- Web 2.0 and E-Learning
- “The Future of Learning Is Increasingly Free”
- Top Psychologist warns of the Dangers of the Social Web
- Research: Learning 2.0 in Europe
- What We Need is Top-End Content
- A Networked Life – Ton Zijlstra on Social Networking
- Getting Second Life Right – Explore Its Impact on Education at Online Educa Berlin
- What Happens if You Give a GPS and a PDA to a 'Grandpa'?
- Lifelong Learning – A Radical Communitarian Adventure
- Exploding the Internet
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Getting Second Life Right – Explore Its Impact on Education at Online Educa Berlin
Second Life, Kamino Island
Although Second Life is neither an entirely new nor innovative technical approach, it still represents great opportunities for learning purposes. The impact of the virtual world has been the subject of controversy in the media and at the same time has become a mass phenomenon: Almost ten million users are registered in the system so far, and educational institutions have quickly attempted to apply the virtual environment in their programmes.
Courses and seminars have been taking place in Second Life for quite some time and there is still a lot more to explore. But the questions remain as to the specific benefits the virtual world has to offer education. What makes it unique compared to other tools for online learning? Why does the use of Second Life for learning matter in the first place? At Online Educa Berlin, teachers and training specialists from both the industry and higher education, will scrutinise recent developments and give their outlook on the future of Second Life in education.
Virtually There: Lessons Learned on How Second Life is Shaping Up to Transform Language Teaching
Paul Sweeney, Director of Education at Languagelab.com, UK, presents his experiences with a real-world business operating in Second Life. Languagelab.com offers language courses in the virtual world, giving teachers and learners the opportunity to interact in a fully voice-enabled environment. In his presentation, Sweeny aims to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of Second Life for language learning and also explains the role of paper and traditional e-content as well as other resources when working with the virtual world. Finally, he takes a look at the social impacts of Second Life, especially regarding the teacher-learner relationship and group dynamics within a course.
David Richardson from Högskolan i Kalmar, Sweden, will focus on how Second Life can support learning English as a second language. Together with experts from Norway and the United States, Richardson developed a learning environment in the virtual world.
The result of their efforts is “Kamino Island”, where a pilot course, Social English for Doctoral Students, has been running since September 2007. The intent of their work is to identify which types of courses and course activities are most appropriately delivered within a virtual world - and which are best left to other media and tools. One of his experiences so far is that the more affective the activity, the better a virtual environment is for running it in. Richard has invited his virtual students for the presentation in Berlin and you can join him in his class for the session on “Kamino Island”.
No Life in Second Life?
To get a comprehensive overview on Second Life and its impact on education, be sure to visit the special focus session No Life in Second Life?. In this session, the panellists will explore the educational realities of virtual worlds such as Second Life and look into the question of whether immersive 3D worlds can be successfully deployed in online learning via novel pedagogies and new experiences that cut across both formal and informal learning territories. Panellists include Steve Wheeler, University of Plymouth, David White, University of Oxford Department for Continuing Education, Helen Keegan, University of Salford, Graham Attwell, Pontydysgu, Wales and Steven Warburton, King's College London.
Virtual Worlds for Learning and Training
Virtual worlds in the corporate sector will be the focus of a session chaired by Dr. Eilif Trondsen from SRI Consulting Business Intelligence, USA. Chuck Hamilton from IBM, Canada, presents IBM@PLAY, his company’s approach to learning and working in virtual spaces. The other featured speaker is Alex Cullum from StatoilHydro, Norway, who explains how virtual worlds can be implemented in various areas in a business and what needs to be done to realise such innovative ideas on a large scale.
A Strange Space: Higher Education Teaching in Second Life
Sian Bayne, Professor at the University of Edinburgh, UK, will speak in a plenary session about the use of Second Life in higher education. "Second Life is an environment which is both alluring and problematic when used as an educational space”, she argues, “I will be talking about some of the ways in which we are using Second Life for teaching and learning at the University of Edinburgh, in particular how it works to give our distance students a sense of community and presence.” In her keynote, Bayne will give a brief tour of “Holyrood Park”, an in-world teaching space in SL, and describe the rationale behind its design. She’ll then go on to talk about student reactions to Second Life and to consider what this shift into another “reality” might mean for us as learners and teachers.
Sessions At A Glance
WEB08: Virtual Worlds for Learning and Training
WEB40: Practical Examples of Web 2.0 Applications in Education
DES51: Online Language Learning, Friday, November 30, 11:45 - 13:30
WEB14 No Life in Second Life?, Thursday, November 29, 14:30 - 16:00
November 11, 2007
