Virtual Education Journal is now available!

The March 2012 Issue of VEJ has arrived. Inside this issue you will find articles from educatorsdescribing the exciting work being done in virtual environments.

via Home.

 

5th Annual Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education Conference

5th Annual Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education Conference.

Virtual World Best Practices in Education Conference
March 15- 17, 2012
4 Days and Counting…
A Program Committee Update

 

Yes, the schedule is now public and available at http://vwbpe12.vwbpe.org/

 

The theme is “Be Epic!” so programs had no choice other than to open at 2 pm SLT on Thursday with KnowClue Kidd  (RL Marianne Malmstrom) and then close with fourworlds ra ( Botgirl’s human alt)http://bit.ly/zNU17V on Saturday at 3 pm.

About VWMOOC « MOOC

A MOOC is a�Massive Online Open Course�designed based on the learning theory�connectivism. Since 2008, there have been a series of these free open online courses offered. This course is informed by their design and implementation.

VW MOOC – Virtual Worlds, Games and Education is divided into 2 parts.

The Prologue will take place on this wordpress site which is functioning as the Virtual Worlds, Games and Education Portal.

The second part, which is the actual MOOC, starts the week after the conference and runs for four weeks.� This portion will be held at P2P U.�http://p2pu.org/en/

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via About VWMOOC « MOOC.

via About VWMOOC « MOOC.

Google Exec: The World Needs More Educational Video Games, Educational Social Networks | WiredAcademic

I’d like to see this concept of video games that don’t just teach people to do multiparty strategy but actually teach history or teach language. I’d like to see some of the programs that are used to teach early literacy rolled out around the world because I think they’re highly effective. I think they could be a game changer.�

via Google Exec: The World Needs More Educational Video Games, Educational Social Networks | WiredAcademic.

 

Media Grid : News : CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS : Immersive Education Initiative 2012 Boston Summit : iED 2012 : SPECIAL CALL FOR LEARNING GAMES, SERIOUS GAMES AND GAME-BASED EDUCATION

BOSTON, MA – March 02, 2012 – The Immersive Education Initiative today issued a special call for learning games, serious games and game-based education to be presented at iED 2012 Boston this June. April 1st is the abstract deadline for papers, posters, workshops, panels and general presentations. May 1st is the abstract deadline for demos and outliers (novel late-breaking research and technology). Details are available on the official Immersive Education (iED) Summit website at http://summit.ImmersiveEducation.org

Building on the success of the previous seven years of Immersive Education conferences, iED 2012 Boston has a special focus on learning games, serious games and game-based teaching and learning technologies and systems and full, augmented and mixed reality (FAM).

via Media Grid : News : CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS : Immersive Education Initiative 2012 Boston Summit : iED 2012 : SPECIAL CALL FOR LEARNING GAMES, SERIOUS GAMES AND GAME-BASED EDUCATION.

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Interview: Lee Sheldon On Turning Classrooms Into Multiplayer Games | WiredAcademic

Recognizing the educational potential of video games, teachers across the country are increasingly incorporating them into lesson plans.

Lee Sheldon, a video game writer and designer-turned-college-professor, is one of them. In September 2009, Sheldon decided to model one of his game-design classes at Indiana University on the concept of MMOs,�massively multiplayer online games. His classroom literally became a game world, with students creating “avatars” and forming guilds. Instead of completing traditional assignments, students went on “quests” and “raids” or undertook “solo” missions. Perhaps the most striking change Sheldon made was to grade his students on experience points, also known as XP. Students started with zero experience and could “level up” by completing quests or raids. Eventually, the amount of experience each student earned determined his or her final grade.

Sheldon has since taught several “multiplayer classes” at Indiana University and, most recently, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., where he’s been an associate professor since 2010. His latest book,�The Multiplayer Classroom: Designing Coursework as a Game�(June 2011), details his experiences and also includes numerous case studies of other efforts at “gaming” the classroom.

via Interview: Lee Sheldon On Turning Classrooms Into Multiplayer Games | WiredAcademic.

MediaShift . Epistemic Games Are the Future of Learning, Letting Students Role-Play Professions | PBS

EPISTEMOLOGIES OF THE DIGITAL AGE

Epistemology is the study of knowledge and, according to Shaffer, every age has its own epistemology, i.e., what it means to know something. Computers — which are increasingly becoming ubiquitous in work and school — provide the means to think in new ways, which will fundamentally reconfigure our thinking and theories of knowledge. Computers in general, and epistemic games in particular, are structuring new epistemologies for our digital age.

“The epistemology of School,” in Shaffer’s words, “is the epistemology of the Industrial Revolution — of creating wealth through mass production of standardized goods. School is a game about thinking like a factory worker. It is a game with an epistemology or right and wrong answers in which Students are supposed to follow instructions, whether they make sense in the moment or not.”

While this kind of epistemology may have been appropriate and even innovative for the Industrial Revolution, it is outdated for our informational economy and digital age. Being literate in the digital age uses reading and writing as a foundation to build upon, but they are no longer solely sufficient. Students must learn to produce various kinds of media and learn how to solve problems using simulations.

via MediaShift . Epistemic Games Are the Future of Learning, Letting Students Role-Play Professions | PBS.