The SLENZ Update – No 62, March 30, 2009

TIMELINE ‘CLEARER’ Detailed SLENZ ’plan’ posted Joint project leader Terry Neal … working on the timeline. A detailed plan of the SLENZ Project’s activities over the next few months, based on the variables influencing the second half of the project, has been put together by joint project leader Terry Neal (SL: Tere Tinkel). In keeping with [...]

The SLENZ Update – No 61, March 29, 2009

How do teachers see education benefits? Vimani Gamage … trying to find why teachers ‘like’  or ‘don’t like’ MUVEs. Masters student in business studies at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand-Aotearoa, Vimani Gamage (SL: Emerly Alter),  has  set herself  the difficult task of establishing  what factors influence teacher acceptance of  multi user virtual environments (MUVEs). Briefing members [...]

The SLENZ Update – No 60, March 29, 2009

SLENZ PROJECT Mid-project workshop, mid-term progress Eyes on the Smartboard … joint project leader Terry Neal (SL Tere Tinkel) and developer Todd Cochrane (SL: Toddles Lightworker) follow progress on the Smartboard. In the background, learning designer, Leigh Blackall (SL Leroy Post) and lead educator Merle Lemon (SL: Briarmelle Quintessa). A two-day workshop in Wellington  has firmed [...]

The SLENZ Update – No 59, March 21, 2009

SL training & orientation Business meetings: a lesson for teachers? The experience gained from doing business and holding business meetings in Second Life are sometimes denigrated by academics as not being applicable to the education or learning situation. However, the recently published IBM case study demonstrated  that  internal meetings  work well within Second Life  while  the [...]

The SLENZ Update – No 58, March 13, 2009

SL adult content changes A massive blog over-reaction? Sex workers in the Birdcage’s Red Light District Given the cacaphony of noise  from writers in the world of Second Life, MUVE  and MMORPG blogdom there seems to have been a massive  over-reaction  to the Linden Lab’s attempt to soften the impact of  the porn industry on those [...]

The SLENZ Update – No 57, March 12, 2009

EVENT “Virtual Worlds – Best Practices in Education” Conference March 27-29, 2009 in Second Life. Following considerable  SLED list debate on the “future” of  the SL education conference  – especially, apparently, from those MUVE “believers” who who want a  “real life” gabfest experiences that one travels to -  Pathfinder Linden  has posted an interesting interview [...]

The SLENZ Update – No 56, March 11, 2009

THE NEW USER EXPERIENCE How not to spook the horses … Clever Zebra HQ orientation…. how one team does it. I’ve been an admirer of Caleb Booker for sometime. I religiously read his blog, Caleb Booker – Business in Virtual Worlds (http://www.calebbooker.com/blog/ ). I also follow the activities and the publications of Clever  Zebra (http://cleverzebra.com/). [...]

The SLENZ Update – No 55, March 11, 2009

SLENZ Project progress Gearing up for RL face-to-face … Gearing up for a face-to-face meeting in Wellington, New Zealand,  in two weeks time ( March 23-24) the SLENZ Project team is  now moving  steadily forward with its three pilot programmes – Foundation learning, Midwifery and Orientation – according to joint project leader, Terry Neal (SL: [...]

The SLENZ Update – No 54, March 10, 2009

Body language in Virtual Worlds? Does body language matter in virtual worlds? I often find it interesting how real world etiquette and sometimes body language carries across into virtual worlds, such as Second Life, from the real world. I believe one can determine another person’s/avatar’s  sense of immersion or commitment to a virtual world by [...]

The SLENZ Update – No 53, March 10, 2009

Getting  right ‘message’ and/or where to read it SLENZ SORTS COMMUNICATIONS There has been considerable debate within the SLENZ Project on just how team members can communicate with each other effectively, in context, in timely fashion, and in the same “language”  without being  buried under a mass of  information both relevant and extraneous. The major [...]