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Abstract: When the act of reading becomes a stimulus, it has the power to enact change within the reader and
through readers. Adopting and using the methodological tools of autoethnography, personal narrative, and
creative writing, I reflect and explore virtual/online education prompted by a personal reading experience of
Ernest Cline’s science fiction novel, Ready Player One. Cline's story offers a unique vantage point as well as a
rich fictional vision through which I evaluate, contrast, and reflect on virtual education. My goal is to
demonstrate how the reading experience of a popular science fiction novel may shape, modify, and/or inspire
the development of future online education. I argue that reflective reading combined with the reader's
embodied creative acts (e.g., the composition of personal narratives prompted by the novel and creative
writing addressing a current problem that is inspired by the novel’s fictional reality) lead to innovative ideas to
foster the development of new paradigms for the creation of better online learning management systems.
Thus, I present a personal narrative of reading to demonstrate how fictional works may offer relevant
platforms for readers to contribute, to innovate, and to advocate for change within insufficient or inadequate
systems.
Keywords: reading, autoethnography, online education, science fiction, learning management systems
Csaba Osvath is a doctoral candidate at the University of South Florida pursuing literacy studies with a
special focus on qualitative methods and arts-based research. His research explores the epistemological
and pedagogical roles/functions of art making in the context of literacy education. His current project is
the creation of a mixed media collage technique and a methodological artistic process for knowledge
acquisition and knowledge production in educational settings.
Csaba Osvath
&
Ready Learner One: Creating an Oasis for Virtual/Online
Education
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Prelude: The Inflatable Harness1
ike a tree offering its ripest fruit, I stretch
upward with pride and desire. I place a sticky,
fist-sized plastic toy horse into my mother’s
hand. There are numerous pieces of colorful play
dough strands placed around the horse’s neck and
across its dark brown saddle. To the uninitiated
viewer, the horse could be the victim of invading
snakes or an army of alien parasites. Puzzled, my
mother is somewhat hesitant to ask the usual
question: What is it, my child?
"Mom, don't you remember the crossing of the sea?"
From the way she tilted her head and moved her
eyes toward the ceiling, I could tell she was thinking
hard.
"The story you read last night, the one with the
young prince. From grandma’s thick, white book of
fairytales.”
"Oh, of course. Yes, I remember," she says.
"Then why can't you see it, Mom?" I can hardly
contain my frustration toward her parental
misunderstanding, so I blurt out before she can
answer.
"The horse died at sea! She saved the young prince,
but she could swim no more. So..."
“Yes.” My mother looks at the horse more intently.
“But what about the snakes?” she says in a soft voice,
unsure if this is the question I want from her.
“No, Mom! No! They are not snakes.” I reach for the
closest pencil on my desk. Like a seasoned professor,
1
I acknowledge that there is a gender spectrum and that
myriad pronouns exist that I can use when referring to
individuals in my writing. Throughout this article I will
use “he” to refer to individuals who identify as male, “she”
to refer to individuals who identify as female, and “ze” for
individuals who identify as gender-neutral. I have
selected these pronouns because I believe they are more
familiar for a diverse audience of readers.
I point to the strategically placed play dough pieces
on my creation.
"See," I trace the graphite end of the pencil along the
worm-shaped accessories. "These are the tubes for
an inflatable harness and saddle. The next time the
prince goes on an adventure he will be able to use
this to save his horse. This is why...” I point to a two- inch piece of red yarn sticking out of the play dough.
“Here is the mouth piece that allows the rider to
inflate the harness while he is riding through the
waters."
I smile as a rush of pride leads me to ask, "Mom,
would you please read the story again tonight but
put my invention in it so the horse will stay alive?"
What Is Reading For?
As far back as I can remember, my reading life was
never reduced to a form of epistemological or need- based consumption. My engagements with stories
always pushed me beyond the purely intellectual or
cerebral exchanges. The last word of a story or the
closing of a book rarely signaled a true terminus.
Finishing a good book often animated and energized
my body. Like a mysterious plea from the author(s),
I was called to re-imagine things, to make things, to
perform creative acts, or to write new endings, new
beginnings, new adventures. I felt as if every story
was longing for continuation and asking for my
contributions (Black, 2010; Flegel, 2014; Kellman,
1998). Thus, reading or listening to a story often
became a powerful stimulus to re-materialize stories
outside of the pages, outside of my bodily confines.
Consequently, the act of reading has been
inseparable from the question, “What should I make
(literally) of this story or out of my encounters with
characters, events, or fictional places?”
According to my mother, whenever she read a story
to me, my usual reaction was to gather my box of
crayons or pencils, or other available art supplies, to
draw, to mold, and to construct my own versions,
L
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inventions, or alternative continuations of the
stories she shared with me. As I grew older, I kept
up with this act of transformation or continuation of
stories through new tools and new artistic media,
such as shadow puppetry, Lego blocks, or the
invention and making of board games based on
books and stories. Reading not only offered an
experience, but it supplied me with tools and
materials to create from.
In an essay titled “The Magic of the Book,” Herman
Hesse (1978) likens the child’s ability to read to a
powerful talisman that allows readers to navigate
through stories in ways that may lead to self- recognition and tangible achievements. Similarly,
many fiction writers promote reading not as a basic
and necessary skill for knowledge acquisition but as
an invaluable, powerful, and life-transforming
embodied engagement, leading to epiphanies,
discoveries, and personal change (Coles, 1989; Lewis,
1961; White, 1977). Other writers take this idea
further asserting that, “reading makes us better
human beings” (Nikolajeva, 2014, p. 254). It “helps us
understand who we are and how we are to
behave...how to live and die” (Lamott, 1995, p. 15).
I similarly value the range of experiences and the
transformative power of reading, but for me the
approach to reading always has been linked to the
enduring question of 'how' and 'what can I create
from the story I've just read or heard?' This question
undoubtedly stems from my deliberate and radical
interaction (Rosenblatt, 1994; Scholes, 1982) with
written works because I often experience an
overwhelming desire to “work through the
presentation of a fictional narrative using physical,
cognitive, visual, emotional, and embodied
capabilities” (Serafini, Kachorksy, & Aguilera, 2015,
p. 17). In his essay on Proust’s aesthetic of reading,
Robert Soucy (1967) claims that reading is closely
related to the act of creating. Indeed, throughout my
lifelong encounters with books, there has always
been a strong affinity between reading literature and
manifesting objects, ideas, or art through making
because I approach literature as a “catalyst to the
imagination,” which often mobilizes my creative
powers, stimulating making, embodiment, and
change (Soucy, 1967, p. 55). Thus, I approach books
with anticipation and hope knowing that answers or
solutions might only emerge when I actively
continue a story through making/creating, offering
new forms of retellings (Cova & Gracia, 2015).
As follows, my encounters with books or stories are
inseparable from the life I led. Reading is not an
escape, but rather it is the discovery of a reservoir
from which I absorb the necessary nutrients or
means to pursue a meaningful existence outside of
the pages. As a reader, I would like to offer a
personal, but employable paradigm for reading
fiction as means to build, invent, or imagine
solutions for current and relevant problems or
challenges.
In the following pages, I share how my encounter
with Ernest Cline’s (2011) Ready Player One
influenced my attitudes as well as my active role in
the reshaping of contemporary practices related to
online education. Essentially, what I share through
these pages is a story of reading and how it became a
tool of inquiry and a drive to ignite change.
My Immersion into Ready Player One
I desperately try to find a reason to postpone my
daily obligation of online instruction. I am dreading
the chair and screen bound reality of grading for my
assigned course, to facilitate the seemingly endless
discussion threads, and to reply to my students’
emails, which overtake my inbox daily, like invasive
species. I make a mental note that this must be the
dark side of online instruction (Conrad, 2004;
Kraglund-Gauthier, Chareka, Orr & Foran, 2010;
Regan et al., 2012). I decide on a brief walk in the
neighborhood to momentarily escape, to clear my
head, and to re-energize my body.
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I reach into the pocket of my jogging pants in search
of my headphones. With growing frustration, I try to
untie the knotted mess of wires while I fidget to
refresh my podcast feed. There is a new episode
from Wisconsin Public Radio, so I pause for a
second to download it to my iPod. I secure the buds
in my ears, plug in the cord, and press play. I am out
of the door for an afternoon walk. The setting sun
and the cool afternoon breeze relaxes my body as
the familiar voice of Jim Fleming (2011) delivers the
following lines with great excitement:
Ernie Cline can’t get the 1980s out of his
head. So instead of kicking his 1980s habit to
the curb, he’s embraced it and written a
novel built around the time. It’s called Ready
Player One. The plot involves an eccentric
billionaire named James
Halliday, who has
invented the ultimate
virtual reality world: a
massively multiplayer
online game called Oasis.
When he dies, Halliday
leaves a hidden clue
embedded deep within
the game. Whoever finds
it is heir to his fortune and fame. What will it
take to win? Total immersion in the 1980s
world of pop culture. Here’s a reading from
the book, performed by Will Wheaton...
I press pause. I unlock the screen with an effortless
swipe, open my notepad app, and type a hurried
reminder: “Ready Player 1.” I continue listening to
the full interview with Cline including excerpts from
his book.
As soon as I get home, I check the online catalogue
of our local public library. When I see the status
note, “ON SHELF,” I am overjoyed and rush to check
out the book. That accomplished, I sit down on my
favorite reading chair, turn on the old brass floor
lamp, and with a steaming cup of jasmine tea in
hand, I begin reading. But this is more than reading.
I am transported into my own forgotten past.
Through Cline’s (2011) references to the 1980s I am
back in my childhood, back in my early life in
Northern Hungary. I am traveling on an old, beaten
passenger train, going to boarding school,
surrounded by fascinating characters and old
friends. Similar to a magical spell, I am re- experiencing long forgotten moments and places of
my teenage years. Old memories are reflecting back
from the pages in front of me as if Cline’s story is a
magic mirror catching the light from a long- forgotten world I once occupied.
Indeed, I am reliving a somewhat romanticized
version of my past, but it is alive, and it is hopeful. It
is as if I suddenly reestablished
the flow of an electric current in a
severed wire that supplied the
necessary energy to animate my
life and to disperse the looming
darkness outside of the pages.
Reading and remembering
becomes a tonic to ease the
anxiety I feel as a first-year
graduate student assigned to
grade for an online course. As I am progressing with
the story, I am not only inspired, but I am more
confident to purposefully engage with my students
in an online environment as a helpful guide and
teacher. Cline’s (2011) daring vision of an immersive,
highly engaging virtual world, the OASIS, makes me
realize that my current situation as a novice online
instructor is not just a trial by fire. It does not have
to remain a dreaded, monotonous engagement with
the digitalized renderings of ideas, questions, and
students’ complaints. Cline’s story is offering both
the possibility and the inspiration to transform my
experiences and to advocate for change. Through
the pages of Ready Player One, I witness what online
education could become if I refuse to remain only a
“Cline’s story is offering
both the possibility and
the inspiration to
transform my experiences
and to advocate for
change.”
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consumer, a user without advocating for change.
This book is like a portal transporting me into a
world full of creativity and infinite possibilities, and
perhaps this is why I struggle to exit the story by
putting down the book.
After four hours of reading, I hesitantly close Ready
Player One (Cline, 2011) using a crumpled piece of a
gum wrapper that I find in my pocket as an
improvised bookmark. However, I am unable to stop
thinking and obsessing about Cline’s virtual world:
the OASIS. This fictional, virtual universe in Ready
Player One captivates my imagination with a deep
longing to escape my present reality, to immerse
myself in a world of heroic pursuits, or to make a
universe of my own. I don’t want to stop the story,
but I have other obligations to fulfill. I check my
email notifications. I have 35 new paper submissions
and 28 new discussion posts to engage with. I sit
down at my computer. My anticipation is
punctuated by the intensifying stress as I open up
my browser and click on my student resources
portal. When I see a hyperlinked word “oasis” on my
university’s home page, I can’t resist thinking of
Cline’s Ready Player One. Now, this word, “oasis,” is
deeply embedded with stories, meanings, visions,
hopes, and innovative ideas about learning and play.
I realize that Cline's novel, acting as an invisible
force, has suddenly reshaped my attitudes toward
this five-letter word. Somewhat unconsciously, I am
generating (perhaps) unrealistic expectations for any
online system claiming the same name/brand, even
if my university's choice of this 'brand name' had
nothing to do with Cline's novel. I just can’t help it.
My mind’s primordial default setting for finding
patterns and connections can’t erase the newfound
hopes and expectations related to the university’s
online teaching and learning platform. I long for an
OASIS or, rather, an oasis where virtual education is
filled with adventures and excitement.
Oasis: Opportunities for Survival and Change
As geographical and metaphorical sites, oases
represent unexpected fecundity and places of refuge
where one can find nourishment and temporary
relief from the surrounding vast, hostile, and
extreme environment (Saint-Exupery, 2000; Faber,
2014; Morris, 2015). Oases are usually depicted as
small terrains besieged by enormous deserts or
wastelands, natural or man-made. Hence, oases
usually do not stand for or call for permanent
settlements. Rather, they represent temporary places
of dwelling where travelers can restore their
strength and equilibrium in order to continue their
journey and to cross the harsh and usually lifeless
terrain to reach their true destinations. Thereby, I
find an oasis as a meaningful metaphor for
education and learning because it offers a temporary
safe environment to prepare not for permanent
settlement but for the continuation of a journey
through challenging terrains.
Ernest Cline’s (2011) science fiction novel, Ready
Player One, depicts a future as a dark, tenebrous
dystopia where virtual reality became the last
beacon of hope. Besides the fast-paced narrative arc,
Cline offers an enticing and thought-provoking
vision for online/virtual education. In Cline's
imagined dystopia, the open world virtual reality of
OASIS represents a better reality for many, and it
also represents an excellent educational tool in
contrast with the real world that resembles an
expanding, hostile, desert plagued by poverty,
disease, oppression, and inequality.
Cline's protagonist(2011), Wade Owen Watts, or
“Parzival” (the name of his avatar; the personalized
graphic representation of his virtual self through
which Wade interacts within the OASIS) speaks
about his own virtual education as a metaphorical
oasis where this alluring, digitally-constructed space
offered him both the stimuli and the necessary
content knowledge to acquire the skills in order to
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function and survive in the discordant world of
2044:
I was more or less raised by the OASIS’s
interactive educational programs, which any
kid could access for free. I spent a big chunk
of my childhood hanging out in a virtual- reality simulation of Sesame Street, singing
songs with friendly Muppets and playing
interactive games that taught me how to
walk, talk, add, subtract, read, write, and
share. (p. 15)
The acronym OASIS stands for the Ontologically
Anthropocentric Sensory Immersive Simulation,
developed by Cline’s (2011) fictional geniuses, James
D. Halliday and Ogden Morrow. They define OASIS
“as an open-source reality, a malleable online
universe anyone could access via the Internet, using
their existing home computer or videogame console.
You could log in and instantly escape the drudgery
of your day-to-day life” (p. 57).
This free and open access virtual world offers an
engaging virtual learning experience for anyone who
is willing to learn and to acquire skills and content
specific knowledge in countless domains. The OASIS
public school system on the virtual planet, Ludus, is
“a grand place of learning, with polished marble
hallways, cathedral-like classrooms, zero-g
gymnasiums, and virtual libraries containing every
(school board-approved) book ever written” (Cline,
2011, p. 31-32). The OASIS also allowed users to freely
create and alter their digital selves (avatars) in order
to foster equity and fairness within its digital
confines. According to Wade,
...in the OASIS, no one could tell that I was
fat, that I had acne, or that I wore the same
shabby clothes every week. Bullies couldn’t
pelt me with spitballs, give me atomic
wedgies, or pummel me by the bike rack
after school. No one could even touch me. In
here, I was safe. (Cline, 2011, p. 32)
One of the main characters, Aech, reflects on this
aspect of cultivating a second self when talking
about her mother, Marie, who changed the gender
and race of her avatar:
In Marie’s opinion, the OASIS was the best
thing that had ever happened to both
women and people of color. From the very
start Marie had used a white male avatar to
conduct all her online business, because of
the marked difference it made in how she
was treated and the opportunities she was
given. (Cline, 2011, p. 320)
But to return to the educational opportunities of the
OASIS, Cline’s hero, Wade, or “Parzival,” describes it
as:
...the world’s biggest public library, where
even a penniless kid like me had access to
every book ever written, every song ever
recorded, and every movie, television show,
videogame, and piece of artwork ever
created. The collected knowledge, art, and
amusements of all human civilization were
there, waiting for me. (Cline, 2011, p. 15)
When juxtaposing Cline’s (2011) OASIS with my
experiences of online or virtual education, I feel
both a longing and a tension that requires creative
interventions. Since my time of reading Ready Player
One coincided with my engagement with online
education, I could not stop or quell my inquiry: ‘In
what ways might Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One
shape or influence online education?’
Reading and Remembering
Accessing past memories through active
remembering has been an integral part of my
reading experience. However, I never consciously
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As I progressed with the reading of Cline’s (2011)
fiction, I often found it impossible to stop the flow
of memories and their powerful spell to re-live and
re-examine my past. For example, Cline’s references
to the 1980s reawakened my own memories of those
years of young adulthood. These memories then
coalesced into new narratives, offering a new set of
tools, methods, and paradigms, sustaining my
search for answers and for solutions in my own
present, namely to at least imagine a better future
for online education. Also, the ways Cline represents
the 1980s throughout the novel demonstrates how
the past, even if people haven’t lived through it (e.g.,
the protagonist and his generation), can
purposefully serve and empower people as they face
contemporary challenges. For Cline, history is a
powerful tool for problem-solving and living.
Both Cline (2011) and his fictional genius, James
Donovan Halliday, idolize the 1980s with its diverse
cultural products. OASIS, according to Cline, began
as Holliday’s “homage to the simulation’s direct
ancestors, the coin-operated videogames of his
youth” (p. 26). Cline in a Wisconsin Public Radio
interview with Jim Fleming (2011) states:
...as far as movies, and the entertainment of
the 1980s, I think it was kind of a golden age,
especially for movies, like those movies that
came out in the 1980s made me want to
become a filmmaker and a writer and just
have inspired me my whole life, so that was
one of the reasons I wanted to celebrate it.
Along these lines, we may agree with Cline
(Fleming, 2011) that our personal histories, our
memories, and the act of remembering may serve us
in powerful ways to create from and to make sense
of an era or time period. Ready Player One (Cline,
2011) is not simply an artistic, literary manifestation
of Cline’s imagination and homage to the 1980s. The
novel is a reminder of our responsibility to preserve,
appreciate, and celebrate the objects, ideas, and
memories of our past as well as to rediscover their
potentials. If I am granted a glorious past, or even a
short decade of a carefree and abundant childhood, I
must also work on the creation of safe and
sustainable spaces for future generations so that
they may remember and create from their memories
of a gratifying past that we engendered or made
possible.
However, the real value of our past does not rest
solely with the memories, treasured artifacts, or in
the grand achievements of human beings. I believe
that the real value of our past may be found in the
remaining possibilities and its inherent resources.
We can create from the past through re-discovering
what was abandoned, unfinished, discarded,
ignored, or ridiculed. We can create from the past
by finishing, repurposing, reexamining, and
recharging what was left unfinished, broken,
forgotten, or exhausted. As Bochner (2012) says, we
must "use the wreckage of the past to make a better
future possible" (p. 212). Thus, reading Ready Player
One (Cline, 2011) is both an invitation to remember
and a challenge for the reader to reimagine our
world; it is an invitation to create and innovate.
Consequently, my task as a reader is to somehow
contribute to the possibilities or to the vision of a
“future [that] is not yet born...elusive, fluid, made of
the light from which dreams are woven”
(Kazantzakis, 1952, p. 62).
I am aware that this paper may not fundamentally
alter the current paradigms of virtual education, but
nonetheless my effort to weave new dreams into the
fabric of reality remains compelling and valuable.
My aim is to offer new pathways, resources, and
inspiration to enhance my readers’ “capacity to act
in ways that may be transformative and are
embedded in collective possibilities across and
through time and space” (Till, 2012, p. 7).
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quizzes, but what truly excites her are the Canvas
features on the statistical measurements that allow
instructors to monitor students’ engagement.
Captain Canvas’ focus on tools of measurement
mesmerizes the crowd as she reveals with a simple
click of a mouse how an instructor can see when and
how long a student was logged into the system and
for how much time he or she spent on a page or in a
module, including what link or page was clicked or
skipped. While the majority of the audience is
clearly resonating with these features, I am having a
hard time seeing how Canvas is different from other
platforms I previously used.
To credit the instructions of Captain Canvas, I admit
that in record time I became “proficient” in using
Canvas as an instructor. To an extent, it is a user- friendly and versatile tool. With existing content, I
can set up an entire, semester-long course in a few
hours. I can create various types of assignments and
facilitate discussions. However, I cannot see these
benefits as instructional or educational innovations.
There is still very little or no place for creating an
engaging quest or adventurous learning. There is no
indication of a paradigm shift in online education,
which can revolutionize the learning experience and
the ways we create, sustain, and manage virtual
environments for learning. For this reason, I find
myself revisiting Cline’s story for inspiration and
hope, searching for adoptable solutions.
Cline’s OASIS Versus Canvas by Instructure
Cline’s Ready Player One (2011) is not explicitly a
book about virtual education, but the book outlines
the basic premises of education within the OASIS.
Thus, my aim with this section is to use the insights
and knowledge I gained from interacting with
Cline’s work in order to stimulate, to change, or to
serve as the basis of generating solutions in the real
world. In other words, I would like to use elements
of Cline's fictional narrative as adoptable and
relevant ideas for continued innovation and change
in virtual education or public education in general.
At the beginning stages of its development, OASIS,
in Cline’s (2011) dystopia, was a massively
multiplayer online game that eventually “evolved
into a globally networked virtual reality most
humanity now used on a daily basis” (p. 1). Due to its
features, popularity, and open access, “OASIS
quickly became the single most popular use for the
Internet, so much so that the terms ‘OASIS’ and
‘Internet’ gradually became synonymous” (p. 60).
When the book’s protagonist, Wade (or Parzival),
recalls his childhood memories and his first
encounter with OASIS, he says:
The OASIS is the setting of all my happiest
childhood memories... I was introduced to
the OASIS at an early age, because my
mother used it as a virtual babysitter. As
soon as I was old enough to wear a visor and
a pair of haptic gloves, my mom helped me
create my first OASIS avatar. (Cline, 2011, p.
18)
Later he adds, “Luckily, I had access to the OASIS,
which was like having an escape hatch into a better
reality. The OASIS kept me sane. It was my
playground and my preschool, a magical place
where anything was possible” (p. 18).
It is important to re-emphasize that OASIS began as
a multilayer game, thus, the basis of all its later
manifestations are rooted in play and interactive
adventures. Although the basic framework for
learning and education are linked to play and games
(i.e., the Latin term “ludus” means primary school as
well as game, play, and sport), these elements
gradually lose prominence in many schools, thus
students rarely describe their schooling as “a
magical place where anything [is] possible” (Cline,
2011, p.18). Parzival reveals that the value of this
freely accessible and user-friendly platform taught
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him through playing interactive games, “how to
walk, talk, add, subtract, read, write, and share” (p.
15). Although this may sound like a simplistic
summary of educational outcomes, many
contemporary educators would agree that the goal
of education is indeed to teach us how to use and
control our bodies, how to communicate and
connect through literacy and numeracy, and how to
creatively share ideas, knowledge, and our embodied
learning in a rapidly changing world (Robinson &
Aronica, 2009, p. xiii). For example, Elliot Eisner
(1998) believed that the development of human
sensibility as a fundamental educational goal could
only be achieved through multiple forms of literacy.
He warned about the dangers of an “epistemological
parochialism that limits what people can experience
and, therefore, what they can come to know” (Eisner
& Bird, 1998, p. 16). But in what ways do our current
digital platforms for online education make possible
the achievement of such goals?
Canvas is defined as a massive open online course
platform that was created by Instructure Inc. Its
developers and marketing teams claim on their
website that their “platform was built on the belief
that everyone in education should have open access
to high-quality information, data, and resources. No
golden tickets, secret handshakes, or hoop-jumping
required” (“Our Platform Was Built,” 2018).
If the ‘golden ticket’ is a reference to Dahl’s (2007)
adventure story Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,
does it mean that Canvas as a learning platform will
not grant its users a once in a lifetime quest or
adventure? Similarly, jumping through hoops, or
“hoop-jumping,” is not necessarily a bad thing. It is
to complete or solve increasingly difficult challenges
in order to demonstrate competence and
determination. However, what is not ambiguous in
Canvas’ statement is that their primary goal is to
provide open access to “high-quality information,
data, and resources.”
In addition, Canvas’ central slogan states: “Canvas
isn’t just a product” (“Canvas Isn’t Just,” 2018). I
personally find this claim difficult to accept,
however, Canvas’ PR team elevates the statement
into the realm of symbolism, presented in all caps:
IT’S A BREATH OF FRESH AIR. IT’S AN
EDUCATIONAL REVOLUTION. IT’S A
POWERFUL NEW WAY TO–PARDON OUR
OPTIMISM–CHANGE THE WORLD. IT’S A
RAPIDLY GROWING COMPANY WITH AN
INDUSTRY-PUSHING PLATFORM, 800+
TALENTED EMPLOYEES, AND MILLIONS
OF PASSIONATE STUDENTS AND
TEACHERS. AND, SURE, THERE’S ALSO A
PRETTY INCREDIBLE PRODUCT IN
THERE, TOO (“It’s a Breath of Fresh Air,”
2018).
Thus, the main mission of Canvas is unmistakably to
change the world as well as to offer an incredible
product, which would be their educational software.
Similarly, in Cline’s (2011) story, OASIS is described
as a breath of fresh air, but it moves beyond
education and learning:
The OASIS would ultimately change the way
people around the world lived, worked, and
communicated. It would transform
entertainment, social networking, and even
global politics. Even though it was initially
marketed as a new kind of massively
multiplayer online game, the OASIS quickly
evolved into a new way of life. (p. 56)
Here, I am writing from my own experiences with
Canvas both as a user/student and as an
instructor/course designer. Canvas’ main objective
is, as stated on the site, “to simplify teaching and
learning by connecting all the digital tools teachers
use in one easy place” (To Simplify Teaching,” 2018).
As I previously illustrated through my personal
narrative, it is possible that Canvas simplifies
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12
teaching and learning, but it does not explicitly offer
a stimulating online environment or platform for
immersive, engaged learning, like in a video game,
for example. Game developers understand that in
order to keep people playing/learning that they
must provide opportunities for rich, experience- based learning where gamers become motivated to
overcome challenges, to come up with strategies,
and to test those strategies in order to progress
through the game. (Gee, 2003; Lacasa & Jenkins,
2013).
My intention is not to diminish the importance of
CANVAS as instructional, as an educational
software, and as a learning management system
(LMS). However, CANVAS is not proposing a new or
improved paradigm for virtual learning. Similar to
other online instructional and learning platforms,
CANVAS’ basic architecture of instruction and
learning is rather static and linear. The instructor
creates modules or sessions, adding pages of
content, quizzes, exams, discussion boards, etc.
(John, 2014). Students progress in a linear path,
completing task after task until they reach the end
of the course (Mbuva, 2015). Consequently, online
learning seems to be modeled after an
unimaginative, teacher-centered and scripted
traditional classroom instruction. Moreover, the
virtual learning environments in current LMS web
interfaces are even more austere than a physical
classroom, and this indicates how the environment
or learning space remains a neglected feature of
today’s virtual learning.
On the contrary, in the fictional world of Cline’s
(2011) OASIS, the environment or user interface:
[is] beautifully rendered in three dimensions.
Unless you pulled focus and stopped to
examine your surroundings more closely, it
was easy to forget that everything you were
seeing was computer-generated. And that
was with my crappy school-issued OASIS
console (p. 27).
If we value and understand the role and function of
our learning environments, we must rethink
education that takes place online. When we
compare learning platforms with popular social
media sites or other virtual places, it is apparent that
interface design or design in general is not
prioritized when it comes to online learning. The
“walls” of the online classroom are still barren,
teachers control the learning paths, and the system
structures content delivery in such a way that it
often limits peer interactions, alternative or
nonlinear problem-solving, and scaffolding by the
teacher or more experienced learner.
OASIS in Ready Player One (Cline, 2011) is more or
less a virtual universe with multiple worlds to
explore. Although OASIS public schools were
designed after a perhaps ideal real-world school and
classroom, students are frequently immersed into a
rich experience of learning. Parzival’s reflection on
his own school days within the OASIS public school
reveals aspects of the experience:
All of my teachers were pretty great. All the
teachers had to do was teach. It was also a
lot easier for online teachers to hold their
students’ attention, because here in the
OASIS, the classrooms were like holodecks.
Teachers could take their students on a
virtual field trip every day, without ever
leaving the school grounds. (p. 47)
When Parzival describes content learning in various
disciplines, it is deeply engaging and memorable. He
paints a very vivid picture of this type of learning
experience:
During our World History lesson that
morning, Mr. Avenovich loaded up a stand- alone simulation so that our class could
witness the discovery of King Tut’s tomb by
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13
archaeologists in Egypt in AD 1922. (The day
before, we’d visited the same spot in 1334 BC
and had seen Tutankhamen’s empire in all
its glory.) (Cline, 2011, p. 48)
When Parzival proceeds to talk about his
experiences related to lessons in biology, art, and
astronomy, this is how he remembers such:
In my next class, Biology, we traveled
through a human heart and watched it
pumping from the inside, just like in that old
movie Fantastic Voyage. In Art class we
toured the Louvre while all of our avatars
wore silly berets. In my
Astronomy class we
visited each of Jupiter’s
moons. We stood on
the volcanic surface of
Io while our teacher
explained how the
moon had originally
formed. As our teacher
spoke to us, Jupiter
loomed behind her,
filling half the sky, its
Great Red Spot
churning slowly just
over her left shoulder.
(Cline, 2011, p. 48)
Of course, it is rather unfair to compare and contrast
the simplistic, two-dimensional, text-heavy interface
of CANVAS with Cline’s (2011) vision for an
immersive virtual reality platform. However, such
comparisons may inspire engaged dialogues
between software engineers, educators, policy
makers, and founding agencies to create at least a
more engaging and stimulating experience of online
learning and instruction. What CANVAS and other
LMS offer today is the distribution of digitalized
content. These platforms enable students to learn
through digital tools, to collaborate, and to be
assessed within a networked online platform, but I
believe we can do more. We can use fictional
narratives, like Ready Player One, to advance and
enhance existing technologies.
Oasis: An Invitation to Create
Good fiction empowers readers to bring forth
change in the world in which we live. A good story
has the potential to inspire creators to construct
bridges or pathways from an insufficient present
reality (e.g., my experience in online education)
toward an imagined future where the fiction of
today may become tomorrow’s reality. Even though
we do not yet possess the
affordable technology to allow
students such experiential,
transformative learning, Cline
(2011) describes through the
pages of Ready Player One that
we must urge developers to
experiment with new
paradigms for online
instruction. We should
advocate for sensory and
participatory learning where
instruction, content delivery,
and assessment are built into a
virtual ecology of stimulating
possibilities. The fusion of
gaming and academic learning may offer students a
more relevant and engaging learning experience
where digital simulations, multiplayer gaming, and
virtual worlds with skill-based missions are relevant
features of instruction and learning.
People are investing more and more of their free
time to a screen-bound existence. Both television
and gaming are voluntary activities that people
usually choose freely based on a desire to be
entertained, challenged, or to escape from reality.
These platforms of content delivery also promise
continued excitement, surprises, as well as engaging
“Good fiction empowers
readers to bring forth change
in the world we live in. A good
story has the potential to
inspire creators to construct
bridges or pathways from an
insufficient present reality
toward an imagined future,
where the fiction of today
may become tomorrow’s
reality.”
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14
play with the possibility to connect other users
across the globe.
I am not a computer scientist or a software
developer. However, I am not deterred from
reducing the distance between what I have (or work
with) today and what we collectively could have in
the future. Reading Ready Player One (Cline, 2011)
did not end through the physical, and literal, action
of closing the book. Similar to my introductory story
of the Inflatable Harness, I feel compelled to create
out of my reading experiences. Undeniably, I do not
possess the skills or the resources to design a new
LMS or to alter existing features of Canvas to bring
forth a more engaging online learning experience.
However, these limitations should not terminate my
ability to craft at least an imagined story through
writing, which is both a form of embodiment and
inquiry (Richardson & St. Pierre, 2005). I believe that
creating and sharing “material texts often
demonstrate what matters through personal,
scholarly, and social articulations” (Pelias, 2011, p.
665).
Personal storytelling through writing often serves as
the beginning of the actualization of a tangible
future product. The more we allow and encourage
the emergence of imaginative or visionary works
through writing, visual art, kinesthetic art, music,
film, etc., the more opportunities there can be for
imagined realities to eventually transmute into
concrete forms or tangible products (Pink, 2006). In
a way, Cline’s (2011) obsession and memories of the
1980s were channeled into a fictional work through
language and writing. Now, Cline’s words and his
imagined world is taking on a new form as Steven
Spielberg and other creative individuals present the
cinematic interpretation of Cline’s work in March
2018. Thus, creative and imaginative interventions
with existing materials may support or encourage
the development of actual products or new
possibilities for experimentation and innovation.
My reading of Ready Player One (Cline, 2011) has also
coincided with a face-to-face graduate course on
children’s literature theory where each week we
read, discussed, and analyzed J. M. Barrie’s (1940)
Peter Pan through the lenses of various literary
theories, e.g., Feminist, Marxist, Narrative,
Postcolonial, etc. Each student had to propose a
project through which we demonstrated how the
reading of a fictional work might influence our
present and future lives. Since I was reading Ready
Player One, I decided to creatively superimpose
Cline’s narrative with my present-day reality. I felt
compelled to craft my own short story of an
imagined future as both Cline’s and Barry’s work
reminded me of the value of dreaming and writing.
A written story that appears on a page is already an
embodied vision. Therefore, a written story is more
valuable than an idea or a dream. A written story is a
small but steady step toward the actualization of an
audacious dream, and this is the least I can offer as a
learner who is seeking change.
My Imagined Future: Ready Learner One
I hand my bucket of heirloom tomatoes to a student
from the culinary arts program. I glance over the
railing of the rooftop garden, and I see a group of
students sitting on colorful blankets. No one seems
to be rushing. To be honest, I never thought that
virtual education would actually strengthen the
university community, transforming the campus
into a vibrant hub of learning or a second home
where I felt honored to belong to.
Indeed, the virtual turn in education has
transformed campuses across the United States. As
courses and lectures moved into the virtual realm,
physical classrooms were transformed into maker
spaces, studios, and conversation hubs where
students and faculty gathered to interact and work
on hands-on projects and performances.
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“It’s exactly fourteen pounds. Make sure to add this
to your record,” I hear a voice behind me, but I am
already running toward the staircase. There is a
rumor about a new virtual trip in Professor
Schneider’s Children’s Literature Theory class.
About a week ago in Dr. Flores’ kinesthetic learning
platforms (K-Station) with 360-degree full
immersion, particle screens (FIPS) were installed in
the rotunda of the college of education. This means
that today I will not be confined to a chair wearing a
clunky VR goggle strapped onto my head for the
virtual lecture.
As I descend the staircase from the rooftop garden, I
realize how much I enjoyed coming to campus. I
especially loved USF’s project-oriented workshops.
Professor Papke, for example, just offered a new
course on fermentation and literacy. I am eager to
enroll, as the first assignment according to the
syllabus is to design a beer label based on Maurice
Sendak’s (1991) infamous Where the Wild Things Are.
The assignment also requires the inclusion of a
product name, a pictorial design, and some
enlightening quotes that informed beer drinkers
about the joy of beer and literacy. Not to mention
that one of the course outcomes will be the actual
production and marketing of this beverage.
When I enter the sunlit rotunda of the college of
education, it is hard to miss the newly installed K- Stations. I count 24 gleaming machines, placed side- by-side in a circular pattern. They look like a cross
between an ultra-modern elliptical machine and a
treadmill. I am both excited and hesitant as I step
onto the platform. To my surprise, the main control
panel immediately comes to life with various
options from which to choose. I knew that K- Stations supported various learning habits (LH), so I
move my index finger toward the stationary bike
icon since I was kneeling for hours in the garden. As
soon as I touch the icon, the K-station morphs into a
sleek bike with the flashing message, “Welcome
Learner One.” I can’t wait to give it a try and start
moving. Indeed, I resonated with Dr. Flores’
philosophy that most humans learn best through
movement and that virtual education must include,
train, and challenge our bodies.
As soon as the bike adjusts to my body type I am
surrounded by an egg shape, a fully enclosed particle
screen (FIPS). This particle-generated bubble will
act as the high definition screen onto which the
virtual realty world is projected.
Since I have a few minutes to spare before class
starts, I select a warm-up program from a long list of
exciting options. I decide on a virtual version of the
infamous bike ride from the famed, affectionately- described alien movie E.T., but I notice a recent
update from our beloved librarian, Dr. Griffin. She
added the option to bike through a beautifully
rendered virtual Hogwarts instead of the streets
Hawkins, CA.
My lips automatically morph into a smile as I am
speeding through Hogwarts, trying to avoid running
into students, while E.T. sits in my basket
hysterically laughing and pointing with his beaming
finger to new corridors to explore. I feel energized
and fully awake.
However, my fantastic ride is cut short by the
appearance of Professor Schneider, whose avatar
today, not surprisingly, is the young Lev Vygotsky
dressed in Gryffindor attire. She is asking each of us
to turn a Vygotsky quote or concept into a poetic
spell, which will grant us access to today’s learning
adventure. I quickly come up with a haiku, where
the first words of each line form the acronym for the
Zone of Proximal Development. When I recite my
haiku into the virtual microphone, my K-Station’s
360-degree particle screen goes into a familiar
green-gold screen with the blinking words Ready
Learner One.
It seems that I can continue using the bike option
with E.T., but instead of Hogwarts, I am pedaling
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through Vygotsky’s alma mater, the Moscow State
University. The virtual arrows appearing on the
hallways guide me to a classroom door with the sign
Children’s Literature Theory. To my surprise, the
door leads to a rooftop of a large building. I look
around, and I see all my classmates, but we are no
longer in Moscow. I ride toward the edge of the roof
to get a better look and quickly realize that we must
be in London.
Professor Schneider signals us to follow her. We are
all casually biking on the flat roof, staying together
in a group. Professor Schneider is talking about the
significance of this particular building related to J.
M. Barrie. Photos of Barrie and artifacts from his life
appear as 3D projections on the chimneys as we ride
by. We are supposed to touch or ride through the
objects so that they can be added to our inventory as
class notes. I quickly collect the last item when
Professor Schneider’s bike gains enormous speed.
From a distance, it’s like an unexpected breakaway
in a bike race. We all try to keep up, but she is
directly heading toward the edge of the roof. I try to
press on my hand breaks and change direction, but
all my controls are locked. I close my eyes. I hear
Megan’s scream as we speed toward the ground.
This must be a system error or the result of my late
homework submission, I speculate, but after a few
seconds of a terrifying virtual fall, my bike stabilizes
in midair. I slowly open my eyes and look around.
We are all riding above the city just below the thick,
moisture rich, cumulous clouds. There is no time to
marvel at this sight because Professor Schneider
suddenly changes direction, disappearing in a
nearby cloud. Suddenly, there is a blinking message
warning on my learning interface. I click the
message, which unfolds into an old-fashioned map
of London. I can’t remember the last time I held or
used a map, since my reliance on GPS was
unconditional. I begin to panic, because the
assignment is to locate Kensington Gardens in 3
minutes with the help of this the map. I desperately
search for landmarks. Fortunately, I see my
classmate, Joyce, heading toward a round pond in
the distance. I know Joyce is familiar with practical
things, like how to read a map, so I decide to follow
her lead to locate Kensington Gardens.
Of course, my classmate, Sarah Pennington has
beaten all of us to reach the location first, so she is
the lucky one to receive the virtual edition of the
handwritten manuscript of Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie
(1940).
We gather around the sculpture of Peter Pan, and,
to my surprise, Professor Schneider transforms into
Barrie himself. We all ride with her through
Kensington Park while she is sharing stories about
Barrie’s life and the little-known facts about writing
Peter Pan (1940). After circling the Peter Pan statue
a couple of times, Professor Schneider (J M Barrie)
changes direction and we follow her to a small
theatre in the nearby neighborhood. I switch my K- Station into WNW mode (walk and work), and walk
into the building. To my surprise there is no stage
set, and all the actors on the stage are only wearing
jeans and white T-shirts. Dr. Schneider/Barrie gives
us the task to design the stage set, costumes, as well
as the script for the opening scene of a theatrical
play based on Peter Pan. To make the task more
difficult, she adds that our play will premier in front
of a group of Palestinian elementary school
students, their parents, and their teachers. Professor
Schneider suggests that we should consider
adopting a post-colonialist perspective into our
stage design and play to demonstrate how a
dominant culture may use their power and control
to exploit or suppress the minority or indigenous
population.
I am assigned to work with Stephanie; she always
attends class with her virtual pug, Seuss. We work
tirelessly on our assigned task, and we are shocked
when the end of class notification appears on our
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17
FLIPS. We stare at the screen in disbelief unable to
process how three hours flew...by so fast.
“We are not done!” Stephanie and I cry out at the
same moment. But fortunately, we can both log back
in from home and continue working. One thing I
know for sure. I can’t wait for the invitation, Ready
Learner One.
Epilogue: Building on Visions
Ready Learner One is more than an imaginary
scenario inspired by Ernest Cline’s (2011) science
fiction novel. It is an invitation to continue
engagements to inspire making, creating, and to
build/compose from fictional narratives. It is also an
attempt to nurture a vision and to keep alive a desire
for an educational system that engages my whole
self in ways that foster change, development, and
may result in the actualization of a best self. I
understand that the gap between the present reality
of virtual or online learning and my fictional story
seems wide. However, I believe that imagination and
the active manifestation of bold visions into new
forms, like science fiction, movies, and games, are
the foundations for change and innovation. Junot
Diaz in a radio interview with Krista Tippet (2017),
shares a similar notion, saying that for him, “science
fiction offered the possibility of different ways of
being and of ways of possibly overcoming the cage
that surrounded us.” Thus, working with CANVAS,
at least for me, no longer presents an alienating,
impenetrable locked cage. My reading of and
engagement with Cline’s story has taught me that I
too have an active role in transforming or
dismantling this metaphorical cage.
What emerged from my engagement with Cline’s
Ready Player One (2011) is essentially the hope for
change and a small, personal contribution of
building on Cline’s vision. My intention is not to
outline an adoptable, ready-to-use blueprint for
online education, nor do I want to diminish the
value of current educational paradigms in virtual
spaces. However, I would like to advocate for
imagining new realities and new paradigms fueled
by an intentional reading engagement that centers
on creating solutions or at least tangible visions to
ignite innovation, change, and improvements. When
reading fiction is combined or integrated with
creative acts, the reader-maker becomes an agent of
change.
If there is a need, a longing, and a hope for a more
engaging virtual education, learners and educators,
software engineers, and policymakers should
consider the values of imagined and fantastic
realities regardless of shortsighted speculations
about the possibility of attainment. Fictional visions,
like Cline’s (2011) OASIS, offer us a space to
question, to re-evaluate, and to re-orient the ways,
practices, and methods through which we occupy
our present realities, thus purposefully engaging
with fictional visions or fantastic ideas that can
greatly contribute to the driving force of human
desire and to our ability of actualizing dreams, even
if they seem impossible today.
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