Second Life and Emerging TechnologyUsing Tomorrow’s Technology in Today’s Teaching

AJ KeltonDirector of Emerging Instructional Technology

College of Humanities and Social SciencesMontclair State University

Then Now

Teachers

Students

Then Now

Teachers

Students

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Second Life

AJ Kelton / AJ Brooks

What is it?

What is Second Life?

Officially Launched in 2003 (beta in 1999)

“Second Life is a 3-D virtual world entirely built and created by its residents.”

An opportunity for people to interact in a way that conveys a sense of presence lacking in other media.

Second life is NOT a game - there are no rules or a fixed goal-oriented purpose.

What is Second Life?

10-15K sign ups daily - over 14 million total

30 - 60K residents on at one time - avg 50K

over $1 million spent daily (real US dollars)

Well over 300 educational institutions with thousands of meters of land dedicated to education

Walk into a story

Always “On” Content

ENWR 105:18Introduction to College Writing I

ENWR 105:18• The technology use was required

• Notification prior to the start of classes (MWB / MWH / MWO)

• Full support from the Department

• Open and Clear Communication

• Email prior to class starting

• Posting syllabus prior to class

• Expectations clearly outlined in syllabus

• Expectation of use

• Expectation of access

Assignments• Explore NMC’s Orientation Island

• Group work

• Info Island field trip

• Research and share relevant SL places

• Alternate meeting place

• Library research (RL and SL)

• Friends, Groups, and Landmarks

• Final Project: Dorm

What does it take to teach a technology rich class?

• Relevance

• Planning

• Flexibility

• Experimentation

• Research

They can open search engines and visit my pre-selected urls.

I control the environment.

They receive tasks to accomplish (whether I am with them or not)

Students write essays on Notecards and deliver them to me via an “inworld email” system or deposit them in items.

Their Notecards can be as long as they need to be.

Collaboration

Princeton

The Sistine Chapel Vassar

Genome Island

NOAA

Spaceport Alpha and Delta

Abbott’s Aerodrome

Renaissance Island

The Second Louvre

San Francesco Assisi

Business

For discipline-specific uses of SL in the class:

“101 Uses for Second Life

in the College Classroom”

Dr. Megan S. Conklin—Elon Universityhttp://trumpy.cs.elon.edu/metaverse

Immersive Education InitiativeCombines highly interactive experiences with the learning environment in order to

engage students is ways that traditional education has not been able to do.

THE EDUCATION GRIDPROVIDING SERVICES WITH

SECOND LIFESUN’S PROJECT WONDERLAND

BUILD CUSTOM VIRTUAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTSHOSTED BY THEM OR LOCALLY.

NODES ON THE EDUCATION GRID.

THE EDUCATION GRIDCOMBINES HIGHLY INTERACTIVE EXPERIENCES WITH THE LEARNING

ENVIRONMENT IN ORDER TO ENGAGE STUDENTS IS WAYS THAT TRADITIONAL EDUCATION HAS NOT BEEN ABLE TO DO.

HTTP://IMMERSIVEEDUCATION.ORGIMMERSIVE EDUCATION DAY AT PUC

SEPTEMBER 27TH, 2008

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AJ Keltonsorry.afk@gmail.com

http://www.sorry-afk.comSecond Life: AJ Brooks

Twitter: sorry_afkFacebook: AJ Kelton