NMC Campus Observer

NMC Campus Teachers Buzz Sessions 2008

CDB Barkley (aka Alan Levine) : Jan 3, 2008 12:27pm

Ah, a fresh new year, and we are pleased to have the next four NMC Campus Teachers Buzz Sessions scheduled in advance. These meetups are open to anyone interested in using SL for teaching and learning, and range from open discussions on topics like avatars & identity or play/work aspects of virtual worlds to tours of places such as Jokaydia, NOAA, Timeline History of Earth and Life and even celebrating Halloween at the British Gothic Literature sim.

Upcoming Buzz sessions include:

Jan 7 4:00pm PST: Orientation Experiences We’ll meet at NMC Orientation to discuss strategies, ideas for orienting new users and providing ongoing support for all SL users. NMC has set up a Second Life account registration site for creating new avatars- when they log in they end up at NMC Orientation rather than the wild and crazy Second Life Orientation Island.

We provide the “quick and easy” orientation basics, but also offer expanded ones designed as place one might return to for more learning. We certainly don’t think we have this completely perfect yet, so we’re looking for ideas. Explore the four different orientation paths we’ve put here, visit the educators resources, and then we’ll re-convene at the cafe for some discussion.

When Jan 7 4:00pm PST (check local time)
Where: NMC Orientation (68,107,32)

Jan 21 9:00am PST: Vetting Second Life Learning Materials: MERLOT’s SaLamander Project with Wainbrave Bernal (aka Jonathon Richter, University of Oregon). “The project mission is to enlist people to collaborate to find, index, and discuss aspects of the 3D Virtual World “Second Life” that has educational value and share in the research, development, and training opportunities associated with those factors.” learn more…

Location TBA.

Feb 4 4:00pm PST: Show Us Your Gadgets! Demo and share free tools developed for.by for educators. Location NMC Labs (sandbox)

Feb 21 9:00am PST: Virtual World Project @ Otis College of Art and Design Associate professor Mrags Writer (aka Michael Wright) took three Classes of Otis digital sophomore students in world where they developed and created content based on class-developed themes. The project, which was created on the Otis Island, required team building, out of the box creative thinking, introducing students to working with 3d & 2d virtual tools, working with a budget (3000 lindens per class), and working with a limited amount of building blocks (3100 primitives per class). Three hours of in-class time and 10 hours of outside of class time were devoted to this project. None of the 55 students had second life experience. The themes developed were “Heaven and Hell”, “Pirates and Atlantis” and “Lost World and Mythology”. The results of this project can be viewed in world, Second Life, at the Otis Island (128,128,0). Wright will lead a tour and answer questions.

If you have an idea or something you’d like to lead/share for a future Buzz session, just add it to our planning wiki.

Story filed under: Teacher's Buzz,Teaching and Learning

See all stories by CDB Barkley (aka Alan Levine)