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Rezzable created an on-line virtual questing environment to support Ytouring 's Starfish production where students learn through questing in a 3D environment about Scurvy and Clinical Trials. After seeing Starfish audiences are invited to enter Steamfish a specially created world. First they create their own character (avatar). In character they arrive on board the recently 'shipwrecked' Stella Maris. This is where they start their quest to learn more about scurvy and clinical trials. 

3d learning environment and activity principles for engaged and effective learning in a virtual 3d environment

Let-Us-Learn is an international project that aims to investigate the potential of a 3D virtual learning environment (3DVLE) designed to engage learners in collaborative, creative problem solving activities in which numeracy, literacy, life skills and creative activities are embedded in a motivating game-like environment.   Australia/South Africa

Numbakulla: The Pot Healer Adventure Second Life Innovative Learning Environment SLurl: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Numbkulla/215/18/22 This is the kind of place that I imagined I would visit when I first signed up for Second Life. While Second Life itself may not be a game, it has massive potential to be a place where educational games can be embedded and hosted. The Pot-Healer Adventure is not an educational game per se, but a highly interactive quest that gets the player to explore and solve puzzles. However, it is one of the few environments I've found so far that has key elements that couldn't easily be reproduced as an Adobe Flash video. The game starts with a shipwreck, which has left debris strewn over land and floating in the sea. It's an intriguing beginning, and a nice device to allow the player to interact with nearly everything visible. At the start you can pick up a notebook, which keeps track of things you pick up in the game, and gives you hints about what to do. A notecard at the beginning tells players that they are to find out about a mysterious old civilization that a previous explorer is no longer able to investigate. I'm not sure how this environment itself could be used for educational purposes, but the way it has been designed could and should be adapted for other purposes. I imagine the explore-and-interact puzzle format to lend itself to teaching history, and anthropology. It would be a particularly good way to teach how historians gather evidence, and what they can learn from old diaries, work reports, and other documents. I am glad that I found this interesting environment, and hope to return and explore it some more. I think that it could serve as inspiration to others looking to create more interactive quest-type lessons.

It's no secret that the US Government and Military have been investigating virtual environments for some time, and Second Life has been a popular playground for both simulation research and recruiting.  In an interview on Second Life's blog, Douglas Maxwell from the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) talks about how they've integrated Second Life into their environment.

Quest Atlantis (QA) is an international learning and teaching project that uses a 3D multi-user environment to immerse children, ages 9-16, in educational tasks. QA combines strategies used in the commercial gaming environment with lessons from educational research on learning and motivation. Participation in this game is designed to enhance the lives of children while helping them grow into knowledgeable, responsible, and empathetic adults. Does this interest you? They offer extensive educator training and support. Really an exemplary project. HIGHLY recommended.

Painting onto the Second Life avatar in Photoshop YouTube vidtut PSCS4 or 5 extended - clothing, tattoo & skin creation skills for 3D environments. Good vidtut

A portion of a recorded Webinar discussing the basic building blocks for creating a 3D Virtual World learning environment. Speakers are Karl M. Kapp (Bloomsburg University) and Tony O'Driscoll (Duke University), co-authors of "Learning in 3D: Adding a New Dimension to Enterprise Learning and Collaboration".

This site is an example of a way to combine storytelling and/or reading comprehension with a more interactive environment. You go to the magical town of Brigadoon and learn the story of some of its inhabitants. Along the way you get quizzed on what you've read. Kits are available for those interested in designing their own quests. I wish they had made the environment more interactive, so that one could explore the places referenced in the story.

SL murder mystery game running February 2010. Example of environment context, role playing, collaboration, problem solving?, fun. How could this strategy be used with educational content?

Tongue in cheek argument between avatars - trying to sell the idea of "real" environments (vs. virtual) Funny 4:46 long.

Islamic sites in Second Life used for information and training. Good use of learning objectives and justification of use of 3D environment. A Virtual Makkah, Masjid Al-Haram, Al-Andalus

State Curriculum Content Standards and Virtual Worlds New Jersey becomes the first state to incorporate virtual worlds (and the ability to use them) into their "Core Curriculum Content" state standards…. Via New Jersey State Dept. of Ed. web site at http://www.nj.gov/education/aps/cccs/2009/tech/index.html Particularly "….. collaborate adeptly in virtual environments and incorporate global perspectives into problem solving at home, school and in structured learning experiences with the growing realization that people in the 21st century are interconnected economically, socially and environmentally and have a shared future."

Overview of Science through Second Life - a Motorola grant funded science curriculum implemented in a 9th grade Brooklyn science class, Spring 2008. (Full disclosure - Co-designed by Cathy) A practical example of using a virtual world to supplement and support standards based high school science. Note the environments NPIRL (not possible in real life).

This post details possible causes of low performance for those accessing virtual worlds with low end computers. This is just one of many design considerations when designing a virtual environment for a specific learning audience. Short story: The more graphics a computer needs to "see" (ie: load), the slower it is going to run.

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.

This article discusses how Teen Second Life and similar dynamic online tools gives teenagers another way to explore their identity, in a low-risk, no consequences environment, and how teachers can use this environment to explore serious issues.

Welcome to "Virtual Hawaii." An ongoing project sponsored by NOAA. Not everyone will have a chance to experience the wonders of early celestial navigation on the open ocean, but here, visitors can experience life as it might have been centuries ago in the Hawaiian Islands. Video of "Virtual Hawaii" - Second Life based learning environment