Second Life literature review

I am starting to delve deeper in to the research on Second Life as a venue for the delivery of education and training. When I first started looking at Second Life for education, well over a year ago it seemed that there was little out there to really guide educators based upon research and data. However, today all of that has changed. While I cannot hope to present all of the research in Virtual Worlds and Second Life specifically I hope to provide some sort of bibliography that will help you identify those resources that would be most pertinent to your needs.

Works Cited

Alarifi, Sultan A. "An Exploratory Study of Higher Education Virtual Campuses in Second Life." Diss. University of Nottingham, 2008. Print.

Appelman, Rober. "Designing Experiential Modes; A Key focus for Immersive Learning Environments." Tech Trends 49.3 (2005): 64-74. Print.

The Blue Book: A Consumer Guide to Virtual Worlds Is Now Available Free from the Association of Virtual Worlds. 2008. Web. 04 Jan. 2010. .

Boellstorff, Tom. Coming of Age in Second Life An Anthropologist Explores the Virtually Human. New York: Princeton UP, 2008. Print.

Bradley, Jean-Claude, and Andrew Lang. "Chemistry in Second Life." Chemistry Central Journal 3.14 (2009). Print.

Butler, Des, and Janice White. "A slice of Second Life: Academics, support staff and students navigating a changing landscape." A slice of Second Life: Academics, support staff and students navigating a changing landscape. Proc. of Ascilite 2008, Australia, Melbourne. Print.

Cagnina, Maria, and Michele Poian. "Beyond eBusiness Models: the Road to Virtual Worlds." Electronic Commerce Research 9.1-2 (2009): 195-204. Print.

Calongne, Cynthia. "Educational Frontiers: Learning in a Virtual World." Educause Review 43.5 (2008). Print.

Carr, David F. "Second Life demonstrates mingling of real and virtual worlds Rapid prototyping among the benefits for military and civilian organization." Defense System Knowledge Tecnologies and Net Centric Warfare. 9 Dec. 2009. Web. .

Castranova, Edward. Exodus to the virtual World How online fun is changing reality. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. Print.

Collins, Chris. "Looking to the Future: Higher Education in the Metaverse." Educause Review 43.5 (2008). Print.

Danielsen, Judith M., and Mats Deutschmann. Learning and Teaching in the Virtual World of Second Life. Tapir Academic, 2009. Print.

Davis, Alanah, John Murphy, Dawn Owens, Deepak Khanzanchki, and Ilze Zgurs. "Avatars, People, and Virtual Worlds: Foundations for Research in Metaverses." Journal of the Association of Information Systems 10.2 (2009): 91-117. Print.

Dreher, Carl. "Virtual Worlds as a Context Suited for Information Systems Education: Discussion of Pedagogical Experience and Curriculum Design with Reference to Second Life." Journal of Information Systems Education 20.2 (2009): 211-25. Print.

Educause Learning Initiative. "7 things you should know about Second Life." Educause. 2008. Web. 02 Feb. 2010. .

Gatto, James, Bradford Blaise, and Benjaminm Esplin. "Worlds.com Saber-Rattling Portends a Trend in Virtual World and Video Game Patents." Intellectual Property & Technology Law Journal 21.5 (2009). Print.

Graham, Steven. "14619571070100010503 European Journal of Archaeology 2007; 10; 77 Shawn Graham teaching and research: Linden Labs, Second Life, www.secondlife.com Special Reviews Section: Second lives: online worlds for archaeological teaching and research." European Journal of Archeology 10 (2007): 77-79. Print.

Harrison, Rodney. "Excavating Second Life Cyber-Archaeologies, Heritage and Virtual Communities." Journal of Material Culture 14 (2009): 75-106. Print.

Lamb, Annette, and Larry Johnson. "The potential, the pitfalls, and the promise of multi-user virtual environmen..." Teacher Librarian 36.4 (2009): 68-79. Print.

Malaby, Thomas M. Making Virtual Worlds: Linden Lab and Second Life. London: Cornell UP, 2009. Print.

Mattar, Jao. Technological Minimalism and Second Life: Time for Educational Technology and Content Minimalism. Technological Minimalism and Second Life: Time for Educational Technology and Content Minimalism. Dec. 2009. Web. 6 Feb. 2010. .

Meadows, Mark Stephen. I, Avatar The Culture and Consequences of Having a Second Life (TestPrep (New Riders')). New York: New Riders, 2008. Print.

Mennecke, Brian, Edward M. Roche, David A. Bray, Benn Konsynski, John Lester, Michael Rowe, and Anthony Townsend. "Second Life and Other Virtual Worlds: A Roadmap for Research." 28th International Conference on Information Systems. Proc. of 28th International Conference on Information Syhstems. 7 Oct. 2007. Web. 02 Feb. 2010. .

Nakazaki, Takashi. "Is Japan Ready to Welcome the Virtual World Age? Second Life’s Bubble Bursts as a Business Tool in Japan." Computer and Internet Lawyer 26.11 (2009): 13-28. Print.

Pearce, Celia. Communities of play emergent cultures in multiplayer games and virtual worlds. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2009. Print.

Reeves, Byron, and J. Leighton Read. Total Engagement: using games and virtual worlds to change the way people work and businesses compete. Boston: Harvarad Business, 2009. Print.

Rico, Mercedes, Gemma Puerto, and Paula De Silva. "Second Lives and Newer Islands: Language, Culture and Identity through Migration literature." Tejuelo. Didáctica de la lengua y la literatura. Educación 1988.4830200 (2008): 140-67. Print.

Robbins, Russell, and Brian S. Butler. "Selecting a Virtual World Platform for Learning." Journal of Information Systems Education 20.2 (2009): 1199-211. Print.

Robbins, Russell, and Brian S. Butler. "Selecting a Virtual World Platform for Learning." Journal of Information Systems Education 20.2 (2009). Print.

Rufer-Bach, Kimberly. The Second Life Grid the Official Guide to Communicaiton, Collaboration, and community Engagement. Indianaplicy: Wiley,, 2009. Print.

Savin-Baden, Maggie, and Cathy Tombs. "Commentary: Virtual Planning: Second Life and the Online Studio." Journal of Planning Education and Research 29.108 (2009). Print.

Shen, Jia, and Lauren Edfer. "EXPLORING INTENTIONS TO USE VIRTUAL WORLDS FOR BUSINESS." Journal of Information Systems Education 20.2 (2009): 225-35. Print.

Skiba, Diane. "Nursing Education 2.0: A Second Look at Second Life." Nursing Education Perspectives; 30.2 (2009): 211-21. Print.

Terdiman, Daniel. The Entrepreneur's Guide to Second Life Making Money in the Metaverse. Indianapolis: Wiley Publishin, 2008. Print.

Turner, Phil, and Susan Turner. "Triangulation in practice." Virtual Reality 13 (2009): 171-81. Print.

"Virtual Worlds Researchers Wiki." Virtual Worlds Research Wiki. Web. 02 Jan. 2010. .

Wagner, Christian, and RAchel Ip. "Action Learning with Second Life – A Pilot Study." Journal of Information Systems Education 20.2 (2009): 211-25. Print.

Wagner, Christian, and Rachel IP. "Action Learning with Second Life – A Pilot Study." Journal of Information Systems Education, 20.2 (2009): 249-58. Print.

WAng, Yuanqiong, and James Bramam. "Extending the Classroom through Second Life." Journal of Information Systems Education 20.22 (2009): 235-49. Print.

Weicha, John, Robin Heyden, Ellen Sternthal, and Mario Merialdi. "Learning in a Virtual World: Experience With Using Second Life for Medical Education." Jounral of Medical Internet Research. JMIR, 01 Jan. 2010. Web. 02 Feb. 2010. .

Zagal, Jose P. Ludoliteracy: Defining, understanding and supprorting games education. Lulu. Print.

Zhang, Xiaolong (Luke). "Multiscale traveling: crossing the boundary between space and scale." Virtual Reality (2009). Print.

As this literature review provided a foundation for research it also provided a foundation for conducting the research. The methodology included a survey of educators in Second Life, research observations and immersion in the Second Life. The focus of the research was on education, how university sites in Second Life would be constructed to engage learners, and to determine who was driving the use of virtual worlds in education.

The survey was administered via Survey Monkey and was conducted for a more than six weeks. An initial review of the results has been started. At this point it seems that most initiatives for education in Second Life are those of individual faculty and staff who see the potential of virtual worlds for education.

Why I write and other stuff

oday I was contemplating the question.."Why do you write?" I am not a published author, I don't think dissertations count..haha. I really don't think I am a very good writer..I salute anyone who reads through my blogs and doesn't escape from that experience without being confused and bewildered. This blog "mixed bag" is a silly name but it is somewhat fitting--I am never entirely sure what I will be posting here. My intent today,for example was to write a blog focused on Second Life, but this blog has wandered off on some sort of a different focus. Given that I am compelled to incorporate something regarding Second Life into this blog, which I will do towards the end.

I was inspired to write this post after reading Cecelia Ward Jones' article in the Jan/February 2010 issue of Poets and Writers magazine. In this article she chronicles her writing career and traces that she decided to be a writer at the age of nine having spent the day reading Little Women..which was thrust upon her by her grandmother after she complained of having nothing to do. At that same age I was reading alot too. Nancy Drew Mysteries, Five Little Peppers books, Bobbsey Twins, Black Beauty, My Friend Flicka, Dr. Seuss books, Scholastic Books, my mom's Reader's Digest Condensed Books, and a variety of other books. By the age of 17 had devoured Wind in the Willows, Catcher in the Rye, 1984, Watership Down, Atlas Shrugged, JRR Tolkein, Animal Farm, tons of science fiction and fantasy, I loved books and I loved to read.

Having established a life long love of reading..why do I write? in college my first composition class teacher assigned us poetry writing..I had never written poetry before but hammered out some lines.. and she loved them..she engaged in a long class discussion regarding them..I was exhilarated..I had never received such recognition for anything I had written before. I no longer have those poems but I am sure they were fueled by teen age angst and some lingering effects of a romance novel I had read. I have continued to have that sort of acknowledgment for my writing from my peers and others throughout my academic career. I have taken college classes, Writers Digest workshops, and attend various writer groups to better refine my writing skills. Therefore it must be that love of reading that is behind why I write, that recognition for what I write that drives me to continue to write today. Writing though is a fundamental tool for me to use in figuring out my world.

Writers have different processes of writing. Some can go straight to writing others carefully map out what they are going to write via an outline. I actually write most of my stuff out in long hand, then type it up or word process it into Google Docs. From there I transfer it via cut and paste to my blog. At least in this way what I write goes through to drafts..but I still know I am slack in the finer points of using just the right word. This is why I have recently been seeking out writers groups in Second Life to engage in dialogue and critique of my writing. I have listed some of these resources below:

Athena Isle Writers is for writers of all kinds to network, share contacts and information and meet writers, editors, and publishers. (Formerly Writers Wednesday.) We meet on Athena Isle EVERY Wed at 12pm SLT. Led by Alas Zerbino. Authors & expert guests booked by Cybergrrl Oh.

For writers who want to meet other writers to get inspired & rev up their writing business. Great writing job opportunities discussed. http://athenaislewriters.blogspot.com & http://slwritersclub.ning.com.


Virtual worlds writers group

Formerly The Guild of UK Writers. Group meetings held at Milk Wood. a featured Second Life Showcase site.

Incorporating all virtual writers' and literary group information. Helping keep your finger on the literary pulse.

milkwoodwriters.ning.com

The Learning Experience

Groups and workshops for writers of all kinds. Website here; http://www.tleinsl.com/index_files/CW.htm , in world The Learning Experience. According to their information: WHAT EXACTLY IS THE TLE WRITERS SYMPOSIUM?

These 2-hour sessions are a combination of open mic and writers' support/feedback group: Writers read their work aloud, and if desired, get feedback afterward.


Other events;

WhereSECOND LIFE (map)

DescriptionTeacher: Alianaluz Rivera Classrunner: ashraf Aulder - ARA This class: TEXT. Story Writing. During this class students will write a short story. Join us. Come have fun and get your creative juices flowing! The first class is free. If it's the first time contact the Class Runner 30 minutes before class. Cost: 750L (1.9 euro; 2.9 US$; 300YEN) More classes: http://www.drive-through-esl.in





Daily writing topics for authors. We will post news about competitions we find noteworthy. We will also offer suggestions for daily field trips you can undertake in the real world. Finally, we’ll publish inspirational thoughts to keep you moving forward. Feel free to use the photographs on this site for your own purposes.

http://www.mammothgardens.com/wordpress/

Book Island in Second Life: Publishing Village for books, magazines and other resources for writers in Second Life. Here is a link to a recent article on Book Island.

And the Storm Mountain Writers Center in Second Life A place for writers! Serious fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction classes taught by professionals; critique & support groups; writers' hangout & coffeeshop (Hemingway Cafe); information source for entire SL writing scene, bookstore, Athen


So get inworld and check these places out... and remember ..don't stop writing.....

10 Free Science Resources for Students and Teachers Guest Post from Karen Schweitzer

10 Free Science Resources for Students and Teachers

The web is a great place for students and teachers to find science resources. There are sites with educational videos, virtual science demos, interactive activities, suggestions for experiments, and science resources that can be shared with the whole classroom via interactive whiteboards. Here are 10 science-related sites for students and teachers to explore throughout the school year.

Bill Nye the Science Guy - Bill Nye offers a wide range of free science resources for kids and teachers on his website. Resources include video demos, printable experiment instructions, pop quizzes, activities, and exercises.

The Why Files - This site offers a look at the "science behind the news." In addition to interesting articles and facts, The Why Files also provides virtual science demos, cool science images, and teacher activity pages.

National Geographic - The Science and Space section of the National Geographic site offers a blog, educational articles, a photo gallery, videos, quizzes, and other activities that would be of interest to classrooms who are studying science topics. Other offerings include games and virtual field trips.

Exploratorium - Students and teachers who visit the Exploratorium website can explore hands-on activities, science videos, webcasts, a digital library with exhibit-inspired materials, and many other online resources.

Stellarium - This free planetarium software displays a realistic 3D sky on your computer. Stellarium also works well with Smart Boards and other interactive whiteboards.

Bugscope - Created by the Imaging Technology Group at the Beckman Institute at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Bugscope provides classrooms with free access to a scanning electron microscope (SEM) that can be used to study insect specimens at high-magnification. After signing up, classrooms send in insects they've collected, propose an experiment and schedule a free, interactive session.

iKnowthat.com - iKnowthat.com is a standards-based education website with videos, interactive activities, and user-generated content. Science-related features include simulations, games, virtual labs, and animated illustrations.

NASA Space Games - The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) offers word puzzles, scrambled pictures, trivia, quizzes, a board game, and other science-related games that can be played online or through interactive whiteboards. The NASA Space Games site is also a good place to find suggestions for science projects and experiments.

Try Science - Supported by more than 400 science centers worldwide, Try Science is an interactive science site with live science center webcams, online adventures, offline experiment suggestions, polls, and quizzes.

Ref Desk - The RefDesk offers a comprehensive science and technology facts encyclopedia with 100+ links to science resources around the web. The encyclopedia is a good place to find research materials for reports and projects.

Guest post from education writer Karen Schweitzer. Karen is the About.com Guide to Business School. She also writes about online college classes for OnlineClasses.org.