Inquiry in a Networked World - LTEA2008 in Second Life

Last week I attended a couple of sessions at the "Learning Through Enquiry Alliance (LTEA) Conference 2008 - Inquiry in a Networked World", held by the University of Sheffield, CILASS (Centre for Inquiry-based Learning in the Arts and Social Sciences)

I attended these virtually though, in Second Life. One stream of the (RL) conference was 'Spaces'. The organisers had set up combined sessions, where SL delegates led a couple of discussions exploring how Inqury based learning may be supported by use of virtual spaces...or even the other way around, how being in a virtual space can instigate IBL. A stimulating morning, well run and well done in SL. (We decided that taking part in SL was more socially interactive than in RL, where we got to know a small group much better than we usually can do in RL!)
Sheila created a wiki to support the conference. This has been developing from before it started as well as during, and is still developing now as delegates reflect.

http://networked-inquiry.pbwiki.com/About+LTEA2008+in+Second+Life.
Chatlogs will be posted soon.

I think one of the main things that came out of this for me, that I'll be following up pretty soon was triggered by Sheila's comment about the 'natural cues' in SL, that were being overrided by the animations we were all using when sitting in the initial spot. When we moved to Sakura house and used seats that allowed us to 'see' who was typing that made for a very different experience. Intriguing...

SLurl to Sheffield's Islands: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Infolit%20iSchool/148/196/21/

Goldfinch