Second Life
Angela Thomas and Virtual Macbeth NMC Conversation #10
Posted December 10th, 2008 by Alan LevineIn this NMC Conversation we are transglobal! Larry (in Texas), Rachel (in California), and Alan (temporarily in Iceland) talk with Angela Thomas in Sydney, Australia. Angela, a senior lecturer in English Arts and New Media Literacies at the University of Sydney. The NMC and Angela have collaborated numerous times since first meeting her in Second Life back in 2006, and she has presented several times at our Second Life conferences as well as being a featured speaker at the 2006 NMC Summer Conference.
NMC Publishes Results of 2008 Educators in Second Life Survey
Posted November 26th, 2008 by Alan LevineIn May of 2008, the NMC conducted its second annual survey of educators in Second Life, provided as a yearly snapshot of the demographics and activities of educators who are active in Second Life. A link to the survey was sent to by email to individuals within the NMC's Second Life communities and to the Second Life Educators Listserv (SLED). This year, 358 individuals responded to the survey, a 170% increase from the number who answered our 2007 survey.
Below are a few highlights of our comparison to the 2007 survey. You can find links below to more summary information and the final survey data tables.
2008 NMC Educators in Second Life Survey
Posted November 26th, 2008 by Alan Levine
Sent out to members of the NMC, our in-world educational community, and the Second Life Educators Listserv (SLED) in May 2008, this survey represents the interests, activities, and demographics of more than 350 educators. Overall, the results reflect the highly social interaction of Second Life and how educators have formed and contribute to a vibrant community in this virtual world space.
Download 2008 Educators in Second Life Survey Results Summary (52k Mb, 2 pp)
Download 2008 Educators in Second Life Survey Results (308 kb, 10 pp) 
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downloads as of January 08 2009
Rock the Academy Symposium Opening Reception
Posted November 5th, 2008 by Alan LevineThe twelfth in the series of NMC Virtual Symposia, Rock the Academy: Radical Teaching, Unbounded Learning, opened last night at NMC Conference Center with a nicely attended reception.
This fourth of these online conference held completely in Second Life, Rock The Academy is intended to explore the ideas and activities that are changing/revolutionizing the shape of education today. With some meeting and greeting, NMC staff welcomed attendees from as far away as Hong Kong, Australia, and Austin ;-) and one NMC staff member stationed in Iceland.
University of Texas Austin Invites You to Second Life for “An Evening With The Honorable Madeleine K. Albright”
Posted September 8th, 2008 by Alan Levine
The LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin will welcome former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright to help launch the School’s new Master of Global Policy Studies (MGPS) degree on Wednesday evening, September 10 at the Lyndon B. Johnson Library in Austin, Texas.
Ball State Digital Artists Showcased in Second Life on NMC’s Ars Simulacra
Posted August 21st, 2008 by Larry JohnsonImagine flying over a pyramid shaped boat as a variety of tones from the engine combine to create a melody. That is just what visitors will get when they interact with the new virtual art collection created by Ball State University faculty in Second Life.
John Fillwalk, Ball State associate professor of art, and director of the Institute for Digital Intermedia Arts and Animation (IDIAA), is the lead artist on a project that will be showcased in Second Life beginning Sunday, Aug. 24 2008, and run through September.
The NMC offered Fillwalk and the IDIAA the chance to transform an entire Second Life island with interactive virtual art. The collection, which will be up for a month, is part of a series of installations hosted by NMC throughout the year.
NMC Announces $100,000 in Virtual Learning Prizes
Posted May 15th, 2008 by NMCThe New Media Consortium (NMC) announced today the call for proposals for the 2008-09 NMC Virtual Learning Prize, a $100,000 competitive program of awards intended to create a collection of innovative open-source learning experiences that make use of the unique attributes of a virtual learning environment. (See the press release.)
As many as 20 NMC Virtual Learning Prizes will be awarded in 2008. Each of the US$5,000 awards will provide a cash incentive paid to the awardee of $500 as well as $4,500 in expert development assistance from the NMC Virtual Worlds team to create the learning experience. The range of inworld services available to awardees to actualize the proposed ideas includes professional building, scripting, design, animation, avatar design, and/or related services.
NMC Virtual Learning Prize
Posted May 14th, 2008 by NMCThe NMC Virtual Learning Prize is a $100,000 competitive program of awards intended to create a collection of innovative open-source learning experiences that make use of the unique attributes of a virtual learning environment. As many as 20 NMC Virtual Learning Prizes will be awarded in 2008. (See Press Release )
Each of the US$5,000 awards will provide a cash incentive paid to the awardee of $500 as well as $4,500 in expert development assistance from the NMC Virtual Worlds team to create the learning experience. The range of in-world services available to awardees to actualize the proposed ideas includes professional building, scripting, design, animation, avatar design, and/or related services.
Virtual Citations: Defining and Creating Ethical Content in Virtual Worlds
Posted January 16th, 2008 by Alan Levine
Presentation from the 2007 NMC Symposium on Evolution of Communication
As the landscape of technology changes daily and new information is created, distributed, mashed up, and distributed again and again...the nature of how we communicate citations is becoming confused. While the Creative Commons license and the trend of public domain publishing exists, there are no intuitive ways to cite within virtual worlds, and governing bodies like the MLA and the APA have not provided directions to cite from virtual world documents (notecards, text chat, object text, and scripts). This lack of communication is frustrating to academics and students using virtual worlds for education and research.
Bridging the Lifelong Learning Gap
Posted January 16th, 2008 by Alan LevinePresentation from the 2007 NMC Symposium on Evolution of Communication
Many older learners still struggle to transition from traditional learning contexts to online environments that are becoming increasing prevalent in lifelong learning. Using technology to enrich online communication, educators are now better equipped to facilitate learner success by providing means for dialog, praxis, and visualization of ideas. This discussion will explore how advances in communication and social networking help bring essential elements of shared learning into online environments.
