Language Lab in SecondLife

Stories from Second Life: How Languagelab gave language learning a new lease on life

Wednesday, November 26th, 2008 at 7:29 PM by: Robin Linden

This is the second installment of “Stories from Second Life,” an occasional series of profiles of the people behind Second Life innovations, and the tangible benefits that these individuals and their businesses have brought to both the virtual and the real worlds.

Hadrian Yorke rezzed on June 26, 2003 and later Edgware Marker (real life name David Kaskel) first rezzed in Second Life on April 23, 2004, buying his first land in Second Life. At the time he was a graduate student at the Center for Computing in Humanities at King’s College in Great Britain. His doctoral research was focused on looking at avatars as a theatrical paradigm, considering how much you as an individual are an audience for what your avatar is doing, and how much your avatar is a reflection of who you are. Among other projects, he worked on a visualization project for King’s College to recreate historic European theaters in Second Life. The theaters reflect different time periods and different locations including Britain, Germany, Italy and Greece. Designed to be learning theaters under the heading of King’s Visualization Lab, this project is still growing within Second Life.

At Languagelab, Class is in session

Early in his Second Life experience, David paired up with master magician Starax Statosky and the two created a giant living room. Within the build they placed a large magnetic board with word magnets that could be manipulated to form sentences. It was the resulting collaborative play that led David to realize the potential of bringing people together in a virtual space to work together and learn.

In 2005 David laid out the idea for teaching English as a second language to the global audience within Second Life, and at the end of the year he incorporated Languagelab. At that point he decided to put all his focus on his new venture and by the fall of 2007 Languagelab was completing its beta. This year they enrolled their first paying students.

A Student at Languagelab

Today Languagelab operates exclusively in Second Life and has invested a significant amount in terms of R&D and testing to provide an unparalleled virtual learning space where students can be paired with highly qualified, innovative language teachers from around the world.

It’s long been known that immersion in an environment with native speakers is the best way to practice and learn a second language. And as David realized early on, the virtual world environment naturally lends itself to language learning, due to its immersive nature and ability to make learning contextually relevant to both situations and locations.
Using the creation tools in Second Life, Languagelab built “English City” where students learn to have contextual conversations with native speakers, for example, by sitting in a café and ordering food together. This methodology of supervised user driven instruction is called in Languagelab parlance; IAL (Instructor Assisted Learning.)

Languagelab Students in Second Life

David’s company now has 250 students from countries such as Yemen, France, Brazil, KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), China, India, Japan and Poland, registered to learn English in the immersive environment of Languagelab.

The company has also built a specific entry route from its website at http://www.languagelab.com/en/ and its own Registration Center in Second Life, enabling students to get up to speed quickly in the virtual environment and and providing support in choosing the best study plan.

Today Languagelab’s students pay a monthly subscription which gives them access to the City where they practice under teacher supervision to increase fluency. They also take structured classes in the classroom. Beginning in 2009 full courses will begin, and allow students to pay by the course or to maintain a subscription. David also plans to launch additional courses in 2009 including a 10 week elementary Spanish course. The company has 11 full-time employees in London, eight teachers and an instructional designer plus 20-30 part-time staff populating the City and providing technical support, Second Life skills training and voice set-up. If you’re interested in picking up a second language, visit Languagelab in Second Life, on Language Lab Island, or see their website.

A Languagelab dance

It goes without saying that we’d love to feature more of these profiles, so we can continue to highlight the infinite number of ways the Second Life community is innovating. Is there a hidden gem that you feel is worth the spotlight? If so, please comment in this Second Life forum thread, or email me at robin@lindenlab.com.

You can also visit more Second Life Grid success stories via the Solution Providers listing.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 26th, 2008 at 7:29 PM and is filed under Community, Creativity & Ideas, Education, Interviews, Inworld Content, Resident Experience. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site

ECCE FEMINA

Art Show "Ecce Femina" by Gruppo *NEMESIS* will be inaugurated on next November 26th - December 26h at Learning Dream Island .


The intent of art show "ecce femina" is to photograph the role of woman, as female essence, acquired from historical, social and cultural events. The project is by a cooperation of very active people in sl, including artists, poets, builders, scripters, who worked together with great synergy.


The location of this art show is a spherical structure named "Nemesis Project", an incredible work by Geordie Robbiani.





The view goes in different directions:
I Room- I floor:- Reception area- Gadgets- Guidebook- Credits

II room - II floor:- Woman's life cycle: Birth, Childhood, adolescence and adult life (by Kyra Ducrot and Prajna Seetan)

III room - III floor:
- Woman's life cycle II: adolescence, maturity and third age (by Prajna Seetan and Lisa Tebaldi)- Woman in the different cultures (by Lotja Loon and Prajna Seetan)- Woman in Poetry and Literature (by Viola Tatham)- Fashion in Second Life (by Sposacaliandro Michalat)- Artistic works (by Zhora Maynard and Kikka Igaly)- Women' photos in Second Life (by Feix Robbiani and Prajna Seetan)

IV room - IV floor: - Woman in figurative art (by giada Cortes and Jo Magic) - Artistic works about woman by
Maryva Mayo
Shellina Winkler
Gleman Jun
Nessuno Myoo
Solkide Auer
Kicca Igaly
Zhora Maynard

The Art Show will host moreover some meetings to share our ideas and experiences:
- Thursday 27 November (10 p.m. - Italian Time): Viola Tatham "Woman in Poetry and Literature" Other meetings about women' theme will be skeduled on December.

Sloodle inworld tools

Sloodle Sandbox Course

This course exists as a 'sandbox' in which Sloodle features can be demonstrated. The item immediately below is the "Sloodle Controller", which controls all access to Moodle from within Second Life. You usually need one of these on each course you wish to use with Second Life.
Sloodle Controller: Primary Controller
Distributor: Sandbox Vending Machine

Glossary
MetaGloss - release

The MetaGloss tool allows students to search a Moodle glossary from within Second Life, simply by chatting a command, as follows:

/def avatar

(Replace "avatar" with the text you want to search.)

Image Browser - conceptual
The Image Browser tool extends the MetaGloss to allow for photo searches and displays textures on a resized prim.
/pix castle

(Replace "castle" with the text you want to search.)
Second Life Terms
Languages
Global Kids Curriculum
Music notation
Chinese Characters


Chat / WebIntercom
In this section you can see the Moodle side of the Second life <> Moodle Chat interface. This lets people in the Moodle chat room talk to people in Second Life and vice versa.
Sandbox Chatroom

3
Choice
These choices are used to demo the Sloodle Choice tool. You can make selections here, or if your avatar is registered with Sloodle.org (and you are enrolled in this course), then you can make selections in-world.
OS Choice
Avatar Number Choice

4
Quiz
We have 2 quiz objects: the Quiz Chair and the Pile On Quiz. Both of them allow you to administer a multiple-choice Moodle quiz in Second Life. The former is an assessed quiz for one user, while the second is an unassessed quiz for groups of students.
CLOZE - experimentalthe CLOZE question type (fill in the banks) to create a manipulable version inside Second Life.
Demo Quiz
Cloze test
another test quiz

5
Assignment / PrimDrop
Demo Assignment

Accessible and Qualified Use of Available Digital Resources about Aquatic World In National Gatherings

Accessible and Qualified Use of Available Digital Resources about Aquatic World In National Gatherings

AquaRing project is co-funded by the European UnionThe project is co-ordinated by the Aquarium of Genova
Other involved partners


Gentile Utente,

questa ricerca è finalizzata a raccogliere il tuo giudizio sul prototipo del portale AquaRing, in particolare con l’obiettivo di trovare i punti di forza e di debolezza di ogni servizio.
Il portale che vedrai e che potrai provare a navigare è ancora un prototipo: sia dal punto di vista dei servizi da implementare sia dal punto di vista dei contenuti da rendere disponibili c’è da fare ancora molto lavoro.
Ti chiediamo di testare i servizi disponibili sul portale e di rispondere alle domande sulla base della tua esperienza di navigazione; in particolare ti chiederemo di focalizzarti sui punti di forza e di debolezza di ciascun servizio, su ciò che ti piace e ciò che non ti piace di ogni servizio, infine ti chiederemo di rispondere ad alcune domande generali e di dare un punteggio complessivo al portale AquaRing.

Ora alcune istruzioni per partecipare a questa ricerca; per favore:
1) fai click con il mouse sul link di seguito per accedere al portale AquaRing:
http://prototype.aquaringweb.eu
2) quindi fai click con il mouse sul link di seguito per accedere al questionario on line:
online-evaluation [http://evaluation.aquaringweb.eu]
3) ora naviga & valuta!

Ti facciamo notare che alcuni browser ti permettono di muoverti più facilmente tra le finestre usando i tasti "Alt" e "Tab" sulla tastiera.
Ti ricordiamo inoltre che se cominci a rispondere alle domande ma non hai tempo di completare il questionario, puoi interrompere e continuare più tardi: è sufficiente che tu faccia click con il mouse sul pulsante “Riprendere successivamente”, che si trova in basso sulla sinistra dello schermo, il sistema ti chiederà di registrarti con un nome e con una password che in seguito utilizzerai per accedere nuovamente al questionario.

Ti ringraziamo per la tua preziosa collaborazione
Cordiali saluti,

Lo Staff di valutazione del progetto.

Per qualsiasi informazione per cortesia contatta:
Bruna Valettini
bvalettini@acquariodigenova.it

New SpringWidget

Excellent Italian Experience in SL!

ABCD GENOVA

Torno appena ora dal convegno su "Secondlife e la didattica. prime esperienze".

L'ottimo Andrea Benassi ha illustrato il progetto ed ha parlato della sua esperienza e delle attività svolte su Secondlearning mettendo in luce gli aspetti positivi dell'ambiente e la storia delle tecnologie ad essa collegate, dall'illuminante idea del desktop legata tuttavia più all'ufficio che alla vita di tutti i giorni alle ultime tecnologie innovative.

Le tre scuole trentine coinvolte nel progetto hanno mostrato il video realizzato dai ragazzi ed i ragazzi stessi, presenti al convegno , hanno evidenziato su esplicite domande di Andrea gli aspetti che li hanno portati a realizzare il lavoro creativo (scuole d'arte e simili) dopo le lezioni di costruzion edi Andrea stesso.

Un po' di invidia ovviamente per i loro progetti ce l'avevo..

Poi il loro docente di scuola, il direttore di uno degli istituti ed un docente dello studio associato "Mindscape" hanno portato la loro diretta esperienza e commentato alcune slide sul pensiero creativo, divergente e convergente, sottolineando come l'uso di questo nuovo ed emergente web 3.0 possa essere utilizzato in modo efficace per alcuni contenuti didattici anche non necessariamente curriculari.

Dopo alcune domande del pubblico di docenti intervenuti che mettevano il focus sul modo con cui era stato superato il problema dell'età degli studenti e sul reperimento dei finanziamenti necessari (la mia domanda ! ) il convegno è proseguito con un collagamento con Lisa Tebaldi e Giliola all'instalalzione del laboratorio di vulcani e terremoti con l'ndimenticabile vesuvio di Geordie Robbiani. finanziamneti sono stati trovati anche all'esterno tramite istituti bancari di appocggio (Caritro).

Illuminante e particolarmnete seguito (almeno da me) l'intervento del rappresentante dell'Agenzia per la scuola con cui ho preso finalmente contatti per collaborare sotto la direzione di Andrea non più come freeresident ma come docente della scuola italiana...speriamo bene...gli inghippi burocratici sono sempre in agguato...vi saprò dire..(se qcn conosce il mondo delle singole realtà scolastiche ne sa qcs; spero di poter prima o poi realizzare un progetto anche con i miei studenti magari coordinando un team di docenti del mio istituto di lingue, CAD,).

Infatti sono stati individuati alcuni ambiti "disciplinari" e metodologici oltre che trasversali di intervento in cui SL potrebbe rivelarsi vincente sia in materie tecniche che umanistiche.
(la mia credo di no ...ma può aiutare..)

Insomma , bando alle frustrazioni e avanti su questa starda; ci vuole molto coraggio.

Ovviamente ho fatto i complimenti a Benassi (che mi perdonerà lo sfogo di amarezzadel post precedente; eheh in uno dei suoi video mostrati c'ero anche io che imparavo a costruire...) ed a studenti e docenti delle tre scuole coinvolte.

E' solo un primo iniziale esperimento ma presto potrebbero essercene altri che mettono in comunicazione scuole di diverse città italiane.

(avrei vcoluto esserci non solo come spetattrice ma con un MIO progetto o almeno con una colalborazione ad un progetto...sarà per il prossimo anno!)

Education in virtual worlds

Top 100 Tools for Learning 2008

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: tools learning)

Link

Researching Learning in Virtual Environments - ReLIVE08

Researching Learning in Virtual Environments - ReLIVE08
Welcome to the website for ReLIVE08 - 20th and 21st November 2008.

Keynote speakers: Edward Castranova and Roo Reynolds.

In response to demand we will be webcasting all keynote sessions and a selection of presentations live during ReLIVE08. We will also be providing a live blog to coordinate other blogs during the conference. Please check back to this page for the URLs as they become available.

The conference cafe will be available inworld at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Open%20Life/196/126/27 from the 10th of November.

The conference proceedings will be available after the conference.

With researchers and practitioners attending from around the globe, this excellent opportunity for networking promises an interesting, stimulating and exciting 2 days. The conference will begin with a reception on the evening of the 19th November, and the first full day will see the opening keynote from Edward Castranova and a varied programme of paper presentations, symposia and workshops with presenters from around the world. The conference gala reception and dinner will be supported by a variety of entertainment including a digital caricaturist, live music and the internationally renowned Terry Waite as our after dinner speaker. The second day begins with an invited panel debate including Edward Castranova, Roo Reynolds, Bill Thompson and Claudia Linden, chaired by Sara De Freitas, Director of Research at The Serious Games Institute. This is followed by more presentations and workshops with a networking lunch. We end the second day on a high with a keynote plenary led by Roo Reynolds.

All delegates will receive a conference goodie bag and an electronic copy of the conference proceedings with ISBN reference. Selected papers will be invited to submit chapters for an edited book with a major publisher in the field (tbc).

Who should attend?
If you are currently researching learning in a virtual world, for example There, CyberTown, Second Life etc, then we invite you to submit an abstract to ReLIVE08. We are seeking presenters and participants who have experience of designing and delivering learning in virtual worlds, and the ability to reflect on and share that experience in an analytical framework.

Conference themes
The conference has four broad themes, listed below. Papers, workshops, symposiums, posters and inworld events submitted to these themes should draw on existing research or planned programmes of inquiry. The conference organisers are keen to construct a programme that features diverse and innovative research approaches to learning and teaching in virtual worlds. Given the emerging practice associated with virtual worlds, the conference committee are also keen to receive papers reporting on the experience of learning and teaching using virtual worlds that relate practice and outcomes to literature and research in this area. We anticipate that submissions will reflect a range of research methods and will examine issues such as rigour, methods of sampling, relationships between researchers and researched, and the ethics and politics of the research process.

The themes listed are intended to be broad and papers etc are likely to cross over two or more themes. In any proposal please ensure that you indicate clearly how you are addressing key points in the following:

Crossing boundaries and making connections
Papers submitted to this theme will extend our knowledge of the interdisciplinary nature of research into learning and teaching in virtual worlds. Boundaries crossed might include the digital divide between first and second lives, subject areas and/or research disciplines. In particular, papers should outline research processes and outcomes which draw upon or extend conceptual and explanatory frameworks from computing, cognitive science, social sciences and/or education.

Opportunities and challenges of virtual worlds for learning and teaching
Papers submitted to this theme may wish to report on research directly related to issues such as: ethics associated with online representations; disclosure; child protection issues; enabling disadvantaged learners. Of additional interest are papers where opportunities and/or challenges were unforeseen at the beginning of a research programme and had a subsequent impact upon the research outcomes.

Approaches to research
This theme intends to explore the range of research approaches utilised by researchers of learning and teaching in virtual worlds. The committee are particularly interested in reviewing researchers who are adopting a range of methodologies both quantitative and qualitative. Of particular interest are accounts that highlight the efficacy of particular approaches and the pitfalls of others and/or that illuminate issues concerned with the collection of data in-world versus real-world.

Implementing and sustaining innovation
Papers submitted under this theme should explore issues associated with implementing and sustaining institutional teaching strategy in virtual worlds. Of particular interest are papers that focus on Institutional or Faculty approaches; adoption roadmaps; resourcing strategies and/or impact measures.

Questions that might be answered include but are not limited to:



What are the best practices for human research in VWs? What are the ethical issues that we face, and what is the community consensus on how best to approach them?

What type of quantitative data is available on current VW platforms, and how can we standardize this? What tools do we need that we don't currently have?
What completely new research opportunities are available in VWs?


Download flyer (.pdf, 1MB)
education, v-learning

Vantages of education in VW

Vantages of education in VW

Persistence: A virtual world can be used at any time, whether or not other avatars are there.

Persistenza: Un mondo virtuale può essere utilizzato in qualsiasi momento, o se non altro ci sono avatar.

Multi-user: Communication exists between users synchronously. Multi-utente: la comunicazione tra gli utenti sincrono.

Avatars: Avatars with a flexible appearance allow play with identity (roleplaying).

Avatar: Avatar con un flessibile aspetto consentire giocare con l'identità (di ruolo).

Cultural literacy can be studied and learned from them.
Alfabetizzazione culturale può essere studiato e imparato da loro.

Wide Area Network: Students can reach out and communicate with students and teachers at a wide geographical divide.

Wide Area Network: Gli studenti possono entrare in contatto e comunicare con gli studenti e gli insegnanti a una vasta frattura geografica.
***********************************************************************************

A real EDUCASE

Kelton cita Media griglia e la sua Immersive iniziativa educativa, e il loro lavoro proseguendo nella formazione delle norme e delle migliori pratiche, e la creazione di imprese virtuali per l'interoperabilità con un istituto di istruzione e piegato.

Under the challenges and drawbacks section, Kelton lists:
Sotto le sfide e gli svantaggi sezione, Kelton elenchi:

Perceptual: VEs are still treated as ‘games’ by those with no personal experience; ‘fun’ is not expected to be a part of education, so anything that could be construed as being enjoyable is suspect.
Percettiva: imprese virtuali sono ancora trattati come 'giochi' da quelli senza esperienza personale; 'divertimento' non dovrebbe essere una parte di istruzione, così tutto ciò che potrebbe essere inteso come piacevole è sospetto.

Technical: Collaborative tools (especially for working with text) and interoperability will be the greatest challenges we will face; other technical considerations will work themselves out over time as broadband services and hardware become cheaper and more accessible.
Tecnica: strumenti di collaborazione (in particolare per la lavorazione del testo) e l'interoperabilità sarà più grandi sfide che dovremo affrontare; altre considerazioni tecniche funzionerà se stessi nel tempo come servizi a banda larga e di hardware diventare meno costosi e più accessibili.

Operational: The learning curve for VEs is steep. Operative: La curva di apprendimento per le imprese virtuali è ripida. There are often technical difficulties with VEs, especially those that are more ‘experimental’.
Ci sono difficoltà tecniche, spesso con imprese virtuali, in particolare quelli che sono più 'sperimentale'.
With younger age groups particularly, there are legal restrictions.
Con i gruppi di età più giovani in particolare, vi sono restrizioni legali.

Pedagogical: Each institution must decide for itself whether the tool is appropriate for them, and whether they can sort out methods of assessment. Pedagogica: Ogni istituzione deve decidere autonomamente se lo strumento è adeguato per loro, e se possibile ordinare i metodi di valutazione.

In conclusion, Kelton seems to think that VEs have a solid future in education – but that the extent of their involvement is as yet unknown and unforeseeable.
In conclusione, Kelton sembra pensare che imprese virtuali hanno un solido futuro in materia di istruzione - ma che la portata del loro coinvolgimento è ancora sconosciuto e imprevedibile.

Secondlife and Italian School

Secondlife and Italian School

Calendario Convegni
organizzati dall’Agenzia Nazionale
per lo Sviluppo dell’Autonomia Scolastica
ex-Indire

ABCD –Salone Italiano dell’Educazione
Fiera di Genova, Piazzale Kennedy 12‐14 novembre 2008
www.abcdonline.


14 Novembre 2008
Second Life e la didattica: prime esperienze

Sala G ‐ Padiglione B Orario: 13.30 – 16.00

Per sei mesi, dieci studenti di tre scuole di Trento (Centro Moda Canossa ‐ Istituto Pavoniano Artigianelli ‐ Istituto d'arte “Alessandro Vittoria”) hanno immaginato e creato un centro espositivo d’arte in Second Life. Il tutto avvalendosi di quelle tecniche di pensiero creativo note come “pensiero laterale”. Parleranno di questa esperienza gli studenti e i docenti coinvolti.
Intervengono:
•

Massimo Faggioli, coordinatore sezione Didattica&Formazione dell’Agenzia Nazionale per lo Sviluppo dell’Auonomia Scolastica ex Indire

• Lorenzo Frizzer, docente studio associato "Mindscape"

• Fabio Stacchini, docente Istituto d'arte "Alessandro Vittoria" di Trento

• Andrea Benassi, ricercatore Agenzia Nazionale per lo Sviluppo dell’Autonomia Scolastica ex ndire e responsabile del progetto SecondLearning.


Nel corso dell’incontro sono previsti contributi video che documentano le attività e le esperienze svolte e una “visita guidata” al Campus SecondLearning, l’ambiente che l’Agenzia ex Indire ha attivato su Second Life già dal 2006 per individuare e sperimentare nuove metodologie didattiche attraverso l’utilizzo dei cosiddetti “mondi virtuali”.

Meeting virtual worlds in Italy

WEBSITE

Quite like in Italy!..I'm waiting for the wind from U.S.A

In Italy our government cut the money for education! Is the crisis different in the two countries?

Obama, our hope for a wind from USA...
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/education/
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid901546006?

Doubt

My Doubt

I received an email by Kristin, the pBwiki Team, asking me begin learning about Pbwiki I created for an immaginary virtual class.
After some videos and some speed reading of manual I found a recreational test with assignement of points after having overcome the hurdles.

Create a pbwiki, create apage...and...invite people like writers readers, co_ administrator and so on.

I have adoubt.
How can I invite others students...if I haven't access to their email neither to forum of muvenation?
Perhaps in Sl by chance?
Do I have to go in Teaching5 for 24 hoours? I don't believe so.
I'm crying...:(
I have to solve this problem with the muvenation administration of the site, I'm afraid, but anybody reply to me.
I'd like collaborate with group 3( or 2 or 1) to know their willness to collaborate in apbwiki to learn to us eit.

Tools for PBwiki

TOOLS and Webinars
MANUALE
CREATE a PAGE

Create a Page from PBwikiWebinars on Vimeo.
**********************************************************************************
EDIT a PAGE

Edit a Page from PBwikiWebinars on Vimeo.
************************************************************************************
LINK to OTHER WIKI PAGES

Linking to Other Wiki Pages from PBwikiWebinars on Vimeo.
*************************************************************************************
LINK to FILE

Link to Files from PBwikiWebinars on Vimeo.
*************************************************************************************
LINK to EMAIL ADDRESS

Linking to Email Addresses from PBwikiWebinars on Vimeo.
*************************************************************************************
LINK to EXTERNAL URL

Linking to External URLs from PBwikiWebinars on Vimeo.
*************************************************************************************
REVERT PAGE

Reverting Page from PBwikiWebinars on Vimeo.

Start

Community of Practice
Inserito originariamente da elisarubino

I'm starting my path through MUVEnation.
I'm so excited and a few confused..
My first photo in Teaching5.
See you!

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.