Andy Beggan, University of Nottingham
Andy is the Learning Team Leader at the University of Nottingham. As well as answering the latest snapshot survey, Andy provided a beatiful screenshot of the University of Nottingham marina in Second Life, which forms the title screen of my presentation tomorrow.
The university island can be found here:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/University%20of%20Nottingham/98/43/25
What are you doing in virtual worlds?
We are exploring using SL to provide a web based campus to support teaching and research. This is a fairly new initiative for the University (since Sept 08), but even in this relatively short timeframe the island has already been used to support teaching and research activities.
Are you doing any teaching or learning in virtual worlds such as Second Life?
Yes. For both staff and students. SL has been used to support teaching of undergraduates, as well as sessions aimed at staff who teach. We have also developed a sand box with freebies and tutorials to further develop SL skills, plus additional online support via our e-learning support website. We plan to use a combination of online support and taught sessions (in SL and RL) to widen exposure to the potential of MUVEs for teaching and learning.
Do you think you’ll do more virtual world “stuff” in your institution in the next academic year? What will this be?
Yes. A recent internal call for e-learning projects has resulted in a number of SL based bids. This is encouraging in terms of interest and active use to support teaching and research. These projects will be explored and developed further over the coming months.
The School of Geography at Nottingham is also part of the DELVE project (JISC funded) and they are exploring using virtual worlds.
Tell me interesting “stuff” – anything you think is relevant.
At an upcoming Nottingham e-learning seminar (January 09), I have invited a colleague – who recently used our island to support his teaching – to present to the audience via SL. He is now in Lebanon and I will meet him in SL, he will then use the voice facility in SL and discuss his experiences to an audience in RL. I will relay questions to him from the audience.
