I have been researching multi-user virtual environments and I stumbled upon the River City Research Project, another virtual learning platform developed by Active Worlds The developers at Active Worlds have created an interactive computer simulation for grades 6 through 9 science students to learn scientific inquiry and 21st century skills. River City Project content was developed from National Science Education Standards, National Educational Technology Standards, and 21st Century Skills. Check out the presentation from the project web site. Click here

River City provides a virtual environment where students travel back in time to a 19th century town that has been besieged with health problems, bringing their 21st century skills and technology with them to help form and test hypotheses about the causes of the illnesses. Navigating an environment that is based upon authentic sociological, historical, and geographical conditions, the students use technology to test their hypotheses from clues and information gathered within the town. There are three different variants of the River City curriculum, guided social constructivism, expert modeling and coaching, and legitimate peripheral participation. Here is the web site.

THE SLENZ PROJECT

Virtual world makes mastering

interview skills  much easier

… when virtual ‘really feels real’

“Fabulous”,  “amazing” and “fantastic” were only three of the superlatives used by the  more than 20  educators and researchers who toured the SLENZ Project’s two builds on Kowhai  in Second Life and listened to commentary from educators, developers and builders during the  virtual worlds’  prestigious, annual Jokaydia Unconference  on  Sunday.

The superlatives were used  by virtual visitors from around the world to describe  the concepts, designs, the builds and the practises being  used in the the SLENZ Project’s two pilot education programmes,  Foundation Learning (Bridging Education), under lead educator, Merle Lemon (SL: Briarmelle Quintessa), of Manukau Institute of Technology, Auckland,  and Midwifery under lead educator, Sarah Stewart (SL: Petal Stransky), of Otago Polytechnic.

The Jokaydia attendees probably  would have been even more blown away had they   been able to watch the Pooky Media [producer Pooky Amsterdam,  director Russell (Rosco) Boyd]  machinima production  on  Foundation Learning, “Foundation Interviewing in Second Life,”  which was placed on general  release on YouTube later that the day.

Jo Kay, herself, one of Australia’s leading virtual world educators, said of  the video, “Impressive! Congratulations too all involved in the project and the video,” and   SL’s PimPeccable commented,  “Brilliant and professional.”

Arwenna Stardust (RL: Dr Clare Atkins) talks to the Unconference visitors.

Inside the  Skill Mastery Hyperdome …  demonstrating a “catwalk” rezzed.

The Skill Mastery Hyperdome, the centre of  the foundation learning  “class space”,  is described by PookyMedia in the preamble to the YouTube video, as “a step into the future, an environment in which students can learn, develop and practise skills that will help them progress on their career pathways and achieve their life goals.”

And it obviously is – and eventually, like the Birthing Centre,  will become the SLENZ Project’s “gift” to virtual world education, having been created under Creative Commons attribution license in OpenSource. It is scheduled to be made freely available  with all bells, whistles, scripts and animations in Second Life on completion of the project.

Foundation students who are use the Hyperdrome build are preparing to enter academic and/or training courses as diverse as nursing, teaching, business, police, travel and tourism, IT, engineering, and social work. Foundation Studies provides the basic building blocks and the scaffolding to enable students to enter and succeed in their selected career pathway.

Acitivites provided in this build are designed to enhance communication skills, specifically the skills needed in an interview situation. These students can  select appropriate interview apparel from Rapungakore (”…you have come to the right place”), the clothing store,  which is part of the Hyperdome.

Noting that irrespective of their ultimate career goal all students will need to develop interview skills and strategies,  Merle Lemon,  has pointed out that the hyperdrome environment allows students to experience virtual interviews, to take on the roles of both interviewer and interviewee, and to develop confidence in answering and asking questions in a professional manner.

“The opportunity to rehearse variations of the interview scenario will lead to further enlightenment through reflective evaluation and deliberation on their own behaviour in action,” she said.

The Manukau Institute of Technology  students, whose reactions are canvassed in the video, find that  the Second interviews “really feel real” with one student even worrying that he was being interviewed for a “real job” which he couldn’t accept accept because of his student commitments.

The SLENZ Project is funded by the New Zealand Government”s Tertiary Education Commission.

The Unconference participants tour the birth centre.

The ELKS Community, coordinated by the BDRA, ran a very successful seminar on the 24th of September from 10.15am – 11.45am British Summer Time. The event was broadcast from the BDRA’s Media Zoo at its new premises at 103 – 105 Princess Road East, Leicester. The speaker was Dr Paul Prinsloo, who is at the Directorate, Curriculum Development at the University of South Africa, one of the Mega Universities with 290,000 students studying at distance. Paul’s seminar was concerned with a social critical model of student retention in distance education in developing country context, a very relevant topic for distance educators all over the world.

I think you will find the seminar very interesting and relevant, so we have recorded the session together with live interactions from participants in the way of a chat box and live questions and answers.

Click on the link below to view and listen to the recording of the seminar. I suggest your skip the first 5 minutes so you want to avoid the bit where we struggled with the technology in the beginning!

https://connect.le.ac.uk/p77186452/

A short introduction to Paul’s seminar follows for those who prefer to read before listening.

Title of the seminar: Understanding student through-put and retention in a higher education developing world context

A short introduction:

The University of South Africa (Unisa) has as its vision “Towards the African university in the service of humanity.” With its almost 300 000 students, Unisa is one of the mega-universities in the world and the largest in Africa. As the only dedicated comprehensive distance education provider in South Africa, Unisa faces unique opportunities and challenges with regard to contributing to realising the dreams and aspirations of a post-apartheid democracy in a developmental state, providing responsible open access to previously disadvantaged individuals and groups in redressing the injustices and inequities of the past and providing sustainable and appropriate student support optimising students’ chances of success.

Most of the current conceptual models on student throughput and retention are developed within the context of residential North Atlantic higher education settings. Although there are some research efforts and proposals specifically dedicated to understanding student retention and throughput in the context of distance education, there is very little research and conceptual exploration regarding the impact of the specific African context on understanding student throughput and retention in an open and distance learning environment.

This proposed social-critical model is the first such conceptual model in a distance education environment in a developing world context. We are of the opinion that the model and its implementation and refinement will considerably impact on enhancing the quality of teaching and learning at Unisa. As such the model is an important and innovative initiative to define, inform, encourage, increase and sustain retention, throughput and active student participation.

About Dr Paul Prinsloo:

Paul is an Education Consultant at the University of South Africa. His research interests include curriculum theory, student throughput, corporate citizenship, sustainability education, teaching about climate change and religious studies. Paul regularly reads papers at national and international conferences and has published in accredited and popular journals on a range of topics including the teaching of corporate citizenship, ethics in business education, curriculum design and factors impacting on the success of teaching and learning in distance education. Paul received an Open University International Fellowship in 2007, the Unisa Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Research in 2008, and a Unisa International Fellowship in 2009.

Happy listening and viewing. I would like to hear your feedback on the seminar (please email me at pe27@le.ac.uk); we will take your suggestions to improve our future ELKS semainrs.

You can join ELKS Community (free!!) at http://elkscommunity.wetpaint.com/

Thank you.

Palitha Edirisingha
27 Sept 2009

Written by: Dr. Mike Matwick

The current change in the Arizona distance education law places Pinnacle Education and its business service group, InnovatED in a unique position. With the implementation of the new law, school districts across the state will be seeking out experienced, high-quality providers of content, infrastructure and support, upon which they will build their own online program.  By partnering  InnovatED, those districts seeking a turn-key solution to their distance learning needs, will be able to leverage the extensive experience, infrastructure and support methods that have been employed since 1999 by Pinnacle Education. By partnering with an experienced provider, with proven systems, school district partners will gain the immediate benefits of distance learning, without the potential pitfalls of growing their own programs.

Ah….convicts! Ahh…convict cannibal!!  Ahhhh…convict cannibal movie!!! This is Australian history teaching paradise. I haven’t seen the film yet, but go here for the trailer of the movie Van Dieman’s Land. There’s also an interesting interview with the director and lead actor about the film.

If you are a Massey University student (on-campus or extramural) or are considering becoming one, there’s a lot to be gained from dropping in to one of the University’s ‘Staying on Track’ road shows.

These take place annually at a number of towns and cities throughout NZ.  They run from 3.00 pm until 8.00 pm and you can simply ‘drop-in’ – there’s no need to book.  Each event is an opportunity to gain advice on Massey’s papers and programmes; your career plans (if any) or simply to check that your studies are ‘on track’.

For more information, and the schedule of roadshows for 2009, see:

• Staying on Track 2009

I discovered that a member of the literature seminar I’m participating in this term drives in, I overheard him say, from New York. And he drives back the same evening, after class–that’s about 4 hours each way.

And I thought Brookline was a schlepp.

I commute to Harvard Square from work in the Back Bay,  on the green and red lines. I can usually manage a few pages of reading on the way in. Since I finish work at 4PM, and my class begins at 5:30, I can fit in a quick trip to one of the Harvard libraries before class, if I need to.

On the way home to Brookline, often I prefer the train over the bus, especially if it’s cold out, though a bus line runs directly from Harvard Square to about a block from where I live. (The bus stop in Harvard Square is near the churchyard across from the Harvard gate nearest to Massachusetts Hall, and if I’m taking the bus home, I like to pay my respects as I stroll by to one of its occupants, Washington Allston, Harvard class of 1801, and one of America’s most important painters. The Boston neighborhood of Allston is named for him.) I rather like the extra minutes on the train to decompress and read a bit more.

I suppose even a 4-hour commute can become routine. Commuting time, long or short, routine or varied, is a good opportunity for reading–or if you are driving and need to focus on the road–for reflection.

I haven’t yet taken any courses online. I likely will, eventually; but I think I may miss my commuting time.

Winning the ALT Learning Technologist team award of the year wasn’t the only reason why the ALT conference in Manchester was truly enjoyable. Inspiring keynotes, highly interactive seminars, effective networking and loads of fresh ideas made this event a success.

Martin Bean’s keynote address was excellent. There was one point, however, that I would like to challenge. Martin said that he’s had many discussions with high-profile politicians such as Education ministers. Martin referred to them as “idiots” for even contemplating the idea of giving laptops to schoolchildren on a large scale. He cited some of the issues associated with programmes such as One Laptop per Child – challenges we have known for years and that are unlikely to go away, especially in the developing world. These include pedagogy, technical support, training for staff, logistics and designing for online environments. But more to the point, wearing his previous hat, maybe he didn’t like it that those devices do not contain Microsoft software?

We know that many politicians’ agendas may have little to do with benefiting children or enhancing education through appropriate uses of technology. We also know that with a few additional elements in place, the impact of projects like OLPC can be significantly amplified. David Cavallo’s keynote address in ALT-C 2008 may provide a few answers to Martin’s concerns.  

I was born and bred in Uruguay, where a version of OLPC is running and will be extended to other aspects of learning technology and connectivity. Despite my own initial doubts (in line with Martin’s), I can now see that the project has changed the lives of many children and families – forever. How the change has taken place and how it continues to take place has been extensively documented and is a matter for another blog post – suffice it to say that 4 years ago you never saw children sitting with their laptops outside their schools on a Saturday afternoon. Now there is something in the air that attracts them there: a wireless signal… and a range of skills that most of those kids will need in future but didn’t have before.

Sorry, Martin, much as I enjoyed your presentation, I cannot agree with you on this one. Giving a $100 laptop to each child does not make someone an idiot. In fact, it could be money very wisely spent.

A. Armellini
15 September 2009