Hybrid presence an emerging format #OEB16

Last week I had the pleasure of being part of a virtual connecting meeting at OnlineEducaBerlin. The initiative came from the VConnecting group. For this session, onsite buddies Christian Friedrich, Hoda Mostafa, and I spoke with guests Jeanine Reutemann (Jeanine researches the affordances of video and has great insights on it!). Ilona Buchem (Ilona has a long standing tech record, her latest research looks at open badges) and Aziza Ellozy (Aziza is a leader in faculty development, and making learning visible). The recording can be seen below (it was a hangout).

For those who are not familiar with the concept of Virtually Connecting through online buddies, have a look at the website. During Online Educa Berlin 2016 there were four virtual connecting meetings (I only could attend one, as I was chairing or speaking at the other moments), and it really provides an additional layer of interest to conferences. I had a previous experience with Whitney Kilgore at eMOOCs2015 which I blogged about here, and which worked inspiring as well.

The format has a basic idea behind it: connecting people with similar interests across conference boundaries (so those who can attend a conference, share knowledge that is provided within the conference to others who are unable to attend the venue).

Although the idea is simple enough, what is interesting is the emerging layer of knowledge that is transmitted. In some way those who attend get a meta layer going. Or at least that was what I felt when joining one of the virtual connecting sessions. When reflecting on why this extra - and to me meaningful layer of learning emerges - I had the idea that it might come from the available expertise in all who entered the conversation. The shared yet complementary expertise gave spice to the conversation, sparking new ideas and links to previous experiences on topic. And I think it was also related to similar interests that come together at that point, and drive the conversation forward. 

In the session that I was in, the conversation covered the plenary keynotes, some ideas coming from the keynote speakers and how we (participants in the virtual meeting) agreed or disagreed, the overall feeling of the conference, the formats and the consequent results of the sessions...

#edenRW9 Studying learning expeditions in cross action spaces with digital didactical designs

Isa Jahnke (http://www.isa-jahnke.com/ ) is an inspiring academic, and one who knows how to network.

Liveblogging from Oldenburg, Germany.

@isaja

Who is using a device with internet access? That is cross action spaces… when you tweet content is used to link to other people in other spaces, to learn from.

Human interaction is crossaction… multiple spaces. Conversations go from network to network to network. Humans connect across locations/spaces virtual or physical.

This crossaction can also be done in classrooms. About 20 years ago, school was the place to learn. Now with these crossaction spaces learning is opened up from classrooms only.

Learners apply classroom themes into the material world, in which they are living. So the outside comes into classroom and from classroom to other spaces.

What is learning:

Reflective doing of multiple crossactions

Reflective performance of crossactions

Reflective communication

Theoretical lens:

Learning is embedded in a bigger organisational framework.

It is not only about teacher student, it is about learning goals, institutional strategies, curricula, academic staff development...

Digital didactical design has 5 components to study about 80% of what is happening in the classroom:

learning activities,

assessment

learning outcomes

social relations

web-enabled technologies

She investigated 64 classes to see where these classes were in the 5 layered framework. This position in the framework, enabled to identify where problems arose. 

The patterns provided meaningful interpretations into the inner/outer classroom actions. 

The university of the future is made of those crossaction spaces, in which teaching is organised in project teacher teams across existing disciplines

teacher teams from different departments work together and design a learning expedition and the students develop learning expeditions, learning by topic and not by the subject. 

Have a look at her book!

Digital Didactical Designs, published by Routledge

 https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Didactical-Designs-Teaching-CrossActionSpaces/dp/1138928496 

#Googleglass out, other smart tech in? Where is #educational bonus?

The wearable technologies are booming business, but a lot of it is still very expensive. And with Google just releasing today that Google glasses will be reinvented, if not stopped, it got me thinking about cost and educational options. Just think about all the developers that bought the Google glasses (1500$) and now get the news that the project is being reinvented. Or about those schools that purchased one set allowing students to research its functionality?
Certainly when looking at smart glasses, there is a lot of expensive material (coming) out. As multiple options are being launched (or are on the verge of being launched) I do wonder what to go for, budget wise. For if the half-life of tech is only about a year... it might not be wise to invest in it? Time or budget wise.

Cheap virtual reality and smart glass solutions are increasingly being rolled out, but as with all technology: multiple companies are trying to corner the market, but in the end only a few will keep on standing (and it seems tech launches and halts happen quicker than ever). A couple of nifty options: the 'classic' Google glasses which is now being rethought, the more advanced Meta space glasses, the more stylish looking (yet with wire hanging from ear) Antheer lab option, of course for gamers the Oculus rift or the about to be released Sony's Morpheus, and for the more cognitive oriented among us the EmotiveInsight headset which is said to be available in April 2015 and which monitors brain activity. But it does cost a lot of money (ranging from cheapest 350 $ to 1500$).The latest from Microsoft is Microsoft's Hololens which merges virtual and IRL nicely together.

On the one hand it is clear that smart-everything is the way forward, but the cost of each item makes it tricky to test all of them in order to find its educational value. Using such tech in classrooms or global courses is at the moment cheer impossible, unless... you choose for the cheaper option: e.g. Google cardboard. This virtual reality app/option allows everyone to either build a Google cardboard from the Google cardboard kit which turns a mobile into a virtual machine, or to buy a cheap cardboard box to be used with a smartphone (and apps which you can search for depending your mobile operating system: e.g. android - Google play, but also to be said working with iPhone ).

What is interesting when looking at all these smart technologies, is all of them rely on crowd-development to provide more meaningful features or applications for their hardware solution. That of course does have a very interesting educational bonus, as it is clear that this supports peer knowledge creation based on a API's or other boundaries provided by a couple of experts. An interesting shift that has been increasingly growing the last couple of years. The same is possible for the cheaper options as well, as such it makes these options (like Google cardboard) a nice jumping board for young developers with a knack for programming or creative solutions.

Looking at some options that are out there for Google cardboard (some of which are also available on the more expensive gears, like oculus rift): Tuscany house: a nice application that shows the opportunities for design and architectural simulations that can be made in class. A more old school tech option: hang gliding and flight sim(ulation) app: decades ago, I was using flight simulator to get a feeling of what it took to fly a plane. It was (and is) fun, and it is instructional as simulations allow a more authentic preparation for the actual IRL action. Or more subject matter related options: e.g. moon, which takes you to a virtual moon surface.

All of the apps can offer educational value, but I keep wondering what the extra bonus would be. What can it teach us that we were not able to be taught in the past. What does it allow me to do, that really lifts learning to the next level? All in all, I see the smartglasses as performance enhancers, more than re-imagining education. The simulations bring real life, authentic learning closer to home; designs can be viewed in 3 dimensions, ... but it seems they all keep within learning/teaching that already existed. Just wondering what it could be, what I am missing.

Google cardboard assembly picture from here. And a really nice, short description of the Google cardboard in this YouTube movie:

WiZIQ offers free #iPad enabled online #classrooms for teachers

Virtual classrooms are a technology in high demand as they allow any trainer or teacher to reach an international audience at any given moment. For the free, online course on mobile learning - MobiMOOC, we will also be using WiZIQ and the nice thing is, since last week any teacher linked to an academic institution can now register for a free teacher account. So that opens up possibilities for every teacher located in low resource environments. For those interested in trying out or applying for a free academic, teacher account, have a look here: http://www.wiziq.com/academic/ .

WiZIQ has been on the market for a long time and in the past I explored the WiZIQ options. Due to organizational options, WiZIQ was not a central teacher option, but ... as time went by WiZIQ started to come into the picture again. As such the educational department of the Institute of Tropical Medicine, who has students and partners around the world is taking a second look into the WiZIQ functionalities. In the meantime I am going ahead with it in MobiMOOC.

The reason for considering WiZIQ for MobiMOOC was based on four needs:

• it should be accessible by a wide audience (differences in bandwidth, infrastructure and digital skills), 
• it had to be learner and teacher friendly
• it had to have at least some mobile options (WiZIQ now has an iPad app functionality) 
• it had to offer recording options. 

WiZIQ has a nice set of options: white board, breakout rooms, polls, screen-sharing, content uploads, public and private classrooms... and 15 GB storage for recordings. Once MobiMOOC has ended I will gladly share an update on its functionalities and how it went throughout the course.

CIDER session: supporting online Teachers: Moving Pedagogical Know-How into Virtual Classrooms

Technology does not necessarily result in better teaching. There are many instances where one can wonder why trainers and teachers even use technology. A virtual classroom for instance does not immediately translate to a more open, pedagogically sound teaching, on more then one occasion virtual classrooms have resulted in ex-cathedra lessons, where the only benefit for the learner is that you do not get caught sleeping.

In fact, I truly belief that a bad teacher does not become better with technology, in fact they make it worse, for bad teachers give eLearning a bad name ... in public! But can we, instructional designers and educationalists tamper with the autonomy of teachers by suggesting them how they can improve their overall pedagogical approach?

If this interests you, look at this presentation. It is an exploration of an action research project focusing on Master of Education professors working in conjunction with an instructional designer. Conversation analysis explored how participants with varied face-to-face teaching experiences - but limited or no online experience - transitioned to becoming effective teachers in virtual classrooms. Results indicate the need for professors to examine their own pedagogical constructs and concepts of learning communities and power relationships. This session will also include discussion on ways in which instructional designers can support professors' transition to online learning.

This session features a presentation and discussion with Wendy Kraglund-Gauthier, St. Francis Xavier University, Nova Scotia.

When: Wednesday, January 5, 2011, 11am-12pm Mountain Time (Canada) *Local times for the CIDER sessions are provided on our website.

Where: Online via Elluminate at:
https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?password=M.8B71B60F2931D029AC3837DC06B70D

Pre-Configuration:
Please make sure your Mac or PC is equipped with a microphone and speakers, so that we can use the Voice over IP functionality built into the web conferencing software. Please note that it is extremely important that you get your system set up prior to the start of the event. Information on installing the necessary software and configuring your PC is available at http://www.elluminate.com/support/ in the "First Time Users" section.

What if a virtual classroom is not accessible and you are left to your own devices to record a session?

Last week I wanted to use a virtual classroom to record an eLearning showcase we were having at ITM (were I work). Unfortunately the hotspot was not stable enough at that time and so I had to improvise to be able to redistribute what was happening in the room on a later date...

So yes, there are different virtual classrooms (dimdim, eluminate, wiziq...) and they have advantages (they save editing time, allow people to join synchronously and add questions), but there are days you simply have to take initiative and come up with workable solutions yourself if the connections fail you. To be honest, those are the type of challenges I like above all. So after two days of intense cutting and pasting, I did realize the time consuming part of it again.

But on the other side, cutting and pasting does have an advantage, you can just add anything you like. In this small - how should I call it? - let's say: asynchronous-presentation-non-socialmedia-mash-up I have pasted real life movies into the powerpoint's that were shown, edited video and audio, got some extra's in (links to some showcases). So overall, I can integrate whatever in my own asynchronous virtual classroom, because I can mash-up anything I like. That is something pleasing.

Of course this does lack interactivity and I could have opened some social media apps, but I do have some solutions for that in mind. Actually, I think I am going to plan a mash-up virtual classroom in which different apps are located in a central portal, but enabling different social media to interact with what is going on... I will get my mind working on that. Because although virtual classrooms are nice, I miss social media of choice interaction in them... and movies...

So for those interested, I linked life recordings, with mp3, with additional movies (original formats ranging from wmv, avi, flv to quicktime) and put it all in a website to give a structured and browsable overview.
(I do apologize for the quality of the movies, I did not focus on the speakers with my camera settings... but next time I will be ready!).

Hardware used: logitech pro 9000 HD webcam, portégé Toshiba R600.
Software used: camtasia 6, eXelearning 1.4, AVS converter, FLV player.

Our eLearning team only had 45 minutes to show a small selection of our latest developments to a general audience. So do not expect a lot of technical specifics, but the eSCART and mobile part might be of interest to you. The eSCART features some different solutions we have used in a fully online course and the mobile part focuses on mobile data research software.

The link: http://tinyurl.com/eLearningITM

If you know a virtual classroom that enables you to upload movies and integrated social media of choice, let me know, I would love to check it out.

Join the live Wiziq session on 3 mobile cases in low resource settings with discussion

This Friday 12 December 2008 at 4:00 PM (GMT + 1) I will be giving a presentation in collaboration with the International Training Centre (ITC) in Turin, Italy.

This virtual classroom session is part of the Lifelong eLearning session that the International Training Centre of Turin, Italy organises. The session will focus on three mobile cases that were developed (or are in development) at the Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM) in Antwerp, Belgium.

I will try to keep the presentation of the cases to a minimum of 15 - 20 minutes, allowing the international participants to ask questions and thus all of us can collaborate in this session of 60 minutes.
If possible, please use a head-set with microphone. This will enable us all to enhance interactivity and collaboration.

Joining this session is free, but you need to follow a couple of steps:
Do these steps before the start of the session (that way you can make sure you can follow without a problem).

• First you need to 'join for free', by clicking that button on the WiZiQ website ;
• After joining you will receive a mail in which the confirmation code is send (it is send immediately, so if you do not see it pop-up immediately, look at your junk-mail folder):
• login to the wiziq site using your Wiziq username and password;
• click on the link session below to enter the session;
• after checking your audio/video settings, accept the settings;
  
• log-in to the session a couple of minutes in advance. This will allow you to check your microphone and headset.

Looking forward to seeing you!

Session link: http://www.wiziq.com/tutorsession/detail.aspx?id=A701A7F1799B4722ADE616015D0747FB



You can also use this embedded code, but you need to register with Wiziq just the same:

mobile learning: three cases and discussion by Ignatia

Get your own Virtual Classroom

Join Stephen Downes and George Siemens in a MASSIVE online course

"Connectivism and Connective knowledge: The Furture of Education and Training" is starting on 7 September 2008 and will be running for approx. 3 months. So spread the word and if you have the time (of course you have), join!

This course will be a MOOG (Massive Open Online Course) and it will look at:
- What will education and training look like in thefuture?
- How must we equip ourselves to serve learners in the next decade?...
The formal course description also mentions a variety of new learning tools that will be used in this course. The course will be delivered fully online in a combination of synchronous and asynchronous formats. For a more extensive idea on the concept of the course, you can visit the course blog.

Registration is free (if you do not follow this course for creditation), but you must register which you can do here.

Maybe you want to know a little more before diving in? Just listen to Edtechtalk 81 and Edtechtalk 82 in which four of the facilitators (Alec Couros, George Siemens, Stephen Downes and Leigh Blackall) on how the connectivism course will be taught.

So prepare to get twelve weeks of intens learning spread out to you and build by you. If you publish anything about it, this is the tag CCK08.

Weekly Topics & Schedule (copied from the Connectivism - LTCWiki):

• Week 1: (September 7-13) What is Connectivism?
• Week 2: (September 14-20) Rethinking epistemology: Connective knowledge
• Week 3: (September 21-27) Properties of Networks
• Week 4: (September 28-October 4) History of networked learning
• Week 5: (October 5-11) Connectives and Collectives: Distinctions between networks and groups
• Week 6: (October 12-18) Complexity, Chaos and Research
• Week 7: (October 18-25) Instructional design and connectivism
• Week 8: (October 26-November 1) Power, control, validity, and authority in distributed environments
• Week 9: (November 2-8) What becomes of the teacher? New roles for educators
• Week 10: (November 9-15) Openness: social change and future directions
• Week 11: (November 16-22) Systemic change: How do institutions respond?
• Week 12: (November 23-29) The Future of Connectivism

follow up on ITC presentation about mobile projects and discussion

In follow-up of a previous mail here is the multimedia result.

Yesterday I delivered a presentation on three mobile projects through the online classroom tool WiZiQ. The presentation is now available as a recording through this WiZiQ-link. In order to view it you need to register for WiZiQ and afterwards link to the link I mentioned.

The slides of this presentation have been uploaded to Slideshare:

SlideShare"> | View | Upload your own

The WiZiQ-presentation became very lively once the introduction was given. All the participants got their questions out there and Tom Wambeke from ITCilo was a great co-moderator.
We talked about instructional design, mobile strategies, mobile research (or the pioneer stage it is in)... The presentation takes a minute to really start going but I think it is worth a look. The session lasted 75 minutes.
This presentation was part of a framework pilot that focused on Lifelong eLearning for an international audience. After hearing feedback from all the participants (Bahama's, Chicago, ...) it became clear that this pilot will know a successful follow-up.

A couple of links of topics that came up during the discussion:
Quick mobile transformation from websites into mobile sites: http://www.mofuse.com/
standards for mobile development, you can read a blogpost on how to recode a successful html-based course into a mobile course.
How to make slides more attractive: with beyond bulletpoints.

Thanks to all the participants and Tom especially!

In relation to the SCoPE seminar on social media in research I am currently facilitating, I have planned a live session. So let’s get together and exchange ideas live on social media that is used in research, I have set up a session through WiZiQ.

After an intro of about 20 minutes in which I will give a short overview of the big outlines on social media and how it is linked to research, the floor will be completely opened to discuss possible thoughts and questions you might have. These questions can be the basis of discussion threads during the ongoing seminar in SCoPE.

Practical:
The session is planned for Thursday 8 May
12 PM Halifax, Nova Scotia time = ADT;
8 AM Vancouver, British Columbia time = PDT;
5 PM Brussels, Belgium time = CEST;
If you are not sure of your time zone, you can look it up at the World Clock.

You can access the online session here.

On WiZiQ
WiZiQ is a free tool. It is an online virtual classroom and allows interactivity (audio/video and chat and 'raising hands', the last feature enables you to ask for the virtual floor. The presenter can give you the floor (= give you the possibility to say something if you have a microphone connected to your computer).

To participate in this session, you need to register for WiZiQ.
Once you are registered you can access all the sessions for free, BUT you need to be signed in to be able to open the sessions!
This session is audio/video enabled, which means you can use a headset with microphone. This will enable you to give audio comments if you ask for the floor by raising your virtual hand.

Technical tips:

• it is a good idea to surf to the link a couple of minutes before the session starts. This allows you to test your audio/video devices.
• Please keep in mind that you need a headset with microphone if you are planning to talk. This enhances the audio quality, open speakers give the microphones a hard time.
• (a small side remark: if you have been using audio/video software during the day (f.e. for camtasia or captivate) and you want to link to WiZiQ, sometimes the settings are intertwined and do not function correctly. In that case you will have to log out and log in again.

Feel free to join!

join free online seminar on Social Media benefits for Researchers

SCoPE has invited me to facilitate a seminar on Social Media - Benefits for Researchers for which I am very grateful. The seminar begins this Wednesday May 7 and runs up until May 18, 2008. If you have ideas on the topic, mail them or join!

Short description: Social media provides opportunities to socialize, read, write, collaborate, aggregate, create, synthesize, track... How do we use social media for conducting research? What are our new research questions and strategies now that we have access to social media? All the interested participants will explore how social media can benefit our roles as researchers.

This forum will open on Wednesday May 7, 2008. On Wednesday I will post threads to start the discussion. I will also post questions or remarks I frequently get.

If you have ideas of your own or ideas that could stimulate the forum, please send them to me or join the seminar (it is free, you only need to register for SCoPE - also free - and then you can join all the ongoing seminars).

SCoPE brings together individuals who share an interest in educational research and practice through online forums. It is a Canadian initiative, open to the world.

AG08 session The Secret of Delivering Outstanding Virtual Classroom Training by Frank Gartland

(For the live blogging info look below the AG08 synopsis)

Frank Gartland at LinkedIn

(AG08 synopsis): A primary challenge of any virtual event is successfully engaging the audience. Even skilled presenters often encounter challenges when bringing their presentations to a virtual environment. From getting the audience's attention at the start, to keeping them focused and engaged, to motivating them to participate – all are challenges for any on-line presenter. Anyone who has presented virtually understands the pressures and challenges inherent to this type of content delivery.

This session will provide practical advice and best practices on how to win the attention of a virtual audience and keep them engaged. Session participants will learn easy-to-implement techniques that will keep their audiences out of e-mail, and focused on the objectives of the event. These techniques will enable participants to focus on their day-to-day activities by providing them pragmatic and easy-to-apply approaches to leading successful virtual events.


Live from room Palm 4 at Hilton, Orlando, Florida
(My comments will be in Italic)
Frank likes to clap hands and he gets some questions at the beginning of the presentation (he is focusing on virtual classroom training) and uses bulleted ppt (not published yet, so I cannot link to it yet, but that is why I have bullet lists below based on the ppt).

techniques to focus your audience

• be clear and concise
• "grab your mouse"
• walk them through every step
  

(okay, I thought this was an intro that would lead up to: DO NOT GRAB LEARNERS' HAND, but no, he means it: walk the audience through every step. I really do not believe in this, I believe that if you need to empower users and engage by intelligence not by training them like monkeys... euh... carried away, I do understand that you sometimes got to let learners do something specific)

use the participation meter to gauge interest

use features to engage

• hand raise
• feedback
• chat
• surveys
• pass the floor
• Q&A session
  
• use video do not over use video

ask people to interact at least every ten minutes (with a way for them to know when they did not), ilink found that in virtual environments you need to engage your learners.

(agreeing - specifically the open floor, you learn a lot from others no matter what age or background if you give them the floor. It makes them think about what they are saying, makes them build arguments through discussion, gives them experience in speaking to a group)

• Don't use one tool or one feature tool over and over
• mix it up

(just thinking about adjusting the content you want to give in regard to the speed of the course when you decide to go interactive... that is one I sometimes have trouble with)

Common challenges / motivation (what the people say)

• "our sessions are pretty long and people get tired"
• "we don't have enough attendees to get creative"
• "our audience might be too technical for this"
• "it seems people drop off before we're finished"

Techniques to motivate your audience

• know your audience, but take risks
• try a contest...! try an open discussion
• Ensure content is relevant and real-world
• use the whiteboard for live brainstorming session
• let students have shot at stumping you

If you use co-leader be sure to keep room for learners. Vocal variety is something to consider (Frank mentions female and male voices to keep the learners clear on who is talking - just thinking about a friend of mine who has a very low voice although she is a woman)

Discussion in the room (20 minutes left) quickly jotted down
give the learners feedback on how to mute their mic if they use open speakers.
depending on the pace put in some breaks in (10 minutes if you have a 3 hour session - max session 4 hours) a timer to let the participants know when to get back.
humour is content and culture related.
how to deal with people that follow an advanced course but did not follow the introduction class: depends on your learning model how you want to treat that person.

Frank did use the strategies that he mentioned (open floor, q&a ...) so virtual (as long as it is simultaneous learning) = face-2-face best practices in learning (mmm, that reminds me that I have a workshop with advanced teacher tactics coming up in May, jeej)

Any tips you have... add them!

join my free online session on social media: benefits for researchers

With the free online tool Wiziq I have scheduled a session on the personal benefits of social media for researchers. Wiziq is hot, so try it out!

If you are interested, feel free to join me on Thursday 14th February 2008 at 14.00 PM (GMT +1 = Amsterdam, Brussels, Berlin) . Language: English (with Flemish accent).

This session is based on a face to face presentation that I gave at ITM earlier this month. On the feedback I got from the attending researchers I have adjusted my presentation a bit to get it more taylored to their needs.
The reason I organised this session was because some researchers at ITM where doubtful of the benefits of social media. This doubt kept them from jumping in. After the face-to-face sessions people got talking and now social media is taking off within ITM's researchers.

What you have to do if you want to attend: register (username and password) and then you have access to all the sessions.

Wiziq is a very easy to use tool for online sessions that enables audio and video (if you want to), has a whiteboard and a content section where the speaker or the participants can draw up or scroll through information (including powerpoints etcetera). The tool is userfriendly and it seems to function well. You can add text, highlight a selection, add images, encircle words ... on the whiteboard. There is a chat available as well. Unlike Elluminate, you cannot raise hands or more of those interactive features for participants, but you can give the floor to participants.

And straight from the press: wiziq can now be added to Moodle.

It is (still) free, betaversion and ... it has potential. Just look at some of the archived sessions for cool international exchange of content.

If you like an indepth review of Wiziq I recommend the blogpost of Vance Stevens.
There is a nice review here from the Teaching college math technology blog. While at their point in time they had trouble loading up content, my content uploaded immediately. Wiziq has a blog with feedback and stories on their development.

Let me know if you want to join, I can immediately add you to the participants list. If you want to help me in moderating everything that is going on, you are more then welcome, it will also enhance the quality of interactivity.
Or if you have any questions about the forthcoming session, ask, I will be more then happy to answer.

testing gogofrog

Gogofrog delivers easy to construct 3D-websites. So I was taking a look to investigate if I could use it as a 3D virtual classroom. Nicola Avery told me about this tool.

In the sign-up section (no protection on the password or any other data that you put in on the login page, so you better be careful), can choose between a number of options. I choose the club/association option hoping it would fit a virtual classroom environment.

You can add different features to the wall, mainly text and/or images, but also add a forum or a blog. There is a possibility to show an image gallery which works fine. The images that are posted on the wall are visible in the room.

Trying to integrate a blog from outside did not work, it took a lot of download time and it did not open. But adding a blog for the room itself worked like a charm. I did miss the visualisation of the blog, but then again by leaving it until a person looks into the blog saves bandwidth.

The forum was okay, but you had to go up to the wall and add something to make it visible. Adding an external forum did not work.

There is an opportunity to build different rooms with different topics, which is very nice. You go to a different room by adding a ‘doorway’.

The possibility to add furniture was nice, but not crucial for the use of the program itself. It did augment the design though.

There is a chat integration possibility, which works with avatars and an easy text writing feature.

Once you have activated (= published) the site, you can easily access the website with the arrow controls on your keyboard and you mouse.

Overal gogofrog is really easy to work with. If gogofrog or similar softwares improve and enable different, more active attachments, it might be really handy to get some quick virtual class together with minimal ‘how to’ guidelines. That would take the pressure of having to dive into virtual worlds and would give people with a limited experience in virtual life a taste of easy learning in an online environment. Small userfriendly virtual classrooms... I think it might be a market. The fact that the interactivity is limited could be a setback in comparison with other 2D virtual classrooms, but still it is worth keeping on top of.

Visit this Gogofrog site to get a better idea:
http://www.gogofrog.com/Ignatia