SL demonstration

I was very impressed by the technology but would have liked to have seen some teaching and learning experiences.

I know that when blackboard was introduced to the university there was a huge hill to climb certainly for academics and not all of us are using it to its full potential. I would hope that resources would be made available to allow staff to really come to grips with this new technology.

Difficult to really think of it being used to support learning at the moment but I look forward to hearing and participating in more in-house activities around this. Geo Wilkie

Lots of scope but many questions regarding its use in teaching and learning.
We wondered about how you would interact with students if you were using it as an aid to teaching and learning.
Had some thoughts about using it for simulated patients/ community clients e.g. in a hospital or community setting -has this been done before? VN

SL supporting a module or course

It would be very interesting to see how the University of Derby's Psychology department is using SL to support student learning.

It would be interesting to see students interacting with each other and their lecturer in this environment and how they are managing to teach skills such as essay writing, critical thinking, referencing etc.....

We also wonder how we keep the GCAL island up to date and interesting so that people keep coming back. What does the future hold for SL in general...will it be overtaken by the next "big thing"?

And finally has anyopne developed a joystick for Second Life?

Aidan & Heather.

Using SL to Support a Course or Module

I am intrigued to learn more about the approach taken to teach critical thinking, academic writing plagiarism avoidance and referencing.
Angela S

Smithy

A little over 15 years ago there was no such thing as an internet(1), today it is a multi billion dollar industry. 3D internet is the logical next evolutionary phase of this medium. Linden Lab's Second Life, which provides such a platform, is aiming to establish a global grid, based on interoperability by Open Sourcing it's Server Code. A set of public protocols for computers to talk to each other, just like the World Wide Web. This means that in the forseeable future every organization, company, what have you not can chunk an island in the basement. ISP's will offer these servers, (parts or numbers of) islands in the virtual world, for those not capable (or interested) in doing this for themselves, initiatives like OSgrid & Openlifegrid are testament to that. If you lean back and think about that a little while you will soon realise the potential. For businesses. For all types of organization who've got something to share with an audience.
For education.
15 years ago hardly anybody could teach you how to build an html page (which at that time could not even embed images), you had to figure it all out yourself, rummaging around in a basic text editor. Flash didn't exist. PHP didn't exist. CSS didn't exist. Javascript didnt exist. (My)SQL was arcane magic. Apache Webserver was still A Patchy Webserver. A LAMP was a lightbulb, and not a Linux-Apache-MySql-PHP acronym yet. If you now look at the jobmarket, people having these skills are sought after, very much so, making a good living, competing, active .. leaving the country for better payment overseas.
So, just as a reminder, we shouldn't just think about using this venue for teaching and learning, we should also think about how to teach using, creating, populating this venue, how to share this as of yet pretty rare knowledge, for students and staff alike.
Second Life provides not just a tool but shed full of tools, with which you can build other tools, just like a smithy. We shouldn't just call into the smithy & ask for a sword. We should walk into the smithy and make us a sword, getting dirty, sweaty & very tired in the process. Work with fire. Teach apprentices, students how to hammer it into a plow after.
Challenging? Sure. But if you don't live on the edge you are using to much space.


(1) Well, there was, but it had little to do with what we have publically available today. Let's not get into details and just stick to August 6, 1991.

Handy links to sections of the Linden Labs websites

• Registar an Avatar - https://secure-web21.secondlife.com/join/index.php/Choose-Name

• Communication - http://secondlifegrid.net/how/communication

• Education - http://secondlifegrid.net/how/education_and_training

• What The Platform Can Do For You - http://secondlifegrid.net/why

• Revolutionary Technology and Tools - http://secondlifegrid.net/why/tools

What is Second Life

"Second Life is a 3-D virtual world entirely created by its Residents. Since opening to the public in 2003, it has grown explosively and today is inhabited by millions of Residents from around the globe.

From the moment you enter the world you'll discover a vast digital continent, teeming with people, entertainment, experiences and opportunity. Once you've explored a bit, perhaps you'll find a perfect parcel of land to build your house or business. "

http://secondlife.com/

A Taste of Second Life?

To complement the Caledonian Academy Learning Communities Forum event: "Learning in a strange place: Second Life at the University of Edinburgh" being held on 6^th March (http://www.academy.gcal.ac.uk/professional/iws.html), we'll be holding two Emerging Technology informal lunchtime sandpit sessions on ‘Second Life’.

The 1st session is aimed at those who have not yet dipped a toe into this brave new world but who wish to have a first glimpse of Second Life prior to the above talk. We'll follow an avatar on a tour of some existing education islands in Second Life and give you a chance to begin to think about how we may use this emerging technology in GCU.

This session will run twice:- on Friday 29th February and repeated on Monday 3rd March, 12:30 to 1:30pm

The 2nd follow up session aims to explore ideas on the potential of Second Life as an environment to support teaching and learning at GCU. We'll visit GCU's new island and provide an opportunity to discuss how you and your school could make use of this environment with your students – come armed with your thoughts and ideas!

This session will run twice:- on Friday 14th March and repeated on Thursday 20th March, 12:30 to 1:30pm