Group items tagged

Since our group is presenting on a piece of literature, I thought this was nice to see SLURL in action representing Jules Verne's "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. " You can go through Capt. Nemo's sub! I can see an endless use of SL to replicate settings from books, that could really add to reading comprehension.

Here is an article that I found interesting re: Second Life and Cinematography students at USC. They feel that the thing that Second Life does best is facilitate social interaction. So their goal is to design a setting where people from all over the world can come together and talk. Unfortunately, the site is still under construction.

This is a simulation of an archeaological dig in Turkey. The site represents a Neolithic village where many generations lived, one building on top of another for over a 1000 years. The textures are appealing and realistic, and there's a lot of information on the patient and reverential process of uncovering bones (generations of families buried under each house) and artifacts of this ancient Neolithic people. "Team OKAPI and Berkeley archaeologists mirror the prehistoric village, museum and archaeology in action at Catalhoyuk, Turkey. Take a guided video walk, visit the museum, explore reconstruction of Catalhoyuk, build your own Neolithic reconstruction and remixes, and much more."

With the message of Earth Day freshly in my mind, I decided to investigate Etopia. I found this location to be informative and fun. Compared to other landmarks, this island is relatively small which allows the visitor to experience everything it has to offer in under an hour. I could see this site being useful for an educator attempting to spread the "green" message. With all the island had to offer, it would be a great tool for any level learner. Some interesting things that I experienced in my time on Etopia include: farmers market (free food), e-train and gondola rides across and above the island provide a quick overview of the island, wind turbine farm that you can tour, water recycling plant, opportunity to build a sail boat and see the island from the water, a drum circle in the middle of a forest (reminded me of a Grateful Dead concert scene), a green house growing flowers, fruit and vegetables, several compost bins, and a co-housing community built w/ eco-friendly materials to name a few. If you are interested in the environment or are looking to get students interested, Etopia would be a good location to experience a wide variety of "green" topics.