Title: EduMUD with Authoring Tools
Performer(s):
William Carlson
INTERMETRICS, Inc.
Paul Hudak
Yale University
Bob Grossman
University of Illinois, Chicago
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Cluster: CAPER
Contact Information:
Phone: 617-661-1840
Fax: 617-868-2843
email: carlson@inmet.com
Phone:
email: hudak-paul@cs.yale.edu
Phone: 312-413-2164
email: grossman@math.uic.edu
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1. Instructional Focus:
Content areas/topics: Science and math, communications skills; this is only the initial content, the intent is to add more content later.
Process skills: Logical thinking, problem-solving, collaborative projects in a carefully prepared environment.
2. Target Population: Teachers and curriculum designers in middle schools and their students; grades 7-9 initially; later to be extended to K-12.
3. Summary Description: EduMUD is a system which delivers multimedia instructional material (i.e., text, pictures, sound, video, etc.) in a social-interaction workspace known as a MUD (Multi-User Domain). The term "EduMUD" is a contraction of "Educational MUD".
A MUD is a virtual environment, consisting of a set of
"rooms" connected by tunnels or doors, which users can explore. Users in the same room can communicate by typing to each other. Basic "speech" allows users in the same room to see everything typed by every other user in the room. Other forms of communication let a user page a player in another room, whisper a secret to another player in a room, or display actions such as grinning or waving. In addition, the MUD provides objects and interactions with the virtual world embodied in the room. Examples include objects that can be "picked up", puzzles to be solved, etc. Rooms themselves are virtual spaces and therefore can be as "big" or "small" as their creator wants. For example, one room may be a virtual rain forest, while another is an oxygen atom in a virtual water molecule.
MUDs first appeared as simulation games. Many users find MUDs so engaging that articles have been written about MUD "addiction" and some colleges have considered banning MUDs because of students whose absorption in MUDs affects their studies. A group of college professors and elementary school teachers in Arizona have been extremely successful in using a MUD as an educational device, motivating students to read, write, communicate with adult professionals, and construct sections of the MUD.
The extraordinary pull of MUDs probably results from some of the following characteristics:
The special metaphor creates an illusion of immersion - a virtual experience - which feels quite unlike reading to acquire information. The presence of objects, programmed to respond predictably to certain verbs, furthers the experience of exploration and activity rather than passive acquisition of knowledge.
The user can construct rooms and objects and, if skillful enough, define verbs in the MUD. While not effortless, this process grants members of a MUD a power over their environment much greater than their power in the real, physical world.
Because it is accessible on-line, a MUD can easily encompass a larger and more diverse community than that available in any one physical locale. People chatting in a room of the MUD can easily be typing from computers in different countries.
Players in a MUD can assume identities as much or as little like their day-to-day social personae as they like. They need not use their real names. For many youngsters, a MUD can provide a place to experiment with more outgoing or otherwise more successful personalities than the ones they have developed in the school environment. The MUD can be a remarkable channel for personal experimentation and growth.
Traditional MUDs are entirely text-based. Our goal is to enlarge the experience by allowing the user to see pictures and movies, interact with simulations and listen to sounds. Many MUDs allow users to extend the MUD by building new rooms and objects, but to build anything other than simple things, the user must learn to program in the MUD language. Our goal for EduMUD is to provide tools for creating new rooms and objects (authoring) that can be used by non-programmers to create exciting new learning environments within the MUD. Tools, such as simple paint programs, will also be provided for teachers and students to create pictures to be included in the MUD.
Students in the classroom will use the lessons created by curriculum experts or teachers, with emphasis on cooperative learning. Activities in the EduMUD will complement, or even trigger activities in the real world, such as classroom experiments. In addition, the students will be able to use the same authoring tools to build their own environments in the MUD that can reflect what they've learned.
4. Training and Staff Development:
- Teacher prerequisite skills/knowledge needed: Send/receive email; Basic computer skills (e.g., typing, using a mouse, using menus, etc.)
- Student prerequisite skills needed: Basic computer skills (e.g., typing, using a mouse, using menus, etc.)
- Training needed/provided: There will be two kinds of training provided. The first will train teachers in the use of a Web Browser to access and work within the EduMUD. This training will include using the EduMUD to teach students. The second course allows teachers to construct new courses (courseware) within the EduMUD, including experience gained by the EduMUD effort. The latter course requires familiarity with computers, including document processing.
- Technical support needed/provided: Electronic mail, telephone support and on-line help within the EduMUD for problems and questions.
5. Technological/Resources Needed: Internet access, and a local area network of computers in CAETI pilot school hardware configuration with CD-ROM and multimedia capabilities.
6. Intended Outcome(s):
Students: Students will be able to use the EduMUD to enhance their learning by investigating and building things in the EduMUD and the real world.
Teachers: Teachers will have access to a highly motivating environment and to initial courseware drawn from the existing curriculum. They be able to use the tools provided by EduMUD to custom design exciting computer environments to support their curriculum objectives. These computer tools will be used by students as well as teachers. The teachers will integrate the computer-related activities with other, more conventional curriculum methodologies.
7. Instructional Time Required: Onsite training course in how to use the authoring tools, and a variety of techniques for teaching in the EduMUD.
8. Role of the Pilot Teacher(s): Teachers will become familiar with ways of communicating in, exploring, and interacting with the MUD. They will introduce their students to the MUD environment, using a sampler of prototype courseware drawn from the existing curriculum. Teachers will learn to customize and extend the EduMUD's virtual environment to support their curriculum objectives. Teachers will coach students in construction techniques for developing and personalizing EduMUD. Teachers will provide feedback which will help improve both the design of the EduMUD and its content in succeeding years.
9. Example(s) of the Use of this Product (Scenario): The EduMUD is designed to be flexible so teachers can use it to support the goals and curriculum of their school rather than having to fit another educator's mold. Here are several examples of uses:
Students go on a field trip to the local zoo. Upon their return, the teacher suggests that students work in groups to pick an animal they saw at the zoo and build a habitat for it in the MUD. The students would probably need to go to the library to look up more information about the animal's habitat; if they have a scanner available, they can scan in pictures to use in the rooms they create; otherwise they can use text descriptions. They can look for information on the Web. If they know about the assignment before going to the zoo, they might record the sound the animal makes and transfer it to a PC with a sound card.
A section of the MUD is a model of the human circulatory system; students are red blood cells carrying oxygen that are on a quest to supply oxygen to the brain; everyone starts out in the heart. The creator of the lesson could decide to describe each of the "rooms" as text, or may have decided to incorporate additional pictures and sounds. For example, the rooms representing the heart may play the sound of a heart beating; the rooms representing the lungs could display an x-ray image as part of their description. As they explore, students may find themselves depositing their oxygen in a little finger, turning blue, and returning to the heart to begin again. In this kind of game students can join the game at any point. A teacher may start the quest by broadcasting a message to all of his or her students to meet in a certain room in the MUD.
