SLENZ Update, No 154, December 06, 2009

Where is education going in Virtual Worlds? An earlier (2008) view of a Duke University  foray into virtual worlds – just one of  the university’s many virtual projects With the  Obama Administration  turning to the virtual world to extoll the virtues of a science education through expansion of the STEM Education Initiative and NASA also using [...]

SLENZ Update, No 152, November 23, 2009

A TALE OF TWO WOMEN Can avatar appearance  have  an effect on  your Real  Life? University of Texas Study Exhibit 1 – can an avatar appearance change your real life? This is partially the tale of two women*. But it is also a story of how avatar appearance can affect one’s experience of  Second Life [...]

SLENZ Update, No 138, September 22, 2009

Why aren’t NZ  secondary schools using virtual worlds, video games? or are they …  but just below the radar? Ahead of the game …  Christ’s College, one of New Zealand’s oldest schools, is in Second Life. Given the ever- burgeoning popularity of  video games, Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs)  and virtual worlds, or [...]

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 128, August 16, 2009

THE SLENZ PROJECT There is a difference between immersion and  activity … Learning in Dallas …  Snowflake Lannock has a giftbox  for Aotearoa-NZ learners. Learning in Dallas  … virtually  speaking. [All Pictures: Merle Lemon] Sometimes one listens to the  presentations  and reads the publicity  about  a person’s role in the world – any  world, real [...]

The SLENZ Update – No 86, May 19, 2009

IT HAPPENED IN TEXAS … and SL The world’s first  ‘real’ virtual graduate? Texas State Technical College’s virtual college (vTSTC) student Julie Shannan (pictured in SL left)  earlier this month became the first known student to graduate from a recognised learning  program done completely within a virtual world. She graduated with a certificate in digital [...]