Which reminds me. Would it be useful if I made my script library
available for free for educational use? That's basically anything listed
under:
https://www.xstreetsl.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&MerchantID=99200
It's all own-time stuff (not work time), and is designed primarily to
appeal to content creators in-world, but it might be useful for builds,
large-scale script examples, or UI design/criticism.
Short term, I'm happy to hand out items individually to people on this
ML, but obviously if I was going to make it widely available I'd need a
proper distribution system...
Miller, Peter wrote:
> I noticed that Phil Barker is canvassing opinions on distributing Open
> Educational Resources (OERs) in the context of the recent JISC OER
> programme. http://blogs.cetis.ac.uk/philb/2009/10/19/platforms-for-oers/
>
> As far as I can see (and I haven't looked far), only the OTTER project
> at Leicester seems to be doing anything with SL and their approach seems
> on the surface to be pretty minimalist:
>
> http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearning/oer/otter.aspx
>
> I was wondering whether this might be a topic for this list and/or the
> Tuesday meetup? It seems to me that a lot of folk are producing, for
> example, widgets at the course and sub-course level that might be of
> value elsewhere. People are remarkably generous in SL in terms of making
> stuff available and locating said stuff is part of the fun of being new
> in SL but equally can be rather time-consuming.
>
> The questions I would pose are can we:
>
> * usefully define what might constitute an OER in this context
> * act strategically to disseminate such content and information regarding it
> * work constructively with others engaged in the same dissemination
> activity, both in SL and the 2D web
> * plan ahead for what is likely to be a more open metaverse in the future
>
> Oh yeah, and put some stuff on Phil's wiki.
>
> Best wishes
>
> Peter [SL: Graham Mills]
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* For anyone working in education with an interest in virtual
> worlds [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Virtual World Watch
> [[log in to unmask]]
> *Sent:* 20 October 2009 10:33
> *To:* [log in to unmask]
> *Subject:* [VIRTUALWORLDS] Choosing virtual worlds for teaching and learning
>
>
> There's a new report out from Virtual World Watch, containing
> contributions from academics in the UK:
>
>
>
> "Choosing virtual worlds for teaching and learning in UK Higher
> Education"
>
>
>
> You can download it from:
>
>
> http://is.gd/4sbZM
>
>
>
> Summary
>
>
>
> Virtual World Watch asked previous respondents to snapshot reports
> – UK university and college academics who develop and use virtual
> worlds – what worlds they used and why they chose them. Second
> Life and OpenSim were mentioned or used by most respondents.
>
>
>
> Second Life is attractive due to its constant development over six
> years, there is no need to acquire a server or significant local
> technical support, the large community of experienced
> practitioners, and the variety of already-created objects and
> structures that can be quickly re-used cheaply or for free.
>
>
>
> OpenSim is attractive because, compared to Second Life, ‘land’
> does not carry the same expense, there are fewer security issues,
> there is no dependence on a single commercial vendor, and it is
> easier to configure how private your environment is; content can
> also be ported from Second Life.
>
>
>
> Apart from Second Life and OpenSim, over a dozen other virtual
> worlds or environments were mentioned; of these Metaplace and
> Forterra’s OLIVE appeared to pique more interest and use, from an
> educational perspective, than the others. Some respondents had
> examined a range of virtual worlds. Sensibly, organisations such
> as St Andrews University are examining these from the perspective
> of the educational or project requirements, rather than the
> attributes of the particular virtual worlds.
>
>
>
> Several respondents contributed their criteria lists (given in
> this report) for evaluating virtual worlds. A few are creating or
> using more complex frameworks: the Open University, for example,
> is developing a matrix of virtual world needs containing around 70
> weighted criteria.
>
>
>
> However, examining just one virtual world from the perspectives of
> teaching, learning, build, functionality, security, stability and
> many other criteria of importance to academics is not a trivial
> operation. Consequently:
>
>
>
> 1. Some academics, though they would like to examine more virtual
> worlds, tend to default to examining just one or two options due
> to a lack of time/resource. Usually, Second Life or OpenSim is one
> or both of these.
>
>
>
> 2. Many UK universities are, independently of each other,
> examining a range of virtual worlds. This time- and
> resource-consuming operation results in a significant amount of
> duplicated activity across the sector.
>
>
> Recommendations
>
>
>
> 1. It would assist other academics in making a more informed
> choice, and reduce the significant amount of duplicated activity
> across UK higher and further education, if institutions would
> rapidly disseminate their virtual world comparative findings. As
> virtual worlds are being developed at an extremely fast pace, the
> traditional academic timeline for dissemination is of no use; a
> matter of weeks, rather than months or later, and such information
> becomes outdated.
>
>
> 2. A number of similar responses indicate a common need for an
> OpenSim – or similar – platform for current and prospective
> virtual world users and developers in UK higher education who do
> not have server and technical resources. As well as providing a
> low-cost environment with relatively high (and configurable)
> security and privacy, such an option provides a ‘back-up solution’
> for previous and ongoing work created in worlds such as Second
> Life. Whether this could, or should, be provided by an academic
> institution or consortium, or by a technology services company, is
> a debatable point; ReactionGrid appears to go someway towards this
> requirement.
>
> Access the list, archives and filestore via the web on
> http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/VIRTUALWORLDS
>
> Access the list, archives and filestore via the web on
> http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/VIRTUALWORLDS
>
Access the list, archives and filestore via the web on http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/VIRTUALWORLDS
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