SLENZ Update, No 136, September 17, 2009

CAN NEW ZEALAND USE THIS LESSON? Texas shows the way forward in virtual world education … John Lester (SL: Pathfinder Linden) and Leslie Jarmon (SL: Bluewave Ogee) meet in front of the virtual version of Johnson Claudia Taylor Hall at the University of Texas System.(Picture: Pathfinder Linden) The New Zealand tertiary education system  should probably [...]

SLENZ Update, No 133, September 01, 2009

CARTOON  OR SUPER-REALISM Do the graphics really matter in virtual worlds? … and is Blue Mars really the third generation? Blue Mars 2050 … does super-realism matter? I have always wondered just how much the graphics matter in virtual worlds: I know my personal preference falls into the super-realism category when it comes to graphics [...]

The SLENZ Update – No 115, July 22, 2009

Upcoming Aotearoa New Zealand events GNI Project Symposium ’09 An invitation has been issued by Melanie Middlemiss to the GNI Project Symposium ’09 to be held from  8.30 am – 5 pm on Friday, September 4, 2009, at the  School of Business, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. Online Registration is free but must be [...]

The SLENZ Update – No 111, July 08, 2009

New spirit of NZ tertiary ‘cooperation, collaboration’ across  virtual  worlds ADA Symposium Poster With New Zealand tertiary institutions – polytechnics and universities – sometimes at loggerheads with each other  its good to see a  spirit of cooperation and collaboration in their working with  and within virtual worlds. This was brought home to me 10 days [...]

The SLENZ Update – No 101, June 18, 2009

Is there really virtual world promise in peer-to-peer … at this stage? As if,  worrying whether the soon-to-be-released Second Life Viewer 2009 will  require educators to completely revamp their techniques and training of students, was not enough, we still have to wonder whether we might not have backed the wrong  horse and that the possible [...]

The SLENZ Update – No 98, June 12, 2009

University of Illinois Global Campus entry point Do SL public health training applications really work? US$1.6m to find the answer Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) School of Public Health have secured a grant of  US$1.6 million to fund a study to determine if collaborative virtual environments designed to improve public health [...]

The SLENZ Update – No 97, June 9, 2009

‘Exciting’ Kiwi development Major New Zealand universities seek  funding to establish  national virtual world grid Proposal pdf here Three major New Zealand universities are planning to establish an open-access, open-source New Zealand National Virtual World grid based on the ONGENS OpenSim grid which is currently under development. The universities are Otago University, the University of [...]

The SLENZ Update – No 88, May 21, 2009

THE ‘OPENSIM’ EXPERIENCE Worlds of difference  but  ones  that Kiwi developers should probably try out My experience in  OpenSim, OSgrid, OpenLife and New Zealand’s own ONGENS would suggest to me that  the variety and usability of  multi-user virtual worlds are really opening up and educators should not rule  out any of the possibilities. I have [...]

The SLENZ Update – No 87, May 20, 2009

AUCKLAND U’s  VIRTUAL MEDICAL CENTRE Students learn those communication, teamwork, clinical  skills – virtually Virtual simulation in an Auckland University, New Zealand, virtual medical centre  training environment is returning similar results to a  real life training facility at a fraction of the cost of a facility of that type, according to Dr Scott Diener PhD [...]

The SLENZ Update – No 73 , April 29, 2009

SL:  import-export with ‘SLENZ Shuffle’ The new ‘Arfur Daley’? Import-export “expert” bot, SLENZ Shuffle, with creator, Toddles Lightworker SLENZ Shuffle? Well he might not be the new “Arfur Daley” (of TV Minder fame) but it looks like he might be able to do a good job in the virtual world import-export business. He has already successfully [...]