Accidental Learning at Global Kids Island

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation supports the Global Kids Digital Media Youth Initiative, "a series of interrelated programs designed to support teenagers to think critically about the role of digital media in their lives and document their experiences in various media". A major piece of this initiative is Global Kids Island. Their programs are designed to promote awareness of global issues, and to create some accidental learning along the way. The website includes a blog, an area for teen postings, and a library of all of the files that have been posted to the website. If you are looking for ideas, illustrations, or examples of how educators and students are using SL, look here. Be sure to view some of the videos, particularly the video of Camp Global Kids 2006 program, made by kids who participated.

Qualities of Online Environments

Sarah Robbins is a rhetoric and composition PhD candidate at Ball State University. Her interests and research are on using online tools for teaching. Her blog Second Life Education Research, where she is known as Intellagirl is both thoughtful and based on real experience and research. In this posting she shares ideas from a book chapter she is writing, "CVE, MUVE, MMOE, MMORPG…What’s the difference?’: Virtual Environments as Compositional Models".

"In the chapter I attempt to delineate between different types of digital environments in which communication/composition can happen. In effect, what I’m doing is laying out the qualities that an instructor may be looking for in an online environment for a specific educational goal. Because the audience is largely readers who have never explored such environments, I’m hoping to lay out the most important differences to help light the way to informed pedagogical decisions."

It does a very good job of doing this, and includes a table that makes it even clearer. The post is here.

Second Life in a Crystal Ball

MIT Media lab uses a crystal ball not only as a metaphor but as a medium to explore Second Life at their SIGGRAPH Gallery. Be sure to scroll to the bottom to find the video.

Sousreality
Artist's statement

“Sousreality” is a pair of connected spaces linked through the metaphor of a crystal ball. In the SIGGRAPH gallery is a crystal ball that peers into Second Life, and in Second Life there is a crystal sphere containing a real-time inside-out vision of the gallery. The images of the spaces align visually and are also connected by audio. (the rest).

Architecture in Second Life

Since one of the major activities in SL is building, it is no surprise that architects would find uses for a tool that lets them build 3D models of their ideas and projects. An architect can model the terrain, build the building, and furnish it. Once built an avatar can freely enter, explore and view the building outside or in. What a great way to show a proposal to a professor, customer or community!
The Arch is a blog "exploring the convergence of the metaverse with the real life practice of architecture". Not only are there architecture firms using SL, there is a Society for Virtual Architecture, and an Architecture Island. And of course architecture programs are exploring the uses of SL for their students. One library director I have talked with is pursuing the purchase of an entire island primarily for their architecture students. There are several videos here that show building in process or click directly on the links;

• Centre for Digital Media: The Future Education of a Virtual Architect
• Architecture on the Double
• Architecture in Motion

New Media Consortium's Second Life Campus

Wayne State is a member of the New Media Consortium (NMC). “The New Media Consortium (NMC) is an international 501(c)3 not-for-profit consortium of nearly 200 leading colleges, universities, museums, corporations, and other learning-focused organizations dedicated to the exploration and use of new media and new technologies.” NMC is also a major player in the education movement in Second Life.
Their Emerging Technologies Initiative “focuses on expanding the boundaries of teaching, learning and creative expression by creatively applying new tools in new contexts.” Their annual Horizon report highlights six technologies likely to gain importance in higher education in one to five years. Each section discusses its relevance to education, and includes numerous examples and links. This year’s report predicts wide adoption of SL within 2 to 3 years.
NMC has a large campus on Second Life. Their blog NMC Campus Observer has lots of information about their activities. If you want a look at the campus view their movie “NMC Campus: Seriously Engaging”.
The 2007 Horizon Report this year:
Time to Adoption; 1 year or less
User created content (Flickr, YouTube)
Social Networking (Facebook, MySpace)
Time to Adoption; 2 to 3 years
Mobile Phones
Virtual Worlds (Second Life)
Time to Adoption; 4 to 5 years
New Forms of Scholarship, non-traditional scholarly models
Massively Multiplayer Education Gaming (WorldForge, Multiverse)

The Chronicle of Higher Education Wired Campus Blog

This is a good resource for those of us who are interested in academic librarianship.
The Wired Campus
Education-technology news from around the web

Articles this week:
Wikipedia Blocks a Pay-for-Play Scheme
CIA Uses Facebook as a Recruiting Tool
One Small Step for Citizendium
Wanted: Librarian. Book Lovers Need Not Apply

Worship a Librarian Today! Librarian Avengers

As a librarian wanna-bee, I found this empowering bit of manifesto this morning at the blog Librarian Avengers.

Why you should fall to your knees and worship a librarian

"Ok, sure. We’ve all got our little preconceived notions about who librarians are and what they do. Many people think of librarians as diminutive civil servants, scuttling about "Sssh-ing" people and stamping things. Well, think again buster."... (the rest)

Librarian Avenger's author, Erica Olsen works at Cornell University, describes herself as a "geekbrarian".

The Shifted Librarian - Second Life at ALA's Mid-Winter meeting

The Shifted Librarian blog has a number of posts relating to Second Life. The most recent is titled ALA's Second Life. The blog's author Jenny Levine posts that she has been asked to do an SL demonstration at ALA's Mid-Winter meeting.