Packing Slip 
item |
Learning in Virtual Worlds: Second Life(s) for Learning |
contact |
Shelley Rodrigo (Mesa Community College) rrodrigo@mail.mc.maricopa.edu |
college(s) |
Mesa Community College |
discipline(s) |
English, Media, Film |
summary |
I researched, read, and explored Second Life, in May and June, Mesa, AZ. I also dialogued with colleagues about the uses of virtual worlds in the teaching of writing while attending the 2008 Computers and Writing conference, May 22-25 in Athens, GA. |
details |
During this summer project I researched and explored the uses of Second Life, a web-based virtual world, to facilitate the teaching and learning of written communication as well as media studies. I did my own research and reading of the use of virtual worlds in education in May and June in Mesa, Arizona. • I bookmarked the majority of the materials I read at: http://delicious.com/rrodrigo/secondlife I also dialogued with colleagues about the uses of virtual worlds in the teaching of writing while attending the 2008 Computers and Writing conference from May 22-25 in Athens, Georgia. • I blogged about attending the conference at: http://www.committedtechnofile.com/index.php/travel/category/C11/ Finally I spent (not nearly enough) time exploring Second Life by logging in, wandering around, and participating in various events. ------------------------------------------------------------ Outcomes: In a paragraph or two describe what worked well. Did you accomplish your objective(s)? Were you able to complete your summer project as written? If not, what did you modify and why? What did not go as well as expected, if anything? Were there any surprises? Note: Use the questions as guides for your outcomes. Do not include detailed list of workshops attended, speakers who presented, or a list of items you have seen, heard, or read. ------------------------------------------------------------ I was definitely able to accomplish my first goal: learning about how other institutions and teachers are using virtual worlds to better facilitate teaching and learning by researching, reading, and dialoguing with my colleagues both in the district, at the conference I attended, and virtually. I was unable to gain as much experience in Second Life as I would like. It takes a lot of time to really engage in the world, more time that I accounted for with this project. I did, however, brainstorm ways in which I might incorporate Second Life into media class, and some aspects of specific writing classes. ------------------------------------------------------------ Professional Growth: Your own professional growth is a large part of your project. Your professional growth is important to you, your students, your college, and possibly other colleagues. How did project affect you professionally? What skills did you learn? What environments were you working in and how might your summer project influence your teaching or other responsibilities? Did you gain a different perspective? Was it professionally valuable for you? ------------------------------------------------------------ As a writing instructor, I recognize that communication (both traditional writing and in other media) and technology go hand in hand. In other words, without technology (quill, parchment, pen, printing press, typewriter, radio, film, television etc.), communication does not occur. Therefore, becoming familiar with new technologies that better facilitate the teaching and learning of writing and other mass communications is also intricately connected to keeping current on literate practices as a whole. By working with Second Life I spent more time thinking about multi-modal communication practices, especially thinking about how 3-D virtual environments with voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) impact the rhetorical situation of any digitally mediated communicative act. What I learned doing this project definitely impacts my teaching as well as my professional interactions with my colleagues. I spent time exploring how Second Life impacts “contemporary cinema” (one of the courses I teach) and therefore provides content for me to include to update the course. Although I am still not “sold” on the idea of using Second Life to teach first year composition courses (ENG101/102); I do know I would incorporate Second Life into more specific writing courses, including the travel writing course I am currently proposing to add to the district course bank. Finally, as the campus faculty professional development coordinator, be aware of another instructional technology helps me to plan a variety of professional development activities for my colleagues at the college. ------------------------------------------------------------ Dissemination: How will you share this information with your colleagues, department, students, or college? ------------------------------------------------------------ Over the past couple of years I have increasingly volunteered to present different types of workshops through our Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) as well as the Maricopa Center for Learning and Instruction (MCLI). As the campus faculty professional development coordinator, I will be able to continue offer both scheduled as well as impromptu and casual professional development opportunities for my colleagues. Offering workshops will be the most significant method of sharing my knowledge and skills, however, our CTL (http://ctl.mc.maricopa.edu/) has also made a link from its homepage to my professional blog (http://www.committedtechnofile.com/). All of the reflective posting that I completed as a part of the project are readily available for faculty at Mesa Community College, as well as others across the district. Finally, once I incorporate Second Life into various courses, I can share my course materials as well as lessons learned. Note! As a professional courtesy to the owner of this package, if you use some aspect of this package or have some thoughts about it, please share your feedback via the comments form below. |
web links |
http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/fpg/ http://delicious.com/rrodrigo/secondlife |
shareback |
A "Shareback" cites the places on the web that mention, reference, or use this MLX package, and "shares" that information back here (more about shareback...) Sharebacks can be generated automatically by weblog tools. |
extra |
Last modified: Sep-30-2008 Date created: Sep-30-2008 Visitor count: 823 Dublin Core Metadata record  This package is included in the Faculty Professional Growth Summer Project Reports special collection. |
Maricopa Learning eXchange
http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/mlx/slip.php?item=2257
