Online learning has developed at an incredible rate in recent years and new models and approaches have lead to a plethora of options to the point where learning is becoming a ubiquitous element of the web and our social networks, with everyone having access to a plethora of resources.
This means but a lot of these models are hosted in a very flat, passive participatory style. Interesting concepts begin to arise when the world of learning is combined with the developing ideal of virtual worlds. Models such as Second Life and Sony's new virtual world 'Home' developed as a simpler version of Second Life for their new PS3 console.
These virtual worlds are only going to develop and improve, and although the current dominant model of Second Life has it's flaws, it is in its infancy, and is simply laying a foundation of possibilities for future models and future releases.
Virtual Learning in Virtual Spaces aims to investigate this balance between virtual and real life learning environments and how the two can become this balanced hybrid.
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Our first event took place on Thursday March 15th 2007, hosted in the real world by Ravensbourne College in Kent, UK, and in Second Life in cooperation with The Clinic Design Group. The lecture was a talk by BBC Backstage concerning the state of New Media and the future of broadcasting.
Click on the images below or click on the video links to see a trailer, the lecture or an interview with Ian and Matthew.
>> Trailer from the event
>> Interview with Ian and Matthew
>> The lecture from Second Life (2 Parts)
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Student Documentary
The project also formed a segment of a project by Stefan Wojciechowski, a documentary exploring "Creativity In The Workplace" and the process of education. This is a blurb from Stefan on the project:
"The documentary I am proposing tackles these issues by seeking out entrepreneurs on Second Life, highlighting the utilisation of creativity within the metaverse, explaining it, how it can be used, and bringing this to the wider population.
The project will also endeavour to explore the education of the residents of Second Life that appear on the documentary. This means decifering what education is, what learning skills are, and acknowledging what can be learnt in the changing environment around us.
This will also mean broadcasting a lecture onto Second Life to get a glimpse of the power the internet (namely S.L) can now bring educationaly, possibly with the view of making previous forms of education and communication redundant."
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