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For Education Part 1 DSU Faculty Development November 14, 2008

For Education Part 1 DSU Faculty Development November 14, 2008. Risë L. Smith, Karl E. Mundt Library Dakota State University. WOW vs. SL.

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For Education Part 1 DSU Faculty Development November 14, 2008

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  1. For EducationPart 1 DSU Faculty Development November 14, 2008 Risë L. Smith, Karl E. Mundt Library Dakota State University

  2. WOW vs. SL • Game virtual worlds– e.g., World of Warcraft (WOW), City of Heroes, etc. – pre-scripted; specific game objectives and goals; often focused on warfare; unsuited as general learning environment • Open virtual worlds – e.g., Second Life – created by its users, who build and create content. It’s an environment more suited to educational use, because educators can create and insert instructional material

  3. Why bother with Second Life?

  4. How SL Is Being Usedfor Education • Second Life in Education wiki: Educational Uses of Second Life http://sleducation.wikispaces.com/educationaluses • Scan this list to get an overview of the variety of ways SL is being used for education. • 101 Uses for Second Life in the College Classroom - Dr. Megan S. Conklin, • Elon University, Dept of Computing Sciences. Last updated: February 25, 2007 • http://trumpy.cs.elon.edu/metaverse/gst364Win2005/handout.pdf • Conklin describes key elements of teaching in Second Life and provides examples from various disciplines. • Second Life Education Wiki http://simteach.com/wiki/index.php?title=Second_Life_Education_WikiSimteach information about Second Life includes: Getting Started: Frequently Asked Questions and Guidelines; Programs for Educators; Institutions and Organizations in SL; Competitions; Press, Blogs & Presentations; Second Life Mailing Lists, Blogs and Forums; In-World Groups; Educational Pricing on Private Islands; Academic Research; Classroom Management, Lesson Plans; Teaching Resources; Educational Locations in Second Life • Continued… Look here first

  5. How SL Is Being Used for Education • Texas State Tech – delivering in Second Life a Digital Media certificate program focused on virtual world technology in fall 2008; associate degree in spring 2009. Campus Technology, 7/30/2008 • ”California Bar Association Approves Credit Gained using Second Life” , SLED Blog, Jul 18, 2008 • Seriously Engaging: The Story of NMC Campus in Second Life (July 2006) • Ohio University Second Life promotional video

  6. Advantages • Engages students. • Provides multiple communication methods. text-based chat, VOIP talk, and gestures • Decreases social distance of online communication. Having a physical representation as avatar and ability to move spatially makes connections among students working digitally feel more “real” • “create a sense of class community…tied…to the ability to create and interact….” [Ritzema & Harris] • Provides global experience. Interact with individuals from all around the RW (real world), making international connections

  7. global… “During one recent lecture, people from all over the world came to hear a scientist from Royal Holloway, University of London, talk about climate change. …[These] ‘mixed world’ events, gatherings that take place simultaneously in SL and real life, remove many of the long-standing barriers in science communication. ‘Chances are, the scientist would never have traveled all over the world to talk about his work, and nobody from South Carolina would have traveled such a great distance to listen to him,’ Scott says.” [Questi 2008]

  8. Advantages – cont’d • Faculty and students create. Have modeling tools to build objects and scripting language for building interactive features into objects (e.g., doors that open) -- can create simulations of RL (real life) locations, events, and processes -- “Robert Amme, a physicist at the University of Denver, has a laboratory in Second Life…. There his avatar double, Dr. Bob Vandeverre, is building a virtual nuclear reactor to help train the next generation of environmental engineers on how to deal with nuclear waste.” Science News, 4/24/2008 • Learn by “being there.” -- walking within simulations of the real world or real world events. Walk inside a weather map; Land of Lincoln, Renaissance Island, city of Dublin

  9. Advantages – cont’d • Have new individual abilities. Avatars fly and teleport; can change appearance. • Create real businesses. The in-world (that is, Second Life) currency of “lindens” or “linden dollars” have real-world value. --SLExchangetakes payment in Lindens or US dollars, delivers goods to person’s avatar, and pays vendor who is selling the goods. --Real world companies are marketing in Second Life with storefronts for SL communities --Established businesses like IBM have firewalled campuses for employee training, meetings, mixers

  10. Advantages – cont’d • Create valuable services/organizations. e.g., support groups for chronic diseases; established organizations like American Cancer Society are present; Virtual Ability Island M2 : Metaverse Messenger, 26 Aug 2008, http://www.metaversemessenger.com/pdf/2008/08/MM20080826.pdf

  11. Challenges • Learning curve for participating, for creating content • Lacking or weak integration with course management systems • Technical issues: graphics card - hardware requirements for handling 3d rendering; bandwidth • Safety & security -- gambling, nudity, violence, griefing, phishing, money laundering, pyramid schemes [Elliot]

  12. See 50 virtual worlds in 7 minutes • 2008 Metaverse Tour Video: The Social Virtual World’s A Stage • By Gary Hayes, PersonalizeMedia http://www.personalizemedia.com/2008-metaverse-tour-video-the-social-virtual-worlds-a-stage

  13. Terminology • Avatar: a 2- or 3-D graphical representation of a person that is used when the person is “inhabiting” a simulated (i.e., virtual) environment • MUVEs (Multi-User Virtual Environments) or CVEs (Collaborative Virtual Environments): multiple users with their avatars interacting (e.g., Second Life; World of Warcraft) • MMOs or MMOGs (Massively Multiplayer Online games), and MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games): MUVEs with game rules and goals (e.g., World of Warcraft; Everquest) • Virtual world – “a synchronous, persistent network of people, represented as avatars, facilitated by networked computers.” [Bell] • Metaverse – another term for “virtual world” (first? used in 1992 novel Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson) • 3D3C – 3D environment that exhibits characteristics of community, creation, and commerce (e.g., Second Life)

  14. SL Resources • Second Life in Education wiki: Educational Uses of Second Life http://sleducation.wikispaces.com/educationaluses Scan this list to get an overview of the variety of ways SL is being used for education. • 101 Uses for Second Life in the College Classroom - Dr. Megan S. Conklin, Elon University, Dept of Computing Sciences. Last updated: February 25, 2007 http://trumpy.cs.elon.edu/metaverse/gst364Win2005/handout.pdf Conklin describes key elements of teaching in Second Life and provides examples from various disciplines. • Second Life Education Wiki http://simteach.com/wiki/index.php?title=Second_Life_Education_WikiSimteach information about Second Life includes: Getting Started: Frequently Asked Questions and Guidelines; Programs for Educators; Institutions and Organizations in SL; Competitions; Press, Blogs & Presentations; Second Life Mailing Lists, Blogs and Forums; In-World Groups; Educational Pricing on Private Islands; Academic Research; Classroom Management, Lesson Plans; Teaching Resources; Educational Locations in Second Life • Top 20 Educational Locations in SL http://www.simteach.com/wiki/index.php?title=Top_20_Educational_Locations_in_Second_Life ….continued….

  15. SL Resources …continued • SLED Blog: K-20 Education Using the Second Life World http://www.sl-educationblog.org/ Provides wide range of information, including technical tips (e.g., how to use a YouTube video within SL) • RezEd: The Hub for Learning and Virtual Worlds http://www.rezed.org/ The virtual world hub of Global Kids. See, for example RezEd (virtual worlds hub of Global Kids) blog post “What research question would you fund to generate data on learning and virtual worlds? http://www.rezed.org/profiles/blog/show?id=2047896%3ABlogPost%3A7520 • Second Life Grid: Education Programs http://secondlifegrid.net/programs/education Information provided by Linden Labs • CTER Port at UIUC http://cterport.ed.uiuc.edu/technologies_folder/SL Provides tutorials for creating things in Second Life. • Scripts http://www.simteach.com/wiki/index.php?title=Scripts  Education tools and where to get them • ICT NOTE: SLURLS are web addresses that take you into Second Life to a specific location. http://slurl.com/secondlife/Info%20Island/54/202/37 Explore teaching tools.

  16. Attend courses/presentations Make presentations

  17. Meet in Virtual Spaces with Instructors or Peers

  18. Attend events

  19. Participate in and create simulations

  20. Do research

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