For years we've heard about the potential of virtual reality, but even when the virtual world Second Life was a hot tech-news story, it hardly felt like a second life to most people. I wrote about it a number of times because of the amazing work some very cutting-edge educators and their students were doing in Teen Second Life, when it existed. Then it faded into the background, and those teachers … [Read more...] about FB & Oculus VR: The potential of a virtual-reality platform
virtual worlds
A teacher on what teaching in Minecraft looks like
No need to leave connected learning to the imagination. Well, sort of – plenty is left to students' imaginations! Teacher Jacqui Murray in southern California spells out in a blog post exactly how she uses Minecraft for students to work on reading comprehension, writing and problem-solving. She agrees with New Jersey K-8 teacher Marianne Malmstrom on what makes Minecraft so great for learning: … [Read more...] about A teacher on what teaching in Minecraft looks like
Digital citizenship, the ‘lived curriculum’: Part 1
Have you ever heard of taking a cooking class that didn't include a kitchen or learning how to swim in a classroom not a pool? It can be helpful to watch instructional videos on YouTube, but mastery of anything usually requires practice with the tools and within the context of whatever a person wants to master. Especially digital citizenship. But students are being taught this "subject" largely in … [Read more...] about Digital citizenship, the ‘lived curriculum’: Part 1
Notes from a ‘Digital Kids’ conference
In case parents are interested in what the toy and digital industries are thinking about and designing for kids... Digital play that's both mobile and tactile was the centerpiece of what all the adults were talking about at the Digital Kids conference in New York last week, but their insights were like "frozen concentrate" compared to those from a panel of kids aged 8-13. Moderated by … [Read more...] about Notes from a ‘Digital Kids’ conference
Trying out a real career in a virtual world
You're an avatar in Whyville (a virtual world with some 1.5 million users aged 8-16) and you're tired of tweaking your (design of your) avatar, so you're thinking about focusing more on earning clams (virtual currency) and building a career – maybe even a real-world one. So here's an interesting opportunity: Because Whyville now has its own power grid, you can help manage it by figuring out the … [Read more...] about Trying out a real career in a virtual world