SimCityEDU | Outworldz OpenSim Installer One-Click DreamWorld Opensimulator for Windows The Outworldz DreamWorld is a free, pre-packaged Windows-compatible virtual reality Opensimulator system that is easy to install, easy to run, and powerful. It it free and is open source. Anyone can run their own grid from home or at work. You can finally have an easy-to-use virtual world with HyperGrid capability, automatic backup and easy-to-load simple OpenSim Archive (OAR) and Inventory (IAR) files. Preconfigured, ready to run HyperGrid server/client No INI file editing! Free Dynamic DNS system Auto-Updater and Automatic Backup Hypergrid-enabled grid server for one to N users. uPnP Universal Plug and Play Router configuration Easy to use Encitra™ Onlook Viewer - Avatar and No-Avatar Mode for new users - Simplified UI mode to remove clutter Non-Player-Character Enabled 0.8.2.1 released - Diva's Wifi Panel 0.9 released included with Diva's Wifi Panel Control Panel for Advanced Options Autoconfigured MySQL Database Router and Firewall Diagnostics Downloads
Scientific investigation in Second Life and Open Sim How To Gamify Your Classroom In my last post, Following the Oregon Trail: Why Gaming Prevails in Education, I discussed the rationale for including games in pedagogy. Games are engaging, promote retention, and provide students with a fail-safe environment in which to learn and grow, to name a few benefits. It is becoming common knowledge that games are an effective instructional tool. For those wanting to incorporate games or gamification into their classrooms, there are project and design components to consider. Game DesignersProgrammersGraphic ArtistsSound EngineersCopy EditorsProject ManagersTesters Game production can be particularly intimidating for educators who are already juggling lesson planning, grading, classroom management, professional development and all the other important responsibilities of teaching. Luckily, there is a vast toolbox at your disposal; just a quick Google search of “educational games” produces over 180 million hits! Level 1: Begin at the End Level 2: Don’t Forget About the Brain
Sim-on-a-Stick Gehan Kamachi - Digital city and virtual worlds What's wrong with educational games (and how we can fix them) I’ve been designing, building, playing and promoting educational games (both digital and non-digital) all my working life. Starting out as a TEFL teacher, games were a huge component of my classes: from number games with little kids to complex role plays with adults. As I began to work more with digital media I started to design games for web and mobile: everything from location-based drawing games to a million-selling multi-level world for kids to learn English. And yet, for all my tub-thumping about how great games are as a tool for learning, I’ve found myself let down time and time again by the quality of most educational games. Too many educational games are no better than traditional teaching methods We make educational games for the wrong reasons Too many games start from the desire to build something cool, to be in an educational technology startup, or from some vaguely conceived idea about fixing a broken educational system with tech. We aren’t ambitious enough We work alone
Virtual world The user accesses a computer-simulated world which presents perceptual stimuli to the user, who in turn can manipulate elements of the modeled world and thus experience a degree of telepresence.[6] Such modeled worlds and their rules may draw from the reality or fantasy worlds. Example rules are gravity, topography, locomotion, real-time actions, and communication. Communication between users can range from text, graphical icons, visual gesture, sound, and rarely, forms using touch, voice command, and balance senses. Virtual worlds are not limited to games but, depending on the degree of immediacy presented, can encompass computer conferencing and text based chatrooms. Sometimes, emoticons or 'smilies' are available to show feeling or facial expression. History[edit] The concept of virtual worlds significantly predates computers. Among the earliest virtual worlds implemented by computers were virtual reality simulators, such as the work of Ivan Sutherland. Virtual world concepts[edit]
19 Questions : Tell Gayle I Bleed Gepostet von wp_admin am Jun 2nd, 2011 in Tutorials | 2 Kommentare For a while now, there have been a few very good and thoughtful threads sitting around on SLU by a user named KKaras, which sadly were somewhat overlooked and haven’t been adressed too much. And because they’re not all that easy to answer and require a little more room, I’d like to adress them here, where they might even get some more exposure. This first one covers 19 20 lots of “noob” questions about OpenSim, which I thought were really good ones and can clarify a lot of things that are confusing to new users. 1. Correct. Other than install it yourself or have someone host it for you, there are a multitude of grids run on Open Simulator that you can join, if you just want to have a quick look at how it works and what might or might not work. 2. A sim is one instance of OpenSim running on a machine. A region is a square of 256×256 meters of virtual “land”. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. That depends on the provider. 8. That’s correct.
LA VIE EST UN JEU • L’école dont vous êtes le héros DE NOTRE HORS-SÉRIE - Créer des jeux vidéo, gérer un réseau social ou monter des podcasts, tels sont les cours donnés aux élèves de Quest to Learn, un collège new-yorkais considéré comme précurseur par certains spécialistes de l’éducation. Un matin de l’hiver dernier à New York, à l’intérieur d’une école publique tout ce qu’il y a de plus classique, dans une salle ordinaire, Al Doyle, professeur de collège, donne un cours un peu différent des cours habituels. A 54 ans, cet enseignant est un vétéran de l’éducation, avec trente-deux années passées à faire cours un peu partout dans Manhattan, où il enseignait à l’origine le graphisme et l’infographie. Dans cette école, baptisée Quest to Learn [Soif d’apprendre], il donne un cours, Sports for the Mind [Sports pour l’esprit], que tous les élèves suivent trois fois par semaine. La leçon du jour porte sur le mouvement de l’ennemi, en l’occurrence une ignoble troupe de robots hérissés de piquants errant dans un jeu vidéo.
Quest to Learn, ou les leçons du jeu appliquées à l'éducation Des projets ambitieux en éducation, il y en a eu des tonnes. Des réformes puissantes qui « allaient révolutionner les méthodes d'apprentissage ». En réalité, bien peu d'entre elles ont été appliquées assez longtemps pour porter leurs fruits. Parce que le projet coûte plus cher que prévu, que la technique n'est pas à la hauteur ou simplement parce que le milieu éducatif n'est pas prêt à modifier ses pratiques en profondeur. En 2009-2010, quand le monde a entendu parler de ce projet d'école new-yorkaise qui basait les apprentissages sur l'usage massif du jeu vidéo, cela a soulevé beaucoup d'enthousiasme, mais aussi beaucoup de questions. Il semble que oui. Accompagner plus, transmettre moins Contrairement à ce que l'on pouvait imaginer, les élèves qui fréquentent Q2L ne sont pas des mutants. Mais les deux univers diffèrent sur un point capital : la perception de l'erreur. Quest to learn encourage aussi la créativité de ses élèves. Le prix du rêve Références : Burke, Whitney. Corbett, Sara.
Newsmaker: James Gee on Why the Power of Games to Teach Remains Unrealized Gee: “We need to begin to get teams of people — game designers, content people, assessment people, learning people — who can get on the same page.” For more than a decade, James Paul Gee has been writing about the potential power of games and game mechanics to change the way we learn, to create new “deep” learners. But in this newsmaker interview Gee says most of the possibilities of games remain unfulfilled as the American education system continues to focus on tests and fact retention. He worries that even as learning games become more prevalent, they are in danger of being changed by the schools they seek to sell to rather than changing the school itself. “The textbook was the worst educational invention ever made because it was a one size fits all type thing and we don’t want to do the same things with games. Listen to the full interview: The following is an edited version of the full conversation: Has much changed in the last decade? James Paul Gee: No, no.
World of Warcraft: An Educational Tool | Sociological Imagination: Situating Oneself in Both Time and Place This is my second post in the blog series that will examine different facets of World of Warcraft, particularly my experience with the game and the role of addiction in our personal and professional lives. My last post focused on addiction from a psychological perspective, and today I will be discussing World of Warcraft from an educational perspective. A study conducted at North Carolina State University showed that playing World of Warcraft can actually increase cognitive function in older adults. Because of the addictive properties of the game, World of Warcraft can break down human inhibition in a unique way that creates cognitive and attention biases that increase their functionality, measured by test scores. Further cognitive studies of World of Warcraft have shown that the game is a very unique learning environment that is very difficult to duplicate. Independently of learning strategies and effective teamwork, World of Warcraft promotes innovative thinking.
World of Warcraft Finds Its Way Into Class World of Warcraft Students’ passions can be a powerful driver for deeper and more creative learning. With this knowledge, some educators are using popular commercial games like World of Warcraft (WoW) to create curriculum around the game. And they say they’re seeing success, especially with learners who have had trouble in traditional classrooms. World of Warcraft is a Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplay (MMOR) game, where players take on the identity of characters in a narrative-rich plot, working together to overcome challenges. “In my estimation, a well-designed video game is pure, scaffolded, constructivist learning at its best,” said Peggy Sheehy, one of the designers of WoW in Schools, an elective English Language Arts curriculum built around the game. “Game designers get that failure is anticipated and celebrated. Sheehy designs “quests” with particular learning objectives in mind that the students or — “heroes” as they’re called in class — must complete. Related