés.
• Es fácil construir una red social de amigos de habla inglesa: profesores y alumnos.

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Virtual worlds like Second Life are a perfect complement to e-learning. 

Nowadays nobody doubts the benefits of e-learning. These systems of distance learning, using mainly Internet tools, are fully consolidated and continue to grow steadily. 

Apart from cost reduction to process a larger number of participants and of course the flexibility of schedules, e-learning is a tool well suited for training individuals in highly decentralized organizations. In the latter area is where Second Life and other virtual worlds can be a very effective tool for “traditional” web-based online courses such as moodle. 

Web-based distance learning is mainly asyncronous. Second Life can add presence, although virtual, with online training. 

We have said elsewhere that the experience of meeting in Second Life is an acceptable substitute for the meeting in the real world. This is somehow equivalent in many ways to videoconference. But videoconference facilities are more expensive, fragile and difficult to access. Only a few large companies can afford a videoconference room for the workplace. In Second Life each computer connected to the internet can be a videoconference tool. 

Discussion on language learning in Second Life. Aberdeen’s IATEFL conference. Photo Blogefl (FLICKR.COM) 

Discussion on language learning in Second Life. Aberdeen's IATEFL conference. Photo Blogefl FLICKR.

Take the case of UNIGIS. Students in the online master of UNIGIS are scattered throughout the world. UNIGIS is using moodle as a tool for course management. However, thanks to Second Life, they will be able to come and participate with their avatars in virtual classes. They may also collaborate in seminars with other students and teachers. 

In the post on the predictions of Gartner, Javier Selva reminded us that “a strategy for success in virtual worlds should combine virtual worlds (3D) and the web (2D). Second Life actually is not going to replace the web, but can complement it in an effective manner. 

In the case of language learning, the usefulness of this integration is evident. There are many distance learning courses that allow web-based work, but that can not work a core function: talking. 

In language learning in Second Life students attend virtual classrooms that look very similar to a class of real world: they speak and listen. Classes are guided by teachers who can be found in England, United States, Germany, France or Australia. Language Lab users also benefit from the living practical communication contexts: a supermarket, a travel agency, a trade show, etc.

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Gartner, the oracle of reference on the assessment and the forecasting of the development of new technologies, has launched a bittersweet message about virtual worlds (Second Life and the like).

The most important findings of Gartner in 2008 are:

-There was a high degree of failed business ventures in Second Life. In a period of 18 months, 9 out of 10 projects have been abandoned.

-Projects that fail do so largely because the technology forgets the real needs of users.

-Second Life and other virtual worlds offer significant advantages for companies. Improve distance collaboration, reducing travel costs and save time. It avoids the costs of further implementation of videoconferencing systems.

-A strategy for success must combine virtual worlds (3D) with the web (2D)

In 2012 70% of companies in 2012 will have a private virtual world, which will have a greater level of success because they will have to fight less inflated expectations. They will have clearer objectives.

In Dot, we agree with the Gartner view: we must focus our efforts on areas of corporate cooperation, go for virtual training (coordinated with the Web) and aim to save time and costs of travelling.

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