Moving with the keyboard



Downloading and using ActiveWorlds Education software

Instructions from seminar speaker Julie Smith

Welcome to the first ever Biology Seminar to be conducted in a virtual world. The great thing about using this venue for a seminar is I can conduct it from Florida and you can attend it from anywhere you want as long as you have high speed Internet access (your office, the Library, your home, Bixby’s, Sir Ben’s) You don’t need to trudge out in the frigid Minnesota weather. PS - the weather in Florida is spectacular right now. Sorry, I just had to get that in.

This will not going be a typical “hypothesis, experiment, results conclusion” type seminar. It will be more of a show-and-tell seminar. I will spend ~ 20-30 minutes outlining some of the various teaching technologies that are currently out there (and free to use) and why you should be including them in your teaching repertoire. Then you will be free to explore, discover and learn. You will be able to access more in-depth information about the technologies, try some of the learning activities that are available online and attempt some of the professionally developed virtual learning activities.

It might be in your best interest to print out a copy of this document for easy reference. You also have to pay attention to the requirements listed below.

For this program to work you MUST have a:

• PC computer (sorry Mac users)

• Fast Internet connection (a modem just isn’t going to cut it)

• Sound activated on your computer

• Headphones would be helpful if you are in a public place (your IPod ones should work just fine)

The first thing you will need to do is download the program from this site



Scroll down on the page until you see “Download AWEDU Now !”. Once it has downloaded, run the program. Click on all the ‘NEXT” buttons that come up. Finally you get to click on “START”. You will be asked how you are connected to the Internet. If you know you can select the appropriate connections, if not, choose “AUTOCONFIGURE”. This should load the program and you will be asked a couple of questions. You will be logging in as a tourist. You will be prompted to enter your name and email. You can enter any name and email (it can be a bogus hotmail account, the program doesn’t really care).

You will start out in the main world of Active World. On the left side of your screen should be a menu (contacts, voice chat, worlds etc). If it isn’t visible press your F9 key. Click on the “World” tab and you should see a list of worlds. Click on the world called “UMD”. This is either at the top of the list (if other people are in the world) or it is near the bottom in alphabetical order. This will bring you to my world. For the seminar you will need sound, so make sure you have speakers, headphones or internal speakers and that the volume is turned up.

|Moving with the keyboard |

|You can use the arrow keys on the keyboard to move. First, click inside the virtual reality window. Second, depress your arrow |

|keys. All of the keys you need to move around and change your view are located on the number pad, which is on the right side of |

|a standard extended keyboard. The diagram below indicates what each key on the numeric keypad does. |

|[pic] |

| |

|Keyboard modifiers |

|Several keys on the keyboard have additional effects when used in conjunction with the primary movement keys: |

|Moving faster - CTRL |

|To move faster with either the mouse or the keyboard, hold down the CTRL (Control) key while you're moving. |

|Moving through objects - SHIFT this is important if you get stuck |

|If an object is in front of you, it will stop you from moving forward. Likewise, an object behind you, on top of you or |

|underneath you also blocks movement. To move through an object, just hold down the SHIFT key while you're moving. If you move |

|through objects with SHIFT, you won't set off any bump triggers the object might contain. |

|Moving sideways - SHIFT |

|Using the SHIFT key along with the left or right arrow will cause you to "slide" sideways. |

|Put on the brakes - "5" on the numeric keypad |

|Press the "5" key in the center of the numeric keypad to come to an immediate stop. This is useful when you wish to position |

|yourself very precisely. |

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