The Informal Learning Museum (ILM) resides in Second Life (SL) and is staffed by volunteers. It's charter is to provide facilities, guidelines, and toolkits for exhibitors/researchers of informal learner, examples of informal learning for students, and informal learning experiences for casual visitors.
Imagine, if you will, three people in the real world: Sally in New York, Roberto in Madrid, and Kai in Tokyo.
Sally was visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, when she became intrigued by an ILM kiosk. The kiosk prompted her to put on a head set (after wiping it with provided sanitary wipes) and led her through the process of getting into SL and to the ILM lobby. An ILM staff avatar greeted her in the ILM lobby and (because Sally was logged in from the Metropolitan and new to SL) recommended a guided tour of the art gallery that combined SL training with a walking and talking tour of the ILM art gallery.
Roberto found a link to the ILM while surfing the internet for information on prehistoric North America. In the ILM lobby, a staff avatar noticed Roberto looking around and offered to explain the options for exploring the ILM. After listening to the options, Roberto decided to just wander. An exhibit just inside the door of the natural history gallery on the prehistoric flora and fauna of North America caught his eye and he went inside.
Kai, a frequent visitor to SL, was exploring JPL island when he came across a walking billboard advertising the ILM. Kai retrieved the coordinates from the billboard and teleported to the ILM lobby, where he found the list of coordinates for the galleries and exhibits, and then teleported into the "Anything Goes" gallery.
The ILM develops partnerships with other educational organizations inside SL, on the internet, and in the real world and places exhibits and advertisements with them to bring casual visitors into the ILM. This is a way of sharing the ILM with the public and it's also a way of generating feedback for researchers/exhibitors who are testing their prototypes at the ILM. Initially, the feedback is non-intrusive. Data is captured automatically from visitors such as Sally, Roberto, and Kai including how they got to the ILM, the services they took advantage of, and where and how they explored the ILM. The researchers/exhibitors analyze the data to determine the effectiveness of their work, and students can study the analyses to gain a better understanding of informal learning.
There are three other people in Sally's tour and their avatar guide has encouraged them to communicate with each other either through text or voice. All of them except the guide and one of their tour group are uncomfortable with the microphone and choose to type instead. Although, they are strangers to one another, they have been excitedly sharing their thoughts with each other about SL, the ILM, and the exhibits their guide has shared with them.
Upon entering the exhibit, Roberto finds himself totally immersed in prehistoric North America with a map in hand showing where and when he is. A gentle prompt asks him if he would like to assume an avatar to blend in; he selects a saber-tooth cat. He can hear the sounds of the wind in the grass and trees. Far off he hears the trumpet of a mammoth. Something is rustling in the brush next to him.
Kai has found an exhibit in which he gets to be a conductor of an orchestra. He raises his baton and the orchestra raises their instruments
The ILM tries to engage visitors on several levels and monitors the effectiveness of each level. Exhibit placement, the depth of the immersive experience, voice chat, text chat, alternate avatars, games, feedback are just some of the tools provided by the ILM and used by the exhibitors to create truly engaging experiences for the visitors. Interested students can explore how and why the exhibits were created as well as experience the end result.
As they've been walking through the art gallery, their guide has been asking his charges about their interests in art. The guide knows that Sally is logged in from the Metropolitan Art Museum and has a list of the artworks that are on display in both the Metropolitan and the ILM, so when Sally mentions that she was particularly intrigued by Paul Delvaux' The Great Sirens, the guide asks Sally if she would like to see the ILM's exhibit of the The Great Sirens.
Roberto has studied the dire wolf from this time period and is wondering if he can get to see one. Because he had been standing in one place for a long time, looking this way and that, a gentle message appears asking if he wants help? Roberto explains that he'd like to watch dire wolves. The scene around him shifts to a more heavily wooded area.
An avatar appears next to Kai and asks him what level he would like to use: beginner, novice, intermediate, or experienced conductor?
All of the exhibits in the ILM incorporate some way of making a connection with what the visitors already understand. This is one of the guidelines included with the toolkit that the ILM provides to all exhibitors.
As Sally examines the reproduction of the Great Sirens, the guide shows her how to get information about the options available with this exhibit. She uses the magnifying glass to examine the painting more closely, then selects an audio and text recording about the artist and the painting.
Roberto hears the call of a wolf very nearby; it raises the hairs on the back of his neck. He is totally immersed in the time and place. He remembers the smell of his pet dog and his mind tricks him into thinking he smells a dire wolf. A message appears asking him if he wants to proceed in natural mode or invisible mode. Roberto selects the option for further explanation and learns that when he is in natural mode the environment will respond as if he were really there; in invisible mode it will not respond to his presence.
Kai chooses beginner and is presented with a note card explaining how to conduct. The explanation is organized in a collapsible outline format such that Kai can study the subject as deeply or as broadly as he wants. After randomly skimming the breadth and depth of the instructions, he chooses the "wing it" option.
Although, it isn't a requirement, exhibitors are expected to follow best practices so that visitors don't become disappointed with exhibits. The guidelines and toolkit are intended to make it easy for the exhibitors to express their vision without getting bogged down in implementation details. In the event that best practices aren't followed or an exhibitor is attempting something that's not covered by the guidelines, the exhibit will be placed in the experimental section of the "Anything goes" gallery.
Sally is offered several options for applying what she's learned including a simple quiz and the opportunity to create a painting using some of Delvaux' techniques. She feels so gratified by the results of the quiz, she decides to try her hand at painting, too.
Roberto chooses natural mode and (still in his cat avatar) slowly, quietly pushes his head through the bushes. On the other side of the bushes, he sees a group of dire wolves. The pups are wrestling in grass twice as tall as them and occasionally disappear completely. A lone wolf is standing atop a rock and scanning the terrain looking for trouble or prey. Three others are relaxed beneath a tree watching the pups or dozing. Roberto doesn't notice that the leaves in the tree are slowly shifting in the breeze until they point toward the lone wolf on the rock. Suddenly, the lone wolf barks and looks directly at Roberto; all of the others including the pups pause and look directly at Roberto.
Kai has been confidently waving his baton and getting intermittent results from the orchestra. Suddenly, the tuba player, who hasn't played a single note, gets up and noisily disappears. Kai decides to study the instructions a little more.
Another of the guidelines for exhibitors is to provide some kind of interaction that reinforces what the visitor has learned from the presentation. What form the interaction takes is entirely up to the exhibitor and is only limited by the ILM toolkit, the exhibitor's imagination, and the "physics" of SL
As Sally reviews here work of art, she remembers that as a child she loved the idea of being an artist, but never felt the motivation to spend more than a few minutes at a time trying. But this experience has made her realize that maybe she's ready to try again and a little harder. As she walks away from the exhibit, she's offered a note card with links to related sites, resources for further study, and a notice about an art class given at the ILM. She clicks on the link and signs up for the art class.
Roberto is thinking about how interconnected everything is now matter where or when you are. As with the breeze blowing his "scent" toward the sentry, there are so many things you may not be aware of that contribute to undesirable consequences. But, when you become aware, there are many ways to affect the results. He opens the SL search bar and types in "ecology."
After his attempt to "wing it," Kai spends about an hour reading about conductors and conducting and gaining a deeper appreciation for what they do. Then, he teleports back to the list of exhibits and galleries and looks for "tuba."
All exhibits are meant to serve not only as an enlightening experience, but also as an introduction to a broader experience and exhibitors can choose a variety of ways of implementing further exploration from the ILM toolkit. These extensions can be produced at anytime during the presentation.
As Sally, Roberto, and Kai "prepare to leave," a message appears, asking them if they enjoyed their experience. If they respond, they are also asked if they would take a brief survey. The survey serves multiple purposes: it gives the visitors an opportunity to reflect on what they have experienced, it gives the ILM an opportunity to provide suggestions for further exploration, and it provides feedback for the exhibitors. In turn, the exhibitors reflect on the feedback to write their analyses, and students read and reflect upon the analyses.