A Practical Guide To Using Second Life In Higher Education

In recent years there has been increasing use of virtual worlds in Higher Education, particularly in Second Life. This practical handbook is a pedagogically-informed text that guides staff in the use of Second Life in the fields of further and higher education. The book has been designed to support teachers who want to use Second Life and provides both an overview and a detailed consideration of the opportunities this immersive world offers for teaching, learning, assessment and research. To assist readers, Maggi Savin-Baden has included: A glossary of terms Details of challenges and mistakes to avoid Examples of good practice Links to websites and other sources of help This book is designed both for those new to Second Life as well as those with experience of teaching in virtual environments. It will help teachers to progress from getting started with Second Life to developing their teaching within the environment.

Over the last five years there has been an increasing use of immersive virtual worlds, in particular Second Life, in Higher Education. A Practical Guide to Using Second Life in Higher Education is a pedagogically-informed text that guides staff in the use of Second Life for Higher Education. Although there are currently a growing number of books about Second Life available, much of the focus has been on designing the environment, ways of building and the general ease and use-value of the environment. This book is aimed at those who want to use Second Life for teaching in further and higher education. It provides both an overview and an in-depth stance about aspects of the immersive world for teaching, learning and assessment, as well as suggestions about researching (in) Second Life.

This evidence-packed guide explores the growing importance of new technologies and situated learning in the vanguard of medical and health sciences education, backed by real-world clinical applications. Its dual emphasis on problem-based learning (PBL) and applied learning is reflected in the range of author perspectives, from understanding how technologies engage learners to implications for program design. Innovations covered range from wider and more targeted use of mobile devices and electronic medical records to video cases and virtual patients, in clinical contexts from family practice to specialized surgery. At the same time, chapters detail both the necessary hardware for putting these systems into place and the software needed to make them accessible to learners. Among the featured topics: Technology and group processes in PBL: An ethnographic study. What is real? Using problem-based learning in virtual worlds. Are Wikipedia articles reliable learning resources in PBL curricula? Utilizing mobile electronic health records in clinical education. Measuring emotions in medicine: methodological and technological advances within authentic medical learning environments. The deteriorating patient smartphone app: towards serious game design. Medical/health sciences educators and researchers in educational technology will look to Educational Technologies in Medical and Health Sciences Education to pinpoint current and future trends in an ever-important field.

This is the first text of its kind to address issues in the rapidly expanding area of e-learning. It covers fundamental research questions about the entire e-learning area. Many illustrative quotations and examples make the complex philosophical concepts accessible and practically relevant.

This book gives an overview of the state-of-the-art in Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL). It is organized as a collection of 14 research themes, each introduced by leading experts and including references to the most relevant literature on the theme of each cluster. Additionally, each chapter discusses four seminal papers on the theme with expert commentaries and updates. This volume is of high value to people entering the field of learning with technology, to doctoral students and researchers exploring the breadth of TEL, and to experienced researchers wanting to keep up with latest developments.

As with any industry, the education sector goes through frequent changes due to modern technological advancements. It is every educator’s duty to keep up with these shifting requirements and alter their teaching style to best fit the needs of their classroom. Pre-Service and In-Service Teacher Education: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications explores the current state of pre-service teacher programs as well as continuing education initiatives for in-service educators. It also emphasizes the growing role of technology in teacher skill development and training as well as key pedagogical developments and methods. Highlighting a range of topics such as teacher preparation programs, teaching standards, and fieldwork and practicum experiences, this multi-volume book is designed for pre-service teachers, teacher educators, researchers, professionals, and academics in the education field.

This insightful book offers language teachers and teachers in training the opportunity to delve into 3D virtual worlds and see the benefits they provide for effective language teaching. Based on a decade of experience teaching and researching in Second Life (SL), Chen demystifies the dos and don’ts of SL teaching and research, whilst vividly walking readers through each step of the journey. Written in an accessible, jargon-free, and personalised tone, the book is divided into three parts. Part I builds the foundation in SL research, task-based language teaching (TBLT), and understanding fundamental skills for SL teaching. Part II showcases the author’s SL teaching blog that generously unveils their task-based, SL-enabled lessons, participant observations, critical reflections, and lessons learned from each SL session. Part III is complete with the highlights of the author’s SL research and hands-on resources and tips for readers. Each chapter also features a "Checkpoint" section to gauge reader understanding of chapter content, followed by a "Your Task" section to promote learning by doing in SL. Teachers and curriculum designers will find the well-detailed and guided lesson planning useful when starting their first SL class. Graduate students and novice researchers will also find the systematically recorded data collection helpful for their SL research.

Teaching Online: A Practical Guide is a practical, concise guide for educators teaching online. This updated edition has been fully revamped and reflects important changes that have occurred since the second edition’s publication. A leader in the online field, this best- selling resource maintains its reader friendly tone and offers exceptional practical advice, new teaching examples, faculty interviews, and an updated resource section. New to this edition: new chapter on how faculty and instructional designers can work collaboratively expanded chapter on Open Educational Resources, copyright, and intellectual property more international relevance, with global examples and interviews with faculty in a wide variety of regions new interactive Companion Website that invites readers to post questions to the author, offers real-life case studies submitted by users, and includes an updated, online version of the resource section. Focusing on the "how" and "whys" of implementation rather than theory, this text is a must-have resource for anyone teaching online or for students enrolled in Distance Learning and Educational Technology Masters Programs.