Spring Colloquia Success

VCARA Blog

The Spring Colloquia presentation The Student Learning Experience in Second Life: A Panel Discussion [Virtual Worlds Lecture] was a success! Marie Vans (amvans.Lapis), Chris Nelson (Snow Scarmon), Sarah Walker (Veronica Gambara), and Sarah Fihe (Sarah Bookworm) did a fabulous job presenting. Great job everyone!

In case you missed it, here is some information for you:

Abstract:

Join us for an informative panel discussion made up of SJSU SLIS students on learning and creating in Second Life. Students on the panel have taken or worked on the courses “Living in Tudor Times” during fall 2013 or “The Birth of the Renaissance in Florence” during spring 2014. Some have been involved in other learning aspects in Second Life, as well.

These were the topics of discussion:

  • Creating Displays of Virtual Objects and Events
    • ​Marie Vans/amvans.lapis will discuss creating displays of virtual objects for documenting educational experiences. This would include creating machinimas of events and objects in-world for display outside of virtual worlds.
  • Finding Your Inner Avatar
    • ​Chris Nelson will discuss personal identification with your avatar as an extension of yourself; an important component of immersive learning.
  • The Pitfalls of Second Life Learning
    • Sarah Walker will talk about some of the challenges of learning in SL for students. Coming into a new world poses some problems for students that can be easily avoided if planned for in advance. How do we make this new world as comf​ortable as possible for students?
  • The Value of Field Trips in Second Life
    • ​Sarah Fihe will be discussing the value added requirement for different Second Life field trips throughout the course. These trips included visiting in-world libraries and archives, exploring historical role-playing sims, experiencing virtual simulations and immersive learning environments. These trips helped students to experience the wide range of opportunities that Second Life has to offer and at times pulled them out of their course comfort zone by requiring them to explore beyond their island.

A recording of the presentation will follow soon.

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