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West Philly Virtual Reality Mashup

Welcome

Hello and welcome to the West Philadelphia Virtual Reality Camp! This project is hosted by the ExCITe Center at Drexel University in association with Philadelphia Promise Neighborhood initiative.

During this virtual camp, you will learn about designing and coding virtual environments. You will participate in 10 weeks of activities that will help you to create your own virtual environment!

Each week, we will ask you questions about your experiences with computer programming. Some of them will let you write down your thoughts, and some will ask you to agree or disagree with a statement. Your answers will be completely anonymous and are optional.

If you have any questions about the camp or need help with your environment, feel free to reach out to Moe Woodard at mw896@drexel.edu

Signing up for Cospaces

Before you begin, create an account on CoSpaces. It is important that you do NOT type in your real name in any of the boxes. To create a username, follow the images below:

Click to View Sign-Up Instructions

  1. Go to cospaces.io/edu and click on the login button at the top left
  2. Next click on “Don’t have an account yet
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  3. Click on student
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  4. Enter the classcode: 1I5E2
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  5. Create your username (ex. BestCoder1). Make sure that you do NOT use your real name in any of the fields
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  6. Remember your username, because you will need it to answer questions in the WPVR Introduction survey. Please fill out the survey here.

Learning Modules

Module 1 - Getting Started

In the first module, you will log into your CoSpace account and create your own virtual environment. Add any objects you want and see what you can do! Have fun!

Objectives:

  • Familiarize yourself with CoSpaces
    Create first virtual environment
  • In the first module, you will log into your CoSpace account and create your own virtual environment. Add any objects you want and see what you can do! Have fun!

Module Activities:

  • Create an environment in WPVR Start here folder
  • Check out the video below to see how to add a new scene: https://youtu.be/SvxH5yF3UA0

When you have finished watching this week’s video and creating your own virtual environment in CoSpaces, please fill out a reflection form:

Module 2 - Designing Characters

In this module, you will learn to design your own characters.

Objectives:

  • Add characters to your scene
  • Customize the characters

Module Activities:

  • Add 2 characters to your environment
  • Change the color of one character’s shirt

When you have finished watching this week’s video and designing your own characters in CoSpaces, please fill out a reflection form:

Module 3 - Animating Objects

In this module, you will learn to animate the characters and objects in your scene.

Objectives:

  • Learn how to animate without coding

Module Activities:

  • Animate 2 objects

When you have finished watching this week’s video and animating characters and objects in CoSpaces, please fill out a reflection form:

Module 4 - Block Coding

Objectives:

  • Learn the basics of block coding

Instructions for Computer:

In this module, you will learn about block coding. If you are on a computer or tablet, watch this tutorial.

Instructions for Smartphone:

Unfortunately, CoSpaces does not offer block coding on smartphones. However, there is a free game called LightBot that is available on android and iphone. Check out the trailer:

Module Activities:

  • Code at least one object
  • Use more than one block code

When you have finished watching this week’s video and worked on block coding in CoSpaces or LightBot, please fill out a reflection form:

Module 5 - Advanced Block Coding

In this module, you will learn about some advanced features of block coding, such as loops. If you have a computer or tablet, you can follow along with the coding. If you are on your phone, you can still watch the video to learn about loops and other blocks of code.

Objectives:

  • Learn about complex codeblocks, such as loops

Module Activities:

  • Loop an object’s animation
  • Have 2 objects move at the same time (i.e. rotate, walk, fly)

When you have finished learning about some advanced features of block coding, please fill out a reflection form:

Module 6 - Introduction to Programming

In the industry, designers do not create their games or environments with block coding. Instead, they program with languages such as C# and Javascript.

Objectives:

  • Learn about line coding

Check out this video that explains what programming does:

Module Activities:

  • Pick out a block of code you would like to turn into line coding

If you are curious about how to program in CoSpaces, take a look at their guide: https://cospaces.io/api/

When you have finished learning about these programming languages, please fill out a reflection form:

Module 7 - Coding a Character with Javascript

In this module, you will learn how to code a character using Javascript.

Objectives:

  • Implement line coding in your environment

If you are on a phone, you can still watch this video to get a glimpse into line coding.

Module Activities:

When you have finished learning about coding characters using Javascript, please fill out a reflection form:

Module 8 - User Testing & Feedback

In this module, you will learn about user testing and feedback. Here is a google document with some questions to ask your audience about the environment.

Objectives:

  • Show your environment to a friend and hear their ideas

Module Activities:

  • Write down your friend’s feedback
  • Take a moment and think about which changes you would like to conduct

When you have finished conducting user testing and gathering feedback, please fill out a reflection form:

Module 9 - Final Touches

Check out your environment and fine-tune it to make any last changes. Once you are done, show your environment to your friends and family!

Objectives:

  • Revise your environment based on your friend’s feedback and your own goals
  • Fine-tune your environment

Module Activities:

  • Make any changes to your environment
  • Test out your environment to make sure everything works the way you want it to

When you have finished refining your environment, please fill out a reflection form:

Module 10 - Reflection

This is the last module! Thanks for following along.

Objectives:

  • Journal any ideas about the process of creating your environment

Thanks

Module Activities:

  • Now that your environment is finished, take a minute to fill out the reflection. This is to help other designers understand your environment and to learn how you made it!

Post-Activities Survey

After you have finished completing the activities, please complete this survey. It will help us make the West Philadelphia Virtual Reality Camp even better next time!

To continue learning about VR on your own, check out CoSpaces Edu's youtube page for more tutorials!