Be an Ant Detective in Second Life to Be Redesigned
Be an Ant Detective was the first piece of eXtension 3D content in the Second Life virtual world. The very simple maze uses diagrams and a dichotomous key to identify your real world ant and has been a booth at the Virtual State Fair since 2008. This summer the exhibit is getting an upgrade, with sound and visual effects, links to external content, interactive animations, and a little theater for viewing an 8-minute digital animation movie, “RIFA Madness” created by world-famous visual effects artist, Eric Keller. The exhibit opens August 3.
Seventeen Clubs Respond to Call for 4-H Game Testers
Our mid-May call for 4-H teens to serve as testers for the Safety in Agriculture for Youth (SAY) game prototype resulted in applications from 14 well-qualified clubs. Three clubs will be selected for the first round of alpha testing, June 28-July 2. Another three clubs will participate in the second round of alpha testing July 14-16. Following that, all fourteen clubs will be able to schedule closed beta testing sessions in August and September.
Based on their input, the game will be fine-tuned and the final prototype will be placed on the eXtension website in October for any club to visit. The next step will be to seek funding to develop the SAY game in the Unity game engine, for deployment as an Oculus Rift single player game.
LSU Moodle Course Teaching Cooperative Extension Work via Avatar
This month, Dr. Rebecca White of LSU is opening her online course “Cooperative Extension Work” with a week of activities at the Virtual County Extension in Second Life. The distance education students will begin their Second Life Experience with a live orientation in both Adobe Connect and Second Life. In the following three days, they will explore the Morrill regions’ Virtual Learning Environments, and attend a
virtual nutrition class presented in Second Life by Leia Kedem, RD (aka Moderation Maven).
Would you like to incorporate a Second Life experience as part of a Fall 2015 class you will be teaching? Please contact LuAnn Phillips, eXtension’s Virtual Reality specialist at luann.phillips@extension.org.