Tomorrow Saturday at 11am (Pacific time), a group of educators will be launching a new project based in Second Life with the support of Linden Lab: The Virtual Worlds Education Consortium: Click here to teleport.
Virtual Worlds Education Consortium
The goal of the Virtual Worlds Education Consortium (VWEC) is to bring educators together to share what has been successful and address obstacles across platforms and virtual communities. Through quarterly meetings, educational communities can collaborate and document progress on best practices for teaching and learning in virtual environments.
Grand Opening on Saturday May, 21, 2022 11 a.m. SLT. VWEC, bringing educators together both to share what has been successful and to tackle obstacles across virtual platforms and communities. TAXI: https://t.co/d4I8NSK5Lb #virtualworlds #virtualworldseducation #metaverse pic.twitter.com/sdiwYg5HcV
— Virtual Worlds Education Consortium (@VWEConsortium) May 18, 2022
Unlike previous universities that each had their own isolated SL campus, these educators have created a broad, shared campus.
Virtual Worlds Education Consortium is supported by Linden Lab:
“They’ve designated someone (Madori Linden) to help them with this initiative, they’ve set aside a large part of the map where edu sims can move in at no cost, with all the links and LMs still functioning, and they’ve donated a central welcome sim where newcomers can arrive and there will usually be someone to greet them and help them take the first steps,” says George. “There is a plan to have an education-related portal for new users to create new or institutional accounts, and land them on this sim instead of the standard welcome island.”
VWEC Info Center https://t.co/XQOM9LyKq9 to see times with the goal of scheduling a docent-like mentor in hour blocks 24/7! Pick a regular office hour that works for you!
— Virtual Worlds Education Consortium (@VWEConsortium) May 16, 2022
The sims, which will launch tomorrow will be:
- Cookie and the Virtual Community Library
- Science Circle
- Virtech (from Caltech)
- Rockcliffe
- Cag University
- Inspiration Island
- Genome Island
It is worth mentioning that VWEC members are well aware of the problems that have plagued previous virtual world education projects, such as the steep learning curve, impromptu appearances of adult content that may seem shocking to some, and the high hardware requirements of Second Life.
“The time has come for those who realize that technology has revolutionized learning and life,” said librarian and VWC member Valerie Hill. “A generation of Minecrafters has arrived. The VWEC will provide helpers, on a 24/7 global scale, to assist newcomers. Adult areas will be best avoided because we are in the educational neighborhood. “
As for the hardware requirement, he says it’s offset by the gains: “The persistent sense of sustainable presence continues to provide deeper learning and critical thinking.” And perhaps cloud streaming and other technologies may be an option in the future.
Teleport to the welcome sim here. SLurls to the Eduverse sims up now are:
- Science Circle – Teleport HERE
- Virtech – Teleport HERE
- Community Virtual Library – Teleport HERE
- Mayo Clinic – Teleport HERE
- Whole Brain Health – Teleport HERE
- University of New Mexico (at Rockcliffe) – Teleport HERE
Share your virtual world group/community with VWEC.
VWEC Information Center
Here is the schedule of regular hours for LVC volunteer staff and VWEC volunteers in Second Life at the VWEC Information Center. Calendar here
Our volunteers have a wide range of specializations including: education, library reference and virtual world building, navigation and networking. To view our VWEC educational events, visit the VWEC events page.