Symposium for Teaching and Learning with Technology

Brian Smith and Bart Pursel in the College of Information Sciences and Technology ask students to investigate the design and potential of video games and online virtual worlds for use in education and business.

In Pursel’s “IST 110 Information, People, and Technology” course, students explore the virtual world Second Life (http://secondlife.com/), developing objects and evaluating how the environment is being used for business purposes. He said that by creating items such as interactive signs and even full-scale buildings on the college’s Second Life island of “Istania,” they learn to use scripting language and 3-D modeling tools. He said, “We’re throwing the kitchen sink at Second Life to see what it works best for.”

I'm pleased to announce that the video for our lunch speaker, Bryan Alexander from the National Institute of Technology and Liberal Education, is now available through the link below and through iTunes (use the iTunesU link in the right menu). Bryan discussed innovations in mobile learning, social computing, digital storytelling, gaming, visualization, and many other modern educational technology topics along with the ways that institutions were reacting to these changes.