69 Learning Adventures in 6 Galaxies

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69 Learning Adventures in 6 Galaxies

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SECOND LIFE, FOR REAL!

Interview to Kyle Mauer (aka Frank Spearman)

Yesterday I had a very interesting conversation with Kyle about using SL in the classroom. SL can be very overwhelming for people who have never been in SL. That's why our aim for the first session would be to have our students create their avatar, adjust their appearance and take a tour around orientation island to learn the basics of getting around SL. As homework, the teacher could ask their students to come back to class with a photo of an interesting place they found, an interesting object, some money, to add the other classmates as friends and/or pick up freebies.

When students feel comfortable in SL it is interesting to set up a building task. The building of simple objects such as beds, carpets, paintings and windows don't require advanced building skills. If you are interested in learning how to build Linden Lab has a great library with tutorials on how to build. The Academy of Second Learning has free workshops on how to build.

Another important issue to bear in mind is that students can use Flickr to upload the pictures they take in SL or Slideshare to upload a power point presentation and watch it in SL. Skype is also available. I have never used any of these gadgets myself but I am going to do so soon!

Project

Well, it seems that I will be teaching English II, which is the subject I wanted to try a Second Life project with - in September. This course will take place three days a week at 8.30 in the morning which is perfect to meet online with the students in Japan.

Also, I've been looking for a program that makes screen recordings for my project. I tried Camstudio but had problems with my computer. Graham Stanley kindly told me about a free program called "Fraps". I tried it this afternoon and it's great: it's very easy to use, my computer doesn't freeze and it's free. I think that the free version only allows you to make short recordings, if you want longer recordings you have to pay some money but it isn't much.

And, most important of all, I finally got a small sim renting it through NMC Campus. I am very exited. I'm looking forward to see what I can do there!

Netvibes

A few days ago I discovered a very useful tool called Netvibes. It's like having your personal desktop on the web, you can keep track of all of the blogs or podcasts you are subscribed to, keep track of your emails in your different email accounts, subscribe to newspapers... It's great because you can see everything you are subscribed to with one glance and you decide where you want to put each item on your web page. Check it out: Netvibes

Presentation

Hello,

My name's Cristina I'm an EFL teacher interested in computer assisted language learning and teaching. I am currently doing my PhD and I am focusing my research on Second Life. I am also interested in web 2.0 and how it's revolutionizing our way of learning, teaching and socializing. I am going to be writing about what I encounter during this process and I welcome any suggestions or comments you may have! :)