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From SimTeach
Overview
Information and Community for Teachers in Multi-User Virtual Environments
Simteach.com is a place for university instructional designers, faculty and administrators to find information and to share their own experiences designing, teaching and administering classes in immersive environments.
Groups
List: Institutions and Organizations in SL
Groups - Non-profit Organizations
Groups - Universities
Second Life: Universities and Private Islands
Groups - Jr. & Secondary Schools
Groups - Literary, Educational
Literature
See a list of 73 references on virtual reality and immersive environments in education.
Publications
- MMORPG studies group bibliography on Citeulike
- British Journal of Educational Technology "widest possible coverage of developments in educational technology world-wide"
- Serious Games Source launched March, 2006 by CMP Media.
- Virtual Worlds Review "managed by Betsy Book, a New York based consultant specializing in the development, analysis and management of online communities and virtual worlds".
- A Beginner's Guide to Second Life' by v3image team, published by ArcheBooks Publishing 2007)
Conferences and Events
Archive
- The 3rd International Second Life Community Convention, August 24-26, 2007, Chicago, USA
for the Business Track there is a CALL FOR PAPERS
- The 2007 Second Life Best Practices in Education, 24 Hour in-world conference May 25, 2007 - See wiki for multiple locations.
- Massively Multi Learner March 22nd, 2007, University of Paisley, UK
- Medicine Meets Virtual Reality 15 February 6-9, 2007 in Los Angeles.
- League of Worlds 3 at Appalachian State University. October 30-November 3, 2006.
- Exploring the Learning Potential of Multiplayer Online Games September 27, 2006, 1:00-3:00pm EDT, online via WebEx conferencing and telephone.
- Designing Case-based Learning Experiences for 3D Worlds Workshop at Stanford University Medical Media and Information Technologies. August 24-25, 2006.
- SIGGRAPH2006 July 30 - August 3, 2006 in Boston.
- Supernova 2006 San Francisco. June 22-23, 2006. "Connected Innovators' presentations will also be video-streamed into Supernova Lounge, hosted by Yahoo!" in Second Life. Press release
- Games, Learning & Society (GLS) Conference in Madison, Wisconsin. June 15-16, 2006.
- Beth Novek of NYLS Democracy Design Workshop (made SL Democracy Island) speaks May 5, 2006 at Stanford. Video segments: Cairns Project (17:00) - software to create "visual manifestation of group interactions... using a taxonomy of questions," Unchat Project (53:00) - "marries the proven value of facilitated group conversation to the efficiency of the Internet to create productive, democratic decision-making" {See related SL Chat Tax script}
- MASSIVE: The Future of Networked Multiplayer Games at UC Irvine. April 20, 2006.
- Second Life Builder's Demo at CSU Academic Technology conference, CSU Monterey Bay, CA. March, 2006.
- State of Play III: Social Revolutions at New York Law School. October 6-8, 2005.
Grants and Promotions
Machinima
- Academy of Machinima Arts & Sciences, $15 membership.
- Machinima entry on Wikipedia
- Machinima HQ portal site
- The Movies studio simulation game by Peter Molyneux's Lionhead Studios (now Microsoft) has pre-defined camera sequences, costumes, props and a clunky editor
Game Platforms
See an exhaustive list of MMORPG game statistics at MMOGCHART.
Development Tools
- Oz Spade's Virtual World Comparison Page
- ABNet Download ABNet is 3D multiuser server software for X3D or VRML.
- Active Worlds
- Blender Blender is the open source software for 3D modeling, animation, rendering, post-production, interactive creation and playback.
- Croquet open source from HP Lab
- Doom3 SDK from ID Software
- Entropia Universe by Swedish publisher MindArk PE.
- Google SketchUp to create objects for Google Earth
- Half-Life 2 Gary's Mod featured in the August '06 issue of Wired magazine.
- Half-Life 2 Source Engine from Valve Software
- IMVU IM with modifiable Avatars: "Our instant messaging service is a platform for next generation online socializing, including social networking, photos, blogs, chat, groups, and games."
- Multiverse "changing the <virtual> world ...providing developers with a comprehensive, pre-coded client-server infrastructure and tools, a wide range of free content"
- OLIVE (On-Line Interactive Virtual Environment) Platform from Forterra Systems, Inc.
- Quake 4 SDK from ID Software
- Second Life Linden Lab, by previous RealNetworks VP
- There Makena Technologies, by early eBay employee
- Truplay by Caligari Corp., web-based
- Unreal Engine
- VRMLWorld.net The gateway site for worlds using ABNet.
Themed Role Playing Games
These are occasionally mentioned in serious games literature but are more difficult to modify.
- EVE Online space-theme by CCP Games of Reykjavik, Iceland
- FarCry by UbiSoft
- Neverwinter Nights
- World of Warcraft by Blizzard Entertainment
Research & Informed Consent
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