36
Virtual Realities
Insight
Serious Games Institute Steering Group in Second Life Coventry University Second Life Virtual Auditorium
Examples of this phenomenon include such as Webex, Live Meeting and Adobe
jointly funded by Advantage West Midlands
patients with rare conditions who visit Connect Professional, are themselves still
and Coventry University Enterprises Ltd.
their GP armed with in-depth knowledge maturing as bandwidth increases and
of the medical condition, symptoms and compression technologies develop.
About the SGI
treatment options, and students of digital
The SGI’s building is being equipped with an
media who can easily be more skilled and So, even before the virtual classroom
infrastructure that will integrate physical and
capable than their tutors. or meeting place in 2D space has been
virtual worlds and support location aware
learning applications through a new approach
to smart buildings. This new approach is one
in which buildings are equipped to ‘learn’
Trends in learning and education
about visitors and stakeholders through
sensor technology, social networking and
Knowledge transfer Peer-to-peer learning
relationship management techniques. In this
Exisitng knowledge New knowledge
way, the building should be able to recognise
visitors and respond to them in a highly
Assimilation & retention Discovery
personalised and proactive way.
In the ‘classroom,’ early life Anytime, anywhere, lifelong
The analogy to this approach is the “Exclusive
Golf Club” model where collaborative
learning takes place between members
The so-called web 2.0 trends towards universally accepted, there is a new kid on
sharing a common interest. In the same
information publishing rather than the block, still immature in its functionality
way that a Golf Club acts as a facilitator of
consumption, the ready accessibility of compared to the application sharing
relationships between members, buildings
rich media information, new tools for toolsets currently available in 2D, but
(educational and/or non-educational and
discovering and sharing information such with great promise of a richer learning
physical and/or virtual) will use technology
as Google Earth, the emergence of social experience because of the third dimension.
to facilitate learning relationships that are
networking spaces such as Facebook, the
a blend of synchronous and asynchronous
ever increasing functionality of mobile Looking beyond what is currently in active
learning, on-line lectures, self-directed
devices and the phenomenon of 3D use, the Serious Games Institute (SGI) at
learning and collaborative knowledge sharing
immersive worlds such as Second Life and Coventry University is engaged in a public/
and discovery.
World of Warcraft are all creating new private partnership between industry and
ways to collaborate and discover new education to explore these new frontiers
David Wortley is Director at The Serious
knowledge anytime, anywhere. of learning and, in particular, how ‘serious
Games Institute. For more information
games’ and the integration of real and
call David on 02476 158202 or email
dwortley@cad.coventry.ac.uk or visit
These technologies are changing the face virtual worlds is likely to impact the future
www.seriousgamesinstitute.co.uk
of virtual classrooms, which, with tools of learning. The SGI is a £7 million project
learningmagazine.co.uk
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53