Do teachers even want to teach in Second Life?
Yes and no. I can’t speak for everyone, but I certainly can’t make enough money in Second Life to even do it as a hobby. In my case, I earn money outside of Second Life to invest in my future in virtual worlds. That’s probably an important point, it’s an investment. For others, I don’t [...]
By 2011 80% of us will be avatars
I was reading an archived article from Business Week entitled Just Ahead: The Web As A Virtual World .
Imagine being able to have a digital replica of yourself stroll from one site to another. In it was a quote I thought worth posting. You can read the article here.
“It feels like the early [...]
It’s time to create the virtual classroom
Over the past 8 months, I have been working on ways to teach in Second Life and virtual worlds. Basically, how can we create an environment for our students to be engaged in learning a particular task that can be applied in the classroom while making it comfortable and easy to use?
I think students need [...]
Do you remember “Choose Your Own Adventure”?
Making interactive e-learning more motivational could mean making content so riveting that it draws the student into the content, making discussion among groups meaningful. Think of how television dramas affect conversations. We watch them week after week and talk about them at work, well, at least some of us do. I remember reading “Choose your [...]
Mouths moving in Second Life
That’s right. Finally! My mouth will be able to move. Gestures and mouth movement are just a little important when learning a language, don’t you think? Granted the movements aren’t precise, they’re still much needed. I had to make a little movie of me playing with it in the Release Candidate Viewer. You can play [...]
How much should I charge to teach English in SL?
Good question. I just got back from a Metanomics presentation sponsored by Manpower. Philip Rosendale (Founder and Chairman of the Board at Linden Labs) spoke as a panelist in a round table discussion on Second Life’s potential for burgeoning labor market. I and a few others posed the question, “When will fair market value [...]
Team learning success
We no longer teach them, we facilitate a learning environment by assigning tasks and projects which hold each individual accountable for their team’s success. The amount of feedback each student wishes to receive is dependent on how active they choose to be.
Long gone are the days of dydactic, passive, boring lectures. If you speak more [...]
Waiting for a Revolution
The teachers who get “burned out” are not the ones who are constantly learning, which can be exhilarating, but those who feel they [...]
Presenting about Second Life - Necessary?
It seems that Japan is about 5 years away from recognizing the power of 3D virtual worlds to teach languages. It’s hard enough getting the faculty of the university to accept the ancient world of CALL. I know that computer technology in the English classroom is something like accepting the TV in the home 50 [...]
First semester’s research
I haven’t recorded class notes recently because I am coming to conclusions for this semester. I’m preparing for a presentation and paper submission now. The focus, as it stands now, is on creating base curricula for each year based on the best learning method to promote collaborative blended e-learning.
I am looking into first year students [...]
