See also the Edu-FRAG Wiki linked from the right panel.
ken tompkins
richard stockton college of nj
Comment by ken tompkins — October 3, 2006 @ 11:11 pm
We’ve been thinking along these lines with the BEEweb project at Brandeis University. Certainly not as trendy as Second Life, but the underlying idea is similar.
We’ve been developing a set of web-based peer tutoring activities, in which each student participates both as a learner and as a tutor. Students log in, pick a partner, and take turns creating and solving problems. (One activity focuses on spelling, another on spatial reasoning, one on U.S. geography, and one on coin-based math.)
This relies on an incentive structure designed to motivate a pair of students to appropriately challenge one another. We don’t have expert tutors participating, but we do have lots of peers, many of whom do pretty well at constructing good challenges for a partner.
Since the activities are all websites with open user registrations, we’ve had to severely restrict the type of interactions among users to ensure student safety. (There is no direct line of communication between users like an audio chat or shared whiteboard.) In a more controlled environment, perhaps these would be possible…
I’ve created a new collaborative wiki where students, educators, and others can request and give help for math. It’s here: http://mathcasts.wikispaces.com/.
It’s in the early stages of development so we’d really appreciate your feedback or suggestions. It’s open to anyone - you just have to join Wikispaces (free) and then make a request to join this space.
Croquet tries to be the free 3D (& 2D) interactive whiteboard / construction set.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croquet_project
And it’s not R rated for children as the Linden world is.
I’m not sure how you’d avoid the “paying someone to do your homework” in this scenario. It’d take some more thought.
Comment by Darius — October 3, 2006 @ 4:07 pm
I think that probably may already be happening - it’s not just a question of doing homework is it - it is making it compelling enough to work.
http://elgg.net/leoncych/weblog/129413.html
Comment by Leon Cych — October 3, 2006 @ 7:44 pm
While not Second Life, Jean-Claude Bailey at Drexel uses Unreal Tournament to teach Organic Chemistry. You can read about it here:
http://drexel-coas-elearning.blogspot.com/2006/04/update-on-games-and-vodcast-for-orgo.html
See also the Edu-FRAG Wiki linked from the right panel.
ken tompkins
richard stockton college of nj
Comment by ken tompkins — October 3, 2006 @ 11:11 pm
We’ve been thinking along these lines with the BEEweb project at Brandeis University. Certainly not as trendy as Second Life, but the underlying idea is similar.
We’ve been developing a set of web-based peer tutoring activities, in which each student participates both as a learner and as a tutor. Students log in, pick a partner, and take turns creating and solving problems. (One activity focuses on spelling, another on spatial reasoning, one on U.S. geography, and one on coin-based math.)
This relies on an incentive structure designed to motivate a pair of students to appropriately challenge one another. We don’t have expert tutors participating, but we do have lots of peers, many of whom do pretty well at constructing good challenges for a partner.
Since the activities are all websites with open user registrations, we’ve had to severely restrict the type of interactions among users to ensure student safety. (There is no direct line of communication between users like an audio chat or shared whiteboard.) In a more controlled environment, perhaps these would be possible…
http://www.BEEweb.org has links to each of the activities described.
Comment by Ari Bader-Natal — October 4, 2006 @ 2:26 am
I’ve created a new collaborative wiki where students, educators, and others can request and give help for math. It’s here: http://mathcasts.wikispaces.com/.
It’s in the early stages of development so we’d really appreciate your feedback or suggestions. It’s open to anyone - you just have to join Wikispaces (free) and then make a request to join this space.
Comment by Tim Fahlberg — October 6, 2006 @ 11:53 am
that company i love
Comment by rachel — January 2, 2007 @ 9:21 pm