Some Advantages and Disadvantages of Second Life for Workplace Learning
By Tom Werner | September 3, 2008
Brandon Hall Research recently published a report on using Second Life for workplace learning.
The report lists advantages and disadvantages, some of which are described in this video.
Topics: 3D Internet, Second Life® | No Comments »
Vyew + Skype = Free Web Conferencing
By Tom Werner | August 28, 2008
I gave a presentation in my colleague Gary Woodill’s workshop the other day.
Gary’s workshop was in Houston.
I was in Michigan.
We used Vyew for sharing my desktop into his session.
And Skype for my audio into his session.
Both are free, and worked fine.
Here’s a video on the new features in Vyew 3.0.
Topics: Tools | No Comments »
Head Tracking in Second Life
By Tom Werner | August 27, 2008
This video shows a head-tracking tool for Second Life from VR-Wear that’s on the way.
(A little bit of info is here.)
To me, this shows how quickly technology for virtual worlds is developing.
Just a year ago something like this would have seemed way off in the future…
Meet me at Innovations in Learning.
Topics: 3D Internet, Second Life® | No Comments »
Texas State Technical College’s Certificate Program Completely in Second Life
By Tom Werner | August 25, 2008
This is one of those tipping-point moments for learning in virtual worlds.
Beginning in Fall 2008, Texas State Technical College (TSTC) (SLurl) will offer a Digital Media certificate program using Second Life as the primary delivery method.
The Digital Media certificate will be followed by an associate degree in Digital Media starting in Spring 2009.
Topics: 3D Internet, Higher education, Second Life® | No Comments »
The Astonishing Graphics of City Space
By Tom Werner | August 13, 2008
TechCrunch has posted a video by LivePlace.com of a virtual world called City Space.
There’s some mystery about who or what LivePlace.com is, and there’s even some discussion among observers about whether the video is real, or fake, or some combination of real-and-doctored.
If it’s real, the graphics are amazing.
The story behind it is that it is browser-based.
The heavy computing is all done, not on your computer, not on their server, but “in the cloud” (using a cloud of virtual servers as needed, so to speak).
If it’s not real, it’s still an interesting mocked-up look at what future virtual worlds could be like.
Topics: 3D Internet | 1 Comment »
New Blog: Workplace Learning Today
By Tom Werner | August 12, 2008
We at Brandon Hall Research have a new blog.
We think there’s a need to scan and highlight online information that’s related specifically to learning in the workplace.
It’s a group blog. The analysts at Brandon Hall Research will all be contributing.
Topics: Trends | No Comments »
Diagnosing Virtual Patients in Second Life
By Tom Werner | August 4, 2008
The Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College London has developed a learning activity in Second Life (SLurl) for diagnosing and treating virtual patients.
They have five virtual patients suffering from problems such as lung cancer and pneumonia.
You can look at the patient’s chart, talk to the patient, listen to the patient’s breathing, select tests to run, and so forth.
What’s particularly noteworthy here is:
O The activities are asynchronous.
O The natural fit of Second Life (and virtual worlds in general) for healthcare training.
O How actively higher education is using Second Life for workplace-related training such as this.
Topics: 3D Internet, Second Life® | 3 Comments »
Emotions in Second Life: Avatars Are Looking More Human
By Tom Werner | July 25, 2008
The forecaster Paul Saffo has said something along the lines of “things actually change slowly, it’s just that we tend not to notice a new thing’s early stages and suddenly it’s upon us.”
I feel like those early stages are happening now regarding human-looking appearance in Second Life.
Avatars in Second Life are gradually becoming able to look and act more human.
Two examples:
1. One of the many tools in the MystiTool in Second Life is Emotions.
(The MystiTool is sold at Mysti’s House of Sheep [SLurl] for $400 Linden dollars, less than $2 US.)
The MystiTool Emotions are about 20 facial expressions.
You click on one and it stays on your avatar’s face until you click another one or turn it off.
See six expressions on my avatar’s face — worry, surprise, frown, bored, repulsed, and grin — in the snapshot at left.
They’re pretty realistic — you’d probably identify the emotion accurately even without a label.
2. The newest release of the Second Life software (SL 1.20) has Lip Sync.
You have to enable it by pressing Ctrl-Alt-D to get the Advanced menu, then select Character, then Enable Lip Sync (Beta).
Then when using voice chat with another avatar you should see its lip move.
There’s a nice video here.
Perhaps neither of these is an earth-shaking change, but some day when avatars are really life-like, these will have been steps along the way.
Topics: 3D Internet, Second Life® | No Comments »
A Giant Likert-Scale Social-Graphing Tool in Second Life
By Tom Werner | July 17, 2008
Here’s a simple, clever tool for ice-breaking, feedback, or decision making with groups in Second Life.
It’s giant Likert-scale floor mat called The Opinionator (SLurl).
(It’s recommended by Jane Wilde.)
The Opinionator costs 99 Linden dollars, which is less than a half-dollar US. Right-click on it to buy it.
You can drag it out anywhere in Second Life that allows creating objects.
Present a statement.
When avatars stand on their answers (Strongly Agree, Agree, Neutral, Disagree, or Strongly Disagree), a pie chart shows the percentages of opinions.
Take a quick snapshot and you have a record of the group’s opinion about the statement.
It would also be a simple way to add some audience participation to a slide presentation in Second Life.
It’s interesting to imagine how 3D group-dynamics tools like this could make virtual worlds effective for team building.
Topics: 3D Internet, Second Life® | No Comments »
An Easy Way to Give a Tour in Second Life
By Tom Werner | July 16, 2008
One of the challenges of Second Life is that new visitors have a hard time navigating.
There’s a definite learning curve — and some frustration — involved.
However, there’s an easy way to show new visitors around Second Life without their having to navigate: the MystiTool’s AV Follow Chairs.
The AV Follow Chairs let you create chairs that attach invisibly to your avatar and follow you whenever you go (snapshot at left).
You essentially turn your avatar into a tour bus.
The MystiTool also has a zillion other features in it.
It’s not free but it’s very inexpensive: about $400 Linden dollars (less than $2 US) at Mysti’s House of Sheep (SLurl) in Second Life.
The MystiTool is a good example of how virtual worlds will get easier and easier to use, and more and more accessible to learners.
Topics: 3D Internet, Second Life® | 2 Comments »
