Learn 4 Life

Outside the Wire - the success of informal learning spaces in the community

Digital Culture is with us now

Which one is real? - Click to play

The informal use of Social Media outside schools can be a very strong driver for change in learning. I want to give concrete examples of how our culture is changing in this area. All involve the spread of what Josie Fraser called in her recent SocialTech blog - Digital Literacy.

Mirror Worlds as effective informal learning spaces

In the previous post, I covered the Virtual Worlds Conference in London last week and the emergence of ‘ad hoc’, informal ways people met up to do business.

On the night before that particular conference happened, I was invited down to the Greyhound Pub in Kensington to attend a pre-meet, virtual-to-real or real-to-virtual, event. Depending on how you look at it; it can get confusing at times, but stick with me, this is highly relevant to teaching and learning.

The Greyhound Pub - - Click to Play

Virtual to real and back again

The very first thing I encountered was a massive screen in the back of the pub, showing me the virtual Greyhound Bar and all the Avatars there. And in the virtual bar there was a screen showing a live video feed of the customers at the real bar. The Greyhound in real and virtual space is owned by Kwame Oh, (Julius Sowu).

Where a real life place is copied in virtual space this is often called a Mirror World. Buildings and features are replicated to mirror the real world.

Entertainment and leisure as powerful informal learning?

Kwame Oh - Click to Play

Kwame Oh is an ebullient character committed to mashing up Second and Real Life for entertainment, tourism, leisure and business purposes. He’s a social media entrepreneur who understands that virtual worlds need a community context (at least to begin with), but he’s also an innovator and project manager who has a deep insight into the digital landscape. What is more he’s got a sense of fun and a spirit of innovation and creativity. Surely just the qualities needed to generate new business in this new, digital world?

Whilst some academics may reflect on how best to get teachers to navigate  the steep learning curve of Second Life, and there have been good initiatives recently to do this,  Kwame seems to manage it in other adults with an ease that’s enviable. His secret? - other people.

Informal facilitation in a fun space

The pub is a perfect place for some communities to meet and have real life facilitators introduce them in an informal situation to Second Life. It’s not rocket science - it’s all about people and community. You don’t need an orientation island just a pleasant informal social setting that builds on the real life context. This would work just as well in a coffee shop or cafe kitted out in much the same way.

People learn better when they are having fun

No amount of tech fiddling about with avatars is going to get teachers into a virtual world. What might, it seems, is other people, and in informal community learning spaces with real-to-virtual and virtual-to-real initiatives. It’s a trick other educators seem to have missed but seems, to me, to be a simple but vital component to success.

We all learn better when we are having fun…the informal takes off the pressure and creates an environment where everyone can collaborate without fear of failure.

Kwame co-opted Nik Hewitt, who built the Daily Mail building next to the Greyhound pub in Second Life. In the brief, informal, interview below he describes what he does.

Kwame convinced Nik to replicate the virtual space. Now Nik mashes up extremely interesting things, like running Open Sim from his iPhone for instance, so he was the perfect choice for a business partnership.

Nikk Huet AKA Nik Hewitt - Click to play

A new mindset and projection of self for new learning and business

Nina Allam AKA Brie Janick; Rachel Smith AKA Cleopatra Charleville

Click to play

Two of Kwame’s facilitators are Nina Allam and Rachel Smith - both are also known as Brie Janick and Cleopatra Charleville respectively. Brie is estate director for the London Sims and Rachel is the Marketing Director.

Their roles are changing and their jobs evolving with the takeup of the popularity of the space. Listen to their interview and see the mindset they have towards learning new skills and going out and getting new business. Did anyone “train” them for this. Well I doubt it, as virtual worlds haven’t been around that long…

This is what I mean about Digital Literacy and a Digital Culture. You have to have the mindset for a change of culture to be able to deconstruct and rebuild age old institutions. This is just one example.

This is how it happens - people take the initiative for change and run with it. Instead of being institutionalised and locked down to outmoded ways of working they refresh what they do in new and innovative ways. We need to allow our schools, management and teaching force to go down some of this route to effect change and drive the economy.

In the next post I will be highlighting how things are changing in education at grass roots level and the possibilities of co-opting these new ways of working into our lives. We cannot afford not to.