Upcoming Events
Past Events
Media Archive
Registration History
|
|
NERCOMP EVENT
Second Life Users Group (SLUG): Virtual Worlds for Teaching & Learning
 Printer Friendly Version
|
This is the first meeting of the Second Life Users Group-- the SLUGfest!
Most colleges and universities have just begun to look at or dabble in virtual worlds like Second Life. This event will provide a brief introduction to Second Life for those who have only heard about it, as well as demonstrations of some of your colleagues' early projects and experiments in using this environment to support teaching and learning. We will end with a discussion panel to answer your questions about implementation and
practical issues.
Workshop Organizer/Host: Steve Taylor of Vassar College
Date/Time:
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
9:00am - 3:00pm
Registration begins at 8:00am
Location:
Four Points Sheraton Hotel and Conference Center
1125 Boston Providence Turnpike
Norwood, MA
Click
Here for a Map
Click Here for Directions
Special instructions:
Pricing:
NERCOMP Members: $95
Non-Members: $195
By clicking on the "Register" button below, you are indicating a commitment to attend and will be held responsible for the registration fee.
Your fee can be refunded if you notify us of a cancellation at least 8 days prior to the event via email to nercomp@nercomp.org.
|
Additional Information
Event Schedule:
8:00am - 9:00am Registration and Coffee
9:00am – 10:00am The Evolution of the Internet: Using "Virtual Worlds' to Enhance Teaching, Learning and Scholarly Research
Speaker: Bret Ingerman, Vice President for Computing and Information Services, Vassar College
In the 1990s the World Wide Web went from being an interesting technical concept to an essential communication tool. Yet despite the fact that the present iteration of the web involves a good deal more interaction (think of wikis and blogs), the online experience remains a relatively solitary one. The advent of new “virtual world” software provides us with online environments that are fundamentally more social and immersive than has been possible previously.
The popular press has begun to write extensively about virtual worlds software in general, and Second Life (from Linden Labs) in particular. Indeed, many schools have begun to establish outposts in these virtual worlds to see just how these environments can support their educational mission. The present crop of virtual world software, such as Second Life, provides a rich set of easy to use tools that allow anyone to create and manipulate a virtual environment than can then be experienced by others singly or collaboratively, in real time. The possibilities of using such environments to enhance teaching, learning and scholarly research are limited only by the imagination.
This session will examine the various technologies that have converged to make virtual worlds a viable platform for exploration. We explore what Second Life in particular has to offer, compare and contrast it to other present and emerging technologies, and discuss the opportunities tools such as Second Life present to us. We will also spend some time discussing the legitimate concerns that some have expressed about virtual worlds, from their “adult” or “commercial” nature to the real-world potential for social isolation that it can lead to, and see how or if those concerns are different in virtual worlds as compared to other internet based tools.
No prior experience is necessary to attend the presentation: all that is needed is inquisitiveness.
10:00am - 10:10am Break
10:10am – 11:10am Art Mecho: Building a Virtual Art Museum in Second Life
Speaker: Christopher Bolton, Assistant Professor of Japanese, Dept. of Asian Studies and Program in Comparative Literature, Williams College
We will describe a collaborative project between faculty, students, and instructional technology staff at Williams College to design and construct a virtual art museum in Second Life.
The build, called the Art Mecho Museum (http://artmecho.org), is devoted to interactive art that highlights the relationship between work and viewer in animated and sequential art, especially Japanese manga (comics) and anime (animation). It is designed as a kind of pedagogical laboratory to test theoretical ideas about the reception of animation, by forcing the viewer to animate him or herself as s/he encounters the art, and to think about what this means.
The museum was designed by Williams faculty member Christopher Bolton and built by students at the college, with support from instructional technology staff. During the presentation, Prof. Bolton will describe the ideas behind the project--focusing on the pedagogical opportunities SL affords for literature, film, and theory courses. Jonathan Leamon and other IT staff will describe the process of building the museum, which was constructed by student interns who had no previous exposure to SL, in a series of short, intense virtual barn raising sessions over the summer.
11:10am - 12:10pm The Virtual Sistine Chapel
Speaker: Steve Taylor, Director, Academic Computing Services, Vassar College
Vassar College created a replica of the Sistine Chapel in Second Life, which was immediately inundated with visitors. It has been described in numerous of blogs, and snapshots had been posted at flickr.com. Eight weeks after its debut, there had been more than 3,000 visits. This presentation will show the site and include a discussion of the challenges of replicating art and architecture in a virtual world.
12:10pm - 1:00pm Lunch
1:00pm - 2:00pm Interview with an Avatar: Real Tales of Second Life and The Life Academic
Speaker: Dennis Moser, Digital Services Librarian, Bridgewater State College
Second Life may or may not represent the future of education. Making the choice of how you will be involved means understanding the options available to you and what better way to learn of them than by talking to users of this exciting environment? The presentation will cover the mechanics of using SL, discussions with active participants as to the positives and the negatives of working in and using the environment, possible future directions evolving from the current environment, and how end-users can be more directly involved in guiding and shaping those futures through such developments as the Open Grid Forum and OSGrid.
2:00pm - 3:00pm Experiential Learning in Second Life
Speakers:
Hilary Mason, Johnson & Wales University Hilary Mason, Assistant Professor, New Media and Computer Science, Johnson & Wales University
Mehdi Moutahir, Department Chair and Director, Johnson & Wales University
Imagine learning business planning by opening your own store, conversational French by meeting for tea in Morocco every Tuesday afternoon, or cell biology by tagging along for a day with some mitochondria. Virtual environments make these experiences – and more – accessible and affordable. This vast expansion of opportunities leads to new methods and models of teaching and learning. We’ll discuss best practices for creating immersive learning experiences developed through the creation of Virtual Morocco, a platform for cultural exchange and promotion of tourism, Virtual BLAST, a scientific ballooning educational project, and a new Experimental Entrepreneurship intiative.
3:00pm End
Speaker:
Bret Ingerman
Bret Ingerman is the Vice President for Computing and Information Services at Vassar College. He serves as the chief technology officer and as a member of Vassar’s senior administrative team. Computing and Information Services (CIS) is responsible for all aspects of technology at the College including computing, telecommunications, networking (both data and voice), audiovisual, and retail computer (and computer related) sales. CIS supports all members of the Vassar community in the use of technology to support and enhance teaching, learning, research and administrative functions.
Prior to coming to Vassar, Bret was the Chief Technology Officer at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Prior to his work at Skidmore, Ingerman held several positions at Lewis & Clark College, in Portland, Oregon where he ultimately served as Assistant Vice President for Information Technology. Bret also held several positions at Syracuse University, including Manager of the Advanced Applications Group.
Bret received an M.S. degree in behavioral neuroscience/experimental psychology and a B.S. degree in psychology from Syracuse University. He has taught graduate courses at both Lewis & Clark College and Syracuse University, and has served as an academic advisor at Skidmore College.
Active professionally, Bret is immediate past Chair of the Board of Directors of the Consortium of Liberal Arts Colleges (CLAC), an organization comprised of many of the top liberal arts colleges in the United States. Bret has also served on the Board of Directors of NERCOMP.
Speaker:
Christopher Bolton
Christopher Bolton teaches Japanese literature and comparative literature at Williams College. His research centers postwar and contemporary Japanese fiction and Japanese animation. He has a BA in engineering as well as a PhD in Japanese, and is particularly interested in the intersection and interaction between science and literature--especially the fuzzy boundaries of what we call literature, and the ways technology is forcing us to rethink those boundaries. He is co-editor of _Robot Ghosts and Wired Dreams: Japanese Science Fiction from Origins to Anime, with Istvan Cicsery-Ronay, Jr. and Takayuki Tatsumi, and associate editor of Mechademia, an annual volume for writing about Japanese manga, animation, and fan cultures.
Speaker:
Dennis Moser
Dennis Moser is the Digital Services Librarian in the Clement C. Maxwell Library at Bridgewater State College. His background is in both rare book conservation and digital media. His time in Second Life is divided between being musical performer giving regular concerts and being there as a librarian.
Speaker:
Hilary Mason
Hilary Mason is an assistant professor in both the New Media and Computer Science departments at Johnson & Wales University. She holds degrees from Grinnell College and Brown University, and has wide research interesting, from web applications to interaction design and learning through technology. She can be found as “Ann Enigma” in Second Life.
Speaker:
Mehdi Moutahir
Mehdi Moutahir is an assistant professor at the college of business and the director of the Larry Friedman International Center for Entrepreneurship. Originally from Morocco, Mehdi has lived in Sweden, France, Morocco, and of course the United States. In addition to an MBA in International Trade from Johnson & Wales University, he is also a Certified Quality Improvement Associate with the American Society for Quality.
Speaker:
Steve Taylor
Steve Taylor has over 20 years of experience in the instructional computing field. He earned his EdD in Instructional Technology from Teachers College, Columbia University. He has been an instructional computing consultant at a private K12 school and at Emory University and is currently the Director of Academic Computing Services at Vassar College.
He has been a member of the NERCOMP Board of Trustees and the Annual Conference Programming Committee, and was chair of the NERCOMP 2006 Conference.
Related Media Files:
Contact Information:
Lisa DiMauro
860-345-2081
ldimauro@nercomp.org
Hotel Information:
Rooms are available at the Sheration Norwood, the conference location, for $125 per night, standard queen guest room.
To make reservations contact the Sheraton Norwood at 781-769-7900 and request the "NERCOMP Room Block". The room block will be released on September 17th.
Technical Requirements:
|
|
NERCOMP reserves the right to use any photographs or other mechanical recordings taken at NERCOMP events in promotional materials.
No mechanical recordings of any kind may be used at NERCOMP events without the prior written consent of NERCOMP organizers and presenters.
The views and opinions expressed at NERCOMP events do not necessarily reflect those of NERCOMP, nor does NERCOMP make any representation regarding the information presented at NERCOMP events.
|
|
|
 |
|
EDUCAUSE
Read more about our affiliate organization, EDUCAUSE
and how we all work together to further the cause of using technology to
improve academia....
|
|
|
|
Board of Trustee Election
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
The Board of Trustees election is complete. We are happy to announce that the following people have ...
|
|
|
|