tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-84353399772671397812024-02-22T19:33:56.515+00:00Shimmer Island, where 3D Virtual Worlds and Learning Spaces meet<center>
<img src="http://cd.bromley.ac.uk/bteccourses/sl/blog/shimmerIslandBlog.jpg" width="346" height="223" border="0" alt="Second Life">
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A Second Life personalized virtual learning environment based in a semi-immersive 3D virtual world , bring you an aesthetically pleasing teaching and learning platform.Barryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11843180348605109844noreply@blogger.comBlogger131125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8435339977267139781.post-42060502320978391052018-09-01T14:21:00.002+01:002018-09-01T14:21:39.686+01:00Project Mustard
Just uploaded my build of the project Mustard space plane to the outworldz server, so please feel free to download a copy for your virtual world project. Project MUSTARD (Multi-Unit Space Transport And Recovery Device) or MUSTARD, was a 1960’s design concept from the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) able to place payloads of up to 5000lb (2,300 kg) into low earth orbit and stood some 118 feet&Barryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11843180348605109844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8435339977267139781.post-88903009342083366412018-08-20T11:13:00.003+01:002018-08-20T11:13:46.249+01:00UK Rocket HistoryBritain is believed to be at the beginning of a new space age. From the late 1940’s until the early 1970’s Britain remained at the forefront of rocket technology. The three builds of RTV1, Skua and Petrel werehighly successful examples of the research vehicles devloped during the period.All three builds are now available for download ar openworldz
ELDO (European Launcher Development Barryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11843180348605109844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8435339977267139781.post-21845836149421771042018-07-31T16:57:00.003+01:002018-07-31T16:58:41.997+01:00The Observatory at Greenwich UK
I have uploaded my build for the 28 inch refractor housed at the Greenwich observatory to the outworldz.com site. The telescope itself was made by Sir Howard Grubb of Dublin 1893. The instrument, which by the way is still in place and the building open to public view; well worth a visit if you are in the area at any time. The refractor is the largest of its type in the UK Barryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11843180348605109844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8435339977267139781.post-75811113572327068092018-07-26T13:19:00.003+01:002018-07-26T13:21:34.077+01:00The Old Gasworks
My build of the old gas works is now available at the outworldz site. The build downloads as a zip file made up of a number of folders each having separate components, in this way you can include all or some, plus have the option to use separately, they include:-
Coal Shovel
Coal Trolley
Furnace block
Gasometer
Gas works compound
Gas works office
Pipes
Tool shed
The office block has Barryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11843180348605109844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8435339977267139781.post-64269933906571495282018-07-22T17:53:00.003+01:002018-07-22T17:53:40.331+01:00Virtual ships
My builds of two coastal steamers recently uploaded to outworldz seem to be growing in popularity. The SS Southern Star coastal steamer shown here, is a medium size cargo carrier vessel circa early 20th century. If you are building a dockland scene at your sim then you may find this is a useful asset. The boat will rez as two separate object, so once they are in-world simply Barryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11843180348605109844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8435339977267139781.post-23243687488198669182018-07-21T17:37:00.003+01:002018-07-21T17:38:41.378+01:00AI bot for C#Having read the book Robot Proof recently by Joseph E. Aoun that looks into the implications for Higher Education in the age of Artificial Intelligence, I decided to break with my tradition of posting prep notes for the coming academic year on our vle and create a conversational agent using the Pandorabot platform. My students can access the bot either from the web and below you can see a Barryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11843180348605109844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8435339977267139781.post-84961851793525107472018-05-27T10:29:00.003+01:002018-05-27T10:29:29.670+01:00Carbon Free 2018
My virtual
world project for level 5 students was named Carbon Free, so no real surprises
on what is likely to be required here. The project requirement is to create a
desk to application written in Java that will simulate the electrical
consumption of a small residence that is powered from renewables. As with the presentation of all my virtual
world projects the purpose for me is to see Barryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11843180348605109844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8435339977267139781.post-15597852583557175032017-02-25T20:18:00.000+00:002017-02-25T20:18:57.050+00:00Azimuth Island project 2017The project for my Level 4 and 5 students has now opened in OpenSim on Azimuth Island. The project presents students with an experiential situated virtual learning space populated by a collection of classic astronomical telescopes to explore developed in recent history in thee UK.
Azimuth Island
The principle mission is to learn the basic principles of telescope design that will Barryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11843180348605109844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8435339977267139781.post-5104483745421026112016-08-22T09:30:00.005+01:002016-08-22T09:30:55.681+01:00Free space for Educators from ImageLearningif you are a virtual world education and would like some free space for classes then ImageLearning are about to be making several locations available for educational groups looking for unique spaces to gather for discussion. Any locations will they say be be "as is", in that ImageLearning will simply be providing a virtual space in the first instance it seems. This very generous offer has Barryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11843180348605109844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8435339977267139781.post-55920264128714231822016-08-08T11:35:00.005+01:002016-08-08T11:35:51.719+01:00Virtual Lab
Following
my previous posting on the virtual laboratory this latest blog is by way of a
progress report on that project. The building itself I decided need some small
changes to internal textures, which simply meant renewing floors walls and
ceiling. My first task surrounding the requirements for assets was to construct
some suitable workstations.
Fig 1
The screen shot image 1 one show Barryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11843180348605109844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8435339977267139781.post-33137134160848505462016-07-27T23:42:00.001+01:002016-07-27T23:42:13.349+01:00Bio Med and Functional Skills in the virtual world
Following
my presentation at the College HE day on the use of virtual worlds I have
subsequently received two project requests, the first was from our Bio Med team
who asked would it be possible to have virtual lab that students could use to
become familiar with equipment and use. So first things first I went about
setting up a sky platform and installed a build; I actually found this one at
Barryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11843180348605109844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8435339977267139781.post-44647443018657189142016-07-23T13:56:00.000+01:002016-07-23T13:56:25.121+01:00Crypto Island
Fig 1
If you have read the previous pot then you will no doubt
have realised that is referred to the considerable success of the Only Rocket
Science project that ran in 2014-15, so did I run any project 2015-16, of
course, I just hadn’t got around to blogging. The project for the last academic
year was Crypto Island see fig 1; the clue is in the name, and the project was
designed as a caseBarryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11843180348605109844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8435339977267139781.post-54346407028725602322016-07-15T15:37:00.000+01:002016-07-15T15:37:04.070+01:00Only Rocket ScienceThis has been a really good year for virtual world projects. My student project for the academic year 2014-15 level4 and 5 was Rocket Science. The benefits to my students I feel are twofold: first, in using the medium, they acquired the knowledge, understanding and competence to complete the task; second, they experienced the advantages of collaborative, virtual, social, synchronous communicationBarryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11843180348605109844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8435339977267139781.post-31659904345156793942014-08-04T14:02:00.001+01:002014-08-04T14:02:17.879+01:00Virtual World Student Feedback 2013-14
Taking the form of a virtual field trip for a wider project, the students task was to explore the alien world of Bopak3, created using Open Simulator.
Foundation Degree Yr1
On the planet, Bopak3, a star ship had crash landed randomly scattering Dilithium crystal essential to it propulsion system across the virtual landscape. As crystals were of different types they had to be classified byBarryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11843180348605109844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8435339977267139781.post-68464076296234331432012-12-10T19:34:00.002+00:002012-12-10T19:36:28.795+00:00Free Lounge for Conferencing
Now I actually have my own sim in Second Life where events can be held, facilities created and builds maintained, I tend to forget that unless you actually have a plot of virtual land, then being able to facilitate such things as even a general conversational type of meeting can be problematic. With this in mind I decided to create the Lounge.
You can make use of the Lounge for Barryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11843180348605109844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8435339977267139781.post-47523937398622098162012-11-08T12:17:00.000+00:002012-11-08T20:40:15.434+00:00Free Speaker Buddy
If you teleport over the the main hall at the Coders Central sim on Shimmer Island at Star Beach, you will find that I have installed a panel for Free Speaker Buddy.
Speaker Buddy is a nice little HUD free-be for teachers and educators working in SL as it will allow you to prepare a talk ahead of time, and so not wear your fingers out frantically typing as you try to speak to the audience.
Barryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11843180348605109844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8435339977267139781.post-19729245053055486512012-09-22T14:28:00.000+01:002012-09-22T14:29:22.881+01:00Museum changes
After working on various features of my sim here at Coders Central Star Beach over the summer, I decided to take a look the museum of computing facility and get down to incorporating some more content. As you enter the museum you will a stand dedicated to Sinclair computers and its here that I have just uploaded new resources to the ZX81 display. The presentation and animation includes Barryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11843180348605109844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8435339977267139781.post-88505718394690377012012-05-19T17:27:00.004+01:002012-05-19T17:35:03.397+01:00Life on Mars Report The overview and feedback from a 32 question student survey of the Life on Mars project is now available in the small hall of the main building here at Star Beach Shimmer Island. The project itself was the result of work carried out by a group of level 5 Foundation Degree students here at Bromley College currently enrolled on the Network Computing course. The project was established in order to Barryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11843180348605109844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8435339977267139781.post-22564388008615297022012-05-05T15:25:00.003+01:002012-05-05T15:25:45.213+01:00Collaborate on mobile development
With so many students arriving at College with their own mobuile devices and developers working on scalable apps, its good to find a website where you can test your pages across a whole range of platforms thanks to the Mobile Moxie emulators. Even better if you would like to collaborate in real time with app testing, then teleport over to Shimmer Island here in Second Life. Thanks to the Barryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11843180348605109844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8435339977267139781.post-36172273766273684342011-10-28T15:38:00.003+01:002011-10-28T15:46:44.071+01:00First of the Shared Media Displays If you recall from an earlier posting where I had installed a new building at my landing site for this sim, I intended using the space in part for displaying some interactive shared media content for educators. Well here is the first one, took a while I know. If you have use for a diagramming tool and not come across Creately yet, then I think it is well worth paying a visit to the site. There Barryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11843180348605109844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8435339977267139781.post-2640882690228924032011-09-11T17:02:00.010+01:002011-09-11T17:23:12.317+01:00Coding in the skyThe new academic year is about to start for my Foundation Degree students in software Development and I have been thinking of ways that I could incorporate Second Life into the delivery. Thinking about where to hold these sessions, I must say that I was impressed by some of the low cost Holodecks that are around for purchase in SL Marketplace at the moment and was tempted to buy one in, but I do Barryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11843180348605109844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8435339977267139781.post-27632122000682571012011-07-19T12:46:00.003+01:002011-07-19T13:03:01.387+01:00New Landing Point It was one of those moments when a couple of things that you have been thinking about for a while suddenly come together. Looking around my Shimmer Island Sim, I have begun to consider dropping-in new or updating existing builds particularly my landing point. At the same time I have also been considering what to do about making use of all those superb interactive web facilities that now become Barryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11843180348605109844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8435339977267139781.post-58941189921215421042011-04-16T16:33:00.003+01:002011-04-16T16:59:38.965+01:00Matrix Arithmetic Poster The steady stream of visitors to my Seascape Island sim has been encouraging and the feature of having a simple vendor to distribute course materials such as the C code has proven a good decision. I decided cash in on the approach and provide a poster board that explained the basic operations of Matrix Arithmetic, which will I am sure be of use when my students are here discussing and trying outBarryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11843180348605109844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8435339977267139781.post-53267771079753306722011-04-12T20:25:00.002+01:002011-04-12T20:34:22.303+01:00C Matrix examples in-world Seascape Island seems to be getting a fare amount of attention from my students, which geven the fact its end of term break is very encouraging in itself. I am finding that different images are showing on prim faces when I return to the sim, this must mean that the Second Life Viewer 2 features of Shared Media on a prim are proving to be popular. One of those shared media takes the form of a webBarryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11843180348605109844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8435339977267139781.post-27088716657058834912011-04-10T10:05:00.003+01:002011-04-10T10:11:08.389+01:00Adding some ambience Having started to get some materials together for my new Seascape island venture with level 3 mathematics, I decided it would be nice to include some ambient effects and features as well. A while ago I was looking for some sea shore decorations for my own sim over at Shimmer Island Star Beach and came across Real Waves, anyway I purchased some Real Wave effects, which I must say are superb and Barryshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11843180348605109844noreply@blogger.com0