Workshop Materials

by Kim Hampton and James Rickman

Kim writes: I am creating a workshop Web site as part of a professional resource we are developing at Bedford/St. Martin's (an academic publisher). I am interested in providing a forum for teachers to exchange, share, comment on, and post workshop materials for community use. One topic I'd like to include is "Teaching in a Virtual Environment."

Has anyone created a collection of workshop materials that address this topic, specifically how to teach in SL? We would love to work out a deal where these materials could be posted to our site. Please let me know if you have anything you'd like to contribute.

James replies:

http://www.njit.edu/v2/CCCC/VC/Papers/Teaching.html

http://www.teachingquality.org/pdfs/tlnvirtualchat.pdf

Eduserv "Virtual worlds, real learning?" Symposium 2007

by Nick Noakes (from Eduserv listserv)

Subject: Eduserv "Virtual worlds, real learning?" Symposium 2007
Powerpoint slides and streaming media

The Powerpoint slides and streaming media from the Eduserv Foundation
"Virtual worlds, real learning?" Symposium 2007, which was held on the
10th May, are now available from the Eduserv Website at the following
location:-

http://www.eduserv.org.uk/foundation/symposium/2007/presentations

Article on teaching styles in SL

by Carol H Tucker

In Second Life Insider:

http://www.secondlifeinsider.com/2007/05/23/teaching-styles-in-the-sl-community-case-study-asl-hairmakin/

Automatic Chat Tools for lectures and tours

by Ross Perkins

Both the SpeakEasy HUD tool by Dudeney Ge and the Serial Chat Feeder 2.0 HUD by Janor Slichter are available for free in the "Scripted Gadgets" vendor at the ICT Library on Info Island.

Serial Chat Feeder: Tool 10 of 19
http://ictlibrary.googlepages.com/icttools_chatfeed

SpeakEasy: Tool 17 of 19
http://ictlibrary.googlepages.com/icttools_speakeasy

Short overview: one wears the HUD (appears in top left) and, via the edit tool, drag & drop a notecard you've created into the Contents folder. Upon exiting the Edit screen, it's ready to use! Touching the HUD device makes the text (on the notecard you've created) appear. The Serial Chat Feeder (version 2) now allows the user to load up to 3 card and choose between them.

I have used the chat tool in the past - it is TREMENDOUS help for facilitating conversation, as the bulk of the talk/tour can be activated with a simple click, allowing one to answer questions, call on audience members, send IMs, rez objects as needed, and so on.

Note: When send a long line of text via the chat tool, have a good feel for how long it takes your audience to read it ... otherwise you "sound" like a Yankee (fast talkers) and folks around have a hard time keeping up, especially noobs who do not know how to access their chat history screen.

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ICT Library on Info Island

http://ictlibrary.googlepages.com

SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Info%20Island/51/206/34
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The Audio Channel: Basic questions answered

From a SL newbie:

"I am looking for someone with great patience to walk a relative newbie through what is involved in streaming audio into a parcel. I'm not looking for a stream that is set up already, but one where I can designate what is being streamed, to include live voice (for presentations, etc...). "

From an Expert

Some info...

Live audio streams must be in mp3 format to play on the music channel; I always test the stream first in iTunes or Media Player.

In SL, you need to have rights to edit your land; look under the About Land menu, media tab. You paste the URl into the audio field, which activates the music player for the parcel.

How the streaming is generated requires a service that can generate the stream (usually something you pay for), and you connect your audio sources via a tool that can do Shoutcast style communication form your audio source to the streaming server. We've done this via just the mike in a computer, via a device that bridges from a telephone (so guests can be on a conference bridge), or Skype.

Some details on our methods from NMC are at

http://cogdogblog.com/2006/08/20/we-can-all-be-radio-stations/
http://cogdogblog.com/2006/12/20/audio-casting-setup/

by Alan Levine of NMC

SLEDBuilders Listserv

If you are in charge of building a campus or designing instruction in 3D, I invite you to join the _SLEDBuilders_ mail list.

http://lists.simteach.com/listinfo.cgi/sledbuilders-simteach.com

Did you know...

• Info Island Archipelago is funded by a diverse set of grants and the International Spaceflight Museum was co-founded by a PhD in Aeronautics?
• The two tiers for builders and scripters? Whether you buy services with micropayment or contract with professional who accept university POs, fees range from $5/hour to $80+. Fully decorated university sims are running $10,000-$20,000?
• A four-sim corner will accommodate nearly 100 avatars and may be rented by the day for as little as $40?
• The ICT Library has a demonstration rezzer tool that will let your faculty choose from dozens of classroom settings at the touch of a button?
• Stanford University has a private island used only for research and MIT purchased their island in a unique way after dealing with some legal issues with the TOS?
• You can find campus squatters in skyboxes by "Disabling Camera Constraints" and peeking up there?
• You can log visitors to your email account with a simple script and then offer them membership in your marketing group?
• Creating a "Student Peer Mentor" program may help your faculty get in and comfortable?

These are the kind of issues we will be discussing on SLED Builders.

Posted to SLED Listserv on 10-MAY-07 by Jeremy Kemp