virtual worlds in education
DESCRIPTION
An overview of using Second Life in education, with the Johnson & Wales University Global Outreach Morocco project as a case study. This is from a presentation on April 20, 2007 at Boston College.TRANSCRIPT
Virtual Worlds in Education
Hilary Mason
Johnson & Wales University
Participatory Media
http://xkcd.com http://bvlg.blogspot.com
Virtual Spaces = Web 2.0 + 3D
“Video game” technologies enable the creation of a new type of place.
Advantages of Virtual Spaces
• Experience – The closest thing to being there physically.
• Place – Creates a sense of ‘place’ that is not tied to a physical location, enabling serendipitous encounters.
Advantages of Virtual Spaces
Experience + Place = Community
Second Life
Second Life provides an open platform for user-created content with a low barrier to entry.
Second Life is free to use. Fees only apply to build persistent structures.
Second Life and the Web
Second Life contains a full-featured programming language that enables data to flow from the web into and out of the environment.
Educational Projects in SL
• College campuses
• Museums
• Info Island Library
• NOAA
• Non-profits
Global Outreach MoroccoGlobal Outreach Morocco
G.O. Morocco Goals
• Use academic and intellectual skills and abilities to address social issues
• Study-abroad experience
• Student-driven project
G.O. Morocco Project
Virtual Morocco is a “best of” Moroccan tourist experience in a virtual space.
The team researched and designed the experience to educate people about Moroccan culture, while hopefully enticing them to think about Morocco as a tourist destination.
PrototypePrototype
Hassan II Mosque
PresentationsPresentations
• Casablanca Technology Incubator
• Moroccan Ministry of Tourism
Cultural ImmersionCultural Immersion
• Living and working in MoroccoLiving and working in Morocco• Community interactionCommunity interaction• Personal growthPersonal growth• ContextualizationContextualization
Business and Community Development
Students were given the option to take a credit-bearing course to complete the project.
[video]http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2720481925666510600&q=virtual+morocco
GO MoroccoGO Morocco
Virtual Morocco
• Over 4,500 visitors since the official launch
• Created publication and occupational opportunities for students
• Has led to internal and external collaboration
• Platform for new tools
• Generated new projects
Virtual BLAST
BLAST is the Balloon-borne Large-Aperture Sub-millimeter Telescope.
BLAST flew over Antarctica
in December, 2006 and in
Second Life in April, 2007.
Questions• Can a mixed-reality cultural experience
provide the same benefits of a traditional experience?
• How do people interact in virtual environments?
• How can information be communicated effectively?
• Can virtual environments provide a platform for students to prototype business and artistic concepts?
Tools and Visualizations• InfoFez• SLMetrics (
http://www.slmetrics.com)
• Stargate
• Handshow Chair
Future Plans
• Virtual Morocco is growing
• Integrate SL and web services (data and commerce)
• Virtual Rhode Island!
• Coming soon– Voice and open-source– Identity management– Integration with web and other spaces
Getting Involved
• SLED mailing list (http://www.secondlife.com)
• SimTeach wiki (http://www.simteach.com)
• Sloodle (Linking Moodle and SL)
• ICT Library on Info Island
Thank you!Thank you!
http://slurl.com/secondlife/casablanca/132/82/26/http://slurl.com/secondlife/casablanca/132/82/26/