Virtual Environments: Is one life enough?

A new intake of students will start on the module on Thursday 9th February. They will come from the School of Art, Design & Printing at DIT through the Optional Module Programme for Fine Art and Design and also from other parts of the Real World and Second Life through Dublin Virtually Live. If you are not a registered DIT student and would like to take the module please email sitearm (at) gmail (dot) com for application details.

New participants should read through this blog to get a sense of what the module offers and, in particular, read page 8 (see column to the right) titled ‘Getting into Second Life’ to make sure your pc is up to spec. You will also find details on joining Second Life, which you must do before the first class.

All participants must also friend Acuppa Tae and Locks Aichi in Second Life saying that you intend taking the module.

If you are new to Second Life it is a good idea to explore the environment before the module starts. You should be familiar with moving your avatar around, interacting with others and be able to use voice inworld. You will not receive technical tuition on Second Life during class time – it is up to each participant to learn how to live, act and behave in the environment in advance.

Acuppa Tae and Locks Aichi look forward to meeting you next week!

The DIT module ‘Virtual Environments: Is one life enough?’ won the Learning Without Frontiers 2012 Award in the United Kingdom. There were over 150 entries across three categories of awards which were considered by a panel of judges. The DIT module was one of only two finalists presented for public voting in the Further and Higher Education Innovation category.

The winners were announced during the LWF Awards evening hosted on January 25th at Olympia in London as part of the LWF12 Conference and Festival.

The Awards celebrate international practitioners, learners and participants who have excelled in the use of disruptive platforms for radically improving learning and teaching by demonstrating genuine innovation and best practice that can be shared among colleagues.

‘Is one life enough?’ was developed by John O’Connor of the School of Art, Design & Printing and Claudia Igbrude of the Learning, Teaching and Technology Centre and has been delivered as an elective since February 2009. The module is taught entirely in the online virtual world Second Life supported by Facebook, blogs, Twitter and other online social networking tools. In 2010 DIT built a virtual campus in Dublin Virtually Live and continues to deliver the module in this vibrant cultural community space. It attracts participants from DIT and also from around the world and hosts guest lecturers from the global academic community.

In the module students learn to:

• Access online virtual environments and networking communities to carry out specific activities;
• Create and manage their presence in virtual spaces;
• Establish and maintain virtual relationships;
• Explain how the regulations and conventions operating in online virtual environments and networking communities support the creation and management of content;
• Describe the potential outcomes from creating content;
• Apply this knowledge to create and exploit original content for online virtual environments and networking communities.

In their acceptance speech O’Connor (known as Acuppa Tae in Second Life) and Igbrude (Locks Aichi) thanked the Learning Without Frontiers team, the judges and all those who voted. They also paid tribute to all those who work to support the delivery of the module such as the team behind Dublin Virtually Live particularly John Mahon (Ham Rambler), James Neville (Sitearm Madonna) and Lisa Feay (Elfay Pinkdot, host of the SL radio show Coffee and Pajamas) and all the participants and guest lecturers who have been instrumental in making the module a success.

London based designer Jean English accepted the Award on behalf of DIT.

The new optional module for students on the Fine Art, Visual Communication, Interior and Furniture Design, and Visual and Critical Studies programmes begins on Wednesday 5th October at 8.00 pm. All those intending to join the module should read all the information on the ‘Pages’ to the right of this post. It is particularly important that you can access Second Life and are familiar with how it works. Explore the world and have fun finding out how to get around, meet people, buy stuff etc.

Tae and Locks look forward to meeting you in Second Life.

“Teaching in Second Life” workshop on Tuesday 21st June at 2.00pm by Acuppa Tae and Locks Aichi

The aim of this workshop is to introduce participants to teaching in a virtual environments such as Second Life. The workshop assumes a basic level of familiarity with Second Life which can be acquired by completing the prerequisite exercise that takes about half an hour (see instructions below).

Tae and Aichi have been delivering the undergraduate module “Is One Life Enough?” entirely in Second Life for the last three years. The module won the 2010 Jennifer Burke Award for Innovation in Learning & Teaching and has been presented at international conferences in Ireland, France and China. It has attracted students, who attend class from the UK, US in addition to Ireland.

You can read more about joining Second LIfe here: https://virtualenvironmentsmodule.wordpress.com/8-getting-into-second-life/

Prerequisites for the workshop:

1. Go to www.secondlife.com
2. Join (this may take a few attempts so persevere!)
3. Complete the Orientation Island Tour
4. Email your Second Life name to claudia.igbrude(at)dit.ie and john.oconnor(at)dit.ie by Friday 17th June at 5.00pm
5. Await further instructions by email!

This module will be offered again in October 2011. If you are interested in taking part keep an eye on this blog for further details on how to apply, schedule of classes etc.

The module  starts back today at 8.00Irish time which is 12noon SL time and we will also be  using the hashtag #ditsl on twitter.

We will be at the new Aungier street  location inVirtual Dublin

Please try to be in in SL at least about 10minutes before time to make sure your audio, and all elese is working okay.

When you get in, search for Acuppa Tae  and/or Locks Aichi and request that they teleport you to the location. You will need to ientify yourself in your message or request for TP.

For non-DOT participants, please register by contacting sitearm@gmail.com 

Thanks and see you inworld!

This optional module for third year students of Art, Design & Printing @ DIT will commence on Wednesday 6th October. If you would like to sign up for it please read page 8 which explains how to get into Second Life and get set up. You will also need to email me with your full name and the programme you are on.

The national award for innovation in teaching and learning has been won by this module. John O’Connor was presented with the Jennifer Burke Award 2010 at the EdTech Conference in Athlone Institute of Technology on May 20th. Accepting the Award John thanked Claudia Igbrude, with whom he delivers the module and the Learning and Teaching Technology Centre at DIT for their support. Claudia and John also delivered a paper at the conference, titled ‘Is one life enough?’ where the development of the module was described.

“Virtual Environments: Is one life enough?” has been shortlisted for the 2010 Jennifer Burke Award for Innovation in Teaching and Learning. The award was established by Dublin City University and the Irish Learning Technology Association (ILTA) to recognise and reward innovative practice in Irish teaching and learning. Five nominees from across the Higher Education sector were invited to present their submissions to the panel of judges on 21st April at The Helix in DCU. The rigorous process involved individual presentations to each of the five jury members, including one of last year’s winning team from Trinity College Dublin, followed by an interview with the full panel. John O’Connor and Claudia Igbrude are very happy to have received this level of recognition for the innovation demonstrated by the module.

Karlin Lillingon, the technology journalist, was also on the jury. She writes about the experience in her Irish Times column.

The announcement of the winner will take place during the EdTech 2010 Conference in Athlone Institute of Technology over 20th and 21st May.