EDUCAUSE | Second Life

New ELI 7 Things... Brief Explores Second Life

pkurkowski — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 15:21:23 -0500

Second Life is a virtual world with tens of millions of square meters of virtual lands, more than 13 million "residents," and a thriving economy. The ease in which users can build and modify virtual spaces has made it an attractive choice for experiments in learning space design and educational experiences such as virtual field trips or the creation of galleries to display student-created media. The 7 Things You Should Know About Second Life, EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative’s (ELI) latest brief in the monthly series, examines how Second Life lets educators easily build and modify learning spaces to test how different strategies for a physical space affect learning and how a similar approach can be taken toward educational activities in those spaces.

Browse the complete 7 Things You Should Know About… monthly series.

EDUCAUSE Virtual Worlds Second Life Group Meeting

AJKelton — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 09:44:06 -0500

In coordination with the Virtual Worlds Hot Topic Discussion at lsat years EDUCAUSE Annual Conference, a group was starting in Second Life. That group had its first meeting on Monday, June 9th. Following is the edited transcript of that meeting (edited for clarity and readability).

If you are in Second Life, please join the group EDUCAUSE VIRTUAL WORLDS or contact AJ Brooks in world for an invite.

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AJ Brooks: ok - lets get started. Welcome. Thanks everyone for coming. I'd like to get some info before we get started. If you could introduce yourself, that would be great. Name, where you work, what you do, etc...Go ahead and type all at once, we’ll all catch up in chat history

•    Vivistar Benoir: Terry, Purdue University, Educational Technologist
•    JeanClaude Vollmar: I'm JC (Jeff Le Blanc) and work at the University of Northwestern Ohio as the VP for IT.
•    Fletcher Pinion: Corrie Bergeron (twitter:skydaddy) instructional designer Lakeland CC OH
•    Greyce Congrejo: Hi I'm Greyce...high school principal in charge of technology integration
•    Zosia Bade: Niki, San Jacinto College, VP for Educational Technology
•    Jonathon Dunn: I'm Deke Kassabian from the University of Pennsylvania, a Senior Director and communications architect
•    AJ Brooks: I am AJ Kelton, I am the Director of Emerging Instructional Technology for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Montclair State University in northern NJ
•    Topher Zwiers is Director of Training (& Emerging Technology) at San Jacinto College in Houston, TX... Chris
•    Mercury Barnes: At Univ. of Illinois (Education), moving to Univ. Wisconsin Milwaukee (Research Support)
•    dante Vanbeeck: Tim, Duke University, Director of IT for Student Affairs.
•    WYNN Criss: Cheryl, RL, Meredith College Campus Computing Specialist
•    Grinn Pidgeon: Grinn Pidgeon (Barbara Pittman), Director of the Center for Instructional Technology at Mercyhurst College in Erie, PA. I'm the owner of Mercyhurst College island.

AJ Brooks: great – thanks. How many of you have ever been to the EDUCAUSE Annual Conference - just say YES

AJ Brooks: Yes
COD Zeitlich: yes
Grinn Pidgeon: yes
Jonathon Dunn: Yes
JeanClaude Vollmar: yes
Vivistar Benoir: yes
Fletcher Pinion: don't I wish... :-(
WYNN Criss: Regional only
Mercury Barnes: yes
Zosia Bade: plan to go this year
Vic Michalak: nope... regional
dante Vanbeeck: yes

AJ Brooks: great - this year it is in Orlando. Should be a good crowd - nice size. There will hopefully be a lot on Virtual Worlds there.
Mercury Barnes: Midwest had a packed session.
AJ Brooks: Of course, the EDUCAUSE Virtual Worlds Constituent Group will be meeting. How many of you currently are members of the VW CG?

WYNN Criss: I am
Zosia Bade: I am
dante Vanbeeck: yes
Grinn Pidgeon: I am
Mercury Barnes: I Am
Topher Zwiers: I think I am ;-) but not entirely sure - have attended ELI Annual & Regional.
Fletcher Pinion: not sure
JeanClaude Vollmar: hmm, not sure
Vic Michalak: in SL?
Greyce Congrejo: I am

AJ Brooks: excellent. There will be meeting information coming out soon. And for those who can't make it to Orlando, I can tell you that we will most likely be doing a dual meeting again this year
WYNN Criss: Will the SL group meet in SL this year and will non attendees be able to participate in the discussion?
AJ Brooks: that is the plan at this point
WYNN Criss: Great
AJ Brooks: Was anyone at last years? AJ Brooks: I know JC was. :-) I couldn't have done it without him and a few others who helped out

JeanClaude Vollmar: Yup
Grinn Pidgeon: yes
Jonathon Dunn: yes

AJ Brooks: That meeting was fun. Exhausting for me, but fun. This year there will be a more formal agenda
JeanClaude Vollmar: It was a good one. standing room only.
AJ Brooks: which is one thing I'd like to chat with you folks about. Before we go there, how many of you are planning on going to Orlando in October?

Jonathon Dunn: I am.
Grinn Pidgeon: Yes me
JeanClaude Vollmar: I am
Mercury Barnes: yes
dante Vanbeeck: I'll be there.
Zosia Bade: I am
Vivistar Benoir: I am
Fletcher Pinion: no
Greyce Congrejo: Only virtually
Vic Michalak: inworld for me too..
WYNN Criss: Same here
Topher Zwiers: inworld perhaps.

AJ Brooks: awww - Fletcher - you can come meet us in world.
Fletcher Pinion: I'll be delighted to come in-world
AJ Brooks: thats great we need people both in world and in person. It proves the point, no?
Mercury Barnes: I was both at Seattle, so was my wife...:)
Vic Michalak: yes, that VWs are useful...
AJ Brooks: useful in many many ways, not the last of which is as a pedagogical tool :-) but I digress, that's another meeting lol
Fletcher Pinion: but how to show that VW is different than just logging into a webcast?
WYNN Criss: VW is more engaging to me.
Mercury Barnes: Show a chatting session between a professor and a student -- simple, but important.
AJ Brooks: so let me ask - if you were making the agenda for this RL/SL meeting at the annual conference, what would you want to see on the agenda. Remember, we have about 70 minutes
Fletcher Pinion: affordances of attending a conference in SL that RL doesn't have...like checking out the profiles of everyone in the room, including their favorite things
Mercury Barnes: Minimally highlight tools -- the ability to show web pages within SL could help.
AJ Brooks: Fletcher, can you say more about that?
WYNN Criss: The reality of setting up a place for instruction- getting started in Sl for Educators
Topher Zwiers: what's the assumption regarding the audience in that meeting? veteran SL'ers? newbies dropping in to investigate?
AJ Brooks: ah – ty. There is no assumption, I’m afraid. It could be both, so I'd say somewhere in the middle
Vivistar Benoir: Best orientation practices for students
Mercury Barnes: Show how extensive NMC is.
Fletcher Pinion: I can right-click any of you here and find out stuff about you that doesn't fit on a nametag
dante Vanbeeck: are there examples of SL used by students who are not involved in course related work?
Vivistar Benoir: yes NMC tour would be nice
AJ Brooks: (or in a printed program, Fletcher)
Topher Zwiers: Fletcher - and add additional personal notes too...
AJ Brooks: we need to be leery of seeming to endorse one company over another. I believe EDUCAUSE tries to remain fairly neutral when it comes to vendors
Vic Michalak: educational delivery tools... real life interactive demos (not just static)... reasons to use a 3D world...
AJ Brooks: and in fact, they would like to see us talk about other VWs - but understand the place of SL at the moment
Fletcher Pinion: AJ - good point. How many have accounts in multipleVWs?
WYNN Criss: I agree with Vic
Mercury Barnes: Show the map to give folks an idea of scale, then just zoom on the University Islands, finishing with a notecard, or web page, listing them.
JeanClaude Vollmar: A tour of one of your simulations and how it applies to your literary course work would be great. That would show true application.
AJ Brooks writes that check to JC
Greyce Congrejo: Yes, show a meeting like this one
JeanClaude Vollmar grins
WYNN Criss: I think that would be a great idea.
AJ Brooks: what’s that, wynn?
Topher Zwiers: is there a stated goal/mission for the constituent group? there's a limitless number of directions that meeting could go...
Vic Michalak: I hope everyone will check out the educational exhibits during the 5th Bday SL celebrations at the end of the month...
AJ Brooks: http://www.educause.edu/groups/vw
Mercury Barnes: NMC's Art gallery contrasted with the Gardens of NPIRL.
dante Vanbeeck: student affairs people worry that this reduces personal interaction. can SL actually be used to create real community?
AJ Brooks: Topher asks a good question
WYNN Criss: Vic mentioned educational delivery tools...
Mercury Barnes: Can, JB Kraft has a $375 screen with the most important part, a notecard to explain how to get HTML in-world -- if this approach is expanded...:)
Topher Zwiers: Looking at the purpose of the group - I'm wondering if a looking forward approach to the meeting wouldn't be helpful....
there's tons of resources to point folks to, but how and when do we begin to move toward something a little more cohesive - as individual institutions - use of SL?
Fletcher Pinion: who is the audience for the sessions? familiar w. VR or not?
Vivistar Benoir: I think resources are scattered... we should group them somehow
AJ Brooks: the audience is not defined that way I'm afraid. A clearing house! GREAT IDEA
Vivistar Benoir: familiar
AJ Brooks: the audience is defined as those who have self identified in being interested in virtual worlds
Fletcher Pinion: for me, ANY technology is a question of affordances and constraints...
AJ Brooks: that is probably the ONLY thing they have in common
Mercury Barnes: No one really knows - that's why the Midwest session on VW's was packed with nervously wondering people -- we're in the time akin to web adoption or LMS's.
Vivistar Benoir: true Fletcher
Fletcher Pinion: ...what does this let me do that nothing else can? Ansswer that question for present andf looking forward
AJ Brooks: ok - so we're looking at two paths here
Topher Zwiers: my thought is... a discussion about "Here's a way to engage/approach SL from an institutional perspective" -- thoughts on how to organize within an institution to move beyond the individual, leading edge faculty that have engaged it...
AJ Brooks: if I may summarize a bit
Fletcher Pinion: go, AJ
Zosia Bade: What about some comparison of the VWs available? Pros/cons, experiences attendees may have had.
Topher Zwiers: that discusison could provide insight for attendees of any experience level...
Vivistar Benoir: Fletcher, that is exactly what I wonder about using this platform
AJ Brooks: a conversation that leads to becoming a clearing house for dta and information (which EDUCAUSE can host for us)
Mercury Barnes: SL gives you presence and a feeling of connection -- it's a "social interface" and does this job well (especially with voice).
Vivistar Benoir: Zosia, good suggestion
Vic Michalak: the problem is the really good information is scattered as you said... I wish there were some central place to find educational information - besides SLED (way too busy for me to read most of the time)
AJ Brooks: yes - I like the idea of looking at other VWs
Fletcher Pinion: Mercury - maybe for some. For others is disorienting
Mercury Barnes: Only 8% hang around -- it's a real issue.
Fletcher Pinion: not to get into that discussion, but suggesting that that discussion might be a good starting point
WYNN Criss: What other VWs are focusing on Education?
AJ Brooks: pretty much none. Active Worlds tried but SL is a better product for most. My understanding is that people flocked away from AW when SL first took hold
Vivistar Benoir: I think a central place --- past the orientation part
AJ Brooks: i was not involved at that point
Vivistar Benoir: we're looking for meat
Vic Michalak: As I mentioned, Active Worlds is big into education and has been since 1999, but it is just not as well known... I am not advertising for them... just check out the differences...
Robin Mochi: Croquet, I believe has a pretty strong educational focus.
Raine Whitman: http://www.activeworlds.com/edu/
Fletcher Pinion: I've got an AW acct - Fleep gave some OLN folks a tour a while back
Fletcher Pinion: but most activity seems to be on SL
Mercury Barnes: Content in/out is weak, student management is weak, reliability is weak -- SL has none of the core tenets that make it a good LMS.
WYNN Criss: Thanks for the URL-I will take a look at it.
Raine Whitman: your welcome
Fletcher Pinion: Not to mention that 18yr limit - tough for high schools and community colleges...
AJ Brooks: SL cannot be an LMS at this point in time
Fletcher Pinion: that's why the open grid project is important
Mercury Barnes: What SL has, for those that "break through," is a great social interface -- good for discussion, chatting, meetings, office hours, etc..
AJ Brooks: activities
Fletcher Pinion: collaborative building - wikitecture
Vic Michalak: that would be very interesting...
AJ Brooks: it is prosumeristic, a word I just made up ! lol
Mercury Barnes: AND foreign language instruction -- excellent chat and voice to this (which is almost impossible any other way).
Vivistar Benoir: well, what I like about SL is simulating places and things
Vivistar Benoir: like the virtual hallucinations place from uc davis, that was a great sim
Robin Mochi: I agree SL seems to be the most developed for education, but still problems like reliability and ease of use. Both are big problems for many. Still, so far it seems the best there out there.
Fletcher Pinion: reliability and ease of use were a problem with the first airplanes, too
AJ Brooks: lets hope people don't die testing out SL
Topher Zwiers: (twitter... cough cough)
Vic Michalak: Except for going to conferences, there are few other forums where I can meet so many people from different parts of the country and world with similar interests... SL is a tremendous platform for social networking and collaborative projects...
AJ Brooks: it breaks down the barriers of the classroom AND the world
Fletcher Pinion: and even if the interface hovers, the concept isn’t going away
AJ Brooks: right on
AJ Brooks wonders why he jus said "right on"
Fletcher Pinion: because he's an eduhippie, not an edupunk :-D
Vivistar Benoir: what worries me is introducing it to students if they haven't experienced vw
Vic Michalak: I co-taught a class this semester with two other profs I have never met in person (one in Chicago and one in France) - where else could I do that?
AJ Brooks: lol
Vivistar Benoir: it would be difficult
AJ Brooks: crap - I have to leave that group now
Mercury Barnes: Agreed -- it seems inevitable that VW's will be somewhere in education in the present/future.
Vivistar Benoir: frustrating
Vivistar Benoir: Vic, that's awesome
AJ Brooks: students get this
Fletcher Pinion: Vic - um, via interactive cc tv, actually...
AJ Brooks: they just still see it as educational
Robin Mochi: yes, I was wondering if any of you heard recently about ExitReality? http://www.exitreality.com/
AJ Brooks: we need to make sure it stays fun also
Mercury Barnes: Most students get it...with more on the way.
Vic Michalak: yes, it was - with students in Mexico, France, and the U.S. who had never met each other...
Vic Michalak: What is ExitReality? Another VE?
Vivistar Benoir: AJ, yeah... maybe is just fear
Fletcher Pinion: 3D SN
Robin Mochi: Exit reality is still very much in beta, and will not run on a mac!
WYNN Criss: The opportunity for Global collaboration is phenomenal.
dante Vanbeeck: students may "get it" but many stop using it after the class ends.
AJ Brooks: dante - yes - we need to change that
Vivistar Benoir: Exit reality seems to be aimed much for commerce
Robin Mochi: But yes, a whole new type of VW really
AJ Brooks: introducing them to thing during the class that will get them to explore. I've been working on a SL Student Center, it will be located on the NMC Orientation Island
Mercury Barnes: Yeah...:)
dante Vanbeeck: the student center is a good idea, gather students from all over world to interact.
AJ Brooks: if THEY start meeting others the way WE have, they stay
Vic Michalak: YES! My experience is that you have to get students oriented before you can get a useful class going...
WYNN Criss: I am trying to design a Universal Design Lab.
Robin Mochi: the thing about that is if Exit Reality works as the video indicates it will it could transform all VWs, I believe.
Grinn Pidgeon: what would students build if the islands were theirs?
Vic Michalak: What is a Universal Design Lab?
Mercury Barnes: Nothing more important for keeping and holding interest than a group of friends.
AJ Brooks: it will be theirs :-)
Vivistar Benoir: Grinn, scary thought
dante Vanbeeck: grinn - that's what i wan to know
Topher Zwiers: for the VW meeting in Orlando - seems like a meeting that gives new faculty/institutions an idea of how (& why) to begin, and gives seasoned faculty/institutions an opportunity to discuss moving forward - toward more institution wide use of SL... would be ideal.
Vivistar Benoir: Robin, I believe you might be right
AJ Brooks: thanks for bringing it back, Chris – yes, we need to have two meetings
Vic Michalak: Yes... but that is our approach right now... what would the students build if we purchased an island?
Robin Mochi: Also, it could be the way that VWs will become very known by mainstream folks who still have not heard of virtual worlds or Second Life. I'm surprised by how many there are out there.
AJ Brooks: one that is more general - for those who are interested
WYNN Criss: In short a lab where students with and without disabilities could meet and interact on the same level.
AJ Brooks: and then move to a few more complex things
Fletcher Pinion: "Here's a vision - here's current reality - here's how to get started"
Mercury Barnes: The content and student management issues will prevent SL from ever getting big -- these problems need to be solved.
AJ Brooks: but I like the idea of the end result being a central repository for information
dante Vanbeeck: I have most of an island unused. I'd like to just give parcels to students and let them go.
AJ Brooks: thats what this island is going to be for, except for educators
Vic Michalak: SL and other VMs have been likened to the Web in about 1994 - few people had heard of it and there were only prototype browsers.... like SL today...
Fletcher Pinion: AJ - the prob is there are a LOT of "central repositories" - maybe we could have a list of lists?
AJ Brooks: yes
Topher Zwiers: I think the two parts of that meeting can be combined... how many different institutions are sharing space they have with ANY faculty?
Zosia Bade: I like the student idea, let them create how/where they learn
Fletcher Pinion: Yes re student builds - they will do wonderful things
Topher Zwiers: I've encountered quite a few...
WYNN Criss: You would definitely get then to buy in if you let them build.
Fletcher Pinion: Look @ artwork at BGSU
Vic Michalak: I taught our class at DePaul CTI... I met the profs I co-taught there and they allowed me to use that space...
AJ Brooks: student leave after their classes because this is JUST another tool for school. We must get them to see what WE see about this
the collaboration, meeting people form ALL OVER THE WORLD. But SL still needs to mature a bit, work out some of the kinks
Vic Michalak: No... not all.. I am working on a collaborative build right now with some students from the Spring semester and this is the summer...
Fletcher Pinion: or perhaps... de-"mature"? ;-^
AJ Brooks: I've called this generation the "O" Generation, Opposable Thumbs - games, texting, etc...
AJ Brooks: they do more with their thumbs that some of us have our whole lives
Fletcher Pinion: when it comes to communication, they're all thumbs
AJ Brooks: lol
Mercury Barnes: SL does run OK on phones now...:)
AJ Brooks: well - in some cases
Vivistar Benoir: I manage student developers... asked them to look into SL
Topher Zwiers: first few minutes could be a general overview of what MUVE's can do... then move quickly into how to get started as an individual faculty member AND as an institution. (i.e. point people to resources - not actually show them) and then point them to locations where they can have their own space - as an experiment (including perhaps to the other half of the room that includes institutions willing to share their space to bring people to their island
AJ Brooks: Chris - that’s wonderful
WYNN Criss: Topher I like that idea.
AJ Brooks: the only thing is that is more like a workshop
Vivistar Benoir: one wrong opinion about SL was that there was too much sex content
Fletcher Pinion: 70 minutes Not enough time for a hands-on session
AJ Brooks: these meetings are supposed to be for the group to be involved in the conversation
Topher Zwiers: then focus on different models for institutions starting to scale out their SL presence....
AJ Brooks: so the tone needs to be conversational, not quite as instructional
Topher Zwiers: and conclude with those institutions that are already starting to involve student services and more full/comprehensive programs... how are they doing it/preparing for it etc...
Mercury Barnes: Maybe not for the class, but at Seattle, people "shoulder surfed" those with machines.
Fletcher Pinion: what about having someone inworld give a tour of their facility?
Fletcher Pinion: esp if they weren't physically present?
AJ Brooks: i can't keep up - have to read back
Topher Zwiers: if you're going to have newbies AND seasoned SL'ers - at least SOME part of it will have to be more presentation like...
WYNN Criss: Well, I do not think I agree with that so much. Faculty need to have something to take back to their administrators that is beyond conversation.
Fletcher Pinion: darn - I gotta run. I've joined the listserve
Topher Zwiers: absolutely Wynn... this group can pull together a collection of resources to go back to institutions with...
AJ Brooks: I agree with you Wynn - but the CG meetings have a specific purpose. The sessions will be for finding stuff to take back
Grinn Pidgeon: that is where the good handout/brochure helps
Fletcher Pinion: WYNN - a "how to get started" list, maybe good youtube videos of good builds, slurls...?
Vic Michalak: good idea about the tour... specially if it were many faceted (like Topher said)...
Vic Michalak: lots of good U-Tube videos on SL...
Vivistar Benoir: right
Topher Zwiers: rather than spending too much time on specific tools or locations - provide a list of where those can be found - for folks to explore afterwards....
Mercury Barnes: Not a ton of Faculty at Educause -- mostly the Administrators the Faculty has to convince.
WYNN Criss: Yes, I know about the videos and they are great.
Topher Zwiers: discuss things that are more focused on what this group may should perhaps be doing - but give attendees resources with all of the HOOKS that will help them get involved...
Vic Michalak: yes, agree with Topher... informational.. cram a lot in the time period...
Fletcher Pinion: Right - collect them, show a couple, and give link to the rest
Grinn Pidgeon: how to develop campus discussion groups
AJ Brooks: yes, great idea
Topher Zwiers: Grinn... yes...
Vic Michalak: Let them explore later... but they have to be aware first...
WYNN Criss: Well, at my last Regional Educause meeting there were no administrators there to speak of- the majority were tech folks and faculty.
Fletcher Pinion: I gotta go - can someone email the chat log?
Vivistar Benoir: I like that very much
AJ Brooks: how did you get things working where you were kinds of stories
Topher Zwiers: how to get started as an institution...
Vic Michalak: okay Fletcher...
Topher Zwiers: right...
AJ Brooks: I'll have captured it Fletcher, IM me later
Topher Zwiers: and there's various models and levels of scale...
Vic Michalak: ...see AJ...
AJ Brooks: that can be the theme for the meeting "Getting Started"
Grinn Pidgeon: I like it
AJ Brooks: resources for individuals
Topher Zwiers: from individual faculty working in a space offered by another institution.. .to buying an island and parceling it out for faculty projects etc.
AJ Brooks: stories from some guests
WYNN Criss: That would be great
Vic Michalak: REALLY getting started... not just talk...
AJ Brooks: then on to starting the conversation at your school
Robin Mochi: I'm using the Sloog hud to create lists of in-world resources with direct teleport ability from Sloog website and that along with basic Torley YouTube video links so I can present one list of resources to all new students in the class I will be assisting this summer.
Vivistar Benoir: nice
Grinn Pidgeon: how to partner an it person with a faculty member to create a project
Mercury Barnes: Examples of currently working or past courses.
AJ Brooks: creating community
Vic Michalak: Grinn... partnering with IT and VP levels is the only way to really make SL work on a campus...
Topher Zwiers: if this group could agree on a social bookmarking tool and relevant anchor tags - the resources could be put together pretty quickly/collaboratively...
Vic Michalak: unless you have your own LARGE budget...
AJ Brooks: yes - it is hard to do this one against the grain
Fletcher Pinion: thanks, all - great ideas - gotta go
WYNN Criss: I would also like to see something on addressing the faculty concerns about copyright infringement.
Robin Mochi: Actually there are many librarians such as myself who are working to assist faculty in SL. Evaluating in-world sites and providing links to those sites is an extension of information literacy skills that librarians already teach.
AJ Brooks nominates Topher as one of the volunteers
Topher Zwiers: Vic... unless you have several levels of scale to suggest to those VP's... start as small as you need to.. .to get buy in... build from there.
Grinn Pidgeon: me too--already on overtime :)
AJ Brooks: lol
WYNN Criss: Unfortunately, here faculty need a rubric or outline for how to deal with this issue in SL or other worlds.
AJ Brooks: a place to post sample rubrics is a great idea. Has anyone heard of connect.educause.edu?
WYNN Criss: Yes I have.
AJ Brooks: http://connect.educause.edu
dante Vanbeeck: yes
AJ Brooks: there is the ability to link from there - blog there - post resources ther e- and EDUCAUSE is already hosting it and wants to expand it, and is looking for ideas on how to do that
Topher Zwiers: imho - best way to do that is for someone to post it on any sort of webspace they may have (even google pages) and then social bookmark it with an anchor tag.. EDUVW -- ?
AJ Brooks: :-)
Topher Zwiers: if we did that, I think Connect can be set to grab tags from the blogosphere....
AJ Brooks: I believe it can. Well - what an amazing and productive conversation
Topher Zwiers: just need a way to communicate what the anchor tags will be... i.e. EDUVW for all resources... then add other tags.. tutorials, locations, etc...
Robin Mochi: I would also like to suggest that we use Sloog, which is an in-world social bookmarking tool, and we could use the same EDUVW tag which would then send all those in-world resources that have been tagged to the sloog website.
AJ Brooks: as a side note - I'll be looking for people who are coming to Orlando to help out during the session. JC can tell you - it’s a bit crazed, but its LOTS of fun
Topher Zwiers: Sloog is good for in world, but does it work well for web-based resources?
JeanClaude Vollmar: I'll be glad to help again AJ. I had fun with it.
Topher Zwiers: Diigo (since it can cross-post to delicious) would be helpful for web-based....
AJ Brooks: Topher - would you have time to follow up with Catherine Yang or someone at EDUCAUSE about the whole connect question
Robin Mochi: Sloog is still in beta, but it has a website like del.icio.us where all the tagged sites are listed and searchable...
AJ Brooks: Robin - would you be interested in setting up the Sloog thing?
Topher Zwiers: can Sloog easily tag web-based tools though?
AJ Brooks: Thanks, JC
Robin Mochi: Actually the entire sloog site is currently being transformed, but should be ready to go in the next couple of weeks...
Topher Zwiers: it's possible to use a HUD to tag SLURLS to delicious or others - but those can also do web-based resources....
Robin Mochi: and yes, I would be glad to follow this part and set that up with sloog.
Topher Zwiers: and does Sloog have all of the API and other tools that would allow us to pull those resources into a Wiki or other site? - like connect?
AJ Brooks: If anyone else is interested in volunteering for the Orlando RL portion, please let me know by IM or later on. We'll also be looking for in-world volunteers, but I'll let the in-world coordinator handle that
WYNN Criss: I got to go--see you later. Thanks for all of the resources and ideas.
AJ Brooks: later wynn
AJ Brooks: thanks for coming and your input
Topher Zwiers: I'm just not familiar enough with Sloog to know if it's going to do what Diigo/Delicious can do for web-based resources.....
AJ Brooks: TY to everyone
Robin Mochi: let me look into that, Topher. but the sloog team is very interested in working with educators, so I suspect it would work soon if not now.
AJ Brooks: if you need to go, feel free - the meeting time is over
Topher Zwiers: AJ - I'll follow up with Catherine etc...
AJ Brooks: I'll be here for at least another 30 minutes, as we have a "social" planned until then. TY Robin, TY Topher
Zosia Bade: Off to another meeting. Thanks.
AJ Brooks: TY all for coming - this was SO great
AJ Brooks: I expect to have the transcript up on the EDUCASUE Virtual Worlds CG web site as soon as I can
Jonathon Dunn: thanks all
Robin Mochi: you're welcome. I do think sloog, when the new site is ready, will be pretty amazing. take a look at the screenshots they sent me here: http://librarianbydesign.blogspot.com/2008/05/sloog-great-tool-for-second-life-users.html
AJ Brooks: TY and thanks for volunteering to help out

Supporting Faculty Adoption of Emerging Technologies: Wanderlust or Creating a Campus Roadmap?

llarsen — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 22:52:17 -0500

Supporting Faculty Adoption of Emerging Technologies: Wanderlust or Creating a Campus Roadmap?

Julie Little, EDUCAUSE, Moderator
Dolly Young, Associate Professor of Spanish, University of Tennessee,
Jean Ann Derco, Executive Director, Educational Technology, University of Tennessee
W. Gardner Campell, Professor of English, University of Mary Washington
James Groom, Instructional Technology Specialist, University of Mary Washington

Closing General Session
2008 Southeast Regional Conference
Jacksonville, FL
June 4, 2008

The phone rings. The caller begins with the familiar, "I've been thinking..." and the rest of the conversation centers on how to pilot an emerging instructional technology. Faculty who are early adopters of technology are experimenters and risk-takers; they broaden the landscape of effective teaching and learning with technology. Yes, they push the envelope, but they also offer partnership for identifying what's scalable and sustainable for broader use. The panelists for this presentation shared their campus perspectives on adopting emerging technologies from Web 2.0 to virtual worlds, their successes and challenges, and the partnerships they've formed.

Knock, Knock Who's there? Idea... Idea who? An Idea who's time has come!

Julie Little provided an introduction to frame the panel discussion.

Gardner Campbell led off the panel. He is an early adopter. He asked for innovations and new technologies so often that he said he was made an administrator so he'd understand what it's like to deal with early adopters.

He discussed his beginning tries with blogging using b2evolution blog technology. He was constantly in conversation with IT support and he still needed a better blogging tool so he tried WordPress MU (multi-user) Spring 2007 and did RSS for ELS Blogs for his course. Campbell stressed the need for IT support agility. A casual hallway conversation and Groom immediately installed it for him to try without any commitment. See http://umwblogs.org/wiki/index.php/WPMU_Feeds_from_ELS_Blogs.

The use of the tool inspired Campbell to think differently about the final product. He said most term papers are actually pretty bad. So he used the blog for the first half and other students blogs as the second half. Students used each other as resources and also took each other seriously as colleagues and thirdly, they began to understand research/inquiry. They now saw library books and materials as sources for inquiry.

The project morphed into an opportunity for anyone in the department and then for the entire campus. It turned into a tremendous student publishing platform

What kind of innovation was this asked Campbell - just a hallway conversation that bubbled up, but no pressure throughout the process. He asked "How do we get to the ideas before they disappear?" We need quick response.

Jim Groom responded from his perspective as the IT support person. He tried playing with WordPress as a quick solution. Everything at UMW was on an external server and so they could play as in a sandbox. His job was to think about the space and unspoken contract that everyone blogged. Working with faculty can be very exciting and gives us the ability to imagine ways to work and communicate differently

Instructional Technology is for the moment we are in and also is changing radically

They started with only a few using the blog in the beginning and now up to 1300 blogs in a year. When you sign up for a blog site you have your own space and you control it. - so it has something like the flexibility of the full Internet. Students can have as many blogs as they want for all of their classes and use RSS. It's not like blackboard but rather user created and everything can be brought into a communal space where you can see a whole course's conversation. It provides a syndicated framework for thinking about teaching and learning. It is also a sign of trust between faculty and students.

Groom engaged with the students and became a partner and peer in the class. Over 15 weeks of participation to the degree that he was part of the learning process.

Class articles on Wikipedia were created - 3 were featured and more were labeled good articles. Each group took a Latin American novel and built the article from it.

He said great things can happen at essentially no cost. The Featured Article Team at Wikipedia came in and helped with training how to use it.

Learning happens on the open web. Communities are defined and the IT support person's role in it can be significant.

Jean Derco described the University of Tennessee a bit. They have 27K students and a total of 1915 FTE teaching staff.

Her unit does Blackboard/Centra administration, assists faculty on their projects and they provide faculty grants at no charge.
They have a student technology research assistant program called START.
Workshops, podcasting, events are held
They do research and evaluate emerging technology
They also do contract projects and external grant work

Derco said that faculty say they want:

I want to see more faculty presentations
I need to see things for my department
I want face-to-face

but then they don't come

They changed their focus to faculty who want to do things and participate.

She started working with Dolly Young in 1999 - on a grant for an online Spanish workbook. There have been many formal and informal efforts since that time. In 2008, there was a Project RITE grant (also a campus pilot) to look at synchronous learning options - 5 pilots and one was in 2nd life. Dolly Young and Doug Canfield "Angling for language acquisition with TACLE" was a look at leveraging Second Life. [more information is available at http://edtech.tennessee.edu/rite/2008/young.shtml]

Young discussed the project. Just chatting informally with informed people is valuable to the language process. They wanted to know how technology can help with learning language. They needed opportunities for students to have language experience. They have 2 thousand Spanish students, so anything tech needs to scale for the large group.

They did 4 Second Life tasks integrated into the curriculum of six sections of intensive Spanish 111-112 (6 hour credit)

All Faculty are thinking about how to get students to think at a higher level. They hoped that these 4 tasks in Second Life would do that.

The tasks had to have a problem-solving element, be interactive, use collaboration, and a specific purpose.

Data collection
"Immediate perception of the task" questionnaires were used at the end of the semester to discover the students' perceptions of effectiveness of the technology in the learning experience. 22-40% were neutral about it. At least 50% had problems with the headphones or other technology issues such as problems hearing their avatars when talking, teleporting issues (too many students) and did not enjoy learning how to use Second Life.

But 50% said:

Task was interactive
Rather speak to student partner in class
Recognized how much they learned.
Enjoyed the first task best - students had to meet their avatar partner in a Second Life university location and set up an interview.

Level of proficiency in foreign language had to be considered.
But they were able to integrate Second Life into the curriculum

Students obtained the appropriate Second Life orientation.
A lot of time was spent designing avatars.
Mostly the students were either neutral or found the Second Life tasks somewhat fun.

The students did need to speak in the Second Life environment and in Spanish.

Implications:

You must ensure the technology works - even the headphones!
Projections of the amount of time, effort and money needed to write, set-up, design, implement, and assess new technology applications should be realistic - it's as much the role of the researchers as the administrators

Derco mentioned that 50% were interested in using Second Life

Questions and Responses

Q What do you do for students who don't blog?
Campbell: They only get credit for doing the blogs - otherwise no credit.
There is no opting out.

Groom discussed authentication for the blogs. There are policies on archiving, no single sign on for WordPress. There is no personal information so there are no FERPA compliance issues. Each tool is separately managed by the student - simply a set of publication tools. They have to activate their account against their email address.

Their work takes on a life of its own. They can put it on the UMW system or another. He did say that spam is your nightmare on blogs.

Q Derco and Young were asked to further discuss the Second Life project.
50% said they didn't like it. But the other 50% didn't say that.
In the feedback the understanding was that most of the issues were technical.

They had to hold students accountable for the tasks so they had them print their virtual chat.

In these settings there is no "back of the classroom" where they can hide out. They must participate.

They like the fact that how much time they put in reflects their results.

Groom mentioned that it was good that the UMW students can take their work with them when they leave.

There is a conception of space issue rather than a technical issue - the community aspect is important.

Q How are we supporting the "innovation seeds" in our faculty?

Second Life involves a lot of skill. Having a package where everything is already built and you can count on having it without change would be very helpful. Building staff capacity to support the faculty is very important.

UMW - Come to each faculty member as "ready to have a conversation." Personal relationships can happen at UMW because the faculty is small. These informal conversations forge useful understanding of what needs to be done.

Q Do you have advice for promoting good scholarship within these new social networking tools?
Campbell responded that the growing variety of publications and events supports scholarly learning. We need to rethink what constitutes scholarship? It needs to count as inquiry and sharing.

Young asked: What is scholarship? More importantly for most faculty is teaching students to think. She asked "How can we get students to learn without feeling the pain?" 70% do not go beyond the 2nd year. Students need "games" and rewards. Are we to support something that is fun?

Often, the amount of investment doesn't match the payoff...from the Administrative standpoint there is always the question - do we need more technology or more faculty? It is wonderful to have easy to use techniques but not all is approached that way.

Derco said "Don't push faculty to use anything" They have Blackboard for those who want to use it though certain departments, like physics, tell the faculty "you must have a Blackboard site."

Campbell recommended the Trent Batson article on innovations in the Web 2.0 environment. Can We Trust Students to Learn in Web 2.0? [http://campustechnology.com/articles/63593/]
We need a technology innovation unit not just a support unit. Some will always be tasked with operations but we must still have the innovation, technology or not. We need to do it together and always thinking about being innovative. Otherwise, what is higher education about?

Young depends a lot on research. She wants to know if there was a gain in learnig.

Groom talked about the notion of data and innovation saying we won't ever really know what is effective teaching and learning. Everything is changing radically and if we don't do it someone else will. Failure is okay - - it's a learning process...

Little noted the enthusiasm of the panelists for their work and encouraged the audience to continue this conversation with them after the conference.

Teaching in Second Life:Report from the Trenches

joesanchez — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 18:30:39 -0600

My students begin spring break today which is great for me because while they all head south to the beaches on South Padre Island I get to stay home in student-free Austin and attend SXSW. Since we have almost hit the midpoint in the semester i thought now is a good time to share some of the work they have been doing in my Working in Virtual Worlds Class.

Tasks completed so far in SL:

1. Get to the island

2. Claim a condo

3. Use their condo to tell a story

4. Give a tour of their condo to the class and tell their story

5. Build a flag that waves in the wind, a bench, and send a postcard and notecard

6. Create a group and take the class on a tour of an SL location

7. use a 4096m plot of land and create a scene with a group.

#7 was just completed on Tuesday, mind you, they have had weekly readings, weekly 350 word blog posts, and a test already this semester. Here are the instructions i gave for #7.In your teams I want you to create something with your land. You will need a theme, an entry point, some type of navigation, and something interactive or a "feature". Think back to the tours, Mercedes had a car to drive, Mexico had a pyramid etc.. what will be your group feature? We will spend 15 minutes in your space on Tuesday March 2 so have stuff for us to do.

I basically handed over 1/4 sim to four student groups. They have complete access to terraform, build, script anything they want. After a weeks worth of work they created a Winter Wonderland, A Wild West Town, A forest sanctuary, and a tropical beach. I made a quick and dirty 2 minute screen capture of the class on tuesday. Take a look and see what they did.

RE:21st Century Learning

joesanchez — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 23:16:31 -0600

Nathan Lowell, a resident of the Educators Coop, author, budding internet superstar, and all around great guy just posted this video Re:21st Century Learners on youtube.

I love this video Nathan, you have given us a lot to think about here. To learn more about Nathan's work you may want to start with Quarter Share. It is the first audio book in a series and can be downloaded for free. Actually you can download all of the books from the site...See yall at SXSW!joe

Experience the flight deck of the NASA Space Shuttle in Second Life

cclark2 — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 11:06:35 -0600

The island of Sophia in Second Life now features an immersive depiction of the flight deck of the NASA Space Shuttle (actually, it's the high fidelity mockup at Johnson Space center in Houston). This is a visual representation only - the controls don't work - but it is a compelling effect. The display uses a Virtual Reality Room (VRR), an immersive, photo-realistic environment developed through a partnership between the New Media Consortium (NMC), the Info Island Archipelago, the Commonwealth Islands for not-for-profits, and Stephane Desnault (aka Stephane Zugzwang in SL).

After arriving at the location on Sophia (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Sophia/203/217/30/), your avatar enters by walking through the curtain. Once inside it's easy to lose track of where you are; look for the exit sign when you want to leave. Also, be sure to grab a copy of the explanatory notecard. The Island of Sophia is being developed by a faculty learning community at the University of Notre Dame. For more information, please visit our wiki at http://flc-vw.wikispaces.com/.

Stephane first introduced the VRR in 2006; since then he has sold more than a thousand rooms to club owners, individual residents and corporations like IBM. Many scenes are now available for sale, and NMC will be compiling a collection of educational scenes for free distribution. Owners can create their own scenes, as we did. Our images were found at http://www.panoscan.com/CubicDemos/Cubic.html and are used with permission -- special thanks to Ted Chavalas of Panoscan Inc. and NASA!

Educators and not-for-profits can obtain a obtain free, fully functional copy of the VRR at the NMC Campus in Second Life. More information can be found in-world at the VRR Shop (slurl.com/secondlife/Solariam/201/175/431/). You can read more about the VRR on the web at http://sl.nmc.org/2008/01/15/vrr-demo/

- - Chris Clark [SL: Hezekiah Dench]

Reaching Students Through Facebook, YouTube, Digital Storytelling and Second Life (Discussion Session)

happyharriet — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 16:06:43 -0600

Rice University has undertaken an initiative to start using the things that their students are already using. Students indicated that they don't use email (email is for old people). They use their social networking tools. Watch this video.

Comments from the audience:

Students do want you (the instructor) to use these tools.
We must decide what the scholarly model is for the use of these tools. How do we do it, where do we fit in?
As an instructional designer and instructional technologist we are willing to use the tools, but we need to find out where our graduates are fitting in by using these tools. Are these tools actually used in the corporate sector? What about their security issues? What about computer information literacy? Are we graduating students who can go into society and function? Are we preparing them for the work environment or a social environment?
Do the students understand the difference between just using wikipedia and actually knowing whats factual and whats not.
Can't we add information literacy into the curriculum?
Employers do go out and google students to see their myspace and/or facebook page
Technology should not be driving our thought process but the marriage between technology and theory.
When it comes to assessing material it depends on how the students are using the technology in the class. For instance blogging - some students like it, some students hate it.
Texas State Univ., are using Second Life for Engineering.
One participant uses facebook to keep in touch with the students. Mainly for keeping in touch with the students. He says that facebook has allowed even the teachers to network with each other, and because of the scaffolding effect of facebook, other people are linking in because of groups/friends relationships.
Use myspace as a helpdesk to assist students. Since they are already in there anyway.
Do we go to what the students want or use? Or should the students be made to go to what we want to use? We spend so much money for Blackboard and WebCT why should we go outside of these technologies?
Someone else uses secondlife, flickr and blogspot. Students are interested, they particpate more. It's their medium.
Academic advisor uses Myspace to talk to all of his advisees. The students were willing to sign waivers (privacy) in order to participate. They like it.
Some participants wonder if older adult students are interested in these social networking tools? How do we bridge the gap between the younger student and the older student?
The average age of second life users are in their 30's. So it's not so much the younger 20-somethings.
There are some senior citizens who are embracing these technologies. Grandparents who have myspace pages.
World of Warcraft is played by 50 and 60 year olds... so don't count the older student out as uninterested, uninformed or out of the loop.
Some people are using facebook to push out information and resources to their students.

Great discussion ... which I feel should be continued (anyone want to continue on Facebook or Myspace?) :)

ELI In Conversation: Second Life and Virtual Worlds - An Approach to Active Learning

gbayne — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 15:03:28 -0600

In this 31 minute podcast we feature a conversation from the ELI 2008 Annual Meeting. The topic is Second Life and virtual worlds. How can virtual world participation help students become active learners? How can instructors approach virtual worlds with an eye toward their own curriculum. Are there any privacy or safety issues that must be breached in getting your students on Second Life? Particpants in this discussion include:

Sarah Smith Robbins, PhD Candidate at Ball State University, who presented a plenary session at ELI 2008 entitled, "Virtual Worlds as Web 2.0 Learning Spaces".
Teshia Roby, Assistant Professor of Educational Multimedia at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona who presented a session at ELI 2008 entitled, "Second Life for the First Time: Learning to Use a Virtual World on a Real Campus".
Chris Johnson, Adjunct Assistant Professor at The University of Arizona who co-presented a session entitled, "Implementing a Presence in Second Life: Pitfalls, Procedures, Policies, and Promises".

ELI Podcast: Virtual Worlds as Web 2.0 Learning Spaces

gbayne — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 17:07:41 -0600

On this podcast we feature a plenary session from the ELI 2008 Annual Meeting. The presenter is Sarah Smith Robbins, PhD Candidate, Ball State University, with a topic entitled, "Virtual Worlds as Web 2.0 Learning Spaces".

Virtual worlds such as Second Life offer powerful teaching and learning opportunities by integrating participatory, social, and immersive media for student-centered learning. Learn about Second Life, its use as a learning space, and its predictive role in the future of learning.

ELI 2008 Spring Focus Session: View Full Program and Register

pkurkowski — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 17:12:43 -0600

The full program is now available for the ELI 2008 Spring Focus Session, "Real-World and Technology Rich: Learning by Doing, Learning in Context," being held March 18–19 in Raleigh, North Carolina. Register by February 19 to save money with low, early-bird rates.

Some of the featured sessions and speakers will include:

Making Learning Real: Turning Sim City into "Sim Science"!
Tuesday, March 18, 1:45–2:30 p.m.
Diane Jass Ketelhut, Assistant Professor of Science Education, Temple University
Authentic Learning in History and Social Sciences: How "Real" Can We Make the Classroom Experience?
Wednesday, March 19, 8:15–9:00 a.m.
Scot A. French, Associate Professor/Director, University of Virginia
Authentic Critical Reflection: Critique_It in Second Life
Wednesday, March 19, 9:30–10:15 a.m.
Michael Connors, Associate Professor, Digital Printmaking, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Other focus session offerings will include student perspective videos, digital documentaries, project parlors, and more. View the full program for more details.