ELI Conference - Phillip Long - MIT

jeffvand — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 10:51:55 -0500

So I am at the ELI Spring Conference on Immersive Learning Environments. I have been here since yesterday and have all sorts of things I want to post about the event... but perhaps I will post a couple of things at a time.

We just got done listening to Phillip Long, the Associate Director of Educational Innovation and Technology from MIT. His lecture was another great introduction to Second Life and MIT's efforts there.

He gave a great institutional overview of getting into Second Life. They have set up a student competition to create the buildings and everything for their island. The question was brought up in one of our discussion groups about how this technology was going to be supported. Are we going to need to have a Second Life support team soon? I think the answer to this is no and let me explain why.

Phillip said that at MIT they now have alum that have heard about this project and want to join in and help. The support for these new environments will come from the users that are already in there. People will give anything to help out with something they are immersed in.

At one point in the presentation he also mentioned 'actuators' in second life. That is, a device in second life that actuates something in real life. Take your avatar, switch off a light in a room, and it switches off a light in real life. Amazing... imagine the potential!!

One link to share... MIT's Second Life Wiki

Stay tuned... more to come.

(Original Post: http://www.edutechie.com/2007/03/eli-conference-phillip-long-mit/)

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ELI Conference - Phillip Long - MIT