Critical engagement of teachers in Second LIfe: Progress on the SaLamander Project

Slide 1: Critical engagement of teachers in Second Life: Progress of the Jonathon Richter, Ed.D. Center for Advanced Technology in Education Second Life Community Conference Chicago, IL: August 26th, 2007

Slide 2: Teaching and learning in Second Life • Use the SL Interface to manage by wandering around... •SLED listserve •SimTeach • New Media Consortium • International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) • SL Campuses, Groups, blogs, collections, and libraries

Slide 6: http://www.simteach.com

Slide 10: The Salamander Project • $10,000 from the NorthWest Academic Computing Consortium (“proof of concept”) • UofO’s CATE partnered with MERLOT, Sloog, Eloise Pasteur, and YOU! • To create a searchable database and typology of Learning Materials in Second Life to enhance teaching and learning.

Slide 11: SaLamander Project: a true “mashup” operating at the boundaries... • Bridging 3D Immersive World of SL and the 2D WWW • A marriage between “fixity and flexibility” • Between formal and informal learning • Crowd-driven folksonomy + professionally invested typology • Personal + public Center for Advanced Technology in Education, University of Oregon (2007).

Slide 12: SaLamander Project: three step design goals (1) Identifying things inworld with Sloog and other personally useful tools; (2) Describing and rating SLED items with Media Wiki to enhance the Community of Practice (3) Evolving a Teaching Commons in MERLOT Center for Advanced Technology in Education, University of Oregon (2007).

Slide 13: InWorld Tools for tagging Learning Materials Center for Advanced Technology in Education, University of Oregon (2007).

Slide 14: Media Wiki Community of SL Educators to organize, describe, and vote on Learning Materials

Slide 15: MERLOT - http://merlot.org > 17,000 materials 50,000 members 3D + all other types of learning objects! Center for Advanced Technology in Education, University of Oregon (2007).

Slide 16: Creating a Teaching Commons for SL: The Carnegie Foundation's idea of a \"teaching commons\" in which a community of faculty that are committed to enhancing the scholarship of teaching and learning can exchange ideas, best practices, discuss policy changes, and promote pedagogical innovations for their students. Center for Advanced Technology in Education, University of Oregon (2007).

Slide 17: Community Building tools • Ease of nominating sites of interest • Creating services of personal value • Process for SLED Community to discuss, edit, and develop tags and typology dimensions themselves • Ability to tie formal learning situations to typology development practices and findings Center for Advanced Technology in Education, University of Oregon (2007).

Slide 18: Tags & descriptors Your fave SL tags page Enhanced SLED Community Top-rated peer reviewed SL stuff Peer reviewed stuff

Slide 19: Engagement Types • Demonstration • Experiential • Diagnostic • Role Play • Constructive • Collaborative Center for Advanced Technology in Education, University of Oregon (2007).

Slide 20: Learner Engagement Type I: Demonstration SL learners engage with learning objects through observation and demonstration most closely aligned with real- life traditional educational experiences. e.g. Spaceport Alpha, vPortfolios University of Oregon  Center for Advanced Technology in Education

Slide 22: Learner Engagement Type II: Experiential Differs from a demonstration in the degree to which the student is immersed in the Learning Materials. SL Learner is enveloped or immersed using multiple modes of input (sound, color, texture, etc.). e.g Virtual Hallucinations, NOAA University of Oregon  Center for Advanced Technology in Education

Slide 24: Learner Engagement Type III: Diagnostic SL learners interact with a simulated environment designed to promote inquiry, analysis, and identification. Formative or summative assessment tools are necessary e.g. Heart Murmur Sim, Archetypal Cavern University of Oregon  Center for Advanced Technology in Education

Slide 26: Learner Engagement Type IV: Role Play SL learners on personas enabling them to learn and engage through interaction with a story or narrative aligned with a specific character. • critical and or historical inquiry • the self personified in situated contexts • community / relationships / situations e.g. Caledon, The Pot Healer, The Canterbury Tales, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle University of Oregon  Center for Advanced Technology in Education

Slide 27: The Pot Healer Image downloaded from: http://slgames.wordpress.com/

Slide 28: Learner Engagement Type V: Constructive offers SL learners access to information through hands-on experimentation, discovery, and creative building and problem solving. e.g. Global Kids projects, Primtionary University of Oregon  Center for Advanced Technology in Education

Slide 30: Please join the SaLamander Project! • Log on and register as a member of the Wiki Community • Edit entries & the typology: let it reflect how you see things as a teacher and learner • Add your favorite SLED spots and creations • Vote on entries • Engage in discussion on the Wiki pages • Watch for new tools, an inworld showcase, and events!

Slide 31: The Future • Sloog Education HUD release: Fall 2007 • Improvement of the SaLamander Wiki • MERLOT SL Teaching Commons • Other news: watch the wiki! Center for Advanced Technology in Education, University of Oregon (2007).

Slide 32: Thank You! Center for Advanced Technology in Education, University of Oregon (2007).

Slide 33: Thank You! Inworld IM: “Wainbrave Bernal” Center for Advanced Technology in Education, University of Oregon (2007).