Channeling Students’ Enthusiasm into Their Learning with Second Life

Today we’re presenting a video and podcast interview with Steve Collis, English and French teacher and Director of the Sydney Center for Innovation in Learning, in Australia.

In the video, Steve guides us through a wide range of practical uses of Second Life, a 3D virtual world that he and other teachers from his school have put in place with their students.

The uses fall into 2 categories :
• 1. Open-ended, student-directed projects, encouraging the development of high-order skills such as creativity, project-management and collaboration.
• 2. Structured, targeted activities directed by teachers with specific learning outcomes in mind.

When I saw that video, I was flabbergasted by the level of creativity the students have shown in the use of this virtual world. So I decided to contact Steve and to ask him how he made it possible. I called Steve in Australia using Skype, computer to computer (no long distance fees), recorded the call with CallGraph (free recorder), and edited the podcast in Audacity (free audio editor).

Besides 3D worlds, Steve Collis is also supporting his students post their thoughts to the web at Real Audience Project, www.realaudienceproject.com , manage their own online radio station and even sell their books online.

Steve blogs about things he is involved with at www.happysteve.com. You can reach him by email at: scollis@scil.nsw.edu.au.

Comments are always appreciated. Cheers