Colleagues/
Academics: Big Virtual World TrailBlazers
/Gerry
Chronicle of Higher Education
May 8, 2008
Co-Founder of Second Life Says Academics Are Biggest Trailblazers in
Virtual Worlds
Cory Ondrejka, the co-founder of the virtual world Second Life who is
now a visiting professor at the Annenberg School for Communication at
the University of Southern California, said in a speech today that
virtual worlds are here to stay, and that professors are among the most
active pioneers.
*I view the academy as having been the blazing trail of adoption of
virtual worlds far more than gamers or industry,* said Mr. Ondrejka,
who spoke at a conference at Case Western Reserve University called
Collaboration Technology and Engaging the Campus 2008.
[ http://www.case.edu/its/collabtech08/collabtech08.html ]
Naturally, the event was broadcast within Second Life, in Case
Western*s campus in the virtual world. I attended the conference
virtually, and was able to ask Mr. Ondrejka what the biggest challenge
for Second Life was in being able to be more than just a passing fad in
higher education.
[snip]
Mr. Ondrejka said that when professors first build a virtual campus,
they usually try to exactly replicate a classroom in Second Life, with
desks, chairs, and walls. But then they realize that the world allows
different kinds of movement and communication than the real world.
*You realize that in a world where you can fly, classrooms aren*t
really that useful,* he said. So professors have built new kinds of
classrooms online with no roofs. *Suddenly you see this explosion of
classroom forms that matches what they*re trying to teach,* he
added.
[snip]
-Jeffrey R. Young
[
http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/2983/co-founder-of-second-life-says-academics-are-biggest-trailblazers-in-virtual-worlds
]
OR
[ http://tinyurl.com/5epelp ]
/Gerry
Gerry McKiernan
Associate Professor
Science and Technology Librarian
Iowa State University Library
Ames IA 50011
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