If you’re interested in the use of virtual worlds in education and immersive learning, it’s always a challenge finding good research papers on the subject.
Which is why I was so excited today when I discovered Olle Sköld’s paper “The effects of virtual space on learning: A literature review.”
It’s a fantastic resource full of great references and summaries, and it’s also very timely (was published in Jan 2012). Best of all, the full paper is freely accessible online.
Like many people, I work full-time from home. Most of my workday is spent immersed in a technological web of online communication and 3d simulation. Which means I’m mostly sitting in front of my computer.
When assembling a home office, I think it’s critical to have a great chair. Not “okay.” Not “good enough.” If you consider the fact that your health literally depends on the ergonomic quality of your chair, you’ll realize you need a GREAT one.
Marianne Riis works at the Multi-User Virtual Environments Research (MUVER) Lab at Aalborg University Copenhagen in Denmark.
She’s teaching a class focused on interpersonal Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) this spring, and recent topics have included avatar-based communication.
Marianne decided to bring her 89 student class on a field trip into my demo Jibe world. Here’s her detailed report.
I think it’s fantastic when educators share experiences like this. It helps educators and students learn from each other, and it also helps virtual world platform providers learn how to make their technology as useful to educators as possible.
Thank you, Marianne!
Marianne Riis and her students visit my Jibe world
-John “Pathfinder” Lester
Chief Learning Officer
ReactionGrid Inc.
Follow the Sun 2012 is a free online conference that runs from March 27-30. Here’s a summary from their website:
“Digital Futures Institute, Beyond Distance Research Alliance, Athabasca University, and our commercial partners are proud to provide this year’s 48-hour, online learning festival at no charge to all participants. The theme of this year’s conference moves beyond educational technology to examine knowledge development and exchange across the disciplines.”
I’ll be giving an online presentation on Thursday March 29th at 2:30am EDT (yes, that’s 2:30am). The topic will be “Integrated Reality and Next Generation Virtual Worlds.”
Here are my slides on SlideShare to give you a preview of what I’ll be talking about, and I’ll update this blog post with a recording of my presentation after the conference is over.
Update 3/29/2012: Here’s the recording of my presentation.
–John “Pathfinder” Lester
Chief Learning Officer
ReactionGrid Inc.
The Institute for Digital Intermedia Arts (IDIA) at Ball State University is a research and design studio exploring virtual reality, simulation, games and interactive interfaces.
IDIA been commissioned to design and build a virtual presence and artworks for the upcoming Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University.
And they’re building it with ReactionGrid’s Jibe platform!
For more information, check out IDIA’s project website.
–John “Pathfinder” Lester
Chief Learning Officer
ReactionGrid Inc.
Be Cunning and Full of Tricks 