Professional Research Group for Educational 3D worlds

by Jonathon Richter

We're looking for more people that belong to (or that can soon join) the American Educational Research Association (AERA) - for a Special Interest Group (SIG) especially for 3D Virtual Worlds, such as Second Life.

http://www.simteach.com/wiki/index.php?title=ARVEL

The Applied Research for Virtual Environments for Learning (ARVEL) special interest group at AERA, " is a community of educators, scholars, and practioners dedicated toward research in and on virtual environments. Using a variety of research methods, we support a diverse approach to understanding the optimal use of virtual worlds and environments for educational purposes. We're interested in developing a comprehensive research agenda, intended to encompass the breadth and scope of learning potentialities, affordances, challenges, and shortcomings of immersive virtual learning environments. "

We must have at least 30 members of AERA to qualify for this SIG - and demonstrate how we are a unique research community in need of a SIG.

Guess What?!? We have 29!

The next member of AERA to commit to paying the $10.00 annual fee will have the honor of fulfilling the minimum number of signatories necessary for our September 15th application. It will then be time for a small celebration - though I would like to continue the campaign until we reach between 60 and 100 signatories.

A healthy SIG for Multi-User Virtual Environments will need an active membership: the number of presentation sessions granted at the annual conference is determined somewhat on the number of proposals submitted through the SIG.

Please consider joining AERA if you are a Second Life resident and higher education faculty member - and sign up for ARVEL!

You can do so by editing the wiki here http://www.simteach.com/wiki/index.php?title=ARVEL