Where have we been? Where are we going?

[John Jamison]

The old blog post has been quiet again for a while as I've been pulling together the plans for the roll-out of our next group of programs in September. Two of our successful programs are returning, and a brand new course is being added to the mix! The 4 month long SLemester Experience returns for it's third year.

The SLemester Experience is an immersive learning community that meets in Second Life, and uses that platform to experience and try to understand the emerging digital culture it represents. This program serves partly as an 'orientation' program to people new to Second Life, but even more as an opportunity for educators and business leaders to experience the digital environment and the social networking it provides. The SLemester Experience was the direct result of our PhD research done in SL, and continues to expand and progress as we move forward.

The SLemester II Experience also begins in September, and is the follow-up opportunity for those who completed round one and are eager to really focus on the Second Life skills and push some boundaries. In both SLemester Experiences, participants meet in-world weekly for discussions and workshops, and each participant has use of a personal plot of land on our islands throughout the program.

The new addition this Fall is "Next Steps in Learning"...which has those of us at ImagiLearning, Inc. all fired-up and excited. We have been working to pull together all of our experience in professional game design, and that of many of our colleagues from that industry, to create this new approach to Instructional Re-Design. In this 12 week course, educators and trainers are invited to bring an existing course, lesson or learning activity they would like to modify. We will then present our approach to re-designing learning based on some critical game design elements, and the participants will apply those elements to completely revisioning their traditional learning materials. We stress that the result may or may not be a "game", but it will certainly have the intensity, engagement and "flow" that is found in great games. We will use Second Life as the platform for our course activities, but the things participants develop may, or may not make any use of Second Life. The goal of "Next Steps in Learning" is to begin creating completely new approaches to learning, applying the elements of professional games...those same elements that lead gamers to spend 50 hours a week in front of a screen. We think it would be cool if students were that passionate about "learning"...and we think it's possible. Next Steps in Learning begins in late September, and is limited to 15 participants.

In addition to preparing for our Fall programs, we are also busy preparing for two presentations we will be making at the Second Life Community Conference in San Francisco in August. We are talking with both educators and business leaders, seeking to spread our passion for redesigning learning and training...and using Second Life as a robust platform for change. We're also looking forward to actually meeting some of the people-behind-the-avatars that we have been working with for so long. And San Francisco...hey...in August...that is pretty cool all by itself.

If you are in Second Life, stop by sometime and say "Hey" to Virtual Bacon...he can usually be found on one of our imagiLEARNING islands. And if you would like more information about one of our Fall programs...or any of our other services...check out the descriptions on our main website: http://www.imagilearning.com...or just drop me a note.

Till next time...

[Jim Sutton (Jeff Oatsmill)]

I took the SLmester and throughly enjoyed it. The digital world it a part of our culture today and it will be more useful that the phone is.