MUVE education at NMIT– VLENZ Update, No 176, August 11, 2010

New Zealand  MUVE activity NMIT launches  course covering 3d immersive environments The Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology  has successfully launched and is into the fourth week of an online course on multi-user three dimensional virtual environments (MUVEs) and their relationships to other multi-user technologies. The 16 students, enrolled in the course (A&M624, Immersive 3D Environments), [...]

SLENZ Update, No 151, November 20, 2009

SLENZ PROJECT: Useful lessons Team debriefed on  unit tour, presentation techniques … Learning lesson: part of the Gronstedt ‘Train for Success Group’s tour. It’s very easy to be wise with hindsight. That is  not to take anything away from the  outstanding performance of  Otago Polytech tutor and SLENZ Project’s lead educator (Midwifery) Sarah Stewart’s (SL: [...]

SLENZ Update, No 148, November 4, 2009

SLENZ PROJECT – final F2F SLENZERs celebrate ‘completion’ of virtual world  work … now  team awaits official evaluation The SLENZ Project team … final face-to-face meeting and debriefing. The SLENZ Project team celebrated its successes last week at a real life face-to-face meeting in Wellington, New Zealand. The meeting, which  included a warts-and-all debriefing of [...]

SLENZ Update, No 140, September 28, 2009

THE SLENZ PROJECT Virtual world makes mastering interview skills  much easier … when virtual ‘really feels real’ “Fabulous”,  “amazing” and “fantastic” were only three of the superlatives used by the  more than 20  educators and researchers who toured the SLENZ Project’s two builds on Kowhai  in Second Life and listened to commentary from educators, developers [...]

SLENZ Update, No 134, September 02, 2009

Lest we forget unsung heroes … Design and building  in Second Life really is hard ‘yakka*’ … an ‘Oscar’ for Isa/Aaron? Isa Goodman (aka Aaron Griffiths), Second Life builder It’s easy to forget that the often unsung heroes of virtual worlds are the builders – the on-the-virtual-ground developers, scripters, animators but  especially the builders. As [...]

The SLENZ Update – No 119, July 25, 2009

THE SLENZ PROJECT Midwifery tutor passes on ‘lessons’ from 1st SL  class Lead educator for the SLENZ Project’s Midwifery pilot for Otago Polytechnic and Canterbury’s CPIT, Sarah Stewart (SL: Petal Stransky) (pictured),  after running her first  teaching sessions in Second Life, has come up with  nine interesting and valuable  lessons for  any neophyte virtual world [...]

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 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 75 , May 1, 2009

The Birthing Unit – Te Wahi Whanau Video is a great introduction The SLENZ Project’s Birthing Unit  – Te Wahi Whanau – has been given a great introduction with the release on April 30  of  a  a video  which explains  simply and cogently why and how the pilot midwifery project has evolved. “I think it is [...]