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we're here because we can tell stories, we can be inside art, we can give context to conversation and learning and collaborating in ways that are, simply, impossible in nearly every other medium, including reality. Dusan Writer blogs of interactive, collaborative narrative (storytelling) as the compelling reason for virtual worlds such as second life.

Edtech in 3D group notes: Site Description: Visitors experience the exhibit through the mind of a schizophrenic. Overall impressions: This was a fairly intense exhibit in some ways. But, the virtual world made it possible to learn and experience the subject matter in a very interesting way. We had a more emotional reaction to the experience than could have otherwise occurred, due to the immersion level involved. How learning is taking place: The schizophrenia exhibit immerses the visitor in an experience that would be difficult to reproduce in the real world. Visitors hear audio clips playing throughout the exhibit that show what it is like to suffer from schizophrenia, and shares examples of people who have suffered from this disease. It is an intense exhibit, and it is very effective at teaching about schizophrenia. Likes: The warnings are a good idea, and the badge system (while cumbersome) keeps people from accidentally entering the exhibit. The audio that accompanies the experience is very effective. In this case, expectations were not clearly defined up front, which made it more effective. The impact of the exhibit could have been diminished by telling visitors too much about what they were about to experience. Dislikes: The exhibit required a badging system to enter, and the process of gaining access was a little confusing. It was difficult to take a picture, because the visuals aren't very sophisticated. However, the experience may have been too intense if the visuals had been more in-depth. Applications to learning in virtual worlds: The immersion that occurred in this exhibit was very effective, and we feel that this type of learning could be used in other learning applications.

This is an article about utilizing Second Life to teach ESL. From language courses I have had, I know it makes a big difference for learners to be able to learn language in the context in which it is normally spoken. I can see how Second Life could have some applications to demonstrate to learners language spoken in context. "Second Life English" has an island devoted to teaching English. You may want to check it out.

How to cut a very thin prim (less than .01)

Edtech in 3D group notes: Site Description: Imperial College's virtual hospital where professionals can train and rehearse and patients can learn about healthcare facilities and procedures that they might need to use. Overall impressions: We were immediately impressed with the Medical School. The grounds were beautiful, and the buildings were designed with learning in mind. We liked the patient rooms, and the introductory podcast was a useful start to the experience. Unlike Vassar Island, we felt that we wanted to spend more time in this location - and we were left with a desire to return and learn more. How learning is taking place: Tour guides give visitors a wide range of ways to discover the island. Visitors can visit patients and learn about various medical conditions. From what we could see, lectures and demonstrations are also a large part of learning at the medical school. Likes: We liked the podcast that started playing as soon as we arrived. There were numerous tours and visitor aids, making it easy to get started. We also liked the immediate access to information. This set expectations up front, helping us to enjoy the experience. Dislikes: Because the island is full of information and is very immersive, the user has to go through several layers (tours, walking around, searching) to get to things. Applications to learning in virtual worlds: The patient rooms take advantage of the virtual world to create an experience that can't easily be created in the real world. They are a great example of how Second Life allows deeper learning than can be found by simply reading a book or listening to a lecture - without endangering an actual patient. Other learning experiences could apply this same tactic to become more immersive.

How to create megaregion RAW files for Second Life and Opensim using Terragen

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.

Vassar has a beautiful island in SL which includes this re-creation of the Sistine Chapel. My colleagues and I were impressed with the beauty of the whole island and especially the loving care lavished on the Sistine Chapel feature. The frescoes were just wonderful and flying to the ceiling to view them up close was a thrill. The Raphael tapestries on the walls were an unexpected bonus. While we enjoyed viewing the works, we all agreed that some kind of docent audio tour would enhance the experience.

Edtech in 3D group notes: Site Description: An accurate-to-scale recreation of The Sistine Chapel. Overall impressions: We arrived at Vassar Island, and were immediately in the middle of the experience. We were impressed by the detail in the recreation of the Sistine Chapel, and found it enjoyable to view the paintings and tapestries up close and from different angles. Although the chapel recreation is interesting, we were not very inspired to return. How learning is taking place: Visitors can fly through the Sistine Chapel and view famous pieces of art from angles that would not be possible in real life. Additionally, visitors are unencumbered by crowds or barriers, and some historical information is available. Likes: Painting and floor recreations are very impressive. Access to the artwork from different perspectives is nice (such as flying or changing viewpoints). Clicking on the painting "The Last Judgement" gives a nice history of the painting. Dislikes: Tapestries are hidden, and a sign must be clicked to show them - but the tapestries disappear again in 30 seconds. Unfortunately, most items do not contain historical information. We feel that this location could be greatly improved by giving visitors some information up front, such as the limitations of the experience (mostly the lack of historical information provided), encouraging them to fly up to the artwork for different perspectives, and setting expectations about how much of the artwork in the Sistine Chapel is represented in Second Life. Applications to learning in virtual worlds: We feel that Vassar Island contains both good examples of learning applications in virtual worlds, as well as things that could be improved upon. The detailed recreation of the Sistine Chapel, with the ability to view the artwork from amazing perspectives, can be applied to other learning applications. More historical information or study aids would be very helpful.

Great virtualworlds/secondlife/opensim blog to follow.   Points to free megaregion terrain file :)  (4 regions) and how to install. See also "Opensim on a USB key"

How to create .RAW files for Second Life and OpenSim with Terragen ... Terragen now supports direct import into opensim.  Step by step for single sim .. and links for multisim terrain file creation. OAR

This is the best site I found. You are greeted by a sign and welcome notecard that describes the origins of the project and how it has grown to over 100 region and explains the vision of the project:"… has been to inspire and influence future development, to expand working knowledge, to showcase creativity and ideas, and to encourage collaboration both inside and outside of Second Life." You can instantly access a map that allows you to teleport to the location of your choice including four different teaching sites, one for the arts a conference center, Learning, and Red Rocks. There are a multitude of resources here for the educator. Everywhere you turn around there are billboard that advertise upcoming events, signs that connect you to groups, and free things to collect. There are many places to hold meetings from small and intimate rooms to large amphitheaters.

I found this YouTube video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGMH_1VnnaY) about a virtual museum exhibit created by teens. It showcases "Kristallnacht," or "The Night of Broken Glass" from the holocaust. Teens from the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C. worked with teens from New York and museum staff via Skype, SL, & phone (sound familiar, COMETEERs?) to discuss issues, storyboard, and even create a design document (future COMETEERs!) to create the exhibit in SL. Interestingly, it seems that the build was done by an SL company called "Digital Refinery," "...an all teen in-world development company," headed by a 15 year old CEO. Teens visiting the site are placed in the role of an investigative reporter in order to find out what people did during Kristallnacht. They can click on cutouts of people to get information and learn about the choices that ordinary people faced during this event. Visitors also observe the environment; broken storefront windows, a before & after Kristallnacht replica of a synagogue, and just general destruction of the Jewish community. When they are done, they reflect, discuss and write about what they have seen & learned, and post notecards to share their experiences. I love that this is all built by teens, but that they also had to work with adults in RL to learn how to cooperate and communicate intelligently. I am big on making history interactive, otherwise it just seems boring to many kids. SL holds so much potential for this sort of activity; time for textbook companies to look into this instead of making ridiculously expensive, environmentally unfriendly textbooks that bore kids to tears. Ok, I know I'm dreaming, after all, if the textbooks weren't expensive, those companies would go out of business. Hmm.

Brain scans of avid players of the hugely popular online fantasy world World of Warcraft reveal that areas of the brain involved in self-reflection and judgement seem to behave similarly when someone is thinking about their virtual self as when they think about their real one.

How you appear in the virtual world could affect your behavior in real life, according to researchers at Stanford University. Andrea Seabrook speaks with Stanford's Jeremy Bailenson about his research into how people interact psychologically with their virtual-reality representations.

I've been following Kathy Schrock since the mid-1990s when I began using computers in the classroom. I have numerous bookmarks of her helpful websites filled with classroom resources as well as her blogs. She is the technology administrator for the Nauset Public Schools in Massachusetts. An earlier YouTube video has Kathy Schrock aka Kathy Dryburgh (in Second Life), gives a brief overview of what Lighthouse Learning Island is all about: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7IC-JeK4Mc&feature=related. In a more recent video, Kathy along with other educators, explain how the Lighthouse Learning Island came to be and what it is currently doing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlwsXsTptbs. The original occupants of the Lighthouse Learning Island was the Nauset Public Schools but since then, several other school districts have joined this virtual learning platform. I was really excited how school districts are utilizing Second Life to offer professional learning development for their educators in Web 2.0 for teaching and learning. Additionally, educators from outside the district have attended these sessions. I'll be looking into how I am able to attend some of these professional development workshop sessions. Unfortunately, on August 1, 2010, Lighthouse Learning Island will be closing due to budget constraints. Kathy has rented a small plot of land on Eduisland 6 (SLURL) and will be announcing any upcoming professional development opportunities through the "K-12 Educators" group in SL. Her new spot is called "Kathy Schrock's Kaffeeklatsch".