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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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Potential legal issues dealing with "land" ownership in SL. Not sure what this means for the future, but as the article states, vitrual world are basically lawless. It compares the legality of virtual world to the 16th century. The only problem with this comparison, is that in the 1500s people were being murdered for only being suspected of wrongdoing (or in the case of Muslims and Jews, "wrongbeing"). SL does seem like an anything goes type of place... I wonder how this pending legislation will affect SL. I'm not sure a federal, state or local government has any rights over a virtual space. have to wait to see the results of this legislation.

What originally piqued my interest in this site was the "Training for Traffic" that I read on the SL Work Success Stories site (http://work.secondlife.com/en-US/successstories/case/tuvnord/). No small wonder that that topic caught my eye, what with my 15 year old constantly begging me to let her drive. TUV NORD created several traffic situations that they turned into interactive driving tasks. I vaguely remember being in driver's ed and watching a movie in a "simulator" when I was 15. Once I found out that I could spin the steering wheel in any direction and it made no difference, I went on to what was, at the time, my next priority: sleeping. Parenthood brings new perspectives; I shudder at the thought that my child might do the same during her own driver's training class. This sim sounds realistic enough to not only keep a kid awake at the wheel, but give them experience before they get behind the wheel of a deadly weapon. Unfortunately, the sim was not up and running when I visited. This island also has some other interesting items of educational value. You can learn how to use ground penetrating radar (GPR) to find tree roots and underground electrical lines that you might not want to cut through. There is also a huge interactive fuel cell that you can fly through to investigate the inner workings of the thing, which would be useful in a discussion of chemistry, even at the grade levels that I teach (4th & 5th). The only drawback is that most of the notecards you get are in German. Most of the signs do have a translation tool, though (click on the British flag for English). SLURL: http://work.secondlife.com/en-US/successstories/case/tuvnord/

link to a very cool map of World Heritage Sites created in the virtual world of Second Life. The map is viewable in Google Maps and includes SLurls to teleport to each of the locations. The information was gathered by New Mexico State University Professory Pete Eidenbach and imported into Google Maps. If you combine this with Virtual Flags and Anthems of the World and our list of 35 Virtual Countries in Second Life then you receive quite a world history or geography lesson.

This is a comprehensive site with thousands of online resources to use to develop critical thinking in any discipline. The argument mapping tutorials, for example, use various articles to demonstrate the annotation, questioning, and thought process one should use to evaluate the logic of an argument. One of the first tutorials uses an article which claims the moon landing was a hoax, which is a very engaging topic. Many of the other topics are also very timely and engaging. The only drawback is that most of the activities are more traditional activities which rely mostly on reading and writing (sometimes on discussing with others) and which don't incorporate much hands-on activity. However, it is still a very rich site of resources and activities for college and high school teachers and students.

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.

This SLOODLE (Simulation Linked Object Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment) blog comments on and gives examples of using the plug-in SLOODLE to interface and integrate SL with Moodle. This is an open source project. The blog provides excellent tutorials explaining how this application works, and as you watch them, you start to imagine all the different ways you might apply these tools to the classroom. This site contains many ideas and examples for the classroom use of a VR as well as other web-based tools. One example of this is the dropbox for leaving notecard assignments. Once dropped, the notecard appears in the teacher's Moodle account. Once graded, the student immediately receives an email. Another paper describes using SL to teach engineering and then using the SLOODLE to track students' in-world laboratory participation and link it to the teacher's moodle. So we are seeing the virtual world integrating with the real world. http://slurl.com/secondlife/Sloodle/126/94/23

Silly me. I thought the only controversy in Second Life might be the excessive time some participants spend in world. Wrong. There is a group of users now calling themselves the Second Life Liberation Army, serious about protesting the encroachment of big companies like Sony and IBM into SL. They carry on in world protests and counsels, deliberately "griefing" other groups they resent, mostly corporate entities. They are demanding that Linden Lab (SL's creator) put an end to "corporate control" as they wish to set up their own independent, virtual government including voting rights. Linden Lab doesn't respond, assuming their activites are done tongue-in-cheek. But the movement is gaining momentum and attention. This YouTube video is a BBC news article about the controversy (and yes there are equally venemous right-wing groups). Just when you thought it was peaceful in paradise...(by the way, listen close and you'll get a chuckle out of the female newscaster's pronunciation of the word "avatar" in the introduction)

WOOOOOW. I don't know if that's funny or sad or strange or all f the above. I think people are taking their Gaming a little too seriously. I wonder what these people do in the real life to have enough time to 'protest' ads and corporate placement in SL. DId they really think something that is this big and gaining in popularity would remain untouched by Big Biz forever? Come on now, everything is for sale! Linden needs to make money some how to keep it all up and running. I think people need to step away from the computer once in a while and go outside and live life....

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.

The main reason for inclusion in the top 10 was the impact a game had on the educational gaming field. Some of these are getting rather long in the tooth as far as games go, yet their impact is still being felt in educational research that was foundational or continues to be published.

A table (list) of over 100 science related places in Second LIfe. Includes SLURLS. If you are looking for a science related location to visit and report on, this is a super list to check out.

This is excellent. I went to the planetarium and was able to view the night sky from the perspective of Australians. What a great experience for students to have! They put on a presentation that includes history of the telescope, Galileo, current research in space, and ancient views on the stars. The night sky just opens up. It is if you are sitting at the top of the world.

Thank you for sharing. I visited a few differect locations. It was interesting to see how some were more of just a meeting place and some were very interactive and informational.