I'm done I'm done I'm done!

I just finished up my report. I'm keeping my fingers cross I've done everything correctly. I found out a lot about Second Life, that's for sure! I'm now going to let my report ferment overnight and go back and read it tomorrow to find all my stupid mistakes, like missed words. I love it when I do that. It makes me sound like Yoda. Report lot of work, tired I am.

Bloggily yours,
Jill

Winding up

I'm putting it all together this week. It's coming together nicely. There is a lot of work involved, that's for sure. The using the advanced search features really helped refine my search. I'm slightly concerned that I'm not putting the project together properly, but I'm following the instructions to the last letter, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I'm over half done writing the final paper. I hope to have it completed by Wednesday, I'll let sit over night and re-read Thursday. Anyway, that's my plan, the plan is mine...

Deep Search - Good Results!

Google Scholar Search
________________________________

How I'm searching
Advance Results with "distance education" and exact phrase "Second Life"

Your Second Life is Ready
http://www.nr.edu/itp195/articles/web-captures/SecondLife-Popular-Science-Magazine-Sep06.pdf

http://statewideit.iu.edu/resources/101_SL_Apps.pdf
101 Uses for Second Life in the College Classroom

http://tesl-ej.org/ej39/int.html
Second Life in Education and Language Learning

http://www.simteach.com/SLCC06/slcc2006-proceedings.pdf#page=34
SECOND LIFE AS AN EDUCATIONAL ENVIRONMENT: A STUDENT
PERSPECTIVE

----------------------------
How I'm searching
Advanced Results with basic "All Word" match

Life-Squared
http://documents.stanford.edu/MichaelShanks/36


Minds on Fire:
Open Education, the Long Tail,
and Learning 2.0
http://foruminnova.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/minds_on_fire.pdf

Situated Learning in Virtual Worlds:
The Learning Ecology of Second Life
http://www.adulterc.org/Proceedings/2006/Proceedings/Hayes.pdf


Exploring Virtual Librarianship: Second Life Library 2.0
http://www.infoisland.org/drupal/files/SLL20-IRSQ.pdf


Evaluation of a Pilot Use of
Second Life in an English Course:
http://web3.cc.utexas.edu/academic/mec/publication/pdf/fulltext/SecondLife.pdf


Virtual Copyright: The Applicability and
Ownership of Copyright in Second Life
http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1017&context=dlps_fac_pub


Second Life: an overview of the potential of 3-D virtual worlds in medical and health education
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/118001785/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0

Whose on Third in Second Life
http://basie.exp.sis.pitt.edu/1904/1/Who's_On_Third.pdf

Eric Search Results
_______________________________________

How I'm searching
Advanced Search Results


Basic Search Results:

Best Results

• Educators Get a "Second Life" (EJ798512)
• Immersive Education" Submerges Students in Online Worlds Made for Learning (EJ783425)
• Understanding Project-Based Learning in Second Life with a Pedagogy, Training, and Assessment Trio (EJ810419)
• Proceedings of the Second Life Education Workshop, Part of the Second Life Community Convention (1st, San Francisco, California, August 18-20, 2006) (ED493670)
• The Homeless Professor in Second Life (EJ787643)
• . A Second Life for Distance Learning (ED501107)
• Inside Linden Lab: Second Life [TM] for Educators (EJ803590)
• New Directions in CALL: An Objective Introduction to Second Life (EJ809380)

• Multi-User Virtual Environments for Education and Training? A Critical Review of "Second Life" (EJ792161)

• . Web 2.0, Synthetic Immersive Environments, and Mobile Resources for Language Education
• Virtual Worlds? "Outlook Good" (EJ810817)
• Shared Electronic Spaces in the Classroom: Copyright, Privacy, and Guidelines (EJ774633)

(EJ809379)

Challenging Week

This week has been rough. I have a huge project for work due by Tuesday night, I was only given notice about it on Wednesday, so I've been working all weekend on that. This is usually my homework time. Since THAT project is my bread and butter it has priority. Plus I have a really bad cold - which really STINKS. My time is cut in two because I have to stop and blow my nose, sneeze, cough lungs out or just stare mindlessly at the computer screen because I'm in a Tylenol Sinus induced stupor.

I'm still struggling with 2nd Life. I really don't like it all. It seems really rather clunky to me. I had my kids play with it too, thinking they're probably quicker at picking up the gaming features than I am. They did have a little more success but they didn't like it either. I sat by them while they did it (because not all the people in Second Life play nice) and they seemed to struggle with the same basic functionality I did. My conclusion is pretty much the same. I think we're a ways off using this program as a true virtual classroom. That being said I do think there is something to be offered in terms of giving people some sort of visual identity in the classroom. An icon of sorts that travels with them wherever they are working with in the class.

Another HUGE flaw with Second Life is the installation eats up a huge amount of hard drive space. That would be a real drawback of students, especially if they were only using it in one class.

Interestingly, many, many colleges and universities have sites on 2nd Life as well as a number of course management companies. The project that I'm working on for my first life (ha) is in the Angel Platform - they too have 2nd Life site.

Well I'm on vacation next week and I'm hoping to get the bulk of my project done then (Whoopee!). If you're reading my post - I hope you have a great holiday! Enjoy your Thanksgiving!
signing off - Jill

Off and running

I've got a few good leads....

http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a749174136~db=all

http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ778625&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=EJ778625

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/mcb/240/2007/00000035/00000001/art00006

Wikipedia to the rescue!

http://docenti.lett.unisi.it/files/11/13/4/7/Second_Life___Wikipedia__the_free_encyclopedia.pdf

What would I do without Wikipedia? This so VERY helpful and my search efforts.

Second Life Seminar

I've signed up for access to http://secondlifegrid.net/slfe/education-use-virtual-world\
Using Virtual Worlds in Education Programs - I will use this a one of my resources. I'm not very confident in moving around. We'll see how it goes.

Easier Virtual Reality sites?

I'm trying to find an easier Virtual site than Second Life - to get use to this. I must be the dork of second life. Most of the time I just stand there and people walk up to me stare at me and walk on. OR they walk right through me or fly above me. It's actually kind of creepy. I think I'll try this one http://www.there.com/. The problem is the downloads are HUGE

Assignments

My research question:

What is the feasibility of virtual reality teaching using virtual reality forums such as Second Life?

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For MY information

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Final Project Option 3: Conduct an Online Database Search

The purpose of Option 3 is to go beyond basic online searching by applying advanced searching skills in an online database such as ERIC.

Task

Your task for this option is to develop a research question, and then use an online database to identify journal articles and other resources that will assist you in writing a literature review for your question. You don't need to write the literature review; you just need to identify articles that you would use in a literature review. Your Final Project will consist of your research question, database choice, search strategy, and annotated bibliography of your search results.

Process

Follow these steps to complete your Final Project:

1. Review these guidelines for the Final Project.
2. Complete Quiz 4 by October 31. Do not go any further until you have done this!
3. Develop a research question.
4. Select an online database that is relevant to your topic. For example, use ERIC to search for education related topics. Use ABI/Inform for business or management related topics.
5. Submit your research question and your database choice to me for approval before continuing with the project. Do not omit this step!
6. Conduct your online search in the database of your choice. Make sure you use advanced search features including:
• Truncation
• Set building
• Field searching
• Quotation marks
• Proximity searching
• Other search features that may be available in the database of your choice
7. Identify at least 10 articles that are on your topic.
8. Submit a report with the following:
• A description of your research topic.
• A description of the database you selected, including why that database was selected.
• A description of the search strategies you employed. Make sure you include the actual search statements. VERY IMPORTANT: Online searching is an iterative process. I will be looking at how you revised your search to build off of previous searches. What search strategy worked? How did that impact subsequent search statements?
• Annotated bibliography of the articles you have selected.
  • Make sure you use APA format for your bibliography.
  • Your annotations should be original. Do not use existing abstracts.
9. Submit your report via email to me no later than December 12.
10. Post your research question and a summary of your search strategy, or other useful information to the Final Project Discussion by December 12. Do not post your entire report.

Conclusion

Congratulations! You have finished your Final Project. Now you may have a start on a paper for EIS 500, your thesis, or some other project in your studies.

This assignment is in three parts.

• Part A: Work with the class to edit a Frequently Asked Questions document for IDT 516.
• Part B: Develop your own web portal that incorporates Web 2.0.
• Part C: Journal your progress as you complete your Final Project.

Part A: Frequently Asked Questions

Your task for this assignment is to work with everyone in the class to identify questions about the class, and then answer them. Ultimately, the class will have a document that can be shared with each other and future members in the class.

Process

Follow these steps to complete Part A:

1. Think about questions you or others in the class may have had about this class.
2. Go to the FAQ wiki: http://idt516faq.pbwiki.com/.
3. Log in to the wiki with your email address and type "idt516" as the password.
4. Review the questions currently in the FAQ.
5. Do at least one of the following:
• Add a new question to the list. Make sure it is a unique question! Do not answer this question yourself. Then answer at least one of the questions that has not yet been answered.
• Do both of the following: a) revise or edit at least two other existing answers; and b) improve the structure of the wiki (reorder the questions, create new headings, add links, add formatting, etc.).
6. Complete this assignment no later than November 7.

Part B: Web Portal

Your task for this assignment is to develop your own web portal using the NetVibes service.

Process

Follow these steps to complete Part B:

1. Start with your list of links from Assignment 3.
2. Go to the NetVibes site at: http://www.netvibes.com.
3. Create a new account on NetVibes.
4. Customize your NetVibes portal by doing the following:
   1. Create a new NetVibes Tab.
   2. Add at least 10 of your Assignment 3 web sites to your tab.
   3. Include links to other Web 2.0 services, such as blogs, YouTube, etc. (Review Module 4 for more information about the different services.
   4. Your tab should have a total of at least 15 different resources.
5. "Share" your tab (i.e. your portal) with me no later than November 10. (Do this by clicking the "Tab Options" and selecting "Share this tab.")
6. Feel free to share your site with others in the class as well. (This is not required.)

Part C: Journal Blog

Your task for this assignment is to provide a weekly update of your progress on your Final Project.

Process

Follow these steps to complete Part C:

1. Review the Final Project guidelines.
2. Create your own blog using Blogger https://www.blogger.com/start.
3. Email me the url to your blog no later than October 31.
4. Record your progress on your Final Project in your blog. This should be a weekly update to your blog beginning the week of October 31 and ending the week of December 12, for a total of at least 6 updates.
5. At least once a week, from November 3 to December 12, visit at least one classmate's blog and post a comment.
6. Your last post to a blog should be completed no later than December 12.

Signing Up for Second Life

We'll I signed up for Second Life. It's a HUGE program. I have no idea whatsoever what I'm doing.
I just picked a generic avatar and I tried to customize her to look more like me and I made a mess out of it. She looked like a mutant with bad dye job. I've figured out how to move around and go to different spots, but I mostly walk around like a moron. People are flying by me all over the place. Most people look REALLY funky. There was one fellow who I couldn't quite figure out if he was in a body suit or naked. He sort of look like an albino with a wild mop of hair and cool sun glasses. I decided to stay away from him, as he frightened me. I'm going to see if my sixteen year old can help me figure out the ins and outs of this. It seems like SIMS and she knows how to work that program. My son figured out how to go to Paris. Cool. I don't think it's a good idea for them to go on this site without my supervision though, there seems to be a lot of weirdos = :-O

Project Title

Today I have submitted my request to research the topic of Higher Education and Virtual Reality environments the future of online teaching.

I'm only beginning to become in "Second Life" which is an intriguing virtual world. Colleges, Universities, as well as a number for corporations are beginning to utilize this tool in very innovative ways. I wonder if next logical step of online learning and training will truly be a virtual classrooms with avatars representing us.