EDUCAUSE | Virtual Learning Community

B-Schools in Second Life: It’s more than just Fun and Games; It’s the Confluence of Playing, Learning, and Working

ckeller — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 15:15:30 -0500

"A few months back, at the beginning of the semester, National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA) made an award to Babson College and the Sloan Consortium to develop a virtual (business) incubator in Second Life. Students in this class would engage in research and development that had the potential of making a significant difference in the field of entrepreneurship globally."

Learning Space 3.0: When Real and Virtual Spaces Collide

ckeller — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 11:40:03 -0500

Demands for flexibility, collaborative learning opportunities, and access to digital information are resulting in a new design paradigm for learning space that transcends academic disciplines. Concurrently, technology enables the development of highly specific and realistic simulation environments for education, business, the health sciences, and other disciplines. Maturing technologies such as wired and wireless networks, low-cost projectors, flat-panel displays, and productivity software are integral components of a traditional modern-day educational facility. New and emerging technologies such as collaboration software, personal broadband networks, virtual environments, and 3D displays are creating opportunities to rethink the learning space-what and where it is-and what happens inside it. This session will explore developments in technology, classroom design, and concepts for future facilities and their transformative impact on the teaching and learning process.

Building Community with Virtual Spaces

drupal — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 17:14:13 -0500

Building a community of learners can be especially challenging when working with online and distance education students. By using social networking tools like Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, and Second Life, we can begin to construct a community of sharing and participation that leads to enhanced satisfaction and a true sense of belonging.

Poof! Now It's a Teaching Lab!

drupal — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 17:14:12 -0500

Imagine designing a learning space where physics is not a barrier, or where weather, terrain, and daylight can be controlled. How about being able to change a learning space into something completely different with a mouse click? This session will look at the "Mildly Wild West" that is virtual environments.

E07 Podcast: Teaching & Learning Experiences in a User-Created Virtual World

gbayne — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 15:37:25 -0500

This forty-three minute podcast, we feature a panel discussion from the EDUCAUSE 2007 Annual Conference. The panel, "Teaching & Learning Experiences in a User-Created Virtual World,"shares their experiences with teaching in Second Life. Using the interaction combinations integration model they developed as a framework, the panel describes the projects, outcomes, and gives some recommendations.

The panel includes:

David M. Antonacci, Director of Teaching & Learning Technologies, The University of Kansas Medical Center
Stephanie Gerald, Educational Technologist, The University of Kansas Medical Center
Randolph Hollingsworth, Assistant Provost for Integrated Academic Services, University of Kentucky
Edward Lamoureux, Associate Professor, Multimedia Program and Department of Communication, Bradley University
Nicholas S. Noakes, Director, Center for Enhanced Learning and Teaching, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology
David Thomas, Lecturer, School of Architecture and Planning, University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center
Session convener: Mary Jane Clerkin, Coordinator of Online Faculty Support, Berkeley College

Literature Alive!

ckeller — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:48:35 -0500

Literature Alive! in Second Life creates immersive literary environments that have redefined the ways literature is shared in virtual environments.

SUNY Oneonta Music Project

ckeller — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:41:55 -0500

The SUNY Oneonta Music Project started with a simple goal: to give students in Oneonta’s music industry major the opportunity to organize concerts in a virtual world.

MiRTLE

ckeller — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:35:01 -0500

In this article, we describe our collaborative research toward creating a “mixed reality teaching and learning environment” (MiRTLE) that enables teachers and students participating in real-time mixed and online classes to interact with avatar representations of each other. The longer-term hypothesis is that avatar representations of teachers and students will help create a sense of shared presence, engendering a sense of community and improving student engagement in online lessons.

The NMC Campus

ckeller — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:01:47 -0500

The New Media Consortium (http://www.nmc.org/) Campus in Second Life represents the largest educational project in any virtual world, comprising the efforts of well over 120 institutions. The NMC Campus landmass includes 91 sims (islands) that the NMC owns/manages as the NMC Campus, plus another 46 that represent the work of leading educational organizations that have chosen to collocate with the project.

Looking to the Future: Higher Education in the Metaverse

ckeller — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:38:43 -0500

Beyond the capabilities that virtual worlds offer us at the moment, it is the possibilities that we can imagine for the future that may be the most compelling. Virtual worlds technology, like the Internet in general, is changing the way we access and experience information and the way we can access and connect with each other.

Educational Frontiers: Learning in a Virtual World

ckeller — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:35:57 -0500

The use of virtual worlds expands on the campus-based and online classrooms, enhancing learning experiences. Classes in virtual worlds offer opportunities for visualization, simulation, enhanced social networks, and shared learning experiences.

Higher Education as Virtual Conversation

ckeller — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:34:36 -0500

Virtual worlds can become an important tool in an educator’s arsenal. But using this tool requires a shift in thinking and an adjustment in pedagogical methods that will embrace the community, the fluid identity, and the participation—indeed, the increased conversation—that virtual spaces can provide.

Virtual Worlds? “Outlook Good”

ckeller — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:33:08 -0500

Whether it is Second Life or another virtual world, this foundational movement is not going away. It is improving. It is moving forward. The question to be addressed in the coming months and years is how higher education and, subsequently, individual institutions will determine the best way to continue to move forward with virtual worlds.

EDUCAUSE Review Magazine, Volume 43, Number 5, September/October 2008

ckeller — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:31:06 -0500

This is the entire issue of EDUCAUSE Review Magazine, Volume 43, Number 5, September/October 2008.

Fostering Learning in the Networked World: The Cyberlearning Opportunity and Challenge, A 21st Century Agenda for the National Science Foundation

ckeller — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 09:59:26 -0500

The National Science Foundation defines "cyberlearning" as "the use of networked computing and communications technologies to support learning." The report of the NSF Task Force on Cyberlearning, Fostering Learning in the Networked World: The Cyberlearning Opportunity and Challenge, A 21st Century Agenda for the National Science Foundation, identifies cyberlearning as having "…the potential to transform education throughout a lifetime, enabling customized interaction with diverse learning materials on any topic..."

The task force report identifies potential ways in which advanced computing and communications technologies might be leveraged to support learning, highlighting opportunities for further research. In it, the task force offers 5 recommendations for the NSF to pursue:

Help build a vibrant cyberlearning field by promoting cross-disciplinary communities of cyberlearning researchers and practitioners
Instill a "platform perspective"—shared, interoperable designs of hardware, software, and services—into NSF's cyberlearning activities
Emphasize the transformative power of information and communications technology for learning, from K to grey
Adopt programs and policies to promote open educational resources
Take responsibility for sustaining NSF-sponsored cyberlearning innovations

(For EDUCAUSE materials on cyberinfrastructure in teaching and learning, please visit EDUCAUSE Resource Library Cyberinfrastructure web page and look for the "CI Teaching & Learning" tab under "Featured Content.")

Envisioning the Educational Possibilities of User-Created Virtual Worlds

elilly — Tue, 06 May 2008 12:03:10 -0500

Educational games and simulations can engage students in higher-level cognitive thinking, such as interpreting, analyzing, discovering, evaluating, acting, and problem solving. Recent technical advances in multiplayer, user-created virtual worlds have significantly expanded the capabilities of user interaction and development within these simulated worlds. This ability to develop and interact with your own simulated world offers many new and exciting educational possibilities. This article explores the technical capabilities and educational potential of these new worlds. Additionally, it presents and illustrates a model, which uses interaction combinations, to identify course content and topics having educational applications in virtual worlds.

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 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.

E07 Podcast: The Pedagogy of Participation - The Conjunction of Physical and Virtual Learning Spaces

kellywalker — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 13:26:10 -0600

This 18-minute podcast recorded during the EDUCAUSE 2007 Annual Conference features Joanna S. Robinson, Research Associate, Great Northern Way Campus speaking on "The Pedagogy of Participation: The Conjunction of Physical and Virtual Learning Spaces."

The session abstract:

Do physical spaces differ fundamentally from virtual learning environments? The Center for Digital Media in Vancouver, B.C., is constructing a physical complex simultaneously with a virtual campus in Second Life. We will explore the results that arise from engaging prospective students in the "modding" (modification) of a virtual space with architectural implications for the physical structure.

Teaching and Learning Experiences in a User-Created Virtual World

drupal — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 09:49:43 -0600

Second Life is a user-created virtual world simultaneously played by thousands of people around the world. In this session, we’ll share our experiences of teaching in Second Life. Using the interaction combinations integration model we developed as a framework, we will describe our projects, outcomes, and recommendations.

Models for Collaborative Online Learning: Pedagogy, Design, and Epistemology

drupal — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 13:42:41 -0500

This session will examine models for collaborative learning evidenced within the context of an online Master of Educational Technology program. This session will examine models of online learning from pedagogical and instructional design perspectives and consider the epistemological implications of collaborative spaces for learning and knowledge production.

Managing Online Discussions Through a "Participation Portfolio"

drupal — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 13:42:41 -0500

If you want students to use online discussions, how do you avoid initiating every thread or simply counting all their replies? By defining and rewarding substantive Q&A (and requiring an online "participation portfolio"). Students will take responsibility for discussions and reduce your burden in assessing them.

Xavier University's Web 2.0 Strategy: The Virtual Learning Commons

drupal — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 13:42:36 -0500

The Road to Xavier portal for admitted students was named Best University Web Site 2006 by the Web Marketing Association. Beyond enabling the recruitment of a banner class, this Web 2.0 project laid the foundation for the Virtual Learning Commons, Xavier's comprehensive fully integrated Web presence to support 21st-century learners.

Engineering Informatics for Bio-Inspired Robots

ckeller — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 14:59:58 -0500

Engineering Informatics for Bio-Inspired Robots is an NSF-funded project trying to break down barriers to collaboration between engineering and computer science departments. Faculty members participating in the project are teaching the next generation of engineers and computer scientists to produce intelligent design by reaching across disciplines. The goal is to ensure that students are better prepared to tackle the multidisciplinary demands of the engineering and computing industries. As part of the project, participating institutions are leveraging cyberinfrastructure to share expertise, store research results, and advocate for multidisciplinary instruction, demonstrating the power of inter-institutional cooperation for teaching and learning.

The nanoHUB: Community and Collaboration

ckeller — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 12:22:54 -0500

nanoHUB is an online portal for nanotechnology researchers, instructors, and students created by Purdue University and the National Science Foundation. It uses cyberinfrastructure to provide access to scientific tools for research, demonstration, and collaboration, as well as instructional materials. Users can run experiments, review research, or download lectures. nanoHUB is a virtual toolkit as well as a community where students and faculty contribute to the science of nanotechnology.

Using technology in teaching and learning: Resources to help you navigate a digital world

ckeller — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 11:38:30 -0500

The author provides a long and comprehensive list of resources concerning teaching and learning with technology.

Five Questions...For Tom Carey

ckeller — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 15:51:36 -0500

Instructors in higher education get e-learning support from two distinct sources: their own institutions, through colleagues and faculty teaching centers, and their disciplines, through subject area experts and scholarly associations. Tom Carey, professor of management sciences at the University of Waterloo and chief learning officer of MERLOT, explains how the MERLOT consortium is finding the sweet spot where those two processes come together.

nanoHUB - An Authentic Learning Case Study

ckeller — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 17:12:35 -0500

Supporting Student Teaching Through Virtual Classrooms

drupal — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 10:26:35 -0500

In the face of increasing difficulty placing teacher candidates in schools for their practicum, using a cyber practicum offers several advantages.

Wikipedia?

wallen — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 16:59:29 -0600

I appreciate the comments on my last post.

In terms of student privacy I already include in my syllabus a statement that the other students in the class will see student posts in the Bb discussion board and I suggest that if a student is uncomfortable with that circumstance that they should withdraw from the class (nobody ever has).

In terms of legalities, I wonder if an obvious answer is to simply use Wikipedia as the class site. I start an article and show the students how to add, edit, etc. Would the legal onus then fall on Wikipedia and not on me?

HAWAII ... the Power of Building a Learning Community on Values and Blending

AllanADL — Fri, 14 Oct 2005 23:14:32 -0500

I began this trip through a window of opportunity you almost could say, between two potential terrorist attacks. Well that is how they were considered by the authorities and rightly so. On the day before I was to fly, a bag of white powder was discovered left on a plane and it threw Adelaide airport into a spin with delayed flights. I flew out the next morning to Sydney at the early hour of 6.00am with a routine departure. Only hours later more white powder was discovered and the spin turned to chaos with such bad delays people actually missed international connections. Me I got out in the corridor of quiet in between. I never heard of the disruption of course until I got to Hawaii.

My connection was made smoothly in Sydney and the flight to Honolulu was great. I think this is about the 15th time I have done this but it never looses its appeal, especially returning to the islands were our family lived for nine years. As the plane approached Honolulu aiport it was close to midnight local time and I knew the graveyard stopover was upon me. What I mean is that I was destined for Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii a different island to that of Honolulu and the connecting flight was not for 6 hours after we landed. Not enough time to get a room but long enough to cause you to miss a night's sleep so there appears a community of people huddled around the airport terminal waiting for the first interisland flight the next morning. It gets even funnier when you see travellers wheeling their trolleys around this large airport looking for power outlets to recharge their laptops because the battery was flattened on the long flight across the Pacific.

I would like to say I am writing this blog from one of the typical airport seats at Honolulu, but by the time my own laptop was recharged I was too tired to see/work the keyboard so this blog is a few days late. My visit to the University of the Nations (UofN) where we were volunteers for 9 years was everything I had hoped for. Besides seeing again some very dear friends, I connected with four other Subject Matter Experts (SME's) online from mainland US universities and a mate from Australia and we ran a webinar on Learning and Teaching with Technology for the UofN community.

As I reflect on my time in Hawaii (this is being written at 35,000 feet some where over continental USA on the way to Madison WI) there have been some significant "ah ahas". One is a deeper commitment to Blended Learning. Why? Well I have been chatting and connecting online with some of these people in Kona on a frequent regular basis for the last 5 years. This was when I last visited and yet our relationship was deeply enriched by me being there face-to-face. Now that richness will be a part of further online collaboration and learning - that has got to be the strength of blended learning surely.

Another is a commitment to make my life count. For it to be all it can be to make a difference. It always blows me away when hanging out with these YWAMers (members of Youth With A Mission) they start to tell me what they are about to do as if it was going to MacDonalds. Remember they are volunteers with little to no resources and no centralized funding or grants like we normally expect in a University environment. I was with a couple of good friends and asked what are you working on. I sat almost envious, as they described working for nine months to find a way to reach an extremely isolated atoll in the middle of the Pacific which is only visited by a couple of ships that dont usually drop passengers. Why? because this rock which is 3m above sea level at its highest point, has a population of 2500 people with a major water problem. Water reserves come from shallow wells and many are polluted or infiltrated with sea water. The most acute problem is waterborne disease, which results in the death of about 30% of children under the age of 1, and a life expectancy of 52 years. Older people get diabetes when they add sugar to the water to cut the salt taste. So these ordinary people are doing extraordinary things, they are going to build water catchment facilities and train locals to do the same to catch rain water. - this is community development which will dramatically impact the lifes of these 2500 people, and it is being done with no central institutional funding, just faith and sacrifice. I am now further committed to a "Just do it" and "Nothing is impossible" work ethic.

Just How Effective Can Virtual Learning Community Be?

In my last podcast I introduced the idea that mutually agreed values are vital to building online learning communities This concept is best understood reading Palloff and Pratt's award winning book "Building Learning Communities in Cyberspace" The more I think about this concept the more convinced I am that if teachers or instructors are properly trained in facilitation or emoderation the more successful the online learning community will be. Moderators need to successfully anchor the community in its early stages of birth and development, and get members to reach consensus in accepting mutually agreed values. Also if learning contracts can be secured from all participants that they are willing to allow the learning community to hold them accountable for them upholding these values the more the learning will deepen and be life changing for all involved.

So what are these values that are vital to maintain in an online learning community for it to thrive? Palloff and Pratt say they are; honesty, responsiveness, relevance, respect, openness and empowerment (Palloff & Pratt, 1999). They say they are critical to the success of online learning and without any one of them, a learning community cannot function. as well they are catalysts for learning.

Please listen to this second podcast and I look forward to your comments. Next stop the University of Wisconsin Madison.

Regards
Allan

Learning Inquiry

buridan — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 12:28:00 -0500

Learning Inquiry:
Jason Nolan and I have been contracted to be editors-in-chief of the new journal Learning Inquiry. It is being published by Springer Science Business Media starting in 2006.

Here's what it is about: Learning Inquiry is a refereed scholarly journal which is devoted to establishing the area of "learning" as a focus for transdisciplinary study. The journal's goal is to be a forum centered on learning that remains open to varied objects of enquiry, including machine, human, plant and animal learning as well as the processes of learning in business, government, and the professions, both in informal and formal environments. The audience for this journal will be anyone interested in learning, understanding its contexts, and anticipating its future. Learning Inquiry will strive to strike a balance between presenting innovative research and documenting current knowledge to foster a scholarly dialogue on learning independent of domain and methodological restrictions. Manuscripts should be written for an audience that is general in scope, and submissions can include essays, research articles, forums, review articles, and book reviews that document the state of knowledge and developments in the field. The journal will also present special issues that identify the central areas of learning enquiry to provide focus for future research.

And there was much rejoicing.

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yay! signed, sealed, and sent.

Report Shows Widespread Use of E-learning Among Nonprofits - Isoph

buridan — Wed, 04 May 2005 07:47:00 -0500

Report Shows Widespread Use of E-learning Among Nonprofits - Isoph:
The first-ever Nonprofit and Association E-learning Survey shows wide and growing adoption of e-learning among nonprofit organizations and associations, with more than 54 percent of total respondents either using e-learning or planning to in the next 12 m

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interesting report... given the billions flowing through nonprofits every year, it is surprising a few universities don't target them more.

Second Life: The Educational Possibilities of a Massively Multiplayer Virtual World (MMVW)

drupal — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 16:17:47 -0600

Technical developments in MMVWs continue to advance dramatically. In this session, we will tour Second Life, a MMVW created by each user and simultaneously played by hundreds of people around the world. As we demonstrate educational possibilities, we will also introduce a vision mechanism for incorporating MMVWs into teaching and learning strategies.