SPP - Su Doku
The Schome Park Programme - Su Doku
Description
Sudoku began as an organised activity, promoted in the events page of the wiki using an information and signup page ( Su Doku Signup). Six Schomers signed up on the wiki in advance to say they would be attending. Several grids were prepared and, on the evening of the activity, placed at key locations around the island. A set of numbered blocks with full access permissions were provided for each participant as they arrived in-world. Some participants chose to work alone on a grid whilst others were happier working collaboratively. Over the course of the evening there were 3 staff participants (only one of whom had access to the solutions) and 8 students. All participants, with the exception of the staff activity leader, dropped in and out over the evening, citing meals and homework as the main distractions as is common on Schome Park. A number of the Schommunity commented that they would like to have participated but were unable to attend on the scheduled evening, so post-activity the original (i.e. uncompleted) grids were assembled into a single sudoku three dimensional cube and left with a set of copyable number blocks for anyone to take on and solve at their leisure. No single person solved any one face of the cube but over an extended period there were a high number of contributors who added on average 2 or 3 numbers at a time, using the cube as a time filler when waiting for friends to arrive or activities to begin.
Evidence of Learning/Benefits
All participants in the organised session were already skilled enough users of the environment that no new Second Life skills were acquired. One or two participants were self-declared sudoku addicts and enjoyed the opportunity to practice sudoku in-world – these tended to be the ones who worked alone. Some participants were new to the concept and had to learn and understand the game rules before being able to participate. On the collaborative boards there were often errors and this required quite tactful group negotiation to identify the rogue block and request that it be removed without offending 'the perpetrator' of the error. This was managed well and there was a significant sense of group achievement when boards were completed.
Issues/Problems
There were some initial problems with the permissions settings for the number blocks, which were quickly resolved. As already noted participants were not consistent in their commitment to the activity but this didn’t constitute a problem, rather it mean that the activity was perhaps less pressured and competitive than it might have been with a cohort.
Key Lessons Learned
From the perspective of organising this event it quickly became obvious that in the Schome community members are used to being on control of their learning, and want to work at a time and pace that suits them. A session that was envisaged as being perhaps an hour long for a distinct cohort became a much more fluid event whilst still achieving the same outcomes.
NB. Contrary to what the history might indicate, the original version of this was written by Elsa. PeterT just cut and pasted it in here from the original wordprocessed version.
I was active for most of Phase 2 and Phase 3 and don't remember this being used at all Amba 06:45, 9 February 2009 (GMT)
