Teaching space at EducationUK now well developed.

Milton's teaching space and office is now set up for small lectures/presentations and seminars via PowerPoint, streaming video and audio so that students can see and hear the lecture in real time. There's also the ability for the students to raise there hand so that the lecturer can stop talking to let them ask questions (after 30 seconds the student's arm starts waving). The teaching space works best for small groups of up to eight. For larger groups EducationUK offer well-resourced lecture theatres and seminar spaces that are just a stone's throw away across the 'Island'.

We now also have a multimedia library in the form of the bookcases where students can click on individual books to access .pdf journal articles, text files or course related web content. Students can now also jump out (or back into) Blackboard or the University web pages via a virtual web terminal on the desk. They can also access many related academic web pages from here as well. I've included some pictures of the facilities including the Freeview TV on the wall(for video streaming of module content) and the whiteboard for PowerPoint presentations to which it's also possible to annotate directly onto the board.

The lectern is particularly useful as it hold the presentation pages in a book so the lecturer doesn't keep having to turn towards the board whilst presenting. Another neat teaching feature are the pictures of the top 30 Psychologists of all time, from Bandura to Zimbardo. Clicking on the pictures automatically gives the students a text file with an in-depth biography of the Psychologist.

The whole set up is much the same as a regular teaching environment at present so it's not really using Second Life to its full potential. Future developments will exploit the advantages of virtual teaching space by integrating demonstrations that one couldn't give in a real-life space.

Although the technology exists to make the student experience much richer in 3D virtual worlds, and we can teach in ways that are not possible in real life, the fact is that the principles behind good teaching remain. It's about engaging student interest with enthusiasm and knowledge, inspiring students to develop their own informed opinions.

For me it's important not to get too hung-up with the technology, as the saying goes "The Fool Looks at the Finger that Points to the Sky". Second Life is only a teaching tool and it's best use is when blended with other engaging teaching methods. The virtual teaching space is located on EducationUK Island within Second Life. SLurl here.

Learning by Doing - SecondLife Immersive Education

Here are some videos about learning in virtual environments. The important point to grasp is that Multi-user virtual learning environments allow us to escape from the constraints of traditional methods and improve the experience of our students. I see the rise in popularity of these methods as akin to when people first started using Powerpoint to teach. Yes, it's interactive and immersive, yes, it's fun but most of all it works for teaching and it works very very well. If you are an educator and new to Second Life start HERE.

Cory Ondrejaka on digital media and learning

Ohio University Second Life Campus

University of Innsbruck

San Jose University

Check out these links if your interested in the psychology of virtual worlds.
Bruce Damer Virtual Worlds & Avatars

SecondLife Video - See it for yourself

If you are new to the SecondLife virtual environment then this video by San Jose State University will give you a good idea of the possibilities for educators in Second Life. The educational use of virtual learning environments can be as formal or informal as one would want. There are whole campuses built that are exact replicas of the University buildings in real life, complete with lecture theatres, seminar rooms and stocked libraries. There are also more inovative teaching environments that go beyond the existing constraints or notions of what teaching might be.

The whole point is to improve the student learning experience. To do what one cannot in a regular teaching setting or to improve on existing methods.

Google Maps

Thanks to Google maps and Gvisit.com it's now possible to see where visitors to this blog are coming from by clicking on this link.

SLOODLE - SecondLife/Moodle mashup

To quote from the SEAL website "The potential for ‘freeing up’ of existing mindsets will enable visioning of advanced approaches to learning." It's this 'freeing-up' of mindsets that I think presents the biggest challenge to moving forward with this technology in UK academia today. Moving past the 2D Moodle/Blackboard/WebCT text-based mentality will set learning free. The potential for distance education especially is enormous. The exciting initiatives are those that combine good ideas. SLOODLE is the integration of Moodle (like Blackboard but free) with SecondLife; the integration of Blackboard and Second life is underway as well. Check out Jeremy Kemp's (San Jose Uni) presentation from the Paisly conference, available HERE from the Higher Education Academy's site. Or see the video by Jeremy on blogging into Moodle direct from SL (by Dan Livingstone) below.

SEAL - Leicester University VLE Research

A team of researchers at Leicester University is examining the potential of virtiual learning environments in education. Led by Professor Gilly Salmon, who recently spoke at the EduServe conference in London, they are exploring viable and preferred futures for learning in formal education through and with the Second Life environment.

This is very exciting research and I look forward to hearing more from the team. Check out their Media ZOO website.

The Eduserv Foundation Conference 2007

Virtual worlds, real learning?

I couldn't be in London today (Thursday 10th May) so I attended the conference 'virtually' from inside Second Life. I searched, teleported in, picked up a goodie bag, found a seat, and enjoyed most of the presentations from a satellite site at Cybrary City.

There was very smooth video and audio streaming from my modest wireless lap top link. I even got to ask a couple of questions of the speakers, which were relayed by the session chairs. I was really surprised at how well this conference went. I'm an Associate Editor for conferences for the British Psychology Society's publication 'The Psychologist', so have been to a few conferences in my time. I even got to make some useful contacts and recruit some participants for research.

Speakers included representatives from Birkbeck, Open University, Edinburgh University, Leicester University, Nature Journal, IBM, and Linden Lab amongst others. The overall theme was 'Virtual worlds, real learning?' where they

tried to evaluate whether multi-user virtual learning environments such as Second Life offer real opportunities for learners at UK educational institutions. The feel from the conference was overall positive but reticent of the hype that has surrounded SL. For me, the star of the show for me was Professor Gilly Salmon of Leicester University who was clear and 'to the point' and noted that the interesting thing to debate is not WHEN academia will embrace 3D virtual platforms for enhancing the student learning experience but HOW this will happen.

Milton's New Office at EducationUK

Great news. I have established a site for an in-world office space within SL for the next couple of months until a permanent space/island can be found for teaching and a possible research centre. It's at EducationUK Island, with great views, good neighbours and just across from a very useful sandbox. The Island is newly established and although still in the developing offers a great base for UK academics to start out from. I've met Chris Eggplant and Susan Williams (fantastic shoes) who run the show and they are very nice indeed. Whilst they took time out from developing the resources on the Island Chris showed me my new office space and introduced me to a Derby-based contact from the JISC-Regional Support Centre who was very helpful as well. Take a look around the Island at the above link, it looks like it's going to fast establish itself as the central hub for UK academics teaching and researching in Second Life.

Teachers Buzz meetings on NMC campus

There is a fantastic group of SL educators that regularly meet on the NMC campus every other week. You can see the transcripts of their meetings and find out more in the link above. Here's an extract from one meeting where a US researcher talks about work from a grant from Walden University to research best teaching and learning practices. Here's an extract that really rings true with me... KJ Hax Said, "SL is LOADED with an AMAZING amount of caring, generous, visionary educators... that are here for the same reasons, to watch what some people feel is the birth of the future of the web. I have been humbled by the accessibility, generousity, intelligence, and passion of these people..." (Taken on 9th May 2007 from http://sl.nmc.org/wiki/Teachers_Buzz_Apr_30_Transcript). Check them out at one of their regular meetings.

3rd International Second Life Community Convention

This looks like it'll be a fantastic conference.

CALL FOR PAPERS
3rd International Second Life Community Convention (SLCC07)
August 24-26, 2007, Chicago, USA

The emergence of virtual worlds and Web 3.D change the way of
doing business. Web 3.D is the synonym for Internet-based virtual
worlds, where people can create own 3-D *virtual*
personalities. One of the most famous of these virtual worlds is
Second Life. It is undergoing an evolution similar to that of the
Internet in the mid nineties and it might impact profoundly the
way people cooperate, communicate, collaborate, and conduct
business. The recent entering of companies such as Toyota,
American Apparel, Nissan, or Adidas on Second Life is a first
indication for the upcoming role of this platform for the next
generation of conducting business online.
The conference provides a forum for industry, academia, and
government to present their latest findings in virtual worlds
like Second Life and the underlying technology to support these
applications. Therefore, we invite contributions (research paper,
working paper, work-in progress) from a broad spectrum of
disciplines including economics, management, business, marketing,
finance, information systems, and computer sciences.
IMPORTANT DATES
Submission Papers: June 1, 2007
Notification of Acceptance: July 1, 2007
Final Paper Submission: August 1, 2007

Creating Authentic and Engaging Community-Oriented Learning Spaces

One very interesting pioneer of Web2.0 / education within Second Life is Sarah "Intellagirl" Robbins. Her presentation 'Creating Authentic and Engaging Community-Oriented Learning Spaces' is available as slides here or you can see her in video (258 MB) here. Her blog is here.

Community Learning Resource

Discovered ACLearn.net's community learning resource today. This is a good site that doccuments a host of e-resources for educators. LINK Worth a visit.

"The Community Learning Resource website supports the adult and community learning (ACL) sector. It provides information, advice and guidance to those working in the sector and is designed to complement the rollout of effective e-learning and related support into ACL."

Another fantastic web resource for the next generation of e-learning and University teaching in Second Life is HERE.

[SLED] Second Life Educators List

I've been exploring SL forums that are related to education and it seems that [SLED] Second Life Educators is the best. It's a resource for educators and academics interested in using Second Life for teaching. There's a wide variety of active threads and some very insightfull experience to be had on there. I've also been advised of Pathfinder Lindon's research in SL. Seems very interesting so I'll look into this in more detail at some point.