eXtension family caregiving SL Project

Results!

2011-12-30T09:00:00.001-08:00

We've been doing a bit in TLH, including a presentation and gathering of more data. We are in the very early stages of looking at that information, but it seems that the feedback provided is positive! Our next step will be to analyze that data and then determine where the project should go from where we are now. We'll update, as always, when we can.

Visit Us This Week!

2011-10-24T07:10:00.001-07:00

Remember to come by The LiveAbility House and provide us with feedback about your experience...October 26th and 27th, 4-5pm Central Time!! Fill out a quick survey and receive a few Lindens for your trouble!

Open House!

2011-10-10T09:51:00.000-07:00

We are hosting an Open House of The LiveAbility House on October 26 and 27 from 4-5pm CT; 5-6pm ET; 2-3pm Second Life Time! The Open House will take place during the eXtension Virtual State Fair.

You are invited to come in and tour the house on your own. When you are done, you can complete a survey about your experience. All who complete the survey will receive 250 Lindens!

The Open House represents an increase in our effort to gather feedback about the effectiveness of The LiveAbility House. So, please do come and participate!

Upcoming Meeting...

2011-08-24T08:14:00.000-07:00

Three of us will get together on Monday to assess the current status of the project.

We still have not heard about the publication date of the book that will include the chapter about The LiveAbility House.

Don't forget...go check out the YouTube Channel!
http://www.youtube.com/eXFamilyCaregiving#p/f

Just Uploaded!

2011-06-17T02:11:00.000-07:00

We just uploaded the SageStories videos to YouTube! Check out the eXtension Family Caregiving Community of Practice YouTube channel at exFamilyCaregiving: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=exfamilycaregiving&aq=f

Bill, a SageStories character, uses his adapted kitchen

It's Done!

2011-04-27T07:30:00.000-07:00

Please visit Healthy Caregiving: http://www.extension.org/pages/55555/healthy-caregiving! This resource on eXtension showcases the recreated SageStories videos, and also provides additional text information to end users. We can put a big bow on this project!

However, Sarah and I met today to discuss next steps. We both believe that there is a lot mre we could do with TLH. We have decided to look at doing more in-depth evaluation of TLH in SL before moving on to a building a curriculum. We will both research and read, and meet again on May 20, 2011 to discuss possibilities. We will also contact our SL mentors for their suggestions.

SageStories!

2011-03-29T13:04:00.000-07:00

We completed the new version of SageStories--the digital narrative. We had feedback from folks (who were unfamiliar with Second Life) that they were confused by some of the "odd stuff" in the original...they asked things such as, "why is there a food pyramid in Sage's front yard?" and "who has a big sign in front of their house?"

In response, we retook many of the photos in Second life with our four characters and made sure that we either didn't capture or edited out the "odd stuff". That was quite a task, and harder than it sounds. We gave all the pictures to our Electronic Media Coordinator, who, along with students, put the slideshow back together. You can see the new version here: http://www.aging.ksu.edu/p.aspx?tabid=187

We have also created a lengthy article about healthy caregiving on eXtension and will post the videos on that web site as well. We are just waiting for the article to go through the peer review process. We had to wait until we could insert the videos into the articles for the reviewers!

Too, I also had the opportunity, with one of my K-State team members, to share The LiveAbility House and SageStories at the K-State Teaching, Learning, and Technology Showcase: http://id.ome.ksu.edu/roundtable/teaching-learning-and-technology-showcase/

We may take a break for a while--figure out next steps--stay tuned!

Of Late...

2011-01-06T12:00:00.000-08:00

We have been working on various tasks and updates related to The LiveAbility House/SageStories:

1. Sarah and I have submitted the book chapter and received word that it has been accepted.

2. TLH was highlighted in an embedded sidebar in a recent journal article: http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Quarterly/EDUCAUSEQuarterlyMagazineVolum/AnInstructionalDesignApproacht/219118

3. We have made a decision to create a higher-quality product than the current SageStories digital narratives that you can find here: http://www.aging.ksu.edu/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=187 .

Based on feedback, we have reconfigured Derek and have removed all instances of purple and orange dots, kiosks, and other "non-typical household items" in our photos. Other members of our team are at work putting the new digital narrative together.

Working on the book chapter

2010-11-04T14:27:00.000-07:00

Sarah and I are together in Portland, Oregon for the Housing Education and Research Association's Annual Conference. We have a presentation about The LiveAbility House tomorrow; we took some time today to work on the book chapter by reviewing edits from our peers and colleagues and putting the finishing touches on it before we submit.

Wouldn't The LiveAbility House look great with Mt. Hood in the background?

OK, Sorry for the long delay

2010-10-28T05:51:00.001-07:00

The blog has been neglected, but the project has not!

Please go to http://www.aging.ksu.edu/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=187
to see what we've been up to lately!

Status Update

2010-08-12T10:01:00.001-07:00

Although we haven't posted in a while, we have actually made quite a bit of progress!

We had to cancel the audio recording--again--because of the heat advisory. However, we finally managed to pull this off, and the unedited files are currently being cleaned up by a colleague at KSRE. We have about 8 minutes, total, of sound.

Another colleague has been working on putting the pictures together (the ones we took in Second Life). He and his student are anxiously awaiting the audio file, so that we can put it all together.

Sarah and I have been working on our submission to HERA--we are presenting about the project in November to the Housing Educators. Too, we were invited to write a book chapter, and we have crystallized our focus and begun that draft.

And I have been exploring the capabilities of "Softchalk" as a structure for all of these pieces, as well as working on a committee to plan a virtual fair in SL. It is likely that we will offer tours of The LiveAbility House to the public for several days as part of the educational offerings.

It has been busy!

If it isn't one thing...

2010-07-02T10:53:00.000-07:00

We were all set up to do the audio recording of the script last Saturday. We have recruited four actors to play the parts of Sage, Bill, Katie and Derek. However, something happened to the sound booth at Hale Library, and we had to cancel. After investigating other options, we have an opportunity to use the radio booth over at McCain. Now the challenge is scheduling everyone! If it isn't one thing, it is another!

On the positive side, we did have a meeting to take the pictures we needed in SL. That worked out quite well, and we even improved Jeb, the service dog, by purchasing a Lab avatar! We just need to get that audio finished; then we can develop the slideshow.

Presentation and Handout

2010-06-07T22:15:00.001-07:00

Visit the KSRE SageAdvice web site to find the presentation and handout from the June 8, 2010 presentation on The LiveAbility House: http://www.aging.ksu.edu/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=92

Learning About Blogging

2010-06-07T09:24:00.000-07:00

Sitting here at the eXtension national meeting in a session about blogging. The hope is to make this blog on The LiveAbility House better for the readers that like to keep up with the project. I'll include the best practices that I learn today into this blog...

Photo Shoot!

2010-06-02T12:39:00.000-07:00

We are arranging a meeting in SL to bring together the four new avatars, Sage, Bill, Katie, and Derek for picture taking that is relevant to the script. Four people will work those avatars and one person will take the pictures .

We are looking at June 24, Thursday, from 8:30am-11:00am Central Time (if we need that long).

This next step of The LiveAbility House project is exciting. A few pictures of the characters are below.

Script/Structure

2010-04-22T10:57:00.000-07:00

The script is coming along--should have a final by mid-May. Also met with the videographer and the instructional designer again. The videographer came with a slide show that he had put together as a demo. it was awesome! Really helped with motivation to continue to move the project along. Also, the ID took my rough plans and put them into SoftChalk and shared it with me so I could get an idea of what the structure would be...it too, looks great.

Meeting soon (May 3) with Sarah and Andy to see where we are at with these smaller, separate pieces and how to bring it all together---finally. Also, meeting with Larry H to talk about the avatar creation and role play.

baby steps

2010-03-11T09:04:00.000-08:00

The drama therapy student is continuing to work on the script. Sarah and I had a meeting planned, but needed to cancel it...now Shalin and I are meeting on the 16th at 1:30pm to do some more captures and continue to move forward. We have a meeting with eXtension about the military grant proposal on Friday (tomorrow) to receive some feedback. Like I said, baby steps...

Great Meeting!

2010-02-17T06:06:00.001-08:00

I met with Shalin yesterday, the instructional designer at K-State. I am so excited about the possibilities we discussed. I have hired a K-State drama therapy student to help me develop a script, and we were discussing how best to present that information on line and in the field. Next, I need to talk with Sarah so we can take the next step.

Proposal for Funding

2010-01-21T14:17:00.000-08:00

I wanted to let you know that we (TLH) are part of a proposal from the eXtension family caregiving CoP to improve and expand TLH to make it more applicable to military families. We would contract with K-State to do much of the work. The proposal is below.

The LiveAbility Home in Second Life®
Kansas State University and North Carolina State University and collaborators have partnered within Second Life® to create an educational tool, The LiveAbility House, for consumers. The goal of this initial project was: To demonstrate design features and assistive technology that enable a person to live at home despite physical or mental challenges caused by aging, illness, or disability. A simple prototype home designed to help caregivers understand universal design features and assistive technology devices has been built and is currently functional within the Second Life platform (see http://extensionfamilycaregivingslp.blogspot.com/).

The home has applicability to a military audience. Returning veterans who have injuries from the current conflicts need to become aware of how to create a home environment that supports their current level of ability and functional level. Increasing environmental competence for individuals within the home also benefits caregivers by assisting them to provide appropriate care and reduces the number of hours spent on caregiving and the costs for in home care. An adapted home also supports the family unit so that all individuals can co-exist in a friendly environment that supports environmental competence for all members.

In order for military families to fully take advantage of the educational opportunities and social networking offered by The LiveAbility Home, it must be enhanced. Funding would be used to develop and improve The LiveAbility House through the addition of features and content specific to military families. Ultimately, the goal of the project is to have an immersive and educational tool that military families can use to identify and incorporate into their own living environment those features and technology that may have applicability for their individual situation.

Specifically, we propose to:

• Recreate and adapt the current LiveAbility Home on a new Second Life island. This is necessary due to current technical constraints that limit further expansion in its current location.
• Expand and improve upon specific items in the home that are more specific to a military population (an example would be to include assistive technology items related to cognitive challenges for veterans with traumatic brain injury).
• Improve interactive features, including audio, two-dimensional visual text, and animations that can be manipulated by veterans and caregivers.
• Develop new content and add examples specific to military families.
• Create a marketing plan with specific outreach to military audiences.
• Create machinimas to assist with marketing efforts that are geared toward a military audience and that include situations relevant to veterans and caregivers.
• Evaluate the adaptations through evaluation within the Second Life environment with veterans and caregivers. Incentives will need to be provided to encourage participation.

Instructional Designer Feedback

2010-01-06T08:27:00.000-08:00

I met with one of our instructional designers yesterday. I am very excited about the possibilities we discussed for bringing the LiveAbility House "out" to agents. We are even planning a pilot! Sarah and I will be seeing each other in Austin, TX for a CoP meeting (we'll be putting the military proposal together, and plan to present to the group about TLH in the hopes that we can include it as part of the comprehensive proposal) so she and I will discuss in more detail then. After that, we'll probably want to meet as a team and discuss!

Catching Up

2009-12-07T05:41:00.000-08:00

The presentation went well--I think we had about 25 people or so.

Sarah has visited with two agents about the Second Life project and plans to talk with two more. The agents were very interested in the project and the technology. They did state that live demonstrations in their counties can be a problem. The idea of creating lessons plans that have video type pieces would be most appropriate.

eXtension Presentation Today!

2009-11-19T08:45:00.000-08:00

The team just met this morning to ensure our presentation was ready for this afternoon's presentation. We had a few technical problems that we were able to work out. We are hopeful that the connection speed will allow us to show Second Life "live" without too much lag time. We'll see...

Meeting with Kansas Agents

2009-10-26T10:43:00.000-07:00

Today I met with six Kansas county agents via Adobe Connect. We toured the Second Life house (in Second Life!--the technology worked for everyone!) and discussed if/how agents saw it being useful in their counties. The overwhelming response was yes! One agent thought that agents would learn how to use SL and could tour the house as the presentation, similarly to what I did today with agents. Others thought that it would be good to have a dvd or cd that they could use in the field. Interestingly (to me, anyway) they thought it would be better to have a generic presentation, rather than scenarios--at least to start with...additional modules with specifics for TBI or AD could be added later...

One agent talked about how it would be great to have a 3-panel poster display, or even larger "visuals" of the house so that the experience would seem more immersive in the field...even if that meant items were harder to transport.

There was talk also, of using it to help people how their homes might be remodeled...I'll have to think about that.

Lastly, for me, it was a relief to hear that agents thought it was a GOOD thing that the AT devices were the same as what is in the kit. I thought that they might be bored with that, but they thought the repetition would be good for those that have heard the message before---and they thought that possibility would be slim in any case. So, less work for me, there...

All in all, a great meeting, and I am so grateful that folks were interested and willing to provide their opinion. I have a meeting with Sarah tomorrow and we'll see what's happening on her side.

Additional Development Notes

2009-10-02T05:56:00.000-07:00

Here's an update on our meeting, and some additional notes from another.

1. We have a date to present to the Cooperative Extension system through eXtension on The LiveAbility House on November 19. Presenters include Deb and larry H and Sarah and LuAnn.

2. SLuAnn is working on the kiosks and drop box. We discussed needs for accessibility for the mailbox. Since then, Sarah has shared those and LuAnn and i are to meet to get this in place.

3. We are palnning no "open house" or any type of grnad opening for the house. instead, luAnn will post a sign that says group tours are avaialble and who to contact for same.

4. LuAnn did not think AgrAbility had any presence in SL--that it might be another platform.

5. We discussed the plans for the book chapter at length. LuAnn has requirements due to a personal project that she has; she will outline and work on the chapter as an eXtension project, rather than the LiveAbility House, although TLH will be mentioned in the chapter as the first eXtension project.

Notes from a meeting between Deb and Sarah
Sarah and I met October 1 and discussed next steps for the LiveAbility House--how can we best use it and get it in the hands of agents? Each of us agreed to chat with 4-5 agents in our states and ask them for ideas and feedback. meanwhile, we discussed moving forward with the online course--which would serve dual purposes, as we also envision it as an on-the-ground program for agents.

Our vision is to create a pilot, using specific scenarios. We will have facilitator questions and short machinimas, as long as factual information. Sarah and I are to both sketch out our ideas and we will get back together and compare notes. We plan on using traumatic brain injury as our first scenario, as this is in line with another one of Deb's projects and we may have some money to support the work.

We also talked about presentations and journal articles. Sarah is thinking that a presentation to Housing educators next year in Fall, in Oregon, would be well-received. She also brought up the idea of a journal article for Housing and Society. As we should have our data collection 'mailbox" up in SL soon, we should have some data to report on in the next year--as well as sharing project development information. Sarah will share information about the journal and we will begin thinking how to approach this.

Upcoming Meeting

2009-09-08T06:04:00.001-07:00

Yes, all has been quiet here for a while...we have a team meeting coming up on Friday with a long list of agenda items:

1. Pick date in November for eXtension presentation; discuss; how have other presentations gone?
2. Status of evaluation--drop box--survey--etc
3. Plans for Housewarming in November
4. AgrAbility
5. Plans for book chapter
6. Status of next step plans--Deb and Sarah
7. Other?

You might see "book chapter" in the agenda. I was approached about submitting a proposal for a book chapter regarding the LiveAbility House. The timeline is so short; I am just not sure if we can do it. However, the team has said they wanted to give it a try--we'll talk more about it on Friday and see what we think.

Interesting Article

2009-08-03T06:06:00.000-07:00

Pathfinder Linden shared this article via one of our listservs--and I wanted to share it with you:

How The Internet Is Changing Health Care:
From Twitter to Second Life to Facebook, patients now have access to more
health information than ever before.
http://www.forbes.com/2009/07/30/health-wellness-internet-lifestyle-health-online-facebook.html

IRB Application Completed

2009-07-21T07:41:00.000-07:00

The IRB application is complete and submitted.

Sarah and I continue to work on the Learning Lesson on the eXtension family caregiving site, and we are hosting a webinar for members of the family caregiving steering committee on Thursday, August 13 at 10am CT. We are also recruiting for other subject matter experts for help. We are planning on attending the Moodle course tomorrow to educate ourselves about our options for the online course.

Once we get past these tasks, it might be time for the group to get back together.

Here are some more pictures of the house!

Interesting news article

2009-07-07T06:31:00.001-07:00

I found this to be an extremely interesting and exciting news article, and thought that it was worth sharing:

Eye-Tracking Software Opens Online Worlds to People With Disabilities
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090630075449.htm

Putting Future Plans Together

2009-06-24T09:57:00.001-07:00

Sarah and I met today in Second Life and discussed the project. Here's what we decided:

1. We need to let eXtension family caregiving CoP and COI members know about what we are doing. We will host a SL presentation just for eXtension family caregiving on August 13, 10am CT. Sarah will make the arrangements through NCSU. We'll have a practice session on Tuesday, August 4 at 1pm CT. We will invite Beth Raney to attend. If things go well, and if Beth is interested, we could then provide a session for the entire eXtension system.

2. We are happy with the current home in SL, but there are things that we would both change and/or improve. We are also feeling the need to bring in some additional subject matter experts. We may arouse interest through the presentation on August 13.

Therefore, Sarah and I will both actively recruit 1-2 people to join us as SMEs.

We will also meet bi-monthly from now on. One of the things that we will do in these meetings is to evaluate each room/area in the house, hopefully with our new people on board. We will keep a list of the changes that we need to make and work on these. This final assessment needs to be completed BEFORE we move forward with the online course development. In this way, we have built a comprehensive learning lesson within the SL environment that can stand on its own.

3. We discussed the need for evaluation and reviewed what has been drafted to this point. We agreed that we need the more comprehensive survey. However, we also appreciate having the shorter "feedback" option as suggested by our other team members. We will pursue both at this time. We envision that the survey will have no more than 10 questions and will attempt to collect demographic information. Deb will use K-State's Axio survey to design it. We envision that the notecard provided in SL will simply ask: As a result of touring this house, what changes do you plan to make in your home or in the home of the person you care for? Participants can then leave the notecard in the mailbox. Deb will begin the IRB application at K-State.

4. We also discussed the need to provide eXtension with some type of finished product. While we are working on the assessment and evaluation components, we will design a Learning Lesson page within eXtension family caregiving. We will detail what SL is, what the LiveAbility House is, provide links to the blog and videos to learn more, and direct people to the SL website to sign up for an account and also provide the SLURL for The LiveAbility House for people who are already residents of SL.

5. We would like to have November as our end date for all that we have mentioned above. November is Family Caregiving Month, and while neither of us feel that a contest (as we have always talked about) is an option, we would like to think about an Open House or other type of marketing event to "launch" The LiveAbility House Project officially in SL.

Sarah and I will meet again in mid-July to check on progress of these items.

LiveAbility House Tour Video

2009-06-03T07:51:00.001-07:00

Dmitre created and posted a video of The LiveAbility House Tour on YouTube. You may view it here.

Presentation Summary

2009-05-27T12:36:00.000-07:00

We hosted our two tours today in The LiveAbility House! Each tour was limited to 15 participants; we actually had about seven in each, including a few folks from the U.K. And, did we mention that one of our volunteer builders, DFox, is from Brazil?

In the presentation area, the participants received a welcome and overview of Cooperative Extension and eXtension family caregiving.

We then had participants walk over to the house entrance, where they heard about the initial vision for the project.

We then encouraged participants to tour the house on their own, and we were available to respond to questions. We have already received requests to present at other conferences, and there was much discussion about possible collaborations, especially for the issue of service dogs for people with disabilities.

The team was overall quite pleased with our efforts, especially since we are just ready for "prime time" and this could be considered our soft launch of the project.

Here is the conference description, taken from an email announcement from the SL HealthCare Digest, Volume 328, Issue 1, author Ricken Flow:

"The Nonprofit Commons, a project of TechSoup Global (TSG), today announced an all-day, innovative online event in Second Life to showcase recent developments in health care research, and to connect efforts in fighting disease and creating a cooperative and supportive environment for patients and their providers. The Health Panel Expo, an international online conference sponsored by FasterCures.org, will be held on Wednesday, May 27, 2009, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. PST (also called Second Life Time, SLT) in the virtual world of Second Life and simultaneously in the real world, being broadcast live at the fourth annual NetSquared Conference at Cisco in San Jose, CA. The Second Life online event is free to attend and open to all interested participants. It will be accessible through Second Life, and all information will be available at http://www.nonprofitcommons.org/healthpanel...

The Health Panel Expo marks the official launch of the Health Commons in
Second Life. As part of TSG's Nonprofit Commons project, Health Commons
seeks to bring together real-world health-related nonprofits, academics,
educators, thought-leaders, foundations, and volunteer-supporters to
showcase recent developments in health care....

8, 8:30 am- tours of accessible demo homes

9 am- mental health panel
10 am- HIV/AIDS panel
11 am Faster Cures
11:15 am- mobile/phone health
12:15 pmHIPPA
1pm- activity/diet
2pm- disability
3pm- cancer
4pm- Ren Stonecutter

http://slurl.com/secondlife/AMO/146/34/24"

Progress!

2009-05-16T09:14:00.000-07:00

Each universal design feature or assistive technology device now has its own color-coded number (UD=orange; AT=purple). When you click on the number, you hear 2-3 sentences discussing the feature or item. A real-life photograph of the item in use, along with the name and a short description pop up in a window. There are educational signs with audio about UD, AT, and caregiving posted throughout the house. Jeb has gotten into the act, as his dog food bowls now act as a catalyst to learn more about service dogs. He even has a doghouse out back! There's a free "SageAdvice" T-shirt, and hopefully, we will have a book that lists the universal design features and assistive technology items to give away to visitors.

As a picture is worth a thousand words...

FRONT OF HOUSE

CAR

FRONT PORCH

EDUCATIONAL SIGN EXAMPLE

KITCHEN TABLE

KITCHEN WITH UNIVERSAL DESIGN FEATURES & ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY

NEAR BACK DOOR

FREE T-SHIRT!

UNIVERSAL DESIGN FEATURE MEASUREMENTS

BATHROOM

DESK IN DEN

Moving along...

2009-05-04T06:26:00.000-07:00

The team met the other day to discuss our progress for the May 27th presentation. The web pages for assistive technology have all been completed, and the ones for the universal design features are underway. Our SL guru has been busy with other projects, but beginning this week will turn her attention to the prototype house and begin to build the few more items that we need.

Our next meeting is May 14th, and we should have all of the final details completed and we'll talk at that time about the actual structure of the presentation.

Correction to the Plans

2009-03-25T05:58:00.000-07:00

There is a correction and a few details that were missed in the previous entry.

In terms of the contest entries: reserving 20% of sim resources for infrastructure, we actually can accept up to 24 contest entries (not 9). This allows for a 2048 square meter parcel and 500 prims for each entry. Three winners will be chosen.

For the final build there would be 9 houses (3 of each winning design) with a 1300 prim limit for each house including the to be added AT features.

We discussed at length and agreed to add some non-educational details to the decor of the house, i.e. pictures, kitchen items, plants, flooring. This will be taken care of by the 5-27 tour or sooner.

Additional notes:

The plan for sim space is to add Morrill 3 and 4 to the south of Morrill and Morril2.

Morrill 4, south of Morrill will be allocated for the Family Caregiving contest/project. We will create the primary entrance to Morrilll 4 and the Live-ability project/contest west of the fair "main gate". The current Live-ability house would be relocated to the parcel on Morrill which is now the barrel racing, and become a "welcome" area. The accessible garden will be used as a public park on Morrill4.

We will reserve a 30x30m space in the northwest corner of Morrill 4 to combine with like parcels adjacent on the other 3 sims, and this will become eXtension's new "4 corners" large meeting space for high attendance events. The horse area will be relocated to the current Live-ability house parcel.

Morrill 3 will be available for future pilot projects or for another large CoP project.

Deciding on Some Plans

2009-03-24T09:27:00.001-07:00

Today, several team members came together to discuss our current status and progress. The team decided that the first priority is to make the Live-Ability house more interactive and informative. There are two things that need to be done. First, the universal design features and assistive technology items need to be color-coded so that people know what category they fall into. Second, each feature and item need to be made "clickable"--so that when someone clicks on the item, it takes that person to a web page that shows a picture of the item and has some basic information about the item. These items will be completed by the presentation on May 27.

The team also discussed the contest, and decided that it is not possible to have it ready to go by May 27. Instead, we have established a timeline. A rough draft of the "Contest Call" will be completed by June 5. We will finish up the draft, and begin marketing in September, the contest will be in October, and the judging in November--which is National Caregivers' Month.

The team discussed whether the contest should target hobbyists or professional builders, and probably we will be able to attract hobbyists. The houses will only need the UD features, not the AT. We will only be able to accept the first 9 entries. Each house will be "empty" except for the UD, so each building will need about 300 prims.

We also discussed the May 27 presentation/tour. The plan right now is to have everyone teleport to the front lawn. We'll have a welcome address and speak generally about eXtension, as well as give an overview of SL building and how it is different from RL. Then we will give the tour and talk about the different items and the vision of the project.

A New Opportunity

2009-03-20T08:04:00.000-07:00

Our team was contacted by Gentle Huron of Virtual Ability Island. On May 27, the NonProfit Commons in Second Life will hold an all day conference on health care and disabilities. They have asked us participate by hosting a tour of the Live-Ability Home, and leading some discussion about the project and our aims. This is an exciting opportunity for us, even though we consider the house to be a prototype and not quite ready for "prime time". The team has agreed to participate, and we will meet next week to discuss what we need to do to prepare.

We would like to think that potentially, we could have the contest competition kick-off at this same time, as May is Older Americans Month. We were shooting at this as a deadline, but it didn't seem possible to make this happen. But now...? Perhaps!

Gentle Huron has also offered to give Sarah and I an individualized tour of Virtual Ability Island, and we will do that next week.

On another note, Carolina and I have talked about the caregiving issue in SL, and we will look for ways to become involved with the this group. Carolina is till interested in potentially hosting a seminar or conference of some kind on caregiving, and that would be an area where eXtension certainly has something to bring to the table.

Take Heart: Support for Caregivers

2009-02-15T11:36:00.000-08:00

I attended an important and exciting meeting in SL today. It was an informal gathering of caregivers who came together under the guidance of Carolina Keats (avatar name)on Health Info Island. By the end of the meeting, we had decided to formalize the group, and even came up with a name and mission. The group is Take Heart: Support for Caregivers, and the mission is to provide an environment where caregivers can help one another with resources and support. It is a group for caregivers, by caregivers.

I contacted Carolina in RL and we will be meeting soon to discuss possibilities for colloboration. I am truly enthused by the dimension and opportunities this might bring to the Live-Ability House project.

The Competition

2009-01-23T11:01:00.000-08:00

Sarah and I met this past week and discussed our journey so far...and the competition. She has developed a list of "basic" universal design principles that should be included in the homes. Now, it is up to me to take the draft of the the competition RFP and finalize it. We would like to think we could move this along by may, for Older Americans' Month...but we will see.

General Requirements
Step free entrance with flush threshold
Open floor plan
One level home or at least one accessible bedroom and full bath on first floor
36” wide door openings
Flooring -- flush thresholds, maneuverable surfaces, and non-slip/non-glare surfaces
Adjustable height storage
Lever handle hardware
Loop handle cabinet and drawer hardware
Light switches 44” - 48” high
Thermostat no more than 48” high
Windows maximum 36” sill height
Electrical outlets 18” minimum height
Bathroom
Adequate maneuvering space in bathroom (60” in diameter)
Curbless shower or tub with integral seat
Clear space in front of and to the side of toilet
Single lever faucet controls
Lavatory height (adjustable or at 32”)
Knee space under lavatory
Scald guard
Adjustable hand-held shower hose
Kitchen
Knee space under cabinets
Accessible appliances (refrigerator, stove, dishwasher)
Adjustable height countertops
Adjustable height storage
Single lever facet controls
Utility Room
Accessible washing machine, clothes dryer (front loading with controls on front)

Other Details Need Attention Too

2009-01-16T14:30:00.000-08:00

We haven't done much work IN SL recently, but have been quite busy on other fronts related to the project, and others are demonstrating a high level of interest in what the group is attempting to accomplish with it. There have been numerous requests for presentations to university faculty about SL recently, but folks are also specifically interested in the project. These presentations provide a forum to enthuse and excite others about the educational possibilities of virtual worlds.

Additionally this week, a pre-application was submitted to the National Institutes of Health which includes this project as part of the overall aim. Notification should come in April if the project is selected as one for which the reviewers would like to see a full proposal.

Two of us are meeting next Tuesday to reevaluate where we are with the project and to begin discussions about the competition.

Links of Interest

2009-01-02T05:54:00.000-08:00

For a list of interesting projects in SL, please visit: http://www.sl-educationblog.org/

For a list of articles about SL, please visit: http://delicious.com/secondlife/education

Even better, view it here!

2008-12-14T09:40:00.000-08:00

A video tour of the project!

2008-12-14T09:20:00.000-08:00

For those of you who do not yet have a Second Life account, we have a video preview of the prototype home. It is may be viewed on YouTube at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5KajOerENQ&feature=channel

SL in Kansas

2008-11-25T08:05:00.000-08:00

We always like to follow what's being done in SL around the world, but especially with our neighbors. Read this article about how KU is utilizing SL in Lawrence, KS!

http://www.kansan.com/stories/2008/nov/24/secondlife/?news

Moving Forward

2008-11-14T06:20:00.002-08:00

Our meeting last Friday was quite productive. We have "tweaked" our original ideas, and we feel now that we have a much more solid project. I'll do my best to explain it briefly.

Our goal is to create a "template" house that includes 25 or so foundational Universal Design principles. In order to do this, Sarah, our housing expert, will first work on developing a list and creating a set of note cards that outline the W questions. For example, each principle would have information regarding What it is, Who might benefit from it, Where it might be useful, etc.

Second, we will sponsor a contest in Second Life to build the template house. All builders who want to participate would have full creative freedom to create any type of single-residence home as long as it included the 25 principles, which we will provide to them. All entries would be reviewed to ensure that they meet the criteria, and placed on the sim. Then, residents of Second Life would be invited to visit all of the homes and vote for their favorite. This would be a "People's Choice" Award. The winner and runner-up would receive a monetary award for their efforts.

Third, because we now have a "template" house, we will overlay assistive technology into the house, depending upon the needs of particular populations. We plan to begin with outfitting the house with assistive technology that would benefit the caregivers of--and people with--traumatic brain injury.

After this pilot, we could then begin creating a neighborhood of houses that would represent some possible choices for people with other diagnoses or disabilities. For example, there might be a home for caregivers of, and people with, Alzheimer's disease, or for those who have had a stroke.

We would also like to be able to create a livable neighborhood, that would take into consideration needs of the built environment, such as curb cuts, wide sidewalks, large signs, etc.

All of this would be turned into an online course, so that people outside of Second Life could also benefit. After all, we would never be able to build anything like this in RL, as I am sure you can imagine. It is one of the reasons why SL is so well-suited to this project. However, even working in SL will take some funding, so as Sarah is working on this part of the project, I am beginning to look at funding opportunities. I have a 10-page pre-application for an opportunity due January 15. I will do my best to accomplish that in this short time frame.

Your thoughts and ideas are welcome!

Yes, It's Been A While...

2008-10-26T10:27:00.000-07:00

Hopefully you have noticed that we haven't been blogging in a while. We have put the project on a delay. We are hoping to have the contest up in running in conjunction with Older Americans Month, which is in May. Two of us are currently working on some notecards to incorporate into the Demo House to increase its educational value. We are also discussing the possibility of an online course... Please do check back for updates!

Benefits of virtual worlds for people with disabilities

2008-09-20T05:56:00.000-07:00

VOA.com has a good article highlighting the benefits of virtual worlds for people with disabilities: Second Life Frees Disabled from Restrictions of Everyday Life. The article describe several educational applications made possible by the Second Life environment:

There are a variety of skills that people learn, and that Krueger teaches, through Virtual Ability. The organization, based in Colorado - as well as in Second Life - highlights the benefits of virtual worlds for people with disabilities. Virtual Ability helps them learn how to get around in Second Life, which often makes a positive difference in their real life.

Let's discuss: Did reading the article give you any ideas for things that Extension educators might want to enable through Second Life?

at the Extension Convention

2008-09-16T20:09:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of an avatar using a wheelchair testing some accessibility features of the house.

I am at the Joint Council of Extension Professionals Convention in Indianapolis this week, doing a demonstration of Second Life. Many colleagues are learning about Second Life and the work we are doing here. It is really fun to have this Family Caregiving project as a highlight. It is inspiring a great deal of discussion about other projects that might be started in the near future, such as a demo kitchen for safe food handling.

Last week I attended the annual Second Life convention, met many of the Linden Lab staff, and learned quite a bit about other organizations doing projects in SL. As a result of all this travel time, not much new has happened in the Live-ability House. Soon, however, we will be adding information notecards around the house, and making a video of the house to show to people who do not yet use SL.

If you have visited the house, please let us know. We would love to hear from you!

Progress Update

2008-09-02T10:07:00.000-07:00

The team met this morning, and we updated each other on our progress, and also came to some decisions. We thought that we would share some of this with you!

In regard to the Demonstration House, we have concluded that the model home and garden structure is about 90% completed, with shower modifications still to come. We would like to begin thinking more concretely about the additional educational content to be added. For example, we need a leader's guide for educators wanting to visit and use the project for teaching. We would really like to see some additional animated content, but we must identify what items need to be interactive, and how we will use that to our best advantage.

In regard to the Showcase of Accessible Homes Competition, we revised the timeline, and plan to have the judging and exhibition in May, which is Older Americans Month.

We are always interested in your ideas as well!

Progress Galore on the Accessible Garden

2008-08-23T08:14:00.000-07:00

Much progress has been made on the accessible garden, and it is functional and beautiful. Note the raised gardening beds, the paved pathways, and covered patio complete with the chalkboard for gatherings or classes.

Addition of Jeb, the Service Dog

2008-08-20T07:00:00.000-07:00

If you visit the house today, you will see that we have added something (or someone) special: please meet Jeb, a service dog.

Jeb is modeled after a real life dog of the same name, who has been assigned to one of our bloggers since 2000. The real life Jeb comes from an organization called Canine Companions for Independence (www.cci.org).

CCI provides dogs to people with a variety of physical disabilities (service dogs), children or adults with a variety of disabilities who also have a facilitator as part of the team (companion dogs), people with hearing impairments (hearing dogs), and human service professionals who provide services to people with disabilities (facility dogs).

Although many people are familiar with guide dogs for people who are blind, Jeb's mission, and that of other dogs like him, are to help people with disabilities other than blindness. And, there are many organizations that work to provide these specially trained dogs to the people who can benefit from them.

Jeb is wearing a cape, which is a sign of a "working" dog (a term that is used to indicate any type of specially trained canine, from service dogs to rescue dogs). Although the real life Jeb does not typically wear his cape when inside of his residence, for our educational purposes, we are putting him within the context that he and his handler are getting ready to go out the door--in which case, it would be appropriate for Jeb to get "dressed" (with the cape) to go out in public. And, we have put the "eXtension" logo on his cape!

Right now Jeb is walking through the house, sitting and laying down, and not actually obeying commands as we might expect...but the real life Jeb can turn lightswitches on and off, take clothes out of the dryer, carry packages, pay for items at the grocery store, and perform an endless array of needed tasks. He knows about 50 different commands, including the basics (heel, sit, down) and more advanced (back, push, tug, visit).

We think Jeb is a great addition to the house, and hope that you think so too.

SL Health Research

2008-08-15T13:58:00.000-07:00

We are always interested to see what others are doing in Second Life, and we hope you are too. See what's new: Researchers Study Whether Virtual Reality Game Can Inspire Healthy Habits

Weekend Warriors

2008-08-09T23:42:00.000-07:00

Work continues over the weekend at the Live-Ability House on Morrill Island in Second Life. In these pictures, an avatar who uses a wheelchair tests some features. An older adult avatar has joined the scene, to represent this age group. A decision has been made to include a home office in the spare bedroom, to provide a space where electronic devices and communication technology may be featured.

Addition of An Accessible Garden

2008-08-08T05:27:00.001-07:00

One of our team members had the idea of adding an accessible garden to the house. Not only will this allow us to expand the educational reach of the project, but it will also provide a place for people to meet after they tour the house. We envision, perhaps, instructors sitting with their class to discuss what they've seen. Maybe like-minded individuals will find themselves congregating there and engaging in conversation. We are excited about the possibilities.

We've posted a picture of project in process, to give those of you who are new to the SL concept a better idea of how this is accomplished. If you would like more information about accessible gardens, visit: http://www.ncpad.org/gardening/index.php?section=overview.

On another note, we are still struggling with finding a really good name for the project. Our working title is The Live-Ability Home, which is certainly a better choice than The eXtension Family Caregiving Second Life Project...

However, if you have some ideas for us, we would love to hear from you.

Here is a picture of the outside of the house, just to give it some context. We have a slideshow of some of the assistive technology devices that can be found inside. You'll note that we have also added a ramp and some other cool features. Again, your ideas are welcome!

And So It Begins

2008-08-04T19:43:00.000-07:00

Welcome!
The members of the eXtension family caregiving SL project are so glad that you have joined us. Let's answer a few fundamental questions first.

What is eXtension?
(Visit us at www.extension.org)
From our website: "eXtension is an interactive learning environment delivering the best, most researched knowledge from the smartest land-grant university minds across America. eXtension connects knowledge consumers with knowledge providers - experts who know their subject matter inside out.

eXtension offers:

Credible expertise

Reliable answers based upon sound research

Connections to the best minds in American universities

Creative solutions to today's complex challenges

Customized answers to your specific needs

Trustworthy, field-tested data

Dynamic, relevant and timely answers

eXtension is unlike any other search engine or information-based website. It's a space where university content providers can gather and produce new educational and information resources on wide-ranging topics. Because it's available to students, researchers, clinicians, professors, as well as the general public, at any time from any Internet connection, eXtension helps solve real-life problems in real time."

One of the areas addressed through the eXtension initiative is Family Caregiving.

What is Second Life®?
On the Second Life® web site, the following description is used to explain the Second Life® concept:

"A 3-D virtual world created by its Residents. Since opening to the public in 2003, it has grown explosively and today is inhabited by millions of Residents from around the globe.

* From the moment you enter the World you'll discover a vast digital continent, teeming with people, entertainment, experiences and opportunity. Once you've explored a bit, perhaps you'll find a perfect parcel of land to build your house or business.

* You'll also be surrounded by the Creations of your fellow Residents. Because Residents retain intellectual property rights in their digital creations, they can buy, sell and trade with other Residents.

* The Marketplace currently supports millions of US dollars in monthly transactions. This commerce is handled with the inworld unit of trade, the Linden™ dollar, which can be converted to US dollars at several thriving online Linden dollar exchanges."

Who are the eXtension Family Caregiving Second Life® Project Members?
The active members include staff and faculty members from eXtension, Kansas State University and North Carolina State University.

What is the Goal?
The goal of this initial project is:

To raise public awareness of design features and assistive technology that can make it possible to remain in the home with physical or cognitive challenges due to aging, illness, or disability.

How Are We Getting There?
We are building a simple prototype home featuring universal design features and assistive technology devices to help provide guidance to builders within the Second Life® environment. Our next step will be to sponsor a design competition in the virtual world. This design competition is for an accessible housing design to include assistive technology.

We are just beginning this process. We hope that the pictures included here, which show our prototype design build under construction, will give you an idea of what this is all about. Please check back!