The Global Learning Forum Event– November 19, 2009,

5 to 7pm (CST), held from Second Life, at the

Huffman Prairie Chi region. Event theme:

Educational Informatics: Supporting

Authentic Learning Experiences

Event Sponsor: A4/6I Innovations & Integration Division

Air University, Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base
Educational Informatics
A Global Learning Forum Event
November 19, 2009 from 5 to 7pm CST

“In-world” at Huffman Prairie Chi in Second Life

Theme: Educational Informatics: Supporting Authentic Learning Experiences

The Air Force community will see growing interconnectivity between the physical world and virtual
worlds to better support or augment and bridge formal and informal learning and performance support
across a lifelong continuum of service. The seams between virtual and physical systems will
increasingly become ubiquitous in service to lifelong learning and support of Airmen. For example,
advances in informatics, the science and design of interactions between natural and artificial systems,
will provide the means for Airmen to explore new ways of using knowledge in immersive synthetic
environments and then transfer the insights into better performance in the real world that can be less
forgiving when mistakes are made. We will also increasingly see virtual and physical education systems
bridged in support of formal classroom learning, mobile learning on-the-job, and on-the-job
performance support systems. For example, operational systems will increasingly be designed and
deployed to offer dual-purpose roles for on-demand learning and performance support. Such dual-
purpose systems will help shrink the gap between our schoolhouses and workplaces and further
leverage our resources smartly for developing future Airmen.
Examples of educational informatics application:

- The Power of Virtual Environments for Health-Related Learning. Use of new media
immersive virtual environments to enhance Airmen fitness and wellness (people can
vicariously interact in a simulated environment where wellness choices are presented and
consequences and or threats to health become evident, as well as how wellness behaviors
remediate these situations). Potential exists to use inexpensive educational informatics
techniques to encourage changes in personal lifestyle.

- Agent Interfaces for Informatics Mechanisms. Informatics can be used to support or

instruct a machine-based agent to automatically scan on-line learning resources as they
are updated and from which users can interface with or access new learning resources via

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 social agents. The social agents help to introduce and interpret new or updated resources
using frameworks tailored uniquely for learning domains or performance support systems.

- Informatics-mediated Psychosocial Synthetic Learning Environments. Information

supporting real-world systems can also support virtual systems and environments to help
enhance learners’ ability to apply abstract knowledge by situating education in virtual
contexts similar to environments in which learners’ skills will be used (e.g., virtual hospitals
for medical training, virtual Joint Air Operations Centers for network centric warfare
training, virtual pre-deployment training, etc.).

Keynote speakers from Vanderbilt University will offer a review of research and prototype explorations
regarding the use of Second Life (SL) as a virtual reality world for the provision of educational
informatics.

After participating in this event, attendees should be able to:

1. Describe the Vanderbilt environment that provides the infrastructure for innovative and
transformative change in education, practice, and research.

2. Discuss how competency based learning is being used for faculty development as well as
orientation to the virtual world of Second Life.

3. Understand the possibilities for the provision of actual patient care in the Second Life environment.

4. Explore potential areas of collaboration between the Air Force and Vanderbilt.

Event Keynote Speakers

Nancy M. Lorenzi, PhD, MS, MA is a Professor of Biomedical Informatics at the
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and Clinical Professor of Nursing at the
Vanderbilt University School of Nursing. Dr. Lorenzi is the Assistant Vice
Chancellor for Health Affairs with a major focus on informatics, quality, strategy
and transformation. She was President of the International Medical Informatics
Association (2004-2007) and is currently the Chair-elect of the Board of Directors
of the American Medical Informatics Association. Within the Department of
Biomedical Informatics Dr. Lorenzi is the Director of the Implementation Sciences
Laboratory. The Implementation Sciences Laboratory is a community of scholars interested in achieving
implementation goals for information-based systems to support operations, research, and education in

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complex healthcare organizations. This incorporates information-based systems for clinical practice and
research into strategies and methodologies for higher adoption of translational research in clinical
practice. Dr. Lorenzi is known nationally and internationally for her work in transformation and
managing technological change in healthcare organizations.

Betsy Weiner, PhD, RN-BC, FAAN, is the Senior Associate Dean for Informatics at
the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing. She is also the Centennial
Independence Professor of Nursing and Professor of Biomedical Informatics, a
joint appointment between nursing and medicine. Prior to joining Vanderbilt in
2000, she served 21 years at the University of Cincinnati, 10 as director for a
university wide faculty technology center, and four years as director of university
academic computing. Considered a pioneer in multimedia development (with
over 30 years of experience in the health sciences), she is responsible for the distance learning programs
in nursing, and the informatics tools that help to tie together the research, practice, and academic
arenas. She currently is the PI on $3million worth of HRSA grants for faculty development. Dr. Weiner
publishes and speaks nationally and internationally on both informatics and emergency planning and
response, and has served as an international consultant for the World Health Organization. She was the
2008 recipient of the AMIA Virginia K. Saba Award.

Dr. Tom Elasy, M.D., MPH, is the Director of the Vanderbilt Eskind Diabetes Clinic
and the Ann and Roscoe R. Robinson Associate Professor of Medicine. He is
Editor-in-Chief of Clinical Diabetes and Director of the Prevention and Control
Core of Vanderbilt Diabetes Research and Training Center. In addition to an active
clinical practice, he is a NIH funded researcher. His clinical and research interests
include identifying and modifying the determinants of long term glycemic control.

Jeffry S. Gordon, Ph.D., has been heavily involved with computers and
microcomputers since the mid 1970s. His first work was on the PLATO
instructional computing system at the University of Illinois and the Control Data
Corporation, and he later advanced to multimedia development on both the
microcomputer and web based environments. After leaving the University of
Cincinnati in 2001, Dr. Gordon was appointed a Professor in Informatics at the
Vanderbilt University School of Nursing. His research area includes the
development and examination of issues related to small scale databases as

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underlying engines for web applications. He also provides technical support for the school and serves
on the HRSA grant team that is developing and using the virtual reality world of Second Life for faculty
development activities.

GLF POC: Ms. Toni Scribner (Toni Weasles in Second Life); GLF Advisor: Dr. Andrew G. Stricker (Spinoza Quinnell in
Second Life), A4/6I, Innovations and Integrations Division, Bldg 941, Air University, Maxwell-Gunter AFB, AL.
36112-6610, Contact information: Ms. Toni Scribner can be reached by phone at DSN 493-3866 or commercial at
334-953-3866;Facebook: Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Air-University-Innovations-and-
Integrations-Division-Air-Force/124529564864; emails: Toni.Scribner@maxwell.af.mil; or Andrew.Stricker@af.edu

Registration for the Event

Participants can pre-register, as a GLF event participant, starting on November 16, at 0900 U.S.
Central Time, at one of several GLF registration kiosks located in the Air Force regions of
Huffman Prairie, Huffman Prairie Omega, Huffman Prairie Chi, MyBase, or MyBase Zeta regions
in Second Life. GLF Registration kiosk locations:

Main landing points for each of the Huffman Prairie regions

At the GLF Event Hall on Huffman Prairie Chi
The Virtual Educational Technology Support Center (VETSC) at Huffman Prairie
The Connection Island Terminal between Huffman Prairie and Huffman Prairie Omega
The Visitor Center at Huffman Prairie Omega
Main entrance to the Ayn Rand Space Station (located above Huffman Prairie Omega)
The Air Force kiosk on Coalition Island
Hangar 3 on MyBase Zeta

The event will take place on November 19, 2009 between 5 and 7pm, U.S. Central Time.

GLF registration will also be available at the event location (in the GLF Event Hall located on
Huffman Prairie Chi; the image below depicts the main arrival point on Huffman Prairie with
your avatar facing north towards the large dome of the GLF Event Hall in the background).
Event staff will be available at the main arrival point on Huffman Prairie to help with directors to
the GLF Event Hall. Staff will also be available to help participants with audio and visual needs
and to greet visitors at the GLF Event Hall.

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Seating for the event will be available at the GLF Event Hall with additional seating provided
nearby in the MyBase Zeta region, as necessary, if seating becomes full on Huffman Prairie Chi.
We expect a large turn-out for the event so please plan to arrive a few minutes early. The event
will also be video streamed for access through Huffman Prairie virtual plasma screens.

Event Agenda
Event presentations will be conducted live and make use of a variety of visual and auditory
media. Participants will have the opportunity to interact with the speakers using the chat and
audio tools of Second Life. Please plan to register early for the event and arrive on the event
date at least 10 to 20 minutes early to locate the GLF Event Hall on Huffman Prairie Chi.

If you are new to Second Life you will need to set up an account for establishing an avatar at
SecondLife.com (see attached document on how to access Huffman Prairie Chi in Second Life).
There is no charge for setting up an avatar and using the basic features of Second Life. If you
are new to Second Life you should also allow for 45 minutes of orientation training to learn how
to use your avatar and navigate in virtual environment.
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Once you arrive with your avatar at the GLF Event Hall, GLF event team members will be
available to provide further assistance for helping to make your attendance an engaging and
informative experience. Please note event times are for CST. Also we ask participants to hold
questions for speakers until Q and A at the end of all presentations. During presentations we
also ask participants to mute their microphones and limit text chatting on the public channel to
help reduce distractions for speakers and other participants. If you encounter any problems
during the event with audio or visual issues please visit our event Help Desk (located in the GLF
Event Hall). GLF help desk members will be available at the Help Desk to provide assistance
throughout the event.

IMPORTANT: You will need to join the Global Learning Forum Event Group to hear the
presenters and participate in voice dialogue with attendees. If you encounter difficulty with
connecting into the group communication channel for the event please go to the event Help
Desk for assistance. Event attendees also receive a welcome package of free virtual items,
including event brochure, help directions, and event shirt for your avatar.

Event schedule:

5:00-5:10 Opening Remarks

5:10-5:25 Dr. Nancy Lorenzi: Introduction and Overview of Vanderbilt

5:25-5:55 Dr. Betsy Weiner: Competency Based Learning in Second Life

5:55-6:10 Dr. Jeffry Gordon: Use of Virtual Reality for Faculty Development and Clinical Care at
Vanderbilt; presentation includes the showing of a Vanderbilt machinima

6:10-6:40 Dr. Tom Elasy: Application of Virtual Reality for Diabetes Clinical Care, Research, and
Training

6:40-7:00 Questions and Discussion

About the Global Learning Forum

Global Learning Forum (GLF) members critique researching, learning, instruction, and
assessment approaches that underline effective cyber-scholarship, advanced distributed
learning (ADL) course design, teaching practices, and innovations made possible by educational
technologies. A desired outcome of GLF is for members to help scan, focus, and act on
promising cyber-scholarship innovations, including the methods and assumptions used when
applying learning science theory to instructional design. GLF members collaborate to harness
the power of virtual communities to innovatively transform ways to learn, instruct, and discover.

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Many of the innovations and research work of our GLF members can be seen at the Huffman
Prairie region in the Virtual Educational Technology Support Center (VETSC) building. You can
freely join the GLF within Second Life (use the search tool to find the GLF group).

About the GLF Event Hall

The GLF Event Hall is designed to support events by providing registration kiosks, help desk
support services, speaker equipment, plasma screens for viewing videos and slides. The
structure, and supporting devices, is a hologram available for instant “rezzing” or creation from
hologram discs on Huffman Prairie Chi. After the event you may want to visit the lower facility
below the event hall to see the digital library and other nearby features and demonstrations.
You can also take a virtual tour of learning prototypes by using the teleport tour board located
in front of the Virtual Educational Technology Support Center (VETSC) on Huffman Prairie.

About Air Force Regions in Second Life

Air Force SL regions (consisting of Huffman Prairie, Huffman Prairie Omega, Huffman Prairie Chi,
MyBase, and MyBase Zeta, see diagram below) community members work with the Global
Learning Forum to help build and sustain collaborative exploration of the art of the possible for
using virtual worlds to enhance learning, instruction, and discovery. Community members serve
on council committees and groups to help lead and improve Air Force virtual education
programs, events, and services. Panorama depicting Huffman Prairie (on the left), Huffman
Prairie Chi (background) and Huffman Prairie Omega (on the right):

Air Force Regions in Second Life

Huffman Prairie: The focus of this region is on proof-of-concept or “skunk
works” for exploring the art-of-the-possible with collaborative
communities to innovatively enhance learning, instruction, and discovery.
Visiting faculty members have access to virtual office space, machinima
studios, electronic book publishing tools and learning design laboratories.

Huffman Prairie Omega: Resources on this region support scalability

assessments and sustainability analysis for educational technology
innovations. Also, hologram displays are available for viewing (located on
Ayn Rand Space Station above HP Omega). Inside the mountain, a 3D
object resource repository is provided for visitors to use.

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 Huffman Prairie Chi: Building arenas and tools are provided for
constructing educational holograms. Four public sandboxes are also
provided for users to temporarily build or “rez” objects. Also, a digital
library and building resources are available beneath the hologram arenas.
The Global Learning Forum Event Hall, a large hologram, is also “rezzed”
on the region in support of events.

Huffman Prairie Gamma: This region supports the exploration and

prototyping of educational informatics applications. Educational
informatics melds the study of informatics science with analysis of learning
information and knowledge, to address the interface between technology,
learning, and assessment sciences in the design of interactions between
natural and artificial systems. As an interdisciplinary field, educational informatics, focuses on
information, data, and knowledge in the domain of education—their storage, retrieval, and
optimal use for problem-solving and decision-making in support of how people learn, instruct,
and discover new knowledge.

Holm Center: This region supports the use of immersive virtual reality by
members associated with the Jeanne M. Holm Center for Officer
Accessions and Citizen Development. The center is named in honor of the
first woman in the Air Force to be appointed to the grade of brigadier
general. The Holm Center provides coordinated leadership and policy
direction for the Air Force's officer recruiting, training and commissioning programs at the Air
Force Officer Training School and at Air Force ROTC detachments at 144 universities. About 80
percent of the officers who enter the Air Force each year come through one of these two
programs. The center’s staff also manages, supports and develops curriculum to train
tomorrow's Air Force officers. The Holm Center also directs the Air Force's high school citizenship
training program – Air Force Junior ROTC – and is home to Civil Air Patrol-USAF.

Huffman Prairie Theta: This region and surrounding mountain terrains

(consisting of multiple open-range regions) supports large-scale simulation-
gaming for education scenarios involving multiple teams. The region is
supported by the virtual Air Operations Center located on MyBase Zeta.

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 MyBase: This region is dedicated to sharing the history and learning about
the U.S. Air Force. Many of the displays are designed to be interactive. You
can view brief videos of MyBase at the following URL:

http://www.screencast.com/t/QBt6u3uyTjX

Things to do and see at MyBase include:

Fly a P51C Mustang (a virtual replica of the aircraft used by the Tuskegee Airmen in
WWII); join the Huffman Prairie Mustang Aero Club (The Huffman Prairie Mustang Aero
Club is for anyone interested in virtual flying. Of particular interest to members is the
P51 Mustang WWII pursuit fighter used by the Tuskegee Airmen)
Try out the Challenge Course and shooting range
Watch a movie in the base theatre and dance to U.S. Air Force band music in the club
Visit the Basic Military Experience area and try out the classrooms, dorm, and dining
displays
Stop by the Museum and see featured displays about the U.S. Air Force
Check out the Visitor and Administration Center, located in the center of the MyBase
region, where you can access an U.S. Air Force website, by clicking on a virtual computer,
and interact with a person to discuss opportunities with the U.S. Air Force

MyBase Zeta: This region is a test bed for simulation gaming for education
in support of scenario-based learning and authentic assessment practices.
Pictured below is a village setting, used by the Operation Relief Worker
Rescue Challenge test simulation game located on the Captain Lance P.
Sijan Leadership Range on MyBase Zeta.

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GLF Event Help Desk
If you have difficulties getting ready for the event you can contact a staff member by using the
Communications Center contact board shown below.

You can send a contact request message to a member by touching their avatar picture on the
staff help board. Online or offline status of the staff is depicted above each avatar picture. If
the member is offline your message will be stored for them to read when they get online. You
will also find them available throughout the event to help with any part of your experience.

During the event you can receive assistance at the Help Desk located inside the GLF Event Hall
on Huffman Prairie Chi.

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