Metaxis - or learning in two places at once
Inaugural Professorial Lecture
The inaugural professorial lecture of Professor Liz Falconer, Director of the Education Innovation Centre at UWE Bristol, took place on Wednesday 16 May 2012. Entitled “Metaxis – or learning in two places at once”, it looked at teaching and learning in virtual worlds .
This lecture was delivered to both an audience at the University of the West of England and, synchronously, in the virtual world Second Life which enabled attendance from anywhere in the world.
The lecture was recorded from the point of view of an in-world Second Life avatar and can be viewed above.
What is metaxis?
Metaxis (or metaxy) is the word used by Plato to describe the condition of “in-betweenness” that is one of the characteristics of being human. In particular, Plato applied it to spirituality, describing its location as being between the human and the divine.
Whelan (2008) expands the notion of metaxis further, claiming that “...we humans are suspended on a web of polarities--the one and the many, eternity and time, freedom and fate, instinct and intellect, risk and safety, love and hate, to name but a few”.
Metaxis has also been defined as the state of belonging completely and simultaneously to two different autonomous worlds (Linds 2006). So, the notion of humans passing through an interface between the world of ideas and the physical world is over 2,000 years old.
This lecture will argue that the advent of virtual worlds has provided another interface we can now inhabit; that between the virtual and the real. And, particularly, that the notion of in-betweenness becomes significant when virtual worlds are used for education through simulations of real life experiences and activities.
References
Linds W. 2006. Metaxis: dancing in the in-between. In Cohen-Cruz J. & Shutzman M, eds. A Boal Companion: Dialogues on theatre and cultural politics. New York: Routledge. Whelan J (2008). Available online
How was the lecture run simultaneously in real and Second Life?
The entire lecture took place simultaneously in real and Second Life; reflecting some of the themes covered. Both audiences were able to respond to Liz's questions and to each other; breaking down formal perceived barriers of the real and virtual. A system of laptops, webcams, streaming services, and Second Life itself, were used to run and record the lecture.
The diagram below shows the setup used. This was a relatively sophisticated utilisation of screens and content, but there are many different ways that media can be streamed into Second Life (or vice versa). Please contact us is you have any further questions: elearning@uwe.ac.uk
Please select from the links below to see how the setup worked in real life, Second Life, and both together:
[ Second Life and Real life ][ Real life ]
[ Second Life ]
This diagram is also available in a larger format
Laptop 1
- The laptop ran the Second Life client which controlled Liz's avatar in Second Life. The laptop's microphone captured Liz's voice and 'broadcast' it through Liz's avatar into the virtual world.
- This laptop ALSO ran PowerPoint to display Liz's slides
- The slides were broadcast for free using PowerPoint 2010 and fed straight into one of the screens in Second Life
- AND they were also displayed on the TV for the audience in the real life lecture area.
Laptop 2
- Liz was videoed with a standard webcam in the lecture area
- This was live streamed into one of the Second Life screens using the USTREAM streaming service
Laptop 3
- The real life audience in the lecture area were videoed with a standard webcam
- This was live streamed into another of the Second Life screens using the USTREAM streaming service
Laptop 4
- Manuel ran the Second Life viewer software on this machine.
- The point of view of his avatar was shown on one of the TV screens in the real life lecture room
- Through the avatar's interactions in Second Life, Liz was able to respond to questions typed by those attending in the virtual world
- The laptop was also running Camtasia which was used to record the avatar's point of view (visual and audio) - effectively capturing the lecture.
- AND the laptop was running a bot based on the SHELLA interface. Daden’s BOTIF was used to allow the SHELLA bot to function as a Second Life avatar. SHELLA was then able to interact with others attending the lecture in Second Life.
If you have any further questions about how this lecture was setup please feel free to contact us: elearning@uwe.ac.uk
Page last updated 9 July 2012