MOOniversity: A Student's Guide to Online Learning Environments

MOOniversity is an exciting complement to standard writing texts because it provides clear, useful instructions for writing online as well as productive assignments and discussion questions that involve students with the MOO technology by encouraging them to write in real-time with real people.

Abstract

All chapters include one or more of the following: Notes, Discussion, and Exercises. Illustrations and Tables. Foreward. Companion Website. Preface. Special Symbols, Fonts, and Terms in the Text. About the Authors. 1.MOOs in Context. Background and History: From Multi-User Games to Educational MOOs. Educational MOOs. Communities on the Internet. Identity. 2.Fly Me to the MOO. MOO Clients. Web-Based MOO Access and Client Systems. Noninteractive MOO Browsing. IP Numbers and Domain Names. Network Ports. Connecting with enCore Xpress. Connecting Using the BioGate System. Welcome to the MOO. 3.The NewbieSchool: Learning the Bare Basics. Help, I'm Lost! Despair Not, Help Is Nearby. The enCore Xpress Graphical MOO Interface. Exploring the MOOscape. Getting Around. Who Is Online? Communicating with Other People. Managing and Troubleshooting the Interface. MOO Netiquette and Manners. 4.Becoming a MOO Citizen. Creating Your MOO Persona. Your Description. Gender. Changing Your Password. Other Things You Can Customize. Inhabitants of the MOO World. MOOmail. Managing Mail Lists the Xpress Way. The MOO Newspaper. IRC-Style Chat Channels. Features, What They Are and How to Use Them. Privacy and Safety. 5.The MOO Editors and How to Use Them. Text Input. The List Command: Viewing the Editor's Contents. The Insert Command: Changing the Insertion Point. The Substitute Command: Editing Text with the MOO Editors. The Move and Copy Commands. The Mail Editor. The Text Editor. The Verb Editor. Offline Editing Strategies. 6.Digging in the MUD: How to Create Rooms and Other Objects. How to Become a Builder. The Dynamics of MOO Creation. Generic Classes and Objects. Creating Your Own MOOSpace: How to Use the @dig Command. Exits. Connecting Your Rooms to the Rest of the MOO. Exit Messages. Creating Aliases for Rooms and Exits. Creating Other Objects. The enCore Xpress Object Editor. How to Lock Your Objects. Keeping Track of Your Stuff: @audit. Monitoring Your Resource Usage: @quota. Keep Your MOO Tidy: @recycle. Maps and Other ASCII Art. Adding Multimedia Content to Your Objects. References. 7.Object-Oriented Programming in the MOO. Becoming a Programmer: The First Steps. Object-Oriented Concepts. The Anatomy of the Object: Verbs and Properties. Object-Oriented Design. Creating a Test Object. Defining Verbs: Arguments. Defining Properties. The Building Blocks of the MOO Language: Expressions, Statements, and Operators. Writing Your First Verb. Programming Verbs. Assigning Values to Properties. Getting Braver: A More Complex Example. Programming with the enCore Xpress Verb Editor. From the Programmer's Toolbox. Fixing Bugs in Programs. Sharing Your Generic Objects. Become a Hacker. Checklist for MOO Programmers. References and Further Readings for MOO Programmers. 8.MOO Classes, Research, and Publication. Virtual Classrooms. Multi-Tasking. Multi-Conversing: Class and Group Discussions. Individual Learning. Publish Web Pages in the MOO. Presentational Tools and Special Events. 9.Collaboration on the MOO. What Is Collaboration in MOOspace? Why Collaborate Using MOOs? How to Collaborate on MOOs. Special case: Language Learning and ESL/FL. Appendix A: Quick Reference to MOO Commands. Appendix B: Glossary of MOO Jargon and Acronyms. Appendix C: a Few Educational MOOs. Index.