TLT Group: Education and Second Life (Day 1)

Invitation:

Steve Gilbert, Ilene Frank, Drew Smith, Joe Floyd
Date: July 5, 2007
Time: 1:00 - 2:00 Eastern Time
Place: Second Life
Location: Cybrary City open air auditorium. http://slurl.com/secondlife/Cybrary%20City/131/155/24

Commentary:

I think SteveGilbertSir Heron said it all:

Probably the hardest thing about taking advantage of a new medium is figuring out some new ways of doing our old taks [sic] - and then, going beyond to new tasks - that weren't possible without the new medium

What purpose does Second Life have in Education? In-world at the TLT Group meeting, there was a lot of talk about role-playing. Someone else mentioned something of true interest: the Star Wars guilds and Star Trek Academy in-world. I bet you that those are well done with highly defined objectives ... those fan groups tend to get those things pretty darn right. Now, if only the Education realm and us as Educators could find that kind of time and creativity to do the same for our very own classrooms ... although I don't really blame us for not doing it. There is a difference between work and play ... and the line between real and imaginary blurs in this type of setting.

For example, as Ilene Pratt wrote, "One educator remarked that she never thought she'd put "don't come to class naked" on a syllabus ;)" Indeed, that was something I'd never have thought of. I have heard of worse things ... like the time a SDSU professor was conducting class and someone crashed her course sporting a giant phallus for all to see. If you currently think disruptions outside your real-life classroom doors and windows are problematic, well, SL may be something you'll want to ease into. Although to be perfectly honest, I doubt that so many of your (18-to-2o-something) students would be quite so offended at such things ... they're pretty good at laughing or shrugging those things off. They did grow up with MTV, sex, and violence on TV and the Internet, after all ...

The hour passed quickly. Chatting is slow and causes the discussion to appear to be all over the place, but I'm good at fast-switching my attention and following separate conversations. Of course, any good instruction is followed with some homework to keep us focused.

Homework:

Virtual Web Quest about Learning Spaces
2007-07-05 10:36:44 Virtual Web Quest

Objective: Develop some ideas about constitutes an excellent virtual learning space in 3D immersive environments

What should virtual learning spaces look like? Will they be just be a replica of what exists in 2007 in real life, or will they be much more creative and informal?

Work as a team to identify what makes a good virtual world learning space and why. Be prepared with some remarks for the next workshop session.

Set up a team meeting to visit learning spaces on Second Life.
Make sure you identify a ‘meeting chairperson’ and a scribe to take notes so that you can refer to them later. To save the chat history, click Edit --> Preferences --> Communication --> click Log Chat and choose a location on your computer for the text file.

Visit a number of learning spaces in Second Life using the Resources section below as a starting point, and look at how they have been set up. What are the key features of each learning space you visited? – and how will you know if they are successful learning spaces that help learners to learn?

(To search for these locations, use Search --> Places tab --> include mature content )
• SL Ecosystem [SL Location: Terminus 147, 106, 27] – Search term: SL Ecosystem.
o SLurl: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Terminus/147/106/27/
• Academy of Second Learning: ASL [SL Location: Eson 32, 162, 351] – Search term: Academy of Second Learning.
o SLurl: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Eson/32/162/351/
• SL Computer History Museum [SL Location: Info Island II 241, 54, 23] – Search Term: SL Computer History Museum.
o SLurl: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Info%20Island%20II/241/54/23/
• EduNation [SL Location: EduNation 70, 49, 23] – Search term: EduNation. Free seminar facilities for educators.
o SLurl: http://slurl.com/secondlife/EduNation/70/49/23/
• Reef Ball Coral Reef Library [SL Location: Changmi 167, 81, 110] - Search term: Reef Ball.
o SLurl: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Changmi/167/81/110/
• English Village [SL Location: English Village 131, 156, 126] – Search term: English Village
o SLurl: http://slurl.com/secondlife/English%20Village/131/156/126/
• Literature Alive [SL Location: Eduisland II 186, 241, 22] Search term: literature alive.
o SLurl: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Eduisland%20II/186/241/22
. Terra Incognita [SL Location: Terra incognita 156 99 33] Search term: Terra Incognita
o SLurl: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Terra%20incognita/128/128/0


This learning activity has been adapted from http://www.sleducationuk.net/ for a more detailed version of this virtual quest that includes ideas about evaluating the activity and suggests some additional outcomes. Visit Education UK island: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Education%20UK/248/39/22

Links of Interest:

1. TLT Group Adobe Connect Webcast Room: http://connectpro86502729.acrobat.com/secondlife/
   
2. TLT Group: Education and Second Life Meeting Place (Cybrary City): http://slurl.com/secondlife/Cybrary%20City/131/155/24
   
3. TLT Group Second Life Workshops Blog: http://tltgslworkshop.blogspot.com/