Group items tagged

I'm going to check out Emerald. Have used Meerkat and it's buggy, Hippo can be annoying... Emerald, like Meerkat, allows download of full permission assets from SL and upload to compatible platforms...

Have an interest in using immersive learning environments and have ten minutes or so to spare?

TAFE SA's Jacinta Ryan and Ruth Fraser are taking a group of students into Second Life to practice their customer service skills - and are looking for volunteer guest educators to come in world and role play as customers on the day. FRIDAY 4 SEPTEMBER 2009

excellent article on students' reactions to SL as a teaching and learning tool with pre-service teachers.

Catherine Dutton, Instructional Coordinator, Instructional Support Services, Texas Woman's University
This was a fantastic session that covered a topic near and dear to my heart - how to arm educators with the skills they need to get started in virtual worlds.
Catherine shared what she learned from a course she helped to develop for her university.
Developed October 2007 - Last session completed November 2008

Torley's tips for Second Life presentation awesomeness...

using Second Life for Professional Development

Lauded as a learning tool, the popular virtual world is now being used by teachers for their own enrichment, providing them with a wealth of opportunities for collaboration, peer interaction, and sharing of resources.

Please use this sampling as a quick-start tour guide. For more in-depth information about the 3D virtual world called Second Life and its educational uses, see the "Juicy Links" in the side bar.

Journalist's eye view of first experience in Second Life at an international education conference.

Mixes the good with the bad in a nicely balanced way.

Virtual Worlds? "Outlook Good"
AJ Kelton ("AJ Brooks")
Whether it is Second Life or another virtual world, this foundational movement is not going away. The question to be addressed in the coming months and years is how higher education and, subsequently, individual institutions will determine the best way to continue to move forward with virtual worlds.
Higher Education as Virtual Conversation
Sarah Robbins-Bell ("Intellagirl Tully")
Virtual worlds can become an important tool in an educator's arsenal. But using this tool requires a shift in thinking and an adjustment in pedagogical methods that will embrace the community, the fluid identity, and the participation-indeed, the increased conversation-that virtual spaces can provide.
Educational Frontiers: Learning in a Virtual World
Cynthia M. Calongne ("Lyr Lobo")
The use of virtual worlds expands on the campus-based and online classrooms, enhancing learning experiences. Classes in virtual worlds offer opportunities for visualization, simulation, enhanced social networks, and shared learning experiences.
Looking to the Future: Higher Education in the Metaverse
Chris Collins ("Fleep Tuque")
Beyond the capabilities that virtual worlds offer us at the moment, it is the possibilities that we can imagine for the future that may be the most compelling. Virtual worlds technology, like the Internet in general, is changing the way we access and experience information and the way we can access and connect with each other.
Drawing a Roadmap:
Barriers and Challenges to Designing
the Ideal Virtual World for Higher Education
Chris Johnson ("ScubaChris Wollongong")
When using a roadmap, one can take many different paths to reach a desired destination. Similarly, institutions can take many different turns along the road to implementing an ideal virtual world for higher education.

Article suggesting Gen X has made SL unwelcoming for Gen Y and this might be a problem for students.

I've commented to say I don't think the analysis holds water mind.

Some support for the idea that SL can be boring, should be boring, and challenge to suggest ways 4-way discussions could be made better in SL

Presentations from the Conference for Languages in Virtual Worlds 2008