Virtual+Worlds

Second Life in Education

[|Voicethread on Exploring Second Life]

[|101 Uses for Second Life in the College Classroom]

[|PacificRim Exchange] Tons of Second Life resources.

[|CNN Goes Virtual] From Media Week 10-29-07 "In the week of Nov. 5, the news giant is set to open a news-gathering outpost in Second Life. And unlike news service Reuters, which embedded a real reporter in the online virtual world last year, CNN will rely on Second Life "residents" to do all the legwork."

[|Campus Life Comes to Second Life From Wired]

[|Whyville] "Whyville is a virtual world where boys and girls from all over the real world come to chat, play, learn, and have fun together. You design your face, earn clams by playing games, hang out at the beach, and go to town events at the Greek Theater. You can start your own business, buy a car and give your friends a ride, or write for the town newspaper."

01-24-08 Business Week //[|Virtual Workplaces in the Classroom]// "Computer simulations got their start in the game aisle. Now these online programs are an important part of MBA programs."

03-03-08 Financial Times (UK) [|A Second Life for Classrooms with Vision]


 * Second Life**

[|Get a MUVE On: Second Life for Teaching and Learning] Compiled resources by Kathy Schrock

Second Life Best Practices in Education 2007 Conference Wiki

[|Get a Life: Students Collaborate in Simulated Roles]

[|Student Exchange, Without the Jet Lag: Educational Collaboration in a Virtual World]

[|Second Life School Implementation Framework] From Technology and Learning

[|Second Life: Educators Working with Teens]

[|The School of Second Life: Education Online] "Creating new avenues of pedagogy in a virtual world."

[|Education in Second Life: Explore the Possibilities] Video. Pretty cool! Gives specific examples across content areas.

[|Educational Uses of Second Life Video]. Excellent!

[|Give Education a Second Life]

[|Second Life Education Wiki] Learn how educators are using this 3D online environment for learning. Loads of resources and projects. Also, there is information on Teen Second Life.

[|Ohio University's Second Life]

Understanding Learning Archetypes for 3D Learning "Designing instruction within a 3D envrionment involves traditional instructional design...you need objectives, design strategies and a specific methodology to follow. However, it also involves the use of learning archetypes or strategies that go above and beyond traditional instructional design considerations. Here are some thoughts on designing instruction in a 3D environment to facilitate learning.

Learning in 3D 3D learning environments can provide many different instructional strategies, methods or archetypes for facilitating learning. These include: Classroom Emulation Role-Plays Treasure or Scavenger Hunts Guided Tours Conceptual Orienteering Operational Application Co-Creation Critical Incident

Each of these archetypes can be used in different ways to provide a rich educational experience for the learners. Let's examine each one in detail." From the website Understanding Learning Archetypes for 3D Learning.

[|Moodle] From Wikipedia: An open source e-learning platform or course management system..From Wikipedia: "The stated philosophy of Moodle [|[5]] includes a [|constructivist] and [|social constructionist] approach to education, emphasising that learners (and not just teachers) can contribute to the educational experience in many ways. Moodle's features reflect this in various design aspects, such as making it possible for students to comment on entries in a database (or even to contribute entries themselves), or to work collaboratively in a [|wiki].

Having said this, Moodle is flexible enough to allow for a full range of modes of teaching. It can be used for simple delivery of content (e.g. HTML pages) or assessment, and does not necessitate a constructivist teaching approach.

Constructivism is sometimes seen as at odds with accountability-focused ideas about education, such as the No Child Left Behind Act ([|NCLB]) in the [|United States]. Accountability stresses tested outcomes, not teaching techniques, or [|pedagogy], but Moodle is also useful in an outcomes-oriented classroom environment because of its flexibility."

[|Virtual World Comparison] [Active Worlds, Second Life, and There]

[|Arab-Israeli Conflict Simulation] for high school and college students.

Articles

//[|Is This Man Cheating on His Wife?]// Alexandra Alter on the toll one man's virtual marriage is taking on his real one and what researchers are discovering about the surprising power of synthetic identity. Wall Street Journal 08-10-07

//[|Simulation Nation]// by Marc Prensky in Edutopia

//[|Teachers, College Students Lead a Second Life]// USA Today 08-01-07