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This part of the conference takes place primarily in the pre-conference activity and reading week, and has been organised by Shri Footring, Jane Edwards and Paul Miller (RSCs). There are two parts to it:

1. Second Life (SL) orientation sessions. These are for people new to SL, who want an introduction to using it, navigating around, etc.

2. Tours of islands in SL being successfully used for teaching and learning. These are:

• No Smoking Please! Assessing Safety Protocols on a Virtual Oil Rig (Simon Kear and Terese Bird)
• Integrating virtual worlds with virtual learning environments to create structured and assessable user learning experiences (Daniel Livingstone and Kerri McCusker)
• Immersion in Literature Teaching: WWI Poetry in Second Life (Chris Stephens)
• Molecules and microbes: Second Life & beyond… (Peter Miller)
• Experiences of learning and teaching Art and Design in Second Life (Annabeth Robinson)

 

For a description of what is happening, listen to this podcast by Shri and Jane. You can listen in the Flash player or download the original mp3 file.

It is important to sign up early for the conference, and make the most of the pre-conference week. This is much, much more than a four day conference!

 

VW tour and orientation organisers

Shri Footring

Shri Footring has been an e-Learning Advisor at the JISC Regional Support Centre, Eastern since 2005. With a background in software engineering, teaching and management, Shri advises supported learning providers at a strategic level, developing their use of technology to improve  learning, teaching and organisational effectiveness.

Shri’s interests at the JISC RSC include Adult and Community Learning, virtual learning environments, web based social technologies and virtual worlds. She leads a national RSC group investigating the use of virtual worlds for learning and teaching.

Research interests include digital literacies, virtual worlds and the ethics surrounding the use of new technologies in education.

 

Jane Edwards  

Jane joined the JISC Regional Support Centre West Midlands. As e-learning advisor for the Adult and Community Learning sector, she supports Local Authorities in the development of their e-learning strategies.

Jane has a keen interest in virtual worlds and their use in education, particularly for learners from socially excluded groups. She runs a JISC mail list for discussion on virtual worlds and hosts events such as a regional forum for those interested in the application of virtual worlds for teaching and learning and regularly speaks at conferences and workshops. She is also involved in a national RSC group looking at the use of virtual worlds in teaching and learning.

Prior to joining the RSC, Jane worked for Shropshire Libraries and spent 10 years living abroad. During that time she worked as a TEFL and IT teacher, and was employed by the United Nations in Kabul and the European Parliament in Brussels. She also worked as a liaison officer for the British Embassy. Jane completed an honours degree in Social Science and Social Policy with the Open University, and on return to the UK, used her knowledge and experience to provide IT assistance at a local community centre in Shropshire.

Paul Miller

Paul Miller is an e-Learning Adviser at the JISC Regional Support Centre Northern, based in the University of Sunderland. Previously, Paul taught on systems engineering programmes at the university, and has been a lecturer in FE and a curriculum co-ordinator in Adult and Community Learning.

As part of his present role, Paul manages RSC Northern's Learning Island in Second Life - a facility for learning providers in the region to gain experience with learning opportunities offered by 3-d virtual worlds. Paul is also involved in a number of collaborative projects in the region such as the 'TeesLearn' VLE consortium. His main focus is to assist ACL providers improve their learning provision through a strategic approach to the effective deployment of technologies.