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TEMPLATES
VIRTUAL CLASSROOM:
One with the lot. The Virtual Classroom is ideal for any classroom teacher. It includes a home room, a fun common room for the students, a science lab and a lecture theatre. It even has a secret door in the science lab that leads to a room with a nasty but fun pet T-Rex.
View Sample > CLICK HERE TO GET ONE >
HOME ROOM:
Just the home room but with a bit more furniture and a few more interactive Education tools. For those who want to start simple and grow their site as they wish to customize it.
View Sample > CLICK HERE TO GET ONE >
STUDENTS COMMON ROOM:
Whether for the students in one class, one year or even an Alumni common room for class of '74 this is the virtual space for you. Password protect it so only the class can access it or make it so only logged in students can enter. That's safe social networking. Then add fun videos, music, and images, even documents to make the space uniquely about your class. Use the whiteboard as a virtual record of student's thoughts; poetry and drawings, and then decorate with images of the year that is/was.
View Sample > CLICK HERE TO GET ONE >
LECTURE THEATRE:
Set up as a Lecture theatre with an art gallery feel, this is the ideal virtual space if you want to run lectures to Internet based students. This could be supervised homework or a tutorial at night when students can't get to school, it could feature a guest lecturer in from interstate or oversea to talk to a group of people watching on a real electronic whiteboard or at computers around the world. Also ideal for Virtual art gallery openings where the artist is presenting and the guests are around the world.
View Sample > CLICK HERE TO GET ONE >
SCIENCE LAB:
A virtual Science Lab for the science or homeroom teacher who wants to add a new dimension (literally) to their science class or homework. It comes complete with its own mini Zoo to show off a variety of different Animals and plants in a unique way (and scale!). It even has a secret door in the science lab that leads to a room with a nasty but fun T-Rex.
View Sample > CLICK HERE TO GET ONE >
MINI ZOO:
A fun little virtual world with some way out, and way out of scale animals and plants. A nice way to introduce younger students to scarier beasts. Has a T-rex, spider, even a whale…
View Sample > CLICK HERE TO GET ONE >
Here are some unique things you can do in your Gogofrog Virtual Space.
- Set the site security so only people with a password or friends/students can enter your virtual space.
- Click on your fellow avatars and see their profile.
- Click on your fellow avatar and chat with them via text or WEBCAM.
- Upload Photos, Video, Music and even Documents to share with your class or fellow students.
- Select and use hundreds of Images from our free image library or buy others uploaded by members.
- Select and use literally hundreds of free 3D objects to use in your Virtual spaces. Move them, rotate them, re-scale them or retexture them to suit your space and purpose.
- Select from animated and even a few interactive objects (click to activate). We already have some set up in the templates.
- Grow by adding as many more doorways & rooms as you like.
- Grow your virtual space by lading a door to other safe Gogofrog sites of your choice.
- Easily change the shape and size of your space, the décor, the type of floor and even simply change the whole scene… maybe from cityscape with animated fireworks to a deserted beach with animated surf.
Here are some dedicated and unique Interactive Tools for Educators and Teachers
(You will have FREE access to these and some are already set up in the templates ready for your content.)
- Whiteboard. Anyone logged in and in your virtual space can scribble, type, draw and upload images and share these with everyone in your space. All content is saved with the users name so you can see whose contributions it is. Every uploaded page can be viewed, printed or emailed direct from the whiteboard. A great fun object in a student's common room or home room to keep a record of the whole year in images, text and drawings. Only the site owner can delete content.
- Video Player. Upload as many Videos as you want to create a video library that avatars in your space can view. Just for fun or maybe some homework videos.
- Audio Player. Upload Audio and Music for everyone in your space to listen to, even while touring your great site.
- Information Board. You can upload video, documents, instructions or details onto this board and avatars in your space can watch, print, download or at your discretion, ask and receive text questions. A great way to give assignments to students in an interactive way.
- Lectern. Anyone logged in can go to the lectern and broadcast their webcam to everyone in the space. An after-hours lecture or a guest speaker from another state or country perhaps.
- Photo Album. Upload as many Photos as you want to create an image library that avatars in your space can view. Store or show off your great images.
Here are some unique ways to use Gogofrog as an Educator
- Take children into a virtual world using a real world interactive whiteboard
- Together teacher and students explore microscopic worlds, undersea worlds, solar system, distant places, dangerous places, future worlds, and historic places. Together they wander through these places engaging and interacting with rich 2D and 3D media content.
- Student self discovery / Learning Tool
- Students go in and discover/further discover an educational virtual environment themselves either at their school desks, in a library or from home. How deep they go into discovery/learning is up to the depth of content added by the Educator.
- As an advanced Educators communication/delivery Tool.
- Educator lectures via webcam to students that are variously present in class, home sick, off site or even global all at the same time and all whilst the Educator is guiding the students through a detailed, sophisticated and engaging 3D experience. Students can 'take the lectern' in turn for Q&A.
- Host a guest lecturer from interstate or overseas in real time.
- To Communicate with Parents
- Parent teacher meetings in the virtual classroom
- Ongoing Parent capacity to see their children's work and elements of the curriculum in the virtual classroom.
- Unique Teaching tools: Digital 3D content
- 3D objects that variously have a series of interactive animations controlled by students/Educator simply clicking on them. i.e. Click on the bird to make it fly, click to make it swoop etc.
- As a Social Networking Tool
- Virtual Common rooms for Educators/Students on same different campuses
- Sister schools in different countries connected via a common social networking room. What a great way to connect schools and learn languages.
- Joint language, social classes in a common virtual space.
- As an Extension to the Classroom
- Homework always there to see in the virtual room and possibly there to respond to as well.
- Tutorials at a set time where Educator/tutor are available after-hours in the virtual space for Q&A and help.
- Virtual Detention without the legal pitfalls of school based detentions.
- A safe Social Network open only to students with the password or students that are logged in and always identifiable by their avatars name or by clicking on them to view their profile or them via web cam. Safe from Virtual World and Online Predators and real world predators.
- A unique opportunity to teach children about objects, events, animals etc that they may never be able to see up close or walk up to or interact with. What would an Amoeba look like if it was the same scale as me, what does it feel like to be in the same space as a T-Rex?
The Basics about Gogofrog as an Education/Learning Tool
If you are new to virtual worlds then here is a quick rundown of what they are and where Gogofrog fits in.
- A Virtual World is like a normal web site but in 3D. Gogofrog is a site that allows anyone to come in and set up their very own little virtual world and when they do it is like any other web site except there are security controls so you can completely control who gets to visit your site and who doesn't.
- When you get a Gogofrog site, you have complete control over how you build your site. You start with a template. Think of it as a 3D space that we have added some images and furniture into already just to make it a bit more livable straight away. For time concious educators we have created fully furnished classrooms complete with pretty much everything (including a mini zoo). You can have a wander around the Education templates (literally) on this page by clicking on View Samples... there are several different fully furnished classrooms to choose from. And it is "What you see is exactly what you will get'. The Education sites are like getting a fully functional classroom (minus the students of course... you have to invite them)
- Once you have your own site you can very easily (i'm not kidding it is very very easy) change pretty much everything about it, the theme, shape, size, content and start inviting who you want to work, play, interact, learn in your 3d space.
- Unlike a normal web site you can see all the visitors in a virtual world. In Virtual worlds, visitors are called avatars and everyone who visits a virtual worlds gets an avatar, including you. When you visit your own site or someone virtual world, don't be surprised if you see avatars... they are just visitors. Depending on the security setting of somebodies Gogofrog site, don't be suprised to see lots of avatars. You might for example go to a Gogofrog site that someone is using as an art gallery and find lots of avatars wandering around looking at the work and eager to talk about the art work with other avatars. By the way avatars can communicate with each other in 3 ways... by text chat, voice or by webcam. If you want to chat with someone just click on their avatar (need to be logged in for webcam chat). Try it out... it's pretty cool because it's like being able to communicate with other people in a website. If you put the lectern (its one of our interactive education objects) you can even do broadcast webcam to every avatar in your site at the same time. It's just like teaching but the students don't actually have to be in the class with you.
- By the way Gogofrog is browser based. That means that there is no software to download. This is really important because it means that you don't have to download anything on to you schools, business or home computer to build or manage your Gogofrog site. It also means that anyone - your students, friends or anyone else on the web (if you let them) can visit your site without having to download software. All anyone needs is an average PC and access to the internet.
OK now for some Education specific points about Gogofrog.
For those new to virtual worlds and wanting to get a taste of how easy it is...
We would recommend starting with a free subscription which will allow you to experiment a little bit. You get a free room with your own URL. You are restricted to one room but you can upload images (there are also many free images in the image library), add your text to walls, add a variety of free objects (look for objects that don't cost Gogos in the furniture library) move them around or change their size or texture to suit, change the rooms shape, choose from a huge variety of 'themes' for your space... we call them skies and there is a whole library of static and animated skies to choose from from cityscapes to rolling waves by the sea, you can also change your floor from a selection of alternatives. Now I should also mention that you will also be able to add a profile to your avatar as well as dress your avatar up or even change it... why be a human when you can be a baby dragon?
Now don't go doing too much in you free site because although you can upgrade to a paid subscription and get everything for free, you would be missing out on the education templates. Now these templates were built with the input of leading Educators from around the world. The education templates are effectively different styles of ready made classroom... in fact the Virtual Classroom is like a 'one with the lot'... with everything you could possibly want and then some...it even has a pet T-Rex in a room next to the Science lab. Importantly Gogofrog's fabulous interactive objects specially designed as educational tools, are already to be found in these rooms.
Once you have your own Virtual Classroom you can change or add anything, whenever you want and where-ever you are as long as you have internet access. (Imagine setting the class homework while they or you are on holidays!)
Students.
- If you are using the virtual classroom in class (for example you might be taking them for a tour of ancient Egypt in your virtual classroom) and using your screen or a electronic whiteboard then clearly the students don't need to even know the web address for your site.
- If you are just wanting the students to go in to your Virtual Classroom from the school's PCs or from their homes and see the information/content you have put in there (objects, images, text) then all they need is the URL of your site. (You are the one that makes up the sites name when you first sign up and we send you an email with the details). Oh and if you have put a security password on the site then you will need to give them this otherwise too, otherwise they will just get a black screen asking for the site password. (This level of security is really easy to set-up and switch on and off by you. It makes sure that students only interact with people you have given the password to.)
- If you want the kids to be able to interact with you and with each other via chat, voice and webcam then they need to have their own subscriptions. As subscribers they will also be able to interact with all the interactive educational objects you place in your virtual classroom. For example they will be able to add their comments and images and drawings to the interactive whiteboard and save this for all to see. It is probably pretty obvious why we need students to be subscribers in order to add text, images and drawings to the whiteboard and other interactive educational objects in your virtual classroom. When they save anything to the room it adds their name to identify them!.Just think if they could do it anonymously. Yikes. They simply need to log in once they are in your site and you (and everyone else in the room) will be able to recognise them by their name or avatar. Just get each to sign up for a free subscription. They will get their own avatar to play with (dress up etc) as well as having their own little 3D room to play around in and experiment with (see functions free subscription above).
- We are a few short weeks away from launching a fabulous function that allows you as an Educator to add up to 50 names/passwords to a classlist. It's like signing up the whole class and a few extra's like maybe some of the other teachers. They will have the same ability to interact as if they had their own free subscription. It will save the students (or teacher on their behalf) having to register as free subscribers.
- If you give students your username and password then they will be able to change/modify the entire site and all its content. (maybe change it after you take back the site) but you can of course change your password at any stage.
- If they have their own username and password then they can come into the site and contribute to some of the interactive teaching tools such as the lectern (they can broadcast webcam, add documents, video and images), the whiteboard they could all use and add/ save text images and drawings, the information board allows them to add text and you can even see by username who has contributed.
- If students have their own free subscription they can also get a one room site for themselves... they could for example add anything and completely change and decorate and use their own one room site, then add a doorway from their free site back to your subscribed site. You could then add a doorway from your classroom 'hub' site back to each of the students individual sites. You could for example add a room to your main room which has nothing but doorways in it (which then leads to each of the students individual sites). Each of the students can then go from their site to yours and into other students sites seemlessly. Each of the students could build their own sites and have full control of it and you would retain control over most of the content/decoration in the hub... the classroom itself.
Contribute to our Educational Goals
Gogofrog is the brainchild and lovechild of Lorenzo in Japan and Vincent in Australia. We have funded it ourselves since 2006. You can contribute in any of the following ways;
- You can build and sell educational and other images and objects and even avatars and sell them or make them free to all Gogofrog Users. This helps us with having rich educational and general content.
- By taking out a subscription which helps pay our significant hosting and development costs and allows us to grow the vision and hopefully one day even make a buck.
- By emailing us ds@gogofrog.com with constructive development requests and bearing with us as we fix up any bugs.
- By supporting us financially or sponsoring us if you are a Venture Capitalist, share our vision or a supplier of other Educational browser based software.
If you are an Education journalist by writing nice things about us and our aims or generally by spreading the word.
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