VirtualPREX
Virtual Professional Experience
Innovative assessment using a 3D virtual world with
pre-service teachers
VirtualPrex is a mechanism whereby pre-service teachers can gain skills, confidence and techniques to support their real life professional experience prior to practicum by the use of virtual worlds.
About the Project
Aims
Outcomes
Phases
How to use SL and VirtualPREX tools
VirtualPREX classrooms
VirtualPREX role-plays
Machinima
Assessment
Dissemination
Contacts - Project Team
Assessment using Machinima
Introduction
Use pre-existing
Construct own
Develop rubric
Annotate
Resources
References
Sponsored by:
Support
for this
project has been provided by the Australian Learning and Teaching
Council Ltd, an initiative of the Australian Government Department of
Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.
The views expressed in this website do not necessarily reflect the
views of the Australian Learning and Teaching Council.Suggested assessment activities using machinima
2. Constructing your own machinima – designing your own role-plays
Instructions for teacher educators
This activity assumes you have access to a virtual world and that your students are familiar with its use. The virtual world may be your own version of a school classroom in a virtual world such as Second Life or using someone else’s virtual school classroom. VirtualPREX classrooms are available to any who wish to use them. They are located on Australis 4 Learning. If they are not being used, they are available. Future developments will include the ability to click on a box to change the user’s avatar into a teacher or school student and they will be provided with notes on how to undertake synchronous role-plays. The SLURL for the VirtualPREX classrooms is: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Australis%204%20Learning/145/189/300. You may choose any available classroom – there are four to choose from – red, yellow, green or blue.
Role-playing is an experiential activity that allows the pre-service teacher to act out a variety of scenarios and reflect on the consequences of the choices they made during the role-play (Gregory & Masters, 2012). By allowing pre-service teachers to practise in a virtual classroom, the teacher educator can allow the pre-service teachers to test their strategies and approaches in a safe environment; they can also facilitate the recording of the role-play for later analysis and critiquing by the teacher educator, the pre-service teacher and their peers. A suggested outline for the components of a role-play is outlined in Table 2.
Table 2: Suggested set of activities for the teacher educator in setting up a role-play
| Introduction | |
| Brief profile of actors |
Provide a brief summary of the different actors and their roles. |
| Summary of the scenario | Provide a summary of the scene and its purpose. Relate this to key learning outcomes that are to be assessed. |
| Details of software to be used (if applicable) | Provide relevant URLs and any instructions. |
| Participation and engagement | |
| Have pre-service students outline their approach to the role-play | Pre-service teachers are to outline their approach, what role the various actors will play, what they expect to do in the scenario and how the scenario will potentially pan out. |
| Pre-service teacher activities | Decide how assessment marks/grades will be awarded. What will the teacher educator expect to see in the machinima? Decide on core activities that must be present for satisfactory performance and what is additional. What feedback will you provide? |
| Analysis of machinima |
Will you give marks/grades for the quality of the machinima or just the analysis of the actions and reflections of the pre-service teachers? |
| Annotated machinima | Will you expect pre-service teachers to annotate their machinima with commentary so you can mark/grade their reflections on their own work? Will peer assessment be used where other pre-service teachers comment on each other’s machinima? |
| Debriefing sessions |
Will you choose some machinima for class discussions? |
| Grading/marking and feedback | |
| Group work | Will you allow pre-service teachers to work in groups or will this be an individual activity? |
| Weighting of assessment components | What will be the weighting for the assessment? Will the quality of the machinima count for marks/grades? Will you have set questions for the reflective components? |
| Peer assessment |
Will you use peer assessment for summative or formative purposes? |
| Feedback |
What form will the feedback take for the machinima? |
Recording the role-play in the virtual world as a video (machinima) provides a graphical, audio and text record of the activity that can be stored for reuse as a learning or assessment artefact. Machinima can be recorded using a variety of software, including free downloads of PC and/or Mac versions. Some software available for you to use include: CamStudio, Jing, UltraVNC Screen Recorder, TipCam, BB FlashBack Express, Wisdom Soft, Freez Screen Video Capture, Krut, uTipu, Video Capture Factory. A useful resource is to read Snelson (2010) for pointers on educational machinima based on Second Life.
Instructions for pre-service teachers
Prepare a 10-minute role-play using your virtual world classroom. Ideas for creating a classroom-based scenario can be found at http://virtualprex.com/machinima.html. You will record your virtual world role-play using software recommended by your teacher.
1. Identify the key strategies that you will use in your role-play to engage students in active learning.
2. Review your machinima and identify instances where you demonstrated effective use of your defined strategy.
3. Review your machinima and identify instances where you did not demonstrate effective use of your defined strategy.
4. Propose how you could facilitate more effective use of your defined strategy in a real classroom.
