Online session: Using Second Life to promote students’ engagement

The Centre for Distance Education (CIDER) at Athabasca University would like to invite you to the next presentation in their series of free CIDER sessions.  Their next session features a presentation and discussion with Dr. Martha Burkle, CISCO  Chair of e-Learning, Southern Alberta Institute of Technology.

Title:  Using Second Life to promote students’ engagement

‘The arrival of the new generation of students, the so called “Net Gen” or digital natives, has brought to the classroom the urgency of transforming old pedagogical techniques and promoting innovative learning spaces. For instructors in the 21st Century, Web 2.0 technologies have become the tool with which the classroom is no longer a physical-real space but has been transformed into a virtual world. An example of this virtual reality is Second Life, developed by Linden Labs and launched in 2003, with over a hundred educational institutions and more than 16 million users.

This presentation will discuss the challenges and possibilities of using Second Life as a platform to learn ‘hands–on’ skills in a polytechnic environment, and the opportunities that this social software brings to a completely new learning experience. Two major courses have now started to use Second Life not only to engage students’ attention, but also to provide students with equipment and learning situations that real life cannot supply. The research goals, opportunities and challenges will be presented and discussed together with the virtual work developed by instructors and students.’

When: Wednesday, March 4th, 2009, 11am – 12pm MDT(Edmonton)

Where: Online via Elluminate at: https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?password=M.8B71B60F2931D029AC3837DC06B70D

Pre-Configuration
Please make sure your Mac or PC is equipped with a microphone and speakers, so that we can use the Voice over IP functionality built into the web conferencing software.
Please note that it is extremely important that you get your system set up prior to the start of the event.  Information on installing the necessary software and configuring your PC is available at http://www.elluminate.com/support/ in the “First Time Users” section.

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CIDER is a Community Partner of Elluminate, who proudly sponsors our web conferencing needs. To sign up for a free, no obligation three-user version of Elluminate, please visit http://www.getvroom.com