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SummerProject07

Page history last edited by PBworks 16 years, 10 months ago

Summer Project 2007

Abstract
Write a clear and concise overview with descriptive information about your project (120 words or less). Be sure to include the location of your project and time span.
This is a proposal to explore the virtual world of Second Life (SL) to discover the educational possibilities of this online program. The project involves working with software not installed on our school computers, so I will be working from home. I plan to spend 4 weeks, 53 hours, researching the data on colleges using SL and their best practices in teaching in virtual worlds. I also plan to learn to use SL and evaluate the possible uses of some of its features in my current courses. After learning to use SL, I plan to apply for a temporary land grant through the Campus Second Life program and set the stage for developing a class using SL.
Purpose
Explain the general purpose of your project. This is what you want to do and why you want to do it. Outline your project in greater detail by listing specific goals, the objectives within each goal, and the steps and tasks that you anticipate doing to accomplish them. Why are these relevant to your discipline or education? What outcomes do you anticipate?
The purpose of the project is to explore the virtual world of Second Life (SL) to discover the educational possibilities of this immersive online community. SL is a 3-D virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents. SMC is looking to increase its online course offerings, and I believe that SL is a good option for helping faculty create more dynamic media enriched online courses. As one of the first faculty on our campus to design and teach an online course, I’m continually looking for ways to make my courses better. Using SL is innovative and potentially a great way to expose students to new learning environments. My goals for this project are to learn more about SL, and learn how to use it so I may apply for a temporary land grant and then develop my own online community for my courses in this virtual world.

My objectives for this project are to:
• Examine the potential of immersive online communities like SL as teaching and learning environments
• Expose myself to an immersive, online, 3D environment that has purposes in addition to and other than gaming.
• Create and customize a character, manage inventory, travel across grids, buy and sell land, earn and spend money, chat and further participate in all social aspects of the SL virtual world.
• Procure land in SL and develop my own online community.

These objectives are relevant to education because they are directly related to improving distance education environments, and distance and online learning are of crucial importance to the future of education.

The following are the steps and tasks that I anticipate doing to accomplish these goals and objectives.
• Research and read information on Second Life and virtual worlds to learn about how it works and what colleges are using it.
• Research and read information on Second Life and virtual worlds to learn how other colleges are using these virtual worlds to improve instruction
• Download and install Second Life.
• Read through the six user guides and the online knowledge base
• Practice using Second Life installed on my computers (Mac & PC).
• Learn the user interface and how to get around using the Second Life preferences guide.
• Attend NMC Teacher's Buzz in Second Life: a chance to talk about virtual teaching with my fellow faculty
• Learn about content creation in Second Life which includes learning how to customize my character, how to work with prims (primitive objects), and understanding how permissions work.
• Learn about Second Life inventory management: working with inventory, how to find, give, organize, sort and upload things. Practice uploading and working with audio, images and other inventory.
• Learn and practice traveling across the Grid in Second Life. This includes logging in at different locations, teleporting, using landmarks and maps and finding infohubs.
• Learn about land and currency in Second Life. Learn about buying land and land ownership rules, stipends, making money, and selling to make money.
• Visit land owned by other colleges or education groups to get ideas.
• Learn about Second Life social features: Chatting, Groups, Partnering, Second Life names, griefing, etc.
• Practice using these social features by exploring groups and meeting other people in Second Life
• Continue to explore Second Life by viewing upcoming events' information on the web map, learning to search for events and meeting new people.
• Visit the New Media Consortium's Campus Observer, an online newsletter, and the NMC campus in Second Life to learn more about how they and other educators are using Second Life.
• Attend a 2nd online event in SL: NMC Teacher's Buzz
• Learn about Campus: Second Life, a program for educators.
• Share ideas with other educators on the Second Life Education Wiki.
• Visit the Second Life Campus region, an area that is a main hub for classes participating in the Campus: Second Life program.
• Take advantage of a special offer for educators interested in trying out Second Life for the first time by applying and setting up a class using a temporary land grant that lasts for the duration of a semester.
Professional Growth
Describe in concrete terms what professional growth you hope to attain. Identify specific skills and knowledge you hope to learn. Explain why this growth is important to you and describe its relevancy to your teaching discipline or other responsibilities.
Exposing myself to this innovative, immersive, online, 3D environment will hopefully enrich the online teaching and learning experience for both myself and my future students. I will gain a better understanding of the value of such a program in developing good online content and learning environments. I pride myself in staying ahead of the curve, and finding time to learn such a complicated system has been difficult. By learning Second Life I will be able to not only use the program, but I will also be able to continue to share best practices in teaching utilizing technology with my fellow faculty at SMC and the district. This type of learning and sharing is important to me. The information gathered will also be useful to an institution that is on the verge of beginning an online program, and the use of such an innovative program can help separate its online offerings from others in the district.
Benefits
Select the primary area of benefit: Benefits to your colleagues or department
What benefit is this project to the group checked above? How will this project benefit the identified group? How do you currently interact with that group, and how will your project impact that interaction? How will this project enhance the group in terms of skills, techniques, and knowledge gained? How will you share what you have learned with the group in observable/specific ways?
This project will benefit myself and my colleagues at SMC by giving us access to a new tool to use in our implementation of online courses at the college. I have always served on committees and been involved in activities in the district that allow for me to share my knowledge of the use of technology in education. I’ve served as Ocotillo rep for many years responsible for sharing my research on hybrid courses and presently podcasting. I hope to do the same with the knowledge I gain from this project so that any faculty interested in creating a course that includes an immersive online community will have a resource to go to. I spend a good portion of my time on campus in the Teaching and Learning Center where I am often asked about how I use technology in my teaching, and I have given many an impromptu demonstration on some technique, as well as scheduled presentations.
This project will give me one more technology tool to share with faculty through my own knowledge and the research I’ve gathered. Presently I maintain a repository of research and how-to information on technology use in the classroom on a personal wiki: http://drcoop.pbwiki.com I use this wiki to do presentations for Ocotillo on podcasting and for SMC faculty on various other technologies, including blogging, RSS feeds, wikis, social networking, and Web 2.0. I plan to include the information I gain from this project on Second Life to this wiki. I also continually submit proposals to present at conferences across the country. I will be presenting at TechEd in March on “Using Web2.0 to Harness Collective Intelligence and Build Community Among Students,” and Second Life fits nicely into this presentation which I plan to present again in the district sometime next semester.
Summer II Timeline
Day Date Specific Activities Time Range (Total Time on Task) Total Hours
1 Monday 7/2 Research and read information on Second Life and virtual worlds to learn about how it works and what colleges are using it (9AM-12PM).
Research and read information on Second Life and virtual worlds to learn how other colleges are using these virtual worlds to improve instruction (1PM-3PM).
5.00
2 Tuesday 7/3 Download and install Second Life(Mac & PC). Read through the six user guides (9AM-12PM) and the online knowledge base (1PM-3PM). 5.00
3 Monday 7/9 Visit the Second Life wiki to view some of the most relevant video tutorials on how to use different aspects of SL (There are 30 videos). 5.00
4 Tuesday 7/10 Practice using Second Life installed on my computers. Learn the user interface and how to get around using the Second Life preferences guide.
Attend NMC Teacher's Buzz in Second Life: a chance to talk about virtual teaching with my fellow faculty (6-7PM)
4.00
5 Wednesday 7/11 Learn about content creation in Second Life which includes learning how to customize my character, how to work with prims (primitive objects, and understanding how permissions work. 4.00
6 Thursday 7/12 Learn about Second Life inventory management: working with inventory, how to find, give, organize, sort and upload things. Practice uploading and working with audio, images and other inventory. 4.00
7 Monday 7/16 Learn and practice traveling across the Grid in Second Life. This includes logging in at different locations, teleporting, using landmarks and maps and finding infohubs. 4.00
8 Tuesday 7/17 Learn about land and currency in Second Life. Learn about buying land and land ownership rules, stipends, making money, selling to make money. Visit land owned by other colleges or education groups to get ideas. 4.00
9 Wednesday 7/18 Learn about Second Life social stuff: Chatting, Groups, Partnering, Second Life names, griefing, etc. Practice using these features by exploring groups and meeting other people in Second Life. 4.00
10 Thursday 7/19 Continue to explore Second Life by viewing upcoming events' information on the web map, learning to search for events and meeting new people. Continue to practice and explore Second Life. 4.00
11 Monday 7/23 Visit the New Media Consortium's Campus Observer, an online newsletter, and the NMC campus in Second Life to learn more about how they and other educators are using Second Life.
Attend an online event in SL: NMC Teacher's Buzz (9-10AM)
2.00
12 Tuesday 7/24 Learn about Campus: Second Life, a program for educators. Share ideas with other educators on the Second Life Education Wiki. Visit the Second Life Campus region, an area that is a main hub for classes participating in the Campus: Second Life program. 4.00
13 Wednesday 7/25 Take advantage of a special offer for educators interested in trying out Second Life for the first time by applying and setting up a class using a temporary land grant that lasts for the duration of a semester. 4.00
Total Hours for Summer II 53
Subtotal (Rate x hours)  
Statutory Benefits (17.09%)  
Summer II Wages  

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