These slides, presented at the March 2011 Virtual Worlds Best Practice in Education conference, describe an Open Wonderland community project called SubSnapshots. In this project, a group of people from around the world worked together to create a new Wonderland "module" (extension). They actually wrote Java code together inside the virtual world.

1. Learning to Program Collaboratively
in Open Wonderland
Jonathan Kaplan Kathryn Aten
Open Wonderland Foundation Naval Postgraduate Institute
jonathan@wonderbuilders.com kjaten@nps.edu
Nicole Yankelovich Nina Nussbaum-Jones
Open Wonderland Foundation Lockheed Martin
nicole@openwonderland.org nina.nussbaum-jones@lmco.com

2. What is Open Wonderland (OWL)?
100% Java, free, open-source toolkit for
creating 3D immersive virtual worlds
Copyright 2011, Open Wonderland Foundation 2

3. Wonderland Wednesdays
• Weekly in-world meetings
> Began in February 2010 when
Sun Microsystems sponsorship
ended
> Community organized based on
desire to help keep project going
• Main purpose
> Help educate developers so more could contribute to
project, help fix bugs, and add new features
• Group decided best way to learn was to jointly
develop a new Open Wonderland “module”
Copyright 2011, Open Wonderland Foundation 3

4. What is a Module? Module
• Modules are akin to “plug-ins” Code
Artwork
• Mechanism for packaging & sharing Scripts
Wonderland extensions written in Java Assembled worlds
Other resources
> Can contain code, artwork, audio,
scripts, web management and web services
> Also used for sharing whole worlds
• Almost all new Wonderland features and
enhancements are created as modules, e.g.:
> 2D apps (whiteboard, sticky notes, presentation viewer)
> 3D apps (cone of silence, video recorder, piano)
> Capabilities (portal, clickable link, security, etc.)
Copyright 2011, Open Wonderland Foundation 4

5. SubSnapshot Project
• Group decided on “SubSnapshots”
> Useful feature for many users
• Snapshot
> A saved version of an entire OWL world
> Limitations of snapshots
• Difficult to share
• No provision for saving a single space or
a collection of objects
• SubSnapshot
> A saved version of a portion of an OWL world
> Reusable on same or different server
Copyright 2011, Open Wonderland Foundation 5

6. SubSnapshot Sessions
• Logistics
> Meets during Wonderland
Wednesdays
> 2-3 times per month; 1 hour
> Averages 8-12 participants
> September 2010 – present
• Learning Community
> No formal instructor
> OWL architect defacto leader
> Participants take turns driving
> Focus on understanding, good
coding practices, not speed
Copyright 2011, Open Wonderland Foundation 6

7. Project Space Setup
Copyright 2011, Open Wonderland Foundation 7

8. Activities & Tools
• Between sessions
> Asynchronous
collaboration
using Google Wave
> Setting up the
environment
> Installing new code
on community server
> Testing
• During the live sessions
> Synchronous collaboration with high fidelity audio
> Suite of collaboration tools support variety of activities
Copyright 2011, Open Wonderland Foundation 8

9. Activity: Organizing Work
Tool: Card Wall
Copyright 2011, Open Wonderland Foundation 9

10. Activity: Planning & Design
Tool: Multi-user Whiteboard
Copyright 2011, Open Wonderland Foundation 10

11. Activity: Collaborative Coding
Tool: NetBeans
Copyright 2011, Open Wonderland Foundation 11

12. Activity: Documentation
Tool: PDF Viewer
Copyright 2011, Open Wonderland Foundation 12

13. Activity: Note Taking
Tool: Sticky Notes
Copyright 2011, Open Wonderland Foundation 13

14. Activity: Consulting the Web
Tool: Firefox
Copyright 2011, Open Wonderland Foundation 14

15. Activity: Unit Testing
Tools: NetBeans, Image Viewer
Copyright 2011, Open Wonderland Foundation 15

16. Activity: Testing the Code
Tool: SubSnapshot Module
Copyright 2011, Open Wonderland Foundation 16

17. March 16, 2011: It Works!
Copyright 2011, Open Wonderland Foundation 17

18. Who Attends and Why?
Copyright 2011, Open Wonderland Foundation 18

19. Interaction, Collaboration, Learning
Copyright 2011, Open Wonderland Foundation 19

20. Impact of Tools on Collaboration
Copyright 2011, Open Wonderland Foundation 20

21. Best View Feature Added
Copyright 2011, Open Wonderland Foundation 21

22. Unique Aspects
Copyright 2011, Open Wonderland Foundation 22

23. Using OWL for Teaching & Learning
Copyright 2011, Open Wonderland Foundation 23

24. Thanks!
Special thanks to the SubSnapshot
participants!
Copyright 2011, Open Wonderland Foundation 24

25. Open Wonderland Resources
• Open Source Project Site
> http://OpenWonderland.org
> FAQ, download code, find documentation and discussion forum
• WonderBlog - Ofcial Wonderland Blog
> http://blogs.openwonderland.org
• Facebook and Twitter
> http://facebook.com/openwonderland
> http://twitter.com/openwonderland - use hashtag: #openwonderland
• Workshops
> “Learn to Build an Open Wonderland Virtual World”
http://www.eventbrite.com/s/3sUB
> “Basics of Open Wonderland Development”
http://www.eventbrite.com/s/3sXd
Copyright 2011, Open Wonderland Foundation 25