EDUCAUSE | Second Life

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."

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

ASTR202, Exploring Life in the Universe

ckeller — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:37:14 -0500

The authors used Second Life to teach a course designed for non-science majors who need to fulfill their natural sciences university requirement. The students were required to do a creative project, Second Life was introduced as an innovative way for students to express their projects.

Drawing a Roadmap: Barriers and Challenges to Designing the Ideal Virtual World for Higher Education

ckeller — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:41:40 -0500

When using a roadmap, one can take many different paths to reach a desired destination. Similarly, institutions can take many different turns along the road to implementing an ideal virtual world for higher education.

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.

Galapagos Islands in Second Life

ckeller — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:13:25 -0500

In an effort to honor of Charles Darwin’s legacy, the University of Cincinnati has planned a two-year celebration of the sesquicentennial anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species. A re-creation of Darwin’s historic journey to the Galapagos Islands and see indigenous species in their natural habitats in Second Life is one of the many celebration projects.

Genome Island

ckeller — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:10:58 -0500

Genome Island (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Genome/118/145/53) was created to explore the potential for creating an interactive laboratory environment in the 3D virtual world of Second Life. College and university science courses that include a laboratory typically, because of the constraints of class scheduling, separate the lecture and laboratory components into different time blocks, and one of the challenges of college/university science becomes the meaningful integration of the two experiences. Virtual worlds offer the opportunity to eliminate the lecture/lab boundary by immersing students in an environment to be investigated.

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.