Week+8

=Week 8 - June 21 - June 27=

Designing Immersive Learning Spaces: Delivery & Construction Part 2
Now that we have a good overview of how educators from around the world are using Second Life, let's look a little more closely at the pedagogy of immersive learning environments, and specifically, what makes good learning spaces in THIS virtual environment. Different platforms have different affordances, but few virtual worlds offer as many open ended options for novice and amateur content creators as Second Life, and as many opportunities to create **//student-centered pedagogy//**. This week we'll discuss the design of specific types of learning spaces, including role play, self-paced tutorial, and student created activities/projects.

Though most of us have no intention of becoming 3D modelers ourselves, having a basic grounding in construction techniques in a virtual world like Second Life can give us some sense of the effort required to create a virtual learning space. In the second half of the class we will practice our building skills and learn about making objects in Second Life interactive with sample scripts.

__**Second Life Locations**__

University of Manitoba in SL Bowling Green State University's DJ Lounge Ohio State University's Testes Tour University of Cincinnati Student Projects

__**Readings**__

Bronack, Stephen et al. “[|Presence pedagogy: Teaching and learning in a 3D virtual immersive world.]” //International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higer Education// 20.1 (2008): 59-69. Vander Valk, Frank. [|“Identity, power and representation in virtual environments].” //Merlot Journal of Online Learning and Teaching// 4.2 (2008). 14 May 2009 <[|http://jolt.merlot.org/vol4no2/vandervalk0608.pdf>].

__**Assignments**__


 * Reflection**

Forums Post 11: Are you convinced that "presence pedagogy" is an effective approach to using virtual worlds for teaching and learning? What lessons can we take from the authors' experiences in the virtual world that might also apply to "real world" learning? From a critical perspective, what are some likely pitfalls to this approach?

__**Project Work**__

Project/Paper 2: Matrix form and instruction guides are **due June 28, 2009 at midnight EST** to fleep.tuque@gmail.com. Final documents should be in either .doc and .xls format OR in Google Doc "Document" and "Spreadsheet" format. Username to invite is fleep513@gmail.com for Google Docs only.