Educational Possibilities of Virtual Worlds

A coworker and I recently made a presentation on the educational possibilities of virtual worlds at the EDUCAUSE Southwest Regional Conference. I thought this group might be interested in this topic. The conference proceedings are now online, and our presentation can be viewed at:

http://www.educause.edu/LibraryDetailPage/666?ID=SWR0552

Thanks, Pietro


Presentation Abstract

Second Life: The Educational Possibilities of a Massively Multiplayer Virtual World (MMVW)

Technical developments in MMVWs continue to advance dramatically. In this session, we will tour Second Life, a MMVW created by each user and simultaneously played by hundreds of people around the world. This ability to create your own virtual world and interact with it and other people in it offers some exciting new possibilities for education. As we demonstrate educational possibilities, we will also introduce a vision mechanism for incorporating MMVWs into teaching and learning strategies.

As an educational aide, be sure to include a tour of Aces and Strokers shops. All in the cause of education and science!

Awesome! Now we're talking!

While other people complain, other's do. Very nice presentation.

Keep it up Pietro, You are giving SL a good rep

Hello Pietro (and all) - that's exactly what I need to present to my department in July.... I've been working on my own version and would love to hear more from you (in SL or here) - especially about what kinds of feedback you're receiving from your presentation (you did a great job). I see some major barriers to overcome in my project, and plan to recommend a slow start, then reevaluate periodically. I'm new to SL and Virtual Worlds but not new to design and instructional design ... much to learn though, and I can't access SL in my office, so I work on it at home.

Our presentation is proving to be very popular. It's listed on the Most Popular Resources page in the EDUCAUSE library... got to #4 but has dropped since then. We were recently asked to make it as the keynote address at an area educational technology conference in August (http://web.jccc.net/c2c/news/). And, it is pretty cool to get paid to play and talk about SL.

After having made this presentation three times now, reactions range from "This is the most exciting thing I've seen in a long time" to "You're nuts. This has no place in higher education." I'd say the typical reaction is "This is very interesting, but it's still for the future." I think it's at the Innovators stage in Rogers' Diffusion of Innovations (1995) adopter categories, exactly where I like to be.

I love to talk about this topic, on the discussion forum or in-world is OK with me. I would be especially interested in hearing about your experience promoting this idea at your work.

katherine, I think we met last night, either at Travis' Birthday party or Trim's Captions event. If we can connect in-world, I'll try to introduce you to other people who are teaching with Second Life. I usually hangout in SL on Wednesday and Friday nights and very early on Sunday mornings... limit myself to avoid addiction.

Pietro

Very exciting Pietro....

and you were not going to extend your trial account....

Vampires are good for something


I only wish I could come up with a way to incorporate SL into some phase of my work - I do keep thinking on the subject...

awwww, my favorite vampire.

If not for meeting Mhaijik and having her drag me off to a fun party with the vamps, I would have let my trial account expire and would have never opened this door. ty.

On a similar note, I just found out that Clark Aldrich is speaking tonight at the Second Life Future Salon. Clark is a leader in the Serious Games movement and an expert on learning through simulation.

I don't know much about the Future Salon, but the inworld broadcasing sounds sweet and an ongoing IT Conversations series rocks.

Oh Satchmo, and I missed this!

If you know Clark, I'd like to meet him.

Thank you for posting your presentation! Everyone at work thinks I'm nuts for thinking SL has educational value!

I've also been developing a sort of curriculum using Second Life, specifically for high school students in poverty. I think the game has infinite potentional for teaching about interpersonal relationships, consequences, violence, sexual promiscuity, tolerance of difference (race), business development, geography, and on and on and on. I'm hoping to be able to get a whole classroom for a year and lead them through a SL life, with group land, a group business, etc., and I'm presenting the idea next month at a summer institute for teachers.

Is it ok if I refer to your presentation as a resource or include it in my bibliography? This is excellent! I have lots more questions, but I'll ask later.

Of course it's OK to refer to our presentation.

Wonderful presentation. I actually started in SL as part of university class. I'm always glad to see stuff like this.

Because of the interest in this thread, I thought you might be interested in this new group about RL Work in SL. Sorry for the cross posting.

Do you use SL for your RL work? There has been an increasing trend in crossover between SL and RL, in academia, corporate training, for special needs populations, etc., so if you're part of the "wave", we'd love to meet you!

Our group is a discussion and ideas-sharing forum for those interested in using Second Life for part of their Real Life work. What is being done? Who is doing it? What are the possibilites, issues, concerns, solutions, etc.? What works, what doesn't? If you're interested, look us up in "Groups" and IM one of the officers to join.

Pietro

Awesome.

Looking forward to meeting further about this!

Hey, we're having our first "RL Work in SL" group presentation!!! This group is for/about people who use Second Life for some part of their real-life work.

Gwyneth Llewelyn and Moon Adamant will be making a short presentation about their group's use of Second Life for their real-life work. After describing their work, we'll have a question and answer session. It also will be a good time to meet other people who do rl work in sl.

If you use sl for your work or are interested in how others are using sl for their work, you will want to attend.

Date: Friday, June 17, 2005
Time: 9:00AM - 10:00AM (60 minutes)
Location: Yora (77,152)

Sorry for the cross posting, but this group was born out of several different threads.

This event was one of the best run events I have seen in some time. A clear goal with excellent planning and execution.

This group should be a fascinating one to be associated with. Its really cool to see more and more people looking at SL as a real-word solution - a tool - rather than a "silly game."

-Flip