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Comment by Mark Hawkes on May 3, 2013 at 15:42

Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education 2013

From July 24th to July 27th, 2013 - the education community of Second Life, OpenSim, and other virtual worlds will be hosting a 4 day conference on best practices in education. This conference will promote the best and brightest from the Virtual World's education community in various fields of practice including everything from demonstrations to hands on theory.

The conference is a free event for educators and researchers of virtual worlds, knowledge emergence, knowledge development, and their educational impacts.

More information is available on the website:

http://www.vwbpe.org

or contact,

info - at - vwbpe- dot - org

Comment by Gordon Holden on April 19, 2013 at 17:14

Took this picture of several intrepid explorers in our iMOOC (immersive, interactive, independent and interdependent massively open online course) called Atlantis Remixed (ARX). In the 50 or so 3D virtual learning environments ARX is comprised of, these particular students are freed from many of the challenges of the autism spectrum. The experience has been effective and efficient, having a transformative result on them both inworld and out. This is deservedly getting a lot of attention. Hoping some of that will come from the Ministry of Education in BC some day. : )

Comment by Mark Hawkes on April 19, 2013 at 16:42

Remember the first time you experienced immersive technology? Did you ever try it with a headset? If you've forgotten the power of virtual reality, watch how this 90-year-old grandmother reacts to it!  :o)

Comment by Rob Wahl on March 22, 2012 at 16:17

Yes SL is a modular collection of SIMs, each one working of its own set of server resources. A single sim can only handle 100 or so avatars. Pathfinder LInden used to make extra resources available for educational events, but he's not there anymore. Special events often happen on the adjoining corners of 4 sims, so as to bring more people together. For a good conference, you definitely need Linden Labs riding shotgun. Think the organizers will be disappointed to hear that some didn't make it in. But Mark's totally right. It says a lot. Alright, I"m going to get home and start transferring numbers from Google Earth to Excel. :-)

Comment by Gordon Holden on March 22, 2012 at 11:52

Thanks so much Mark.

Comment by Mark Hawkes on March 22, 2012 at 11:37

Here's the Atlanta/Open Sim article and many others on virtual worlds.

Comment by Gordon Holden on March 22, 2012 at 11:31

Well, the fact that it was full says something significant. I've never heard of that happening there either. Those sessions were moved to a build that was designed to handle huge numbers. I think the figures for last year were 1800 in attendance...wonder what it was this year? This is going mainstream. Will look for the article of a district in Atlanta. EVERY teacher has virtual space for their classes. Sorry that you missed out on the keynote. I'll forward you links to the recordings ASAP.

 

Gord

P.S. There was room at my presentation. Lol.

Comment by Brian Kuhn on March 22, 2012 at 11:26

Rob - that sounds very cool.  Would have never thought you could do that.  Sounds complex though?

Gord - forgot to mention, I tried attending a keynote in secondlife for that conference you highlighted and I was placed in a "nearby" room with some weirdly dressed avatars - a little spooky.  Anyway when I tried to get into the keynote, it was full.  Full?  in a Virtual world?  really?

Comment by Gordon Holden on March 22, 2012 at 11:02

Rob, this sounds very, very exciting. I think you are exploring new territory that could be somewhat revolutionary. If successful, I will want to set you up to meet with Rick Noll, Active Worlds pres. If you think they could be helpful, I don't think they'd mind working with you on that. Let me know.

Comment by Rob Wahl on March 22, 2012 at 9:35

I really wanted to be there but I just felt I had to keep up with my regular job. I have discovered something interesting and I'll let you know how it works out. I can put a transparent 51x51 grid into a Google Earth area. I'm thinking of working at a scale of just 10:1. I am in the process of transfering the elevation of each + onto a spreadsheet, doing some math on it, and then transferring those numbers directly into Nexus explore world, modeling a real landscape. At first hadn't thought of why so I didn't think it would be any different from an imaginary surface. But after spending time on Google Earth, I've found out that the real surface of the earth holds many secrets in the fine detail. Features you'd never think of unless you went outdoors and looked.

I'm just harvesting the data and we are planning a re-build this week. I'll let you know what we learned.

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