technology

Stagecoach Island - from Wells Fargo

I knew that Wells Fargo was in Second Life but learned in an educators' discussion list this morning that they had moved their sim to a separate software application/website - much as what Greenbush is talking about doing. What is the motivation? Assure teachers and students and parents and school boards and administrators that their kids are safe in these online worlds.

Stagecoach Island also has some interesting possibilities for economics and Western history. This link will take you to their blog - much as the Linden Second Life site has notes on the opening page - which contains info on participating in the sim. I have not yet downloaded the software. This is another week where I need another day.

Online Degrees

Here's the comment I made on the Four-Eyed Technologist Blog about online degrees. Ryan's entry is well worth a read.

As a prof at a traditional state regional university, it only makes sense that online universities are yet another option. I heard an interesting comment the other day: as historians, we like to train people to be just like us but be forced to enter the unemployment lines in the real world. As you know, this is because we often train people to be just like us and there just aren’t the jobs. The point to this long story is that the teachers I’m working with (both history and technology) that are contemplating higher education assume that their only option is a PhD in History. And my colleagues reinforce that without real regard for the job market and their individual circumstances - is young children, working spouse who can’t just pick up and move, family ties, etc.

The online degrees offer entirely new opportunities to people who are highly motivated but may also be place-bound. I’ve encouraged these teachers to check out online degrees (and meeting Existential Paine and KJ Haxx in Second Life only reinforced that as well as informing me about other alternatives) in a variety of fields: teaching, education, technology, history. Then, they should make an informed choice about what best fits their needs.

Our university has an education technology masters that only went online a couple of years ago - but they finally got there. The problem is that traditional instructors are not comfortable with not seeing their students. They cite the often-quoted “how do you know who’s doing the work”? Well, I think that is largely in the course design. In world professors send students off with generic ID items to answer with no expectations regarding specific sources and then wonder why they get answers they can easily find via Google.

Teaching and online learning is more challenging just by the nature of the beast. (I’ve been teaching online since we first had the option about 7 years ago). It’s more work to be sure everyone is participating. What in-world folks don’t consider is that there is no way to hide in the back row in an online class and just pass a test or two. (I still have to hold my breath when instructors who don’t teach well online talk about how they throw their notes up once and then it’s easy from then on . .. . argh!)

So, thanks for sharing your experiences and I’m hoping Walden and the traditional campus-based universities keep extending their offerings. Our state department of education, in fact, is at least in talks with the University of Phoenix (a large campus in Wichita to name one plus those in the Kansas City metro area) to offer teachers courses when they can take them given that the state universities don’t always have the staffing (and, in some cases, will) to do so.

University Library Opens First in Second Life

A Library Makes Its Debut, in Second Life

Santa Clara University's new library building won't be completed until the autumn of 2008. But people on the campus can experience what it might be like inside the building, and offer advice to its designers, by exploring a three-dimensional model of the library in the online virtual world Second Life.

A model of the library was created by the New Media Consortium, a higher-education-technology group. "Santa Clara decided to let people use the virtual interior before the inside was actually built," said Larry Johnson, the consortium's chief executive, to a gathering of college-technology leaders today at the group's annual conference, in Indianapolis.

This is another story from the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Librarians call for serious gaming

This article from the Chronicle of Higher Education points to the connections between the real world and the teaching world.

A Librarian's Plea for 'Serious Gaming'

Here’s a sign that “serious gaming” is hitting its stride: Corporate monoliths like MTV, Reebok, and Starbucks are all giving it a shot. The companies have commissioned games that tackle weighty topics like global warming and the genocide in Darfur, notes Michelle Boule, the social-sciences librarian at the University of Houston.

In a guest post at ACRLog, Ms. Boule argues that libraries could learn a lot from those corporations. In seminars and workshops, information literacy can seem like an abstract topic. But in video games, she says, the topic might come to life: “Information modeled in an online environment can become almost anything from a maze, to an amusement park, to a fully formed world and story.”

Most libraries lack the budget and expertise to create fully formed information-literacy games of their own, Ms. Boule notes. But now that some libraries are carving out space and buying equipment for video-game players, she says, it might be time for those institutions to take a closer look at serious gaming. —Brock Read

SLolar Central - Mapping the World

I spent some time last night at my desk at SLolar center and met Veritas Raymaker. The geography podcasting project looks interesting.

I was trying to figure out what else to buy for my desk and I looked around for books. I don't actually want to buy "real world" books like those in the Bantam Dell cafe although they have an interesting concept.

I did a search for globes because I thought it would be neat to have a world globe on my desk. As I looked around SL, I discovered many meanings of the word "globe". And, although they didn't have one like I was initially looking for, one of the shops made a world globe for me and $150 in Linden dollars seemed quite reasonable.

I missed the SLolar social last night because I was out to dinner with guest presenters in real life. They requested Kansas City steak and barbeque and I was happy to oblige.

SLolar Central - Pay it Forward

KJ Haxx and others have set up a 'scholar's area" for teachers interested in networking in Second Life. I applied for and was accepted to be a resident for the month of June. It's a great concept - especially to get you moving forward. I'd like to be do more than do minor editing although I"m not sure I want to do full-scale building.