Friday, November 30, 2007

December 6, 2007 presentation: Brett Atwood




LEARNING IN VIRTUAL WORLDS

New digital education spaces are emerging through the use of popular virtual world technologies, such as Second Life. These 3D platforms enable participants to cooperate and collaborate on shared learning initiatives using real-time voice, text chat and visual-spatial reasoning skills. Several leading academic institutions, including Harvard and Stanford, have already created globally-networked, 3D “classrooms” that connect students with their instructors via both traditional lectures and unconventional learning exercises that are held “in-world.” This presentation will include a live demonstration of Second Life and a virtual walk-through of some of the more popular education uses, including: distance learning tools, inworld presentation tips, experiential and cooperative learning exercises, in-world research projects and product simulations.

Brett Atwood is a print and online journalist, whose writings have appeared in Billboard, Rolling Stone, Vibe, Hollywood Reporter and other publications. During his five-year stint as new media editor at Billboard, he was among the first reporters to document the development of Internet-based digital downloading and streaming media technologies. His expertise in this area has resulted in numerous analyst and commentator appearances at several national print and TV outlets, including Fox News Channel, MSNBC, CNN, CBS Evening News, USA Today and Wall Street Journal. Brett has held managing editor positions at both Amazon.com and RealNetworks, where he managed and developed editorial content for various Web-based initiatives. In addition, he co-founded Internet music service Rolling Stone Radio with Rolling Stone magazine. He is currently working with Linden Lab, maker of online 3D virtual world Second Life, on various Web initiatives.

2 comments:

Ashley Ater Kranov said...

The purpose of this comment is to offer up some interesting resources that some may wish to read prior or after listening to Brett's presentation on Dec. 6.

I actually hadn't been to interested in learning more about Second Life (since keeping my First Life vibrant and somewhat "kink free" takes up all my time), but after reading the article "Professor Avatar" in the Chronicle of Higher Education in mid-september (http://chronicle.com/weekly/v54/i04/04a02401.htm), my interest was peaked - particularly because the article offers up experiences of professors from a variety of disciplines, such as English, Architecture, and Anthropology. Then, I came across the September 28 WSU Today article that featured Brett Atwood's participation in Second Life.

Nils Peterson said...

Virtual Worlds for Teaching - wrong question

http://www.nilspeterson.com/2007/11/09/virtual-worlds-for-teaching-wrong-question/