Virtual Worlds Blog
Jul 27, 2011 04:26pm
Part 3 of a 3-part series: A Virtual World, Endless Learning Potential
One of the greatest assets of Second Life is the ability to connect and collaborate with people from all over the world, in real time, and in the same space. "Macbeth" is a great example of an immersive art and educational experience that was a collaboration between multiple avatars. It is a space to explore, role-play, deconstruct, and reconstruct the text of Shakespeare's Macbeth. Exploring the island allows you to experience the key milestones of Macbeth's journey. The project is funded by the Literature Board of the Australian Council for the Arts and sponsored by the New Media Consortium.
Upon Exploring the three-dimensional, immersive build, avatars will actually walk through scenes in the play, hear voices of professional actors, and experience the classic story in an exciting new way. This installation ... more...
Jul 20, 2011 10:18am
Part 2 of a 3-part series: A Virtual World, Endless Learning Potential
What is a world without art? People find joy in viewing, creating, and discussing works of art. Art is a means of expression and exploration. Learning about art means becoming immersed in another culture, another time period, and at times another world.
Imagine being able to step foot into the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam...from your house. Or recreate a famous piece you've always longed to have in your personal collection. In Second Life, the available works of art are growing every day. Many have interactive properties that allow the avatar an entirely new experience.
The environment of Second Life is strikingly similar to the real world, but can be altered by the users, known by their avatars. Second Life features an editor that allows users to ... more...
Jul 18, 2011 01:22pm
We are happy to share a free OpenSimulator quick start guide created by one of our very own NMC Second Life community members, David W. Deeds, Ph.D., IT Manager/Teacher of the Changchun American International School. Although the main focus of NMC Virtual Worlds is in Second Life, we realize that many educators perhaps have interest in building a virtual space on an open simulator. Download it here.
The PDF is free for anyone to use and repurpose. If you post it, please make sure to plug in the following Creative Commons License text into your HTML page:
<a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/3.0/88x31.png" /></a><br /><span xmlns:dct="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" href="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text" property="dct:title" rel="dct:type">OpenSimulator: School Quick Start Guide</span> by <a xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" href="www.caischina.org" property="cc:attributionName" rel="cc:attributionURL">Changchun American International School</a> is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License</a>.
more...
Jul 12, 2011 11:52am
[caption id="attachment_4301" align="aligncenter" width="432" caption="CISI Cyber-Campus via David W. Deeds"][/caption]
Part 1 of a 3-part series
Second Life can be utilized by educators for almost any curriculum. Art, English, writing, language, fashion design, architecture, science, social studies, physics .... the list grows everyday. As is the case with any emerging technology, the innovation shines through in the real life examples of educators using Virtual Worlds to better engage students.
Angela Giovanangeli, a lecturer from the Cultural Studies Group at the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia, has been exploring Virtual Worlds as a way to more effectively teach students foreign languages. "Role-playing and expression through the body are an integral part of language learning," she explains. "The body also inhibits this learning process. Adults are conscious of the mistakes they make – they stutter to find new words, misunderstand meaning, and pronounce sounds ... more...
Mar 25, 2011 06:44am
CME is offering a free virtual world learning workshop on Motivational Interviewing for smoking cessation for family medicine and primary care physicians on the NMC Campus. The virtual world experience offers full CME credit.
What will we do?
Motivational Interviewing workshops, applied to smoking cessation, in a virtual world environment. An in-depth exposure to Motivational Interviewing with extensive practice and role-playing in the virtual world of Second Life. You will earn AMA PRA Category 1 TM or AAFP Prescribed credits. There is no charge for participation.
When?
There will be three, two-hour workshops held on May 18th, 25th, and June 1, 2011 from 7:00 - 9:00 PM EST. In order to participate, you must attend all three workshops.
Who can participate?
Family medicine and primary care physicians interested in exploring the viability of virtual world delivered continuing medical education for health care professionals.
For ... more...
Mar 25, 2011 06:16am
Our friend Ruth E. Seibert-Couch is conducting a study on the effectiveness of using Second Life for higher education and invites us all to participate.
The purpose of this study is to gain insight on students’ perspectives about using Second Life for college courses.
In order to participate in this study, you must meet the following criteria:
1) You must be 18 years or older.
2) Have an account in Second Life prior to this invitation.
3) Have or are currently taking a college course at two year community college where you utilized Second Life during or part of a term.
If you would like to help out, you can find the study at the following URL:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/YK8VQYY
more...
Feb 24, 2011 11:06am
We are pleased to announce that Gracie Kendal's "1000 Avatars" project has come to the NMC Campus in Second Life. The project focuses on avatar identity through a large collection of avatar portraits. Even though Gracie has already reached her goal of 1000 Avatars, the project continues to grow. Gracie is also welcoming you participate with your own avatar potrait with more details on site.
Come see for yourself at this SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/MIT/134/135/35
You can also read more about the project on Gracie's blog: http://1000avatars.wordpress.com/
more...
Dec 16, 2010 09:30am
NMC will be hosting a 'Q and A' session Monday, December 20th at 8:00 AM PST.
Although many of you may have caught the announcement on Metanomics last week (see the video below), we wanted to reiterate to our NMC Campus members that we will not be rasing the rates for Second Life parcel or full sim leases for the foreseeable future, despite the recent announcement by Linden Lab to raise their own rates effective January 1st. Supporting educational projects, big and small alike, has always been at the heart of the NMC Campus project and we've crafted a plan to continue to do so without raising the costs for educator's budgets.
We realize that there may be questions regarding this and other updates surrounding the NMC Campus Project and Second Life in general. If you would like more information ... more...
Sep 20, 2010 11:31am
Our next NMC Community open house takes place on Teaching 7 on Tuesday, September 21st, at 1:30 PM PDT! (check for local time) Please join us at the following SLURL:
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Teaching%207/126/145/24
The NMC Community Open House series is aimed at providing our NMC Communities a chance to connect and to talk about what their universities are doing in Second Life this semester. We would love to have you join us to share in the fun!
Universities represented on Teaching 7 include:
Winona State University
University of North Dakota
Manchester Community College
Berkeley College
more...
Sep 14, 2010 08:06am
Thank you to all of those who have been making our weekly open house/ block parties successful. For those of you who have not yet attended, we will be meeting each week on a different NMC Community sim to connect and share information about what you are working on and how you are using Second Life with your Universities. Our next meeting will be at Teaching 6 on Wednesday, September 15th at 1:30pm PDT (check for local time) on the "Quad" at Teaching 6: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Teaching%206/128/128/24
We will meet on the "Quad" commons area of Teaching 6 for approximately an hour to casually connect and enjoy conversation.
Universities on Teaching 6 include:
Middlebury College
University of Saskatchewan
Princeton University
Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville
The New Media Consortium (Rachel Smith's virtual office)
We hope to see you there!
Our next two meetings are as follows:
Tuesday, September 21st, at 1:30 PM ... more...
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