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Stellar design! A detailed and fantastic virtual world educational environment/activity design now being developed by U of Oregon for K12 teachers attending a summer program. Virtual Oaxaca will combine a virtual world space with a journey to the real Oaxaca. Please read for a great example of blending "real", online and virtual world spaces into a comprehensive, collaborative, CREATIVE! and reflective learning experience.

Wow this is great. I just recently visited Oaxaca and was fascinated by the culture. I was only able to stay in the city for a couple of days and I felt I really wanted to learn more about the indigenous population and it's effect on the Oaxacan culture. This is a great way to learn more and interact for those who cannot visit. It is definitely a rich and magical place.

Virtual Native Lands is an educational non-profit corporation that promotes Native American culture through virtual worlds. Visitors learn, experience, and appreciate Native American cultures within this second life world. Three islands represent ten major cultures from Mesoamerica to the Arctic.

This is a fun, interactive site which teaches students about the play Oedipus Rex and about conventions of ancient Greek theater, culture and politics. It uses a game show format and contemporary tone to get students engaged. The drawback is that it is text dense. Students simply click on what they think is the right answer. The right answer takes them to the next part of the narrative. The wrong answer takes them to a long paragraph of explanation. There are hot links within the text, though, which open other cool sites with pictures, maps, etc. This is a very specific site intended to enhance a person's study of Oedipus Rex.

"Undercover Mom" Fox News story on virtual world culture for kids and tweens. 4 minute article. Good vid to introduce pervasiveness of vw for this demographic kzero interview re: vw and kids

A well-organized museum of historically significant artwork from around the world, representing different cultures and religions. The museum is carefully divided into topical areas with beautiful reproductions of many types of art. The descriptions are text-driven which calls for good reading skills and some degree of patience; not for young students, it's probably best for postsecondary students studying world religions or art history. There are 45 slide shows available to the user.

My design document included an idea of connecting my senior students in Multicultural Literature class to students in another part of the country or even another part of the world. The goal of the class is to learn about other cultures and SL allows teachers to collaborate with other teachers to do this--inexpensively. The link above is to an article entitled "Student Exchange, Without the Jet Lag: Educational Collaboration in a Virtual World." The article details how students in Modesto, California connect with students in Kyoto, Japan -- it's called the Pacific Rim Exchange. They meet in Teen Second Life on a group of private islands. Eventually, these students will meet in person, however, they get to know each other virtually before they do.

An interesting exhibit built by RAWA (Revolutionary Association of Women of Afghanistan) providing a glimpse into the geography, music, art and culture of Afghanistan.

a list of 35 different virtual countries that you can travel to in Second Life. A Teleport SLurl link is next to each name

Google map of world heritage sites reflected in Second Life builds

Thothica Community is a place where people come together to discuss philosophy, poetry, psychology, culture, mathematics, computer science, physics, cosmology, artificial life, education, and second life. When I first arrived there was a nice schedule of times with topics that would be discussed. Some of the topics included evolutionary psychology and quantum economics, all presented by community sponsors and members. Also listed were poetry readings and philosophy games. This might be a good way for students to join in a discussion or share their own writing.

I rather like the idea of learning about other places and other cultures using Second Life. This location gives a lot of facts, though much is in German. It has some parts of the geography that are reminiscent of Switzerland, and there are plenty of informational posters in English.

I have always wanted to visit Morocco because of what I've heard of the outdoor markets, mosques, food, beaches, and the culture from friends who have traveled there. This virtual space was actually constructed by students from Johnson & Wales University who had visited and in collaboration with the Moroccan Ministry of Tourism. When I teleported, I arrived in front of a fez booth. I took and wore one that allowed me to obtain information about my virtual surroundings as well as provide tips; it did warn me of monkeys. As I wandered thru the open markets, it was devoid of avatars but there was a gentle roar of a large crowd when walking in a specific area, and some of the stalls were empty with a couple of them with For Sale signs. Many of the stalls were offering garments, rugs, spices, kabobs, and baskets for sale. There were notecards, photo slideshows, and videos available that included tourism information and website links. I took a walk/fly thru stone-lined streets and walkways around the quaint residential buildings situated by ocean front views and I noticed that all the buildings have satellite dishes. This was a detailed little city with soccer fields, orange tree gardens, beach, outdoor café, and a mosque. I noticed two monkeys on a stand and I was expecting something to happen when I clicked them on and sat next to them; nothing happened.

Kidz Connect is a program that helps connect young people from different countries and learn about each other's culture thru the process of music, dance, digital art, and storytelling within Teen Second Life. Kidz Connect holds events during the summer and throughout the year wherein collaboration between various schools and organizations in dance, music, theater, and multimedia art are organized. The collaborations culminate in mixed reality performance combining the various live performances and multimedia art with performance interactions in Teen Second Life.