Ed-Media 2011, Lisbon, Portugal

Ooohh boy, I love congresses! Call me freaky if you like, but it thrills me being in a place where everybody comes to share the things they have thought and to listen and discuss their mates’ thoughts too. I had a great time attending Ed-Media 2011. My presentation was on a project-to be, a research which we hope to have funds to develop. Then I concentrated my schedule attendance on Virtual Words, as I also participate in Simul@, a research project that aims at evaluating transversal competencies through the use of 3D tools.

 

Something all presentations made evident is that students enjoy learning through virtual worlds. David W. Deeds and Alexander Makosz are two of the most enthusistic I’ve ever seen. They have used Segond Life and Atlantics Quest and report some very interesting appointments on the experiences. Take a look at what they say about students motivation “We literally have to drag students away when classes finish, and I do mean sometimes kicking and screaming”. Nick Zap and Jillianne Code, who made the most interesting presentation I attendend, take 3D representations as cognitive tools. As they say, “stereoscopic technologies provide educators with a tool in which to explore content, that are engaging and immersive”, but “The benefits of using such technologies have implications beyond their intended curricular applications. The implicit curriculum that emerges from students interacting with complex media has lasting impressions beyond the content of the lesson.”

Sofia Nteliopoulou and Dr. Avgoustos Tsinakos make a fine review of the literature on Second Life and present some of the virtual environment’s components quoted as facilitators of innovations in pedagogy:

• Extended or rich interactions: opportunities for social interaction between individuals and communities, human–object interaction and also intelligent interaction between artefacts

• Visualization and contextualization: the production and reproduction of inaccessible content that may be historically lost, too distant, too costly, imaginary, futuristic or impossible to see by the human eye

• Exposure to authentic content and culture

• Individual and collective identity play

• Immersion in a 3-D environment where the augmented sense of presence, through virtual embodiment in the form of an avatar and extensive modes of communication, can impact on the affective, empathic and motivational aspects of the experience

• Simulation: reproduction of contexts that can be too costly to reproduce in real life with the advantages that some physical constraints can be overcome

• Community presence: promoting a sense of belonging and purpose that coheres around groups, subcultures and geography

• Content production: opportunities for creation and ownership of the learning environment and objects within it that are both individual and owned.

The guys presenting Mind your game, game your mind! made a great presentation too introducing GeoEduc3D and reporting on a research that aims at stimulating student interest in, and deepen their understanding of, geomatic methods and technology through geomatics-enabled mobile games.

If you are interested in the field of Virtual worlds, you’ll probably like to check on these presentations too. Here is a list of papers which are worth revising:

• COLLABORATION AND COOPERATION IN ONLINE EDUCATION: FROM TEACHER EDUCATION TO NETWORK TEACHING ACTION USING METAVERSE TECHNOLOGY

• Language Learning System Realizing SLA Theories in a 3D Virtual World

• THE VIRTUAL MUSEUM, TEACHING PRACTICE AND THE TEACHING OF HISTORY: appropriations of teachers and potentialities for creation of a Virtual Museum designed for the visitor

• Enhancing Students’ Awareness of Multimodal Affordances and Constraints: The Case of the Construction of a Student-generated Virtual Museum

• Panoramic Virtual Environments for eLearning Applications

• Digital Selves: Lessons from Second Life

• Towards a problem-based training curriculum for surgical robotics: the SAFROS project

• The Use of Virtual Environments in Teacher Preparation

• Same Content, Different Context: Advancing Designs to Position Teachers as Active Agents in Gaming Environments.

That’s all folks! Have fun! =)