NZVWG Update, VLENZ No 166, March 14, 2010

NZ Virtual World Grid hosts international  guests NZVWG Auckland portal now accepting ‘resident’ avatar applications … The  University of Auckland portal of the New Zealand Virtual World Grid (NZVWG)  has successfully hosted its  first international seminar, attracting  a number of leading MUVE educators and researchers from  around the world. The meeting coincided with the announcement [...]

SLENZ Update, No 127, August 13, 2009

SLENZ Project Arwenna, Petal find the  light at the end of the SL Tunnel … “Authenticity of the scene” … inside the Birth Centre. (picture Sarah Stewart) “The first words I heard were, ‘This is so much FUN …’ The listener was Arwenna Stardust (RL: SLENZ Project co-leader Dr Clare Atkins) and the words were [...]

The SLENZ Update – No 109, July 07, 2009

SLENZ PROGRESS Otago’s birthing centre pilot goes live with real students Open for class…  SLENZ Project lead developer Isa goodman (RL: Aaron Griffiths) “polishes”  the  Te Wāhi Whānau (The Birth Centre) build before students “arrive”. Otago Polytechnic and  Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology midwifery students have begun taking part of their midwifery course on the [...]

The SLENZ Update – No 103, June 24, 2009

SLENZ PROJECT PROGRESS ‘Machinimas’ show the benefits, comfort in learning  virtually It’s often difficult for an outsider – especially one with little experience in virtual technology -  to get a real impression of what happens in an education environment in Second Life and just what the benefits can be. As part of the on-going SLENZ [...]

The SLENZ Update – No 99, June 15, 2009

SLENZ PROJECT PROGRESS Foundation Pilot  gets  new ‘stairway to knowledge’ Stairway to knowledge … the  SLENZ Project’s Foundation Learning Pilot’s “rez-on-each step” guide to interviewing SLENZ Project lead developer Aaron Griffths (SL: Isa Goodman) and  the Foundation Learning Pilot’s lead educator, Merle Lemon (SL: Briarmell Quintessa)  have come up with some interesting ideas to make [...]

The SLENZ Update – No 89, May 25, 2009

Distance education with a difference Otago Midwifery students to learn about birthing in virtual world Today, for the first time,  New Zealand midwifery students began  to enhance their regular study programme with learning in the virtual world of Second Life. The 27 first year students and 23 second year students were introduced to the Otago [...]

The SLENZ Update – No 81, May 12, 2009

MIDWIFERY TUTORS ‘ENTHUSIASTIC’ Exciting introduction to SL with bonding  and play Trainers, Dr Clare Atkins and Todd Cochrane with Kate Spencely, Dr Deborah Davis and Sarah Stuart. (Pictures from Sarah  Stewart) The importance of a time for “play” when people are initiated into Second Life was reinforced for  the SLENZ Project’s joint leader, Dr Clare Atkins [...]

The SLENZ Update – No 69, April 20, 2009

PERFORMANCE ART Bridging the  Second Life, Real Life  divide  … Dancing fingers from reality – Butler2 Evelyn (RL: Isabel Valverde) and Toddles Lightworker (RL: Todd Cochrane) in Second Life. What are we losing through living more and more encapsulated lives in crowded urban areas, following the consumption driven “modernist-technical” standard of living, becoming disconnected from [...]

The SLENZ Update – No 66, April 8, 2009

SLENZ PROJECT Foundation Learning Kowhai build begins The contrast between the build for The Birth Place (Te Waihi Whanau) and The Foundation Learning project’s new build is quite striking. There is a futuristic, almost organic building  growing out of the ground on the Kowhai Island, where the three-pilot   SLENZ Project – Midwifery, Foundation Learning and Orientation [...]

The SLENZ Update – No 49, March 3, 2009

As real as it gets – architecturally speaking Almost since the  inception of  MUVEs such as  Second Life, architects have seen the potential of being able to create exact, real life, fullscale, 3D, building models within virtual reality for such things as architect/designer/client walk throughs, design visualisation and tweaking. No one has been quite able [...]