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The Archives
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01.05.09Virtual World Experiments In Focus: Linux InsiderCost-cutting and limitless experimentation: these are key reasons why conferences, case studies and scientific experiments should take place in virtual worlds, according to LinuxInsider (LI). The site recently published a two-part series that looked at the success of scientific experiments in virtual worlds, including Second Life and World of Warcraft. The publication found that costs are significantly lowered as travel expenses are eliminated, which also helps to boost attendance at any given event. The upside is also huge for scientific experimenters: "Due to the nature of virtual worlds," said Aimee M. Roberts, analyst of digital media at Frost & Sullivan, ...
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11.14.08Educators Expand use of Second Life in OntarioThe IT Business site reports on the surge of teachers using Second Life to teach students at public and post-secondary schools. The article cites two people who are leading the charge into virtual worlds. One of these is Ken Hudson, managing director of the Virtual World Design Centre at Loyalist College in Belleville Ont. Here is a video of the program he developed that simulated a Border Services training program: According to Hudson, student grades improved dramatically after using the virtual world program. Continue Reading...
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09.15.08Second Life: Education SnapshotIt's all about education and collaboration, Pip and team tell us. And by all indications, there's certainly no slow-down of schools using Second Life. The University of Nevada, Reno's Nevada Center for Ethics & Health Policy recently held its first simultaneous live and virtual discussion in Second Life. The Health Care Ethics Program set up the talk in a virtual coffee shop alongside participants at the Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center. They discussed ethics in animal research. Fifteen people were at the center, while two avatars moderated the panel with a number of off-campus participants. “We were so excited to bring the two audiences ...
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08.02.08Shop in Second Life & Earn a DegreeNaw...this isn't like one of those matchbook cover ads where you mail a coupon and get a college diploma, this is the real deal! "Texas State Technical College has announced that it will become the first institute of higher education to develop a complete online certificate or degree in the virtual world, as in the fall of 2008, TSTC will offer a digital media certificate utilizing virtual world technology, using Second Life as the primary delivery method, according to a news release. Students earning the digital media certificate will have the opportunity to earn an associate degree in digital media in spring 2009."
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08.02.08Scientists Reap the Benefits of Second LifeAt the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Bryon Okada delves into the advantages of 3D worlds for scientists. One of the subjects is a student, Jacqueline Rodriguez, who has been able to use the convergence of the program to make her avatar walk through a simulation of cell walls. "I can visualize everything," she said, "when we're going over an idea, you can simply go over and 'see' what you're learning." She was able to conduct some farily complex science experiements in the 3D model which has enhanced her learning. Mary Anne Clark is a biology professor at Texas Wesleyan and uses Second Life as ...
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07.10.08Educational Institutions Spread Their Wings in Second LifeTwo reports build on the body of evidence and insight on the use of Second Life for education: At George Washington University a graduate-level course in instructional design was created by David Cillay, an assistant dean for distance education, as reported on TMC.net. The course was taught completely in Second Life, with the students, using their avatars, communicating with Cillay and one another through the course's island (learning space) in Second Life. Cillay was impressed with the level of text and voice interaction between the students, even if they were only avatars onscreen. The students discussed what 'instructional design means' and took ...
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07.09.08More Money Pours into Second Life Educational InitiativesNew Zealand's Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology will receive $500K to explore educational development in Second Life, as first blogged about here by Arwenna Stardust, a New Zealand-based IT tutor for NMIT, who goes by the name of Dr. Clare Atkins in RL. In an interview with the Nelson Mail, Dr. Atkins talked about some of the goals the funding hopes to reach. Continue Reading...
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06.24.08Social Issues Gaming Movement: Grants for ChangeAMD, one of the world's most successful developer of micro devices, is branching out into the social issues gaming movement by offering up grants to four non-profit groups to implement the company's Changing The Game program. Changing The Game allows for developers, including high school students, to develop video games with a social awareness angle. For example, students at Canarsie High School in Brooklyn, NY are busy creating Hurricane Katrina: Tempest in Crescent City, a game that explores the vital aid that residents offered New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Continue Reading...
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06.24.08Increase Your Grades with… Video GamesA report from the University of Central Florida has concluded that "immersive educational video games" can improve the grades of students. Researchers observed students over an 18-week period - now there's a tough assignment for the students - as they played the educational games and then took benchmark exams afterward, showing a marked improvement in scores. The study also showed that these types of games - and this type of immersive learning - should become more common in classrooms of the future, as both students and teachers benefit greatly from this learning paradigm. The students played DimensionM educational video games, using their ...
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06.13.08Second Life Teaching Yesterday’s News, and the Sun RisesThere's nothing like meat space for nuance, conversations on the bus, the level of applause in an audience or lack of it - and at the New Media Consortium conference its been no different - maybe once we're all walking around with expressive avatars or Emotiv headsets or whatever, we'll be able to give off that body language that you can only really feel by being there, and at Princeton this year the body language is a sort of collective foot shuffle when it comes to Second Life. OK...well, first, this is anecdotal. It's not like I ran around taking a ...
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