Archive for November, 2024

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Class 7: Abyss Observatory

November 27, 2024
Photo Barbara Collazo

Another field trip this week: we visited the Abyss Observatory where Delia Lake brought us on a tour of this science museum / aquarium of the Earth, marine life, undersea technology that inspires a sense of wonder for the deepsea world. This included seeing various ecosystems recreated accurately with appropriate flora and fauna. Delia explained the impact of human intervention on these environments and how they are changing due to the heating of the oceans. There is so much to see in this very detailed and extensive sim that Delia invited us back to explore further in our own time. Everyone is welcome anytime.

There were a few issues with the sound and some participants experienced occasional drop out. So, here is a recording of this field trip from last year’s class which covers much of the same ground.

Recording courtesy of Sitearm Madonna.

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Class 6: Online communities and relationships

November 20, 2024

We had the field trip to Virtual Ability Island (VAI) this week where we were welcomed by Gentle Heron who outlined the history and raison d’être for the community. Following this we broke out into five groups, each one led by a member of the VAI team, for an opportunity to have a discussion about the functioning of the community. The small groups made it easier for the students to ask questions and learn a little more about the members of VAI, why they joined, and what they get from being members.

For those who may have missed the class or would like to review the content you can see a recording this field trip from November 2021.

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Class 5: From Hammer to Pixel

November 13, 2024
John O’Connor / Acuppa Tae introduces the work of Marshall McLuhan. Photo Barbara Collazo

This week the class met at the VWEC Eduverse Fireside Deck for a talk on the 20th Century media theorist from Canada, Marshall McLuhan. If you missed it you can view a video of the talk from February 2023. We were joined again by our friends from Çağ University, Prof Murat Gülmez (aka Magua) and Ersin İnal (aka Ginger) along with their students.

The Virtual Worlds Education Consortium (VWEC) hosts the VWEC Eduverse, a space for educators and educational institutions across Second Life. The Fireside Deck is a communal space used for informal meetings, a series of Fireside Chats where issues of interest to teachers and educators can be discussed (with groups meeting to chat in English, Spanish and Polish), and the VWEC Metaverse Expert Series featuring talks by educators and academics with expertise and experience of teaching in virtual worlds. The series is available to review on YouTube with the full schedule of presentations freely available.

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Class 4: Metaliteracy and digital citizenship

November 6, 2024
Valibrarian talks about literacy in the digital age and digital citizenship. Photo Barbara Collazo

We were joined by the Turkish students from Çağ University for this week’s class. Valibrarian presented on metaliteracy and digital citizenship introducing us to the topics addressed in her 2020 book book Metamodernism and Changing Literacy: Emerging Research and Opportunities. Following the main presentation we teleported to a ‘dark room’ to learn about the dark side of digital existence. Then, to finish on a bright note Val invited us to the Community Virtual Library for a lively discussion on the issues raised in her talk.

The dark side of the metaverse… Photo Barbara Collazo
The class concluded in the Community Virtual Library with a lively Q&A session. Photo Barbara Collazo

We were joined by PhD reseacher from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte who is looking at education in the metaverse. She invited the students to take part in a focus group to provide data for her research.