[News] Project to Build Virtual Learning Platform Within Popular Online Worlds Wins Financial Support

[Klaus D. Witzel]

<quote> from ACM's news service,

Chronicle of Higher Education (12/10/07); Foster, Andrea L.

Boston College instructor Aaron E. Walsh is leading a multimillion-dollar  
project backed by the Federation of American Scientists and the Kauffman  
Foundation to develop virtual-reality software that can be used for  
educational purposes.

Researchers are working with an international consortium of colleges,  
research institutes, and companies to develop standards and best practices  
for the virtual-reality platform.  The project, called Immersive  
Education, will build on Walsh's experience teaching Boston College  
students online in virtual spaces.

Immersive Education includes plans to create mini-games and interactive  
lessons within virtual spaces, including Second Life, Croquet, and Project  
Wonderland.

At a conference announcing Immersive Education, Walsh demonstrated how  
virtual worlds can be used to teach students about real-world places,  
events, and ideas.  During the demonstration, the virtual avatar of a  
student, standing in front of a digital jackal, explained that to the  
ancient Egyptians the jackal helped transport the dead to the underworld.   
Three-dimensional models of archaeological sites and tombs in Egypt,  
developed by the Theban Mapping Project, provided a virtual tour of an  
otherwise inaccessible site.  Meanwhile, Gene Koo, a fellow at the Berkman  
Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School, described how  
students at Emerson College and Boston residents are using Second Life to  
foster civic engagement, and how virtual worlds are being used to design  
real-world spaces.
http://chronicle.com/daily/2007/12/925n.htm
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</quote>