Educational Gaming Commons

See http://fleeep.net/blog/2008/05/08/weblins-another-transitional-step-to-3... for this fascinating new technology. Basically, you have an avatar that travels with you as you browse. It appears on the bottom of the page. The exciting thing is if other people are using Weblin, and they are on the same page, you can converse with them!

Fleep describes how this can be used in Course Management Systems. I had another idea - what a great way to jazz up an asynchronous discussion forum by setting a date/time for all to come to the forum and, well, discuss the topic? You could capture the conversation as posts in the forum AS THEY OCCURRED, turning it into a synchronous, chat-like event. We all know that forced chats don't work well. Will Weblins make a difference?

Read all about it! Fascinating. It's great to see Speilberg involved in gaming, because I believe he is sincere about making games for the family, and he is of course quite creative. He's also smart - there's lots of money to be grubbed here! I'm off to sniff more out about this "secret" gaming project he's working on. I hope they do keep it under wraps until it's ready, however - the world doesn't need more vaporware Spore-hype.

This is a direct copy of a post by Alan Levine of the New Media Consortium:  

Last year the New Media Consortium conducted and published the results of a survey of educators in Second Life. Given how much has changed and evolved, they have decided to run the survey again.

We announce today the opening of the NMC 2008 Educators in Second Life Survey, which you can take now by going to:

http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/?p=WEB227S75R6YXA

Please share the survey link far and wide, as we hope to get a larger sample this time around. We will keep the survey open at least til the end of May 2008 and we will again publish the results to the NMC Campus Observer and the NMC web site.

Like last year, the the results are and will be available for free under Creative Commons licenses.

Even if you took the survey last year, please participate again (as much can change in a year). And tell everyone you know to put in their responses.

See http://images.businessweek.com/ss/08/05/0505_ceo_guide/index_01.htm . This is a great reference for anyone talking about virtual worlds and what businesses are doing right now.

There's also a podcast at http://www.businessweek.com/mediacenter/podcasts/guide_to_tech/guidetote...

See http://gigaom.com/2008/05/01/whats-nintendo-doing-in-second-life/ for this breaking story.

It does look like we'll have a variety of input devices to activate our jerky avatars by this time next year.

Second Life Education Community Conference 2008

Sep 5-7, 2008
Tampa, FL

Get Ready for SLEDcc 2008!

The Second Life Education community conference is a proud member of the Second Life Community Convention – the official Linden Lab-sponsored and approved event for everyone spending significant time in the best of all possible virtual worlds! This conference is for everyone currently or seriously thinking of engaging in teaching and learning in Second Life.

The SLEDcc is a peer-reviewed academic conference, with emphasis upon evidence-based practices and scholarly work that lead to innovation, the identification of best practices for teaching and learning in the Second Life virtual 3D environment. It is also designed to maximize the opportunities afforded by the Second Life medium itself – and the advantages of meeting face-to-face for an exchange that cannot (yet) be recreated in the digital milieu. Whether you wish to participate in the inworld events or the Tampa, FL (real world) events – please consider presenting and participating in SLEDcc 2008!

Conference Strands:

SLEDcc invites proposals that will address the following themes, or “strands” (please select one). The examples following the Strand Description are just a few ways your proposal might explore the theme.

NOTE: While your project or presentation might fit within more then one Strand Theme, please be judicious and select the single, most appropriate.

1. Games and Simulations (Red Strand): as significant, particular ways to engage learners within Second Life. This Strand will showcase the array of useful and effective ways that the SLED community engages users in game and/or simulation environments.
* In what ways are SLED designers engaging learners in games, role-plays, and simulations?
* What are the game development issues that educators-as-designers should know in their creation of engaging SLED materials?
* How do designers, educators, scripters, and builders collaborate most effectively to create a “killer educational game” in Second Life?

2. Mixed Reality Learning (Orange Strand): as ways to bridge the so-called “real world” and the interface of a multi-user virtual environment as powerful as Second Life. This Strand will demonstrate the variety of ways that education in SL can be powerfully connected to things happening in RL – as well as ways that other media can add value to the SLED experience.
* What approaches to Mixed-Reality Learning work best? What are the obstacles to overcome? What are some innovative ways to bring SL into the Real World?
* What skills in the real world can be modeled in Second Life that might transfer best? What are some difficult areas for such transfer?
* How do educators use multiple media types to best channel and enhance value to the Second Life experience?

3. Theory, Research, & Practice (Yellow Strand): as evidence-based practices to engage users of Second Life in creating intended learning outcomes, whether in formal or informal settings. Theoretical Frameworks from a variety of perspectives will be entertained in this Strand of SLEDcc – with emphasis on practical and scholarly application.
* What does a successful Design-Based Research experiment in Second Life look like? Other qualitative or quantitative frameworks that work well (or not) in Second Life?
* How do researchers adequately frame educational work in Second Life to gather data relevant to particular kinds of learning outcomes?
* What meta-analyses of the literature on Multi-User Virtual Environments should every educator in Second Life know?

4. Differentiated Learning: International, Diverse, and Special Populations (Green Strand): as celebrating the many nationalities, cultures, ways of knowing, and educational efforts specific to particular kinds of learners in Second Life.
* What are we learning in Second Life in Japan? Brazil? Europe? Australia?
* How do we effectively teach students in Second Life who do not speak our primary language?
* How do SLED designers create learning experiences for people of many backgrounds and skill levels?
* What innovative approaches are emerging to engage exceptional students (e.g. learning disabilities and/or gifted education) in Second Life learning?

5. Projects and Events (Blue Strand): as a milieu for teaching and learning, SLEDcc showcases an amazing breadth of specific projects and events that educators are creating.
* By examining a cross-section of SLED Projects, provide the audience with a “best practices” overview and assessment for engaging learners in SL.
* Provide an in-depth look at a particular SLED Project created by your group or organization and highlight the “lessons learned”, challenges, and “next steps”.
* What is the “magic formula” for creating an engaging, successful SLED event?

6. Educational Tools and Products (Purple Strand): with the vast array of tools and products for free or for sale in Second Life, SLEDcc can help develop capacity for the newcomer and the experienced practitioner alike to make informed choices.
* Outline the technical specifications, design process, and creation of a functional SLED tool for the would-be designers and educational consumers in SL.
* Showcase a compare and contrast session, looking at the variety of tools used for a particular purpose and hold a discussion with the audience.
* Hold a workshop on a SLED tool or product of your choice – providing support and specialized integration assistance as needed.

Select a Session Format:

(a) There are a number of ways that you may present live at SLEDcc in Tampa, FL:

* Tampa Workshops: (90 minutes or ½ day). Get “face-to-face and hands-on” instruction from experts in Tampa (bring your own laptop).
o Pre-conference workshops are specifically for “Newbies” to Second Life, to prepare them for the SLEDcc! Newbie Specialists, please propose something for this pre-conference day long event!
o We recommend at least two facilitators for each workshop.
o Facilitators need to provide all handouts and related materials for attendees.
o Accepted workshop proposers will receive 50% of all workshop fees beyond those recouped for administrative purposes; the other 50% will go toward a fund to provide token compensation for the volunteer staff of SLEDcc.
* SLED Sparks: Present 20 slides in 2 minutes on a SLED topic of your choice.
* Speed mentoring: Teach skills in an informal, practical fashion – by roundtable.
* Paper Presentations: Presentations supported by more rigorous findings.

(b) Additionally, there are a number of ways for you to present within Second Life, itself:

* The SLEDccademy Awards – the “Sleddies”: Select a Strand Theme and develop a SLED build in that category – open for judging by all registered SLED participants (Note: Participants need not register to attend SLEDcc in Tampa to vote on SLEDccademy Award entries). All winning entries will be verified by an Independent Review Board, verifying the popular vote assessments prior to sponsored prize packages being distributed.
* Poster Sessions: create a display of your SLED project, event, or institution.
* Workshops: get “hands-on” instruction from inworld experts.
* Inworld Presentations: Presentations inworld by the leaders of the SLED community. Inworld presentations will follow the same review process and format as the Real Life sessions in Tampa with some exceptions, perhaps, allowed for special circumstances (email slcceducation @ gmail.com with subject line “Inworld SLEDcc Inquiry” to start dialogue with the SLEDcc Committee).

Whether you decide to be LIVE in Tampa or VIRTUAL in Second Life for your SLEDcc experience, you’ll have a chance to participate with the attendees of each – and many sessions will be taped and available for viewing / download later.

Proposals should (SLED Sparks and Speed Mentoring session proposals not included):

1. Clearly state the problem or issue that your proposal will address and to which Strand Theme it relates.

2. Indicate how your work has effectively addressed that problem or issue.

3. Indicate the outcomes participants should expect from your session and examples of how you will facilitate achievement of those outcomes.

4. Describe the strategies you will use to engage participants in discussing, analyzing, synthesizing, and applying the information you will share.

5. Describe how your work might be applied to a particular or multiple sectors of education, i.e. K-12, large universities, community colleges, adult education, Second Life-specific, etc.

6. Include links to relevant Web sites or electronic copies of the materials you will share (electronic copies of materials can be provided later).

7. Be aware that we will provide access to Tampa and inworld SLEDcc participants to ask questions and discuss how the work might be used to help students achieve essential learning outcomes (threaded discussions). We strongly encourage all presenters to be active in the SLEDcc Ning: http://sledcc.ning.com/

8. All accepted SLEDcc proposals will be notified by June 29th. Presenters will be invited to add their materials to the SLEDcc wiki at http://sledcc.wikispaces.com/

How to submit a Proposal:

Submission

· In order to have your proposal considered, please submit it by June 4th, 2008 to slcceducation @ gmail.com using the following guidelines:

o Your proposal should be in MS Word format and submitted via email. The file name should include the name of the primary author followed by .doc extension. If you are submitting multiple proposals, please add a unique number to each filename. e.g. my_name1.doc and my_name2.doc.

o Include the author’s name, title, contact info, and short bio (use the 1st or primary author’s name only in the filename)

- If you are submitting to present in Tampa, FL, your email should use the subject line “Tampa SLEDcc 08“.

· Tampa Workshops: (90 minutes or ½ day). Get “face-to-face and hands-on” instruction from experts in Tampa (bring your own laptop).

o Pre-conference workshops are specifically for “Newbies” to Second Life, to prepare them for the SLEDcc! Newbie Specialists, please propose something for this pre-conference day long event!

o We recommend at least two facilitators for each workshop.

o Facilitators need to provide all handouts and related materials for attendees.

o Accepted workshop proposers will receive 50% of all workshop fees beyond those recouped for administrative purposes; the other 50% will go toward a fund to provide token compensation for the volunteer staff of SLEDcc.

· SLED Sparks: Please provide a brief paragraph extolling your 2 minute lesson.

· Speed mentoring: Please provide no more than one page explaining your speed mentoring proposal.

· Paper Presentations: please submit an extended abstract of no more than 2000 words (full papers will be due for selected proposals due by August 10 at slcceducation @ gmail.com for inclusion in the SLEDcc Proceedings – further instruction to be notified by email).

- If you are submitting to present in Second Life only, your email should use the subject line “Inworld SLEDcc 08”.

· For SLEDccademy Awards entries: please refer to the http://sledcc.wikispaces.com/ space for more information on guidelines, assessment rubrics for each strand, and procedures for the Awards.

· For inworld poster, and workshop proposals, please submit a brief abstract (400-800 words), including a short statement of the key lesson attendees will take away from the presentation.

· For InWorld Presentations: please submit an extended abstract of no more than 2000 words (full papers will be due for selected proposals due by August 10 at slcceducation @ gmail.com for inclusion in the SLEDcc Proceedings – further instruction to be notified by email).

Deadline: All proposals to present at either the SLEDcc in Tampa or inworld must be received by June 4th, 2008

Notification: You will receive a message indicating receipt of your proposal when it is submitted.

Acceptance: You will receive notification of the status of your proposal by Monday, June 30th, 2008.

Registration Fees: All presenters and workshop facilitators attending SLEDcc in Tampa, FL are responsible for the appropriate conference registration, fees, travel, and hotel expenses. Please be sure all presenters added to your proposal have this information and can be available to present at anytime during the SLCC in September 5 – 7 (or Sept 4, if a pre-conference workshop is proposed).

Resources for Attendees of Your Session: Conference attendees like to have resource materials from sessions they attend – whether inworld or live in Tampa. While we encourage all presenters in ANY format to post their materials to the SLEDcc wiki at http://sledcc.wikispaces.com/ we recommend, for those proposing in Tampa, approximately 75 printed handouts for conference-goers.

Please remember: that by submitting a proposal, you agree to register for the appropriate venue (inworld or live in Tampa) if the proposal is accepted and inform your co-facilitators about the proposals status and the need for all presenters to pay respective conference fees if presenting live in Tampa.

Dates to Remember

June 4th : SLEDcc Proposals due by email to slcc @ gmail.com

June 30th: Submitters notified of status of proposals

August 1st: SLEDccademy Award entries open for voting

August 10th: Accepted Paper Presentations (Inworld and Live in Tampa, both) due by email, 5:00 p.m. SLT (Pacific Daylight Time).

Shamelessly stolen from Virtual World News:

Stanford Gets $6M to Research Parallel Processing; Aims at Virtual Worlds

Last month saw Berkley nab $10 million each from Microsoft and Intel to research coding for parallel processors. Now Stanford is set to announce its Pervasive Parallelism Lab with $6 million in funding over three years from Sun Microsystems, AMD, Nvidia, IBM, HP, and Intel. Most new computers already feature multi-core processors, but not all software (or, it often seems, very much of it) is ready to make use of them. Stanford's general goal is to improve programming techniques, but the head of the lab, Kunle Olukotun, says there are three specific areas of focus: virtual worlds, robotics and massive data analysis jobs.

Who is Cory Onderjka, and why should you browse through this amazing silde show? He's the former CTO from Linden Lab, creators of Second Life, and IMO, he's more than just a techie, he's got a handle on the future.

Don't let the 168 slides daunt you; they are all short and sweet. I love this presentation style!

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We had our largest lunch gathering yet today for our monthly brown bag discussions. We spent the majority of the time looking at a virtual world called ProtoSphere by Proton Media. This is the only virtual world available built from the ground up for education and training. We had faculty members from various colleges discussing collaborative opportunities utilizing class projects within ProtoSphere, where different course sections would be responsible for things like designing the learning environment, implementing the environment and evaluating the learning outcomes.

We are currently in discussions with Proton Media for a PSU-specific instance of ProtoSphere. We'll continue to post updates to the EGC blog as talks move forward. Look for an announcement regarding the next brown bag lunch for May (probably the final week of May sometime).