Student building in QVille

One of our main goals with Quest Atlantis is to position students to be actively engaged in the learning process and not just passive recipients. This still requires quite a bit of intervention and scaffolding from our part and the teachers’; but students still have one place where they have free reign – QVille. And the best lesson we can learn from QVille is that even when left completely to their own devices, students will still try to actively make sense of the world around them.

QVille started as a world where students could explore 3D building and play a little, but by the time I came to QA in 2008 it had already evolved beyond that. Students are able to rent a plot of land for six cols (QA’s currency) a month. Since this is the equivalent of 2-3 solid essays for the teacher a month, the price was often too steep for some children to get a lot or maintain it for long. In response, those children who had the extra cols would rent lots and build hotels. Students wanting an area of their own could then rent a room from the original builder at a more affordable price of one col a month. The students with more than six rooms in their hotels found a way to turn a profit.

Qville Stock Market Information

By 2011, a simple hotel is just old hat. Students are wanting more out of the QVille experience and even more of a profit. Now, hotels and other business have the option to join the QVille Stock Market or a company. I know the first time I saw kids talking about the stock exchange, I was skeptical – can elementary school kids really understand the complexities of the stock exchange? It would appear so. When buying stock, you give the business a certain amount of money depending on how well it is doing when you buy your stock. Each “stock” is equivalent to one percent of the company, and at the end of the month you are entitled to one percent of the profits in addition to being allowed to make decisions about the business. If the company is doing really well and others want to buy the stock you can sell it at the new price. This is not the NYSE, these are the rules of the QVille Stock Exchange.

Advertising others in the company

With all this money and investment going on, students are now more responsible for the continuation of their hotels and businesses. You now have the option to enter your business in a partnership with a Qville “company,” which resembles a conglomerate in the real world. Multiple business, including restaurants, hotels, arenas, and karaoke bars, enter into these companies in order to help one another by advertising the others or giving building advice. As part of the company, students are required to maintain company standards in the quality of their buildings, follow company protocol which could even include a uniform, and attend meetings.

Now that money and regulations are involved, laws must be enacted, right? Students are working on a Qville Supreme Court with judges, lawyers, and police. The chat excerpt below shows two students working to set a legal norm.

All too often the great tales of momentus Quest Atlantis value are left in the classrooms from where they emanate. In 2011 we will move to strengthen our sharing of practices. Our Teacher Connection Meetings continue on the first Thursday of the month, in three timezones (Asia-Pacific, USA/Canada and Europe) over skype and inworld. In these meetings we often troubleshoot, share stories, invite guest speakers and generally enjoy the company of other QA educators. The 2011 kick off  meeting will take place on February 3rd with invited guest speaker teachers in each region sharing their expert practice.

In the early part of this year we will be offering training for teachers wishing to use our new interface to develop and share their own Quest activities in the world. Teacher contributions will keep the curriculum of QA culturally diverse, dynamic, topical and globally relevant. There will also be a virtual buoy camp to gather all our facilitators together in a refresher/celebration of the global distributed leadership of Quest Atlantis.

Questers in our Student Congress, a world built and designed by students, are are working  hard right now to prepare for a February launch of that world. This is a place for students to step up and be the designers, leaders, and managers of their own virtual world experiences and learning. Watch out for announcements on this as it promises to be one of the most exciting additions to our Quest Atlantis community.

From my perpective this Edublog award represents so much of what makes QA exciting, and is a much deserved token of how mature our program and community are.  

Let’s all pull together to make 2011 another winning year!

My first project was to ask my classmates if they wanted to stay in General Visibility in middle school or in Middle School visibility in Middle School. It was a very interesting experience finding out what my classmates thought. All of the students I surveyed wanted to stay in general visibility so they would not lose their lumins and cols. My classmates and I were succesful in convincing the teachers that kids should stay in General Visibility. All of my classmates were happy at the outcome.  Here is the link to my blog: Middle School Visibility vs General Visibility

The second project I did was the 2010 Earth Day Quest. Me and two other students had to come up with ideas for the quest. It was very hard because we had to make them find things in the core worlds and the Otak Hub. In those worlds, it is very hard to find things that help the Earth. We made the quest for 4+1 bonus lumin. Everyone who has done that quest so far is very happy. They feel that they are learning so much about the Earth and the Environment.

My third project was to teach Middle Schoolers about Quest Atlantis. It was very difficult because they thought that it was dumb that 4th graders were teaching them. But they didn’t realize what a hard time me and all of the other students have. They were reckless and they were not to excited to do it. I feel that because I don’t think they  have an open mind like the 4th graders. We as 4th graders enjoy Quest Atlantis because we like to explore and we have an open mind.

Right now in Student Congress, we are building areas for all of the different Social Commitments. I am the leader of the Environmental Awareness group. In my design group, we are trying to create a mission. The summary of the mission is that when you enter the area, you will find a mother polar bear and her cub. These bears will talk to you and say that the iceberg that they are standing on is the last one they could find. Also, they will mention that they cannot find food anymore . The bears see an Ecologist’s boat and ask if the avatar can go and ask them for help. The Ecologist tells the avatar to go into the town’s research lab and find out information about why the ice caps are melting. In the research lab, they talk to the main researcher.  The researcher gives the avatar  informational notes. The Avatar has to talk to different researchers to understand what the notes mean. When the Avatar talks to the last person, he/she has to go back to the main researcher and take a test. When they finish the test, then the researcher tells the Avatar to go back to the Ecologist. The Ecologist asks the Avatar what they learned. After they are done, they will earn a hat for finding out how the Ice Caps were melting. That is our design plan.

All in all, I think that being a student leader is a great honor and responsibility. I am having a great experience creating these blogs, quests, and teaching middle schoolers. I am learning a lot myself.

Come share your ideas on a Student Congress.

An idea had been mulling for some months now about creating a world in Quest Atlantis where students can take up ownership, leadership and have opportunities to share their lifeworld experiences in the QA social commitments.

The first formal meeting of our steering group happened this week to focus on writing a design proposal for a new world where the particpants will be the designers. What will it look like? What will the students roles be? What will motivate students to come here? What passport will be required to get there? What resourcing issues will we have? What infrastructure will support the goals? Six teachers and our first very brave student member met to begin to answer some of these questions.

The Student Congress will evolve in a disused world once intended for teacher professional development.As such it has a shell of buildings and landscape that the currently forming team of students and teachers can leverage, adapt and reshape to suit this new purpose.

The basic  idea of the congress is that students, who have luminated to a certain level, would be able to access this world where they can take up leadership roles and further share their knowledge and commitment with Questers about the globe. There they will be the designers of activities, be able to teach each other new skills like machinima and take their online communication to a new and more reflective level.

If you are a QA teacher and want to explore the world in question you can find the teleporter by walking past Brianna in Teacherville, toward the grass huts to a sign that directs you to Student Congress.

You can join us or follow how this proposal and world are shaping up at the Student Congress Wiki. The audio of the team discussion is also linked inworld at the Teachers Lounge of Islandview Elementary, Teacherville.