Symposium for Teaching and Learning with Technology

Michael Bartolacci, associate professor of IST from the Berks Campus discusses Second Life (he manges the Berks Campus island) and how his students are using it and their social interactions in Second Life.

Why not pick up some Spanish at Hacienda Segunda Vida?

Dr. Bixler introduces Gloria Clark!
Gloria Clark, an assistant professor at Harrisburg, prepared a proposal for her Seond Life Hacienda because of the difficulty she's seen in creating a foreign language environment in the classroom. She hoped to create a more immersive way to get students using Spanish.

Sounds like she's succeeded! Not only do her students speak Spanish in Second Life, they also complete written assignments related to their virtual experiences online. Gloria reports that the students in her course are doing a lot more writing in Spanish than in many other courses she's seen.

This panel will focus on Penn State’s investigations into the educational uses of Second Life, a virtual world. Virtual worlds are constructed environments where the computer is used as a window to access the world. Most virtual worlds mimic a real-world environment to a large degree, although they also may include “impossible” abilities, such as breathing underwater without equipment. Most virtual worlds require you to create your in-world presence, or avatar. You avatar interacts with both the environment and other avatars to form a rich exploratory and (in multi-user worlds) social experience.

It has never been easier and more important for faculty to try out new technologies, or to acquire and share new ideas and experiences in teaching and learning today. As awareness and concern about the Web technology continues to grow, University communities, in particular the faculty and instructional design/support staff are committing to becoming more technologically responsible.