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Cog

Newlands Intermediate's little corner of the Metaverse

Cog is a bespoke virtual world created exclusively for Newlands Intermediate. It's similar to Minecraft in that it is a sandbox world where users create their own content. Unlike Minecraft, it is far more sophisticated in graphics, world physics, building interface and avatar customization. Additionally, Cog offers a built-in economy. Students get $1000 "Cog dollars" when they get their account. Properties cost $750, which students need in order to build.


Cog is a private world offering our students a safe space to explore and develop various skills required to create content for 3D virtual environments. Marianne Malmstrom created the world in 2020 with the help of Australian scholar and metaverse guru, Lindy Orwin, who provided invaluable technical assistance. Metaverse innovator, Jokay,  generously donated a massive amount of content to inspire student curiosity and learning.  Dreamland Metaverse provides the OpenSim interface and hosting services for $45 USD per month.

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Emma
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Awadah
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Awadah
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Cog
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Izaac
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Melody
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Melody

Samples of Newlands Intermediate student work. Technically impressive, showing traits of future developers. Emma's original game won an honourable mention in the 2022 Girls' eSports Game Design competition..

Metaverse BF (Before FaceBook)

Long before Zuckerberg rebranded Facebook and tried to convince the world that he invented the metaverse, educators were exploring these spaces with their students since 2007.  Here is a small sampling of projects created by Marianne's students in 2009.

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