building assignment

Virtual Art Assignment

While writing instructions may not seem to be directly connected to the building task for the students, this is a skill that is applicable to a number of fields in education and business.  Anyone who has tried to put together a bookcase that has 135 pieces, and ended up with 15 “spare” items and a very shaky bookcase knows that writing clear instructions—whether for putting together a bookcase, programming a computer, or building an item in SL—is an important skill.

The project is designed to require a great deal of communication amongst the participants since they must design and build the project together.  At the same time, it also integrates both writing and reading components via the instructions component described below.  This is also a project where peer review could easily be integrated at a later state.

Part I includes some brief guidelines on writing instructions.  Or course, this section could be much more detailed depending on the focus of the class.  A good source for more information on writing instructions can be found in textbooks for Technical Communication.  Mike Markel’s book with that title is one great place to look.

Part II is the Virtual Art Assignment itself.

Part I:  Writing Instructions

Although the exact way that instructions are written may vary depending on the purpose of the instruction (e.g., baking a cake versus installing RAM on a computer) and the people they are written for (e.g., children versus adults), most instructions share some elements in common, as shown below: 

1.  A Clear Title: this should explain: What you are writing about, Why you are writing

2.  Good Organization: This gives your readers a roadmap to follow.

3.  Introduction:  The topic you will discuss, your reasons for writing, the number of steps that it will take 

4.  Body: The steps to follow, clear explanation, graphics (if needed).  If you do use graphics:

Could include: Drawings Photos

Should be: simple and clear labeled

5.  Conclusion 

6.  Instructions for how to get help if your reader cannot follow the instructions 

7.  An Easy to follow Style:  Number your steps instead of using bullets, use highlighting techniques (e.g., Boldface, italics, different fonts, size, color, etc.), limit the amount of information in each step.

TOO MUCH INFORMATION  First, create the first prim for the artwork.  To create the prim, first turn on your computer and log in.  After you finish logging in, wait for your computer to warm up and then turn on the screen.  Find your “programs” menu and find SL, and then start SL…….. RIGHT AMOUNT OF INFORMATION  Create the first prim by clicking on the “build” button in SL, and then clicking on the cube shape in the window that comes up.

Other Style Tips:

WORD CHOICE 

Choose the words you use carefully so that your readers will understand exactly what you want them to do.  Some examples for a building assignment might include: 

Building Vocabulary:

Making & Selecting	Changing	Movement	Prepositions of location	Adjectives	SL editing window terms
Create	Expand	Move	On	Long	Tab
Build	Shrink	Lift	In	Short	Axis (X,Y,Z)
Rezz	Stretch	Raise	Under	Small	Position
Duplicate		Lower	Over	Large	Size
	Color	Slide	Next to	Square	Texture
Click	Texturize	Place	Behind	Round	Color
Right-click		Push	Between	Flat	Transparent
Select	Attach	Pull	In front of	Thin
Edit	Link	Put		Thick
Choose	Connect	Rotate

 Choose your prepositions of location with care.  If you use the wrong one in the instructions it could be very bad!  ;-) 

Develop each point thoroughly, use short words and phrases, begin your steps with verbs—use imperative

·         E.g., Move the wall 2 meters to the right. 

Personalize your text

·         E.g., Next, you should…. 

FINAL POINT 

Don’t rely on the X,Y,Z coordinates in SL when making directions.  If someone follows your directions at another region in SL or another spot on the island where you created your artwork, those will have no meaning!  

Part II:  Virtual Art Assignment

Follow the instructions below to complete the art assignment.  Remember, this is a GROUP project, so everyone must participate! 

Instructions are one very important genre of writing.  Instructions may include something as simple as following a recipe to cook a cake or, perhaps in a future career, writing instructions or a technical manual telling your customers how to put together a piece of furniture, a computer, etc.  Maybe some of you have tried to make something with some instructions that were NOT well written.  It is very difficult and frustrating!  

This assignment will have you:      1.  Build something in a group, AND      2.  Make instructions so that another group can build the                same thing.  It is important to remember that in the second stage of this assignment another group will use those instructions to try to re-create the art you create—so detailed and precise instructions are crucial!

In Second Life, everything you see is made up of two basic things:  objects and textures. 

OBJECTS are basic shapes like cubes, rectangles, spheres, etc.  For most things (like chair, a house, a sculpture, etc.) many individual objects are "linked" together.

TEXTURES give an object a different look (like wood, stone, glass, different colors, etc.)

INSTRUCTIONS

1.  Create something in Second Life.  Do this by clicking on the "Build" button at the bottom of your SL screen.  A new window will pop up and allow you to create new objects in SL (these include basic geometric shapes such as cubes, spheres, cylinders, cones, etc.).  This window will also let you change the size and shape of the objects you create.  Everything you see in SL (other than avatars) is built using these basic shapes.  Although the scope of this article does not allow for a detailed building tutorial, the building tutorial tool mentioned earlier gives full instructions.  After you build your creation, add textures/colors however you'd like.  The final creation should be "something" but your group will decide what that will be.  It could be a building, a piece of furniture, a crazy piece of art—anything you decide.  Use your imagination!  Your group must discuss what you want to build.  Negotiate as you go!

2.  As you make the creation, have at least one person in your group take careful notes about HOW you are making it (This is VERY important).

3.  Your group must now make a complete and detailed set of instructions on a notecard so that another group will be able to make EXACTLY the same thing you did. 

RULES

A.     You must use at least 5 objects to make your final creation (most groups use many more) B.     You must use at least 3 colors and/or textures (most groups use many more)

When making your instructions carefully consider:

·         Which objects to use.

·         How to position and rotate those objects.

·         How to put on the textures (which sides of which objects, is the texture repeated, is it partially transparent? etc.).

GOAL

By the end of class you should have:

1.      Your final creation by your group. 

2.      A notecard with complete instructions so that another group can make exactly the same object

Put a copy of the final creation and the notecard in a folder and give the folder to me in SL (name the folder "Build--your names here").

In the next class, another group will be given your instructions and they will try to recreate your item.  After that, we'll compare the final creation you made with the one made by the group that followed your instructions!