Virtual Worlds (Second Life, etc.)

The future of 3D Technology

May 12, 2010

A guest post providing informative insights into the future of 3D computer technology. This week, I welcome Andrew Barras, Instructional Designer at Full Sail University, and author of the blog “Education Stormfront“. Andrew has been a 3D Modeler, Computer Programmer, Web Designer, and Professor over the course of the last 15 years. His post discusses [...]

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Google’s Liquid Galaxy Project – too cool not to share

March 3, 2010

Holy Holodeck! Imagine being able to virtually travel the earth in 3D. This is a prototype product at this stage, and it is not focused specifically on education, but man is it cool! Seriously though, there’s no doubt this type of tech could play a constructive part in the instructional process. Of course, this assumes that affordable commercial [...]

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10 Examples of Useful Second Life Resources for Educators

July 6, 2009

This week I will wrap up the series of posts I published throughout June, focused on Internet based Virtual World technologies as they are being used in Education today. As I researched current VW tech options for education, it became apparent to me that Second Life remains the most widely known and used VW app. Additionally SL is readily accessible by users worldwide (unlike some other VW technologies which are more proprietary in nature). Today’s post concludes this series by providing examples of Second Life worlds that could potentially by useful to educators.

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Three great YouTube videos about Educational uses of Second Life

June 29, 2009

Hey everyone, this week I am on vacation with my family, and unfortunately, the Internet connection at the scenic Powhatan Resort here in Williamsburg, VA hasn’t been working since I arrived here on Saturday. I’m going to have to postpone my final post in my series on using Virtual Worlds in Education until next weekend. In the meanwhile, here’s a few great YouTube Videos about using SL for educational purposes:

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Using Second Life for Educational applications

June 21, 2009

The 3rd part in a series of posts looking into the use of Virtual Worlds in Education After spending the last two weeks researching what’s going on with the use of Virtual Worlds in education related applications, I came away feeling that Second Life (abbreviated ‘SL’ from here forward) is by far the predominant tool in this [...]

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Cool insight into the future of virtual worlds & virtual reality

June 17, 2009

During my research over the last two weeks into Virtual Worlds and their use in education, I came across this incredible video demonstration of Lionhead Studio’s Project Natal. The gaming company has created a truly interactive virtual world environment, where people can interact with a very real seeming young boy named Milo. This is absolutely amazing – so much so that I simply had to mention it here, as my mid week post.

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Using Virtual Worlds in Education (Part 2)

June 14, 2009

Investigating VW alternatives to Second Life, for educational applications Last week, I focused on education related uses of the premier Virtual World application – Second Life. This week I am looking into other Virtual World environments that are being used for education and instructional applications. There are dozens of Virtual World applications in existence today, and some have areas devoted specifically to use [...]

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What’s going on with Virtual Worlds in Education today?

June 7, 2009

Exploring current uses of Virtual World tools in educational applications

Over the next few weeks I want to catch up with what’s been going on in the fascinating world of “virtual world” tools (like Second Life) and how these tools are being used in educational applications.

Second Life remains the “gold standard” in Virtual World applications, but there are many other VW tools available, and we will consider some of those in our exploration. When I first experimented with Second Life a year or so ago, the laptop I had at the time was pretty old, and it …

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