Saturday, August 20, 2011

Back to School: Good EDU Sites in Second Life? Other Worlds?


Overlook 
Location: Planning VWER meeting

I'm going to crowd-source these tips before Thursday's meeting of the Virtual Worlds Education Roundtable. It's a back-to-school special, and I want to compile must-see sites in SL or outside it for education.

In the comments, list the site, the grid (and Web link to its site). If it's in SL, please supply a SLURL. For any grid's content, please type a few lines about why the content seems worthwhile.

I don't mind content on the 2D Web, but it should in some way be helpful to teachers in planning to teach in immersive 3D environments. I've given an example below.

I'm interested in the arts, in science, in information resources such as libraries or coding help, even builds in virtual worlds that merit a visit simply for their exemplary content. Flag anything that might be adult, just so our educators don't get into too much trouble :)

I'll stir the pot with two sites:

OpenSim Creations: Tip of the tophat to Vanish, who showed me the way to this archive of open-source files that can be downloaded as .zip archives and then uploaded for use in OpenSim worlds (and I suppose SL as well). Proper attribution should be given to the creators of content, and the creators should be informed when a member gives away the content again.

Svarga: As close to a living museum as one will find in SL. It showed many of us what is possible in a 3D world. Though technology and design have passed it by in some respects, Svarga has a place in many hearts as capturing the unique ethos of Second Life as it began.  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Svarga/128/128/28

3 comments:

Cyber Placebo said...

First reponder is a fabulous sim that replicates environments through natrual disaster. It deserves to be known. It was conceived and built to train medics, firefighters and civil defense to rescue civilians in case of natural disasters. More info on this blog:
http://bit.ly/pTEUaN . Contact Patrick Thorkveld or Iso Huet in-world.

astro21c said...

you may be interested in Spaceport UK http://slurl.com/secondlife/Star%20Beach%20Island/105/196/22. The sim has been designed with astronomy and spaceflight as part of stem project support initiative. There is a teleport at the landing point to an interactive Mars base simulation that students may find interesting.

Hope this helps, regards Aso Galicia

Iggy O said...

Keep 'em comin', y'all. I will aggregate the links at the start of the transcript and mention your picks during our meeting.