One of the first people I met in Second Life was Jeff Corbin (his name in real life), a research associate in physics and astronomy at DU. He has built the Science School in Second Life, which DU will be using for classes.
Andy Guess, in an article titled "In Second Life, There's No Fallout" at InsideHigherEd.com, describes Jeff's Island: "Science School is nestled behind a three-dimensional, real-time weather map with pixellated clouds hovering above the ground, near a telescope that can be used to view constellations during the winter, when its real-life counterpart at the University of Denver is inaccessible due to snow-covered mountain roads."
With grant money from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Robert C. Amme, a professor of physics at DU, and some colleagues are going to build a nuclear reactor in Second Life as part of a master's program "in applied science with an emphasis on environmental impact assessment that will feature classes held in Second Life."
The comments on the article indicate what we face in using this technology (Second Life and other MUVEs) for educational purposes.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Slideshow: Blogging as Professional Learning
Thanks to Nancy White at Full Circle Online Interaction Blog for mentioning Graham Wegner's presentation titled "Blogging as Professional Learning." (I tried a couple of times to embed the slideshow in a post, but I couldn't get it to work.) He explains why and how blogging is important for teachers' professional development.
He even referred to two edubloggers I regularly read: Will Richardson and David Warlick.
He even referred to two edubloggers I regularly read: Will Richardson and David Warlick.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Educational Uses of Second Life
I saw this video at http://elearndev.blogspot.com/ and thought it did a good job of presenting Second Life's educational potential. It also showed the Globe Theatre on Renaissance Island, where I live in SL.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Ning in Education
On August 3, we held an organizing meeting for Sloan-C SL-NET (Second Life - Networking Education and Technology). The suggestion was made that we should have some place on the web where we could have asynchronous discussions.
Sloan-C's Moodle-based community pages seems the obvious choice until a friend I met through Second Life suggested I look at Ning, which provide free (and premium) social-networking sites. He pointed me to the Classroom 2.0 social network, which has 2408 members right now.
This seemed ideal, so I created the Sloan-C SL-NET social network. The primary advantages over Moodle are its public visibility, the ability of members to start forums and form groups, and the accessibility of RSS feeds. I'm using a Ning site for a hybrid technical writing class I'm teaching this fall. (It's private for the obvious reasons.) I've also joined a social network for educators who are using Ning in education.
Sloan-C's Moodle-based community pages seems the obvious choice until a friend I met through Second Life suggested I look at Ning, which provide free (and premium) social-networking sites. He pointed me to the Classroom 2.0 social network, which has 2408 members right now.
This seemed ideal, so I created the Sloan-C SL-NET social network. The primary advantages over Moodle are its public visibility, the ability of members to start forums and form groups, and the accessibility of RSS feeds. I'm using a Ning site for a hybrid technical writing class I'm teaching this fall. (It's private for the obvious reasons.) I've also joined a social network for educators who are using Ning in education.
Economy of Attention
In class Tuesday night, Professor Wilson mentioned having read an article on the "economy of attention." I'd never heard the phrase before, and I was surprised to see a post on that topic in a blog I read regularly, Read/Write Web.
According to Richard MacManus, "The Attention Economy is a marketplace where consumers agree to receive services in exchange for their attention. Examples include personalized news, personalized search, alerts and recommendations to buy. Note that the Attention Economy is different from the tradional meaning of an economy, because it isn't about buying and selling - although ultimately those things may occur."
This certainly applies in education. Our students, particularly in higher ed, "agree to receive services [i.e., knowledge and skills] in exchange for their attention." They are paying not only in money but in time and energy. As faculty, we need to make sure they are receiving what they paid for.
At the end of his post, MacManus links to four other articles on this topic that were published by Read/Write Web.
According to Richard MacManus, "The Attention Economy is a marketplace where consumers agree to receive services in exchange for their attention. Examples include personalized news, personalized search, alerts and recommendations to buy. Note that the Attention Economy is different from the tradional meaning of an economy, because it isn't about buying and selling - although ultimately those things may occur."
This certainly applies in education. Our students, particularly in higher ed, "agree to receive services [i.e., knowledge and skills] in exchange for their attention." They are paying not only in money but in time and energy. As faculty, we need to make sure they are receiving what they paid for.
At the end of his post, MacManus links to four other articles on this topic that were published by Read/Write Web.
Education and Second Life
I've been trying to comment on a post by another student in the class, but my comment hasn't shown up. I thought I'd post it here as well:
Second Life (SL) has a lot of potential for education, as many people have recognized, and probably even more for professional development as we figure out how we can use it.
I joined SL last May just in time to attend sessions at the Second Life Best Practices in Education 2007 Conference. Videos of some of the addresses are still available in the video archive.
Last week, the New Media Consortium held a Symposium on Creativity with an education track in SL. I heard some very positive feedback from a friend who attended.
The SLED (Second Life EDucators) listserv has over 3500 subscribers. In addition, a lot of colleges and universities, libraries, and professional organizations have bought sims or created groups in SL, including ISTE, AECT, and the Sloan Consortium.
Even though K-12 teachers can't actually use SL for their classes because of the age limit (though there is a teen grid for 13 to 18 year olds), ISTE is extremely active in SL. They have an island and weekly activities.
AECT has a group in SL, but I haven't found out any more.
The last couple of months, I've been working with the Sloan Consortium to organize networking and professional development activities for college and university educators in SL.
In using SL for educational purposes, we just need to be careful not to try to do things with it that can be done better with other tools.
Second Life (SL) has a lot of potential for education, as many people have recognized, and probably even more for professional development as we figure out how we can use it.
I joined SL last May just in time to attend sessions at the Second Life Best Practices in Education 2007 Conference. Videos of some of the addresses are still available in the video archive.
Last week, the New Media Consortium held a Symposium on Creativity with an education track in SL. I heard some very positive feedback from a friend who attended.
The SLED (Second Life EDucators) listserv has over 3500 subscribers. In addition, a lot of colleges and universities, libraries, and professional organizations have bought sims or created groups in SL, including ISTE, AECT, and the Sloan Consortium.
Even though K-12 teachers can't actually use SL for their classes because of the age limit (though there is a teen grid for 13 to 18 year olds), ISTE is extremely active in SL. They have an island and weekly activities.
AECT has a group in SL, but I haven't found out any more.
The last couple of months, I've been working with the Sloan Consortium to organize networking and professional development activities for college and university educators in SL.
In using SL for educational purposes, we just need to be careful not to try to do things with it that can be done better with other tools.
Friday, August 24, 2007
Blogging for IT 6750
I'm starting this blog to meet the requirements for a class I'm taking at UCD: IT 6750, Current Trends and Issues in Instructional Technology. Lately I've been thinking that I'd like to move into instructional technology and out of teaching because I have the most fun with the technology, so I registered for this class to see if that's what I really want to do.
In January I started my first blog, 4R x T, to record my experiences using technology in my classes. I have a second blog that I use for my classes at Red Rocks Community College.
This summer I've been exploring Second Life trying to figure out how it can be used for education. (I've chronicled my adventures there in my main blog.) Using Second Life and other MUVEs (multi-user virtual environments) is definitely a current issue in instructional technology. For me, the best use of Second Life is networking and professional development.
A couple of months ago, I ran into the executive director of the Sloan Consortium at their site in Second Life. I mentioned to him that it would be nice if Sloan-C had networking events for folks in higher ed the way ISTE was doing for K-12. He told me to go ahead with that idea, and I have.
First we put a questionnaire on the web to find out what people were interested in. Its presence was announced to the Sloan-C and SLED listserves. I created a listserv for the people who responded, gave the group a name (SL-NET, which stands for Second Life - Networking Education and Technology), held an organizing meeting, and set up a social network site. Last Friday night, we had our first activity: a dance. We also have plans for other activities: social, professional development, and training in SL skills. It's a lot of fun, and I've met some great people!
In January I started my first blog, 4R x T, to record my experiences using technology in my classes. I have a second blog that I use for my classes at Red Rocks Community College.
This summer I've been exploring Second Life trying to figure out how it can be used for education. (I've chronicled my adventures there in my main blog.) Using Second Life and other MUVEs (multi-user virtual environments) is definitely a current issue in instructional technology. For me, the best use of Second Life is networking and professional development.
A couple of months ago, I ran into the executive director of the Sloan Consortium at their site in Second Life. I mentioned to him that it would be nice if Sloan-C had networking events for folks in higher ed the way ISTE was doing for K-12. He told me to go ahead with that idea, and I have.
First we put a questionnaire on the web to find out what people were interested in. Its presence was announced to the Sloan-C and SLED listserves. I created a listserv for the people who responded, gave the group a name (SL-NET, which stands for Second Life - Networking Education and Technology), held an organizing meeting, and set up a social network site. Last Friday night, we had our first activity: a dance. We also have plans for other activities: social, professional development, and training in SL skills. It's a lot of fun, and I've met some great people!
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