Dec 6, 2007

Today is our last day so we'll wrap up the semester. I'll collect the Cell Phone papers, then I'll have just a few final words and take a few closing comments.

Then you're done!

Topics

Homework

Dec 4, 2007

Topics:

Homework:

Nov 29, 2007

Topics:

Homework:

Nov 27, 2007

Yet another brief day as all we have to do is see Luke's presentation from last week.

Topics:

Homework:

Nov 20, 2007

Today is a very brief day to let you start your Thanksgiving a bit early.

Topics:

Homework:

Nov 15, 2007

Topics

Homework

Nov 13, 2007

I don't think it's possible for the day to get any simpler.

Topics:

Scavenger Hunt:

Nov 08, 2007

Topics:

Homework:

Nov 06, 2007

Topics:

Homework:

Nov 01, 2007

Topics:

• Real Life Sim Presentation by Heather
• Discuss: Virtual Itza
• Discuss: Virtual World, Real Life Lawyers
• Discuss: Second Life Faces Mobile Death
• Discuss: Beijing Police Will Patrol Web Virtually
• Discuss: Real Hope in a Virtual World
• Discuss: Dennis Kucinich Opens Up Shop in Second Life
• Discuss: How a Computer Game Glitch Could Help to Fight Off a Global Pandemic

Homework:

Oct 30, 2007

Topics:

Homework:

Oct 25, 2007

Today we tackle the issues surrounding the second half of your "final" project. ...among other things...

Homework

Oct 23, 2007

Topics:

Homework:

Oct 18, 2007

No Class in the classroom today.

Please take this time to work on your Software Simulation Instructional Design packet. They're due next Thursday!

Oct 16, 2007

Topics:

Homework:

Oct 11, 2007

Topics:

Homework:

Oct 9, 2007

Topics:

Homework:

Oct 4, 2007

Three Real Life Sims: Bobby, Alex, & Brian

Topics:

• Oddware Presentations.

Homework:

Oct 2, 2007

No SL Presentations today.

Topics:

Homework:

Sep 27, 2007

Two Real Life Sim presentations. Bobby & Jesse

Topic:

Homework:

Sep 25, 2007

• The Crooked House
• Virtual Hallucinations
• Myst Online

Scavenger Hunt : A pet of some sort. We'll meet at the Beach House and show them off.

Sep 20, 2007

Real Life Simulation Presentation by: Bobby

Topics:

• Hardware Prototypes

Homework:

• Oddware

Sep 18, 2007

Second Life Sim: Mike

Other places by Damian

Homework

• Optional: Jewelry with "bling."

Sep 13, 2007

Real Life Sim: Jerilyn

Topics:

• My 4th Newspaper Interview about UB and Second Life.
• Four interesting Second Life books.
• Second Life Terrorism
• Second Life Punishment
• Reuters in Second Life
• Disaffected!

Homework

• Play Disaffected

 

Sep 11, 2007

Today we meet in Second Life at 11am.
Jesse will be presenting his first Second Life simulation.

Sep 6, 2007

Here are the topics we will be covering today:

• Ricky's Real Life Sim Presentation
• Non-Computer Platforms
• Computer Based Platforms

Homework

• No Homework
• Optional: New Avatar Hair in Second Life

Sep 4, 2007

Today we meet in Second Life.
Regular class time: 11am.
Run Ventrilo and log in to the server.
(Get the server / port info from the blue panel.)
Log into Second Life and I'll send you a teleport
to our location.

Homework:
(Read the Class Requirements for fuller details.)

• Student Setup
• Scavenger Hunt #1
• Class Photo

APPLIED SIMULATION     
COSC330.SG1     
Fall 2007     

-Ventrilo Information-     
Server: 69.12.74.141     
Port: 4143     

We will have assignments and projects. Due to the way class attendance is split up, it is vital that you do not slack off. If you don't do your work, you will likely be inconveniencing the entire class. So...here's the scoop:

As you know, we alternate weeks between meeting in class and meeting in Second Life. Class meets in Second Life at the same time as it would were we in class. (Yes, you can be marked late for being, um, "virtually" late.)

Semester-Wide Project

Our first project stretches out over the entire semester. Each of you will be tasked with finding 2 simulations to present to the class. One will be "real world" sims, and the other will be a "Second Life" sim. You will then be assigned a date on which you will present your sim to the class. In order to keep it fun, random, and challenging, we'll use the Great Student Randomalizer to sort everything out. Here's the hitch:

No repeats of material! If Student A gives a presentation on "Carbon Paper and Hot Wax" and that's what you had your eyes on, you've got to come up with something different! So if you go early, you've got a bit of free rein...but no time! If you go later, you've got more time to search, but have to make sure you don't repeat.

The exception will be if we end up with more than one presentation per night and a collision happens. Of course, particularly crafty students might come up with a way to avoid such a situation. Why, they might all get together and work out some sort of topic distribution list... Since each type of session occurs every other week, the worst case scenario is that you'll still have two weeks to find something new.

Normal Projects

The other, more normal projects will be assigned during the times when we meet in class. These assignments will typically be due in two weeks during in-class sessions. Hopefully that'll be two weeks to work on them, not two weeks to procrastinate then try to slap something together while on the road to the classroom.

These projects are not huge. They are not killers. Because you only have two weeks to put them together, I'm not going to make you adhere to MLA-formatted papers, and so forth. But that should not be used as an excuse to do slipshod work. (Remember, I am wielding the red pen.)

The Final Project

As mentioned, the final project actually occurs long before the end of the semester. And it's broken into two parts. The first part is assigned around Week 8 and collected on Week 10. The second half is assigned at Week 10 and collected on Week 12. Please, please, please note:

The second half of this "final" project does require some form of authoring. Flash is the preferred platform, of course. You really only need a very, very basic knowledge to get your project to work. If you are petrified of Flash, but know some other platform (such as Director, Toolbook, PowerPoint) you can use that instead.