Intellagirl Visits Chicago
13 March 2007Last night, I had the pleasure of hearing Sarah “Intellagirl” Robbins speak at the IAM Columbia College Speakers Series in Chicago last night. (Yes, this was a face-to-face meeting!). See http://rhizome.org/thread.rhiz?thread=24869&page=1#46930. In Second Life, Sarah goes by the avatar name Intellagirl Tully. She teaches a class on the History of English 104 for Ball State University partially within the Second Life environment and is considered a nationally recognized expert in educational applications within Second Life.
Some ideas I picked up from her presentation were:
- The virtual reality environment promotes a “persistent classroom space” that nurtures a community of learners who are able to come together with much more frequency than if they were trying to gain access to a scheduled real-life class space.
- There is an ability to create virtual learning spaces on-demand in virtual reality - creating the perfect space according to the learning needs of a specific educational activity.
- Benefits of using a virtual reality learning environment include promotion of collaboration, creativity, authenticity, community building, and engagement.
We closed with a demonstration and virtual tour of the two Ball State sims within Second Life. I enjoyed seeing the Clock Tower that they created as homage to the real life campus, Sarah’s classroom, and the dormitory spaces created by her students.
Also, thanks to Patrick Lichty, the professor in the Interactive Arts & Media department http://iam.colum.edu at Columbia College Chicago for organizing this event. Columbia College Chicago is about ready to launch their own island within Second Life. We look forward to partnering with them on future projects!
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