Tag: General Education

The Drax Files Radio Hour 15: of Ebbe and education

Posted on by Inara Pey

radio-hourThe fifteenth installment of The Drax Files Radio Hour takes a look at Ebbe Altberg’s comments and Q&A session at this years Virtual Worlds Best Practice in Education conference which took place in both Second Life and OS Grid between April 9th and 12th.

The VWBPE session, which lasted a little under 90 minutes, featured some initial comments from Ebbe, followed by a wide-ranging Q&A session which many found both positive and perhaps a little revelatory (particularly given concerns ahead of his arrival at LL about him coming from “outside” LL / virtual worlds). Mal Burns videoed the session on behalf of VWBPE, and I have a full transcript for those who prefer to read rather than listen.

For those wishing to cut to the chase and jump to the clips from Ebbe’s presentation in the podcast and the discussion which follows, it starts around a quarter of the way into the show (14:19).

Ebbe Linden (LL CEO Ebbe Altberg) addresses the VWBPE conference on Friday April 11th, 2014
Ebbe Linden (LL CEO Ebbe Altberg) addresses the VWBPE conference on Friday April 11th, 2014

Some 15 minutes of Ebbe’s opening comments and the Q&A session are presented. These include his remarks on revisiting the Linden Lab Terms of Service (“we’re working on some simple tweaks to the language to make that more explicit”); his views on LL / SL and its position in the metaverse as a whole (“I think for starters, I’m mostly focused to get the ‘verse’ part right, and then we can think about ‘meta’ later on”); Facebook’s acquisition of Oculus Rift and more.

The excerpts are followed by a joint interview with Liz Falconer, Professor of Technology Enhanced Learning at the University of the West of England (UWE), and Stylianos Mystakidis, E-learning Manager for the Library and Information Centre at the University of Patras, Greece.

Intended to be a discussion of Ebbe’s VWBPE session, this actually covers much broader ground, from why issues such at the Lab’s bikini banner ads, can reinforce negative views of Second Life within the education sector, even though real life can be a lot more risky (and risqué) for students, through to the advantages of experiential learning and the potential of virtual worlds where such narrative styles of teaching are concerned.

Liz Falconer (t) and
Liz Falconer (t) and Stylianos Mystakidis

At close to 24 minutes in length, the interview has to be listened to in order to be fully appreciated; Stylianos and Liz offer a considerable amount of food for thought – so much, in fact, that it is hard distill everything down into an article like this without either failing to do the various elements of the discussion justice or presenting you with a wall of text to read. This being the case, I’m going to focus on those aspects of the discussion which particularly struck one or more chords in me, while urging you to listen to the interview in full, if you haven’t already done so,

The first thing that particularly caught my attention came when Stylianos asked what is the one question that seems to be most easily avoided or ignored when people talk about virtual worlds achieving mass adoption – and that’s the question of why should people turn to  VWs rather than continuing to use all of the familiar tools and options they have at their disposal and which offer convenience and ease-of-use: Minecraft, Facebook, Skype and so on?

While it is true that access to a complex virtual world like SL does need to be addressed and simplified in order to make it easier for people to access such environments, and it is equally true that things like VR headsets will offer additional means of appreciating and enjoying VWs for those using them, I am far from convinced that technology and technical solutions alone hold the key to VWs achieving mass adoption. This is something I touched upon in reference to Philip Rosedale’s  keynote at the VWBPE; as Botgirl Questi eloquently and succinctly put it following that particular keynote:

Mainstream use of virtual worlds requires compelling mainstream use cases that clearly trump other options. Better technology doesn’t matter to people who don’t know why they’d want to use a virtual world at all. That’s the challenge that no one has successfully addressed.

Continue reading “The Drax Files Radio Hour 15: of Ebbe and education” →

Seminar on current and future practice in using VWs in higher education

Posted on by Inara Pey

On Friday March 14th, the University of Manchester in the UK will host a one-day seminar entitled Reviewing current and future practice in the use of virtual worlds in Higher Education.

The event,  which is being organised by Gary Motteram, a Senior Lecturer in Education at the university, will explore the current state of the art in the use of virtual worlds in education and will be a mixture of face-to-face presentations and online activity.

Presentations will be made by Dr. Paul Rudman, a Research Associate at the Institute of Learning Innovation at the University of Leicester; Dr. Darren Mundy, a Senior Lecturer in Digital Media, and Luisa Panichi, a Research Student at the School of Languages, Linguistics & Cultures, University of Hull; Professor Maggi Savin-Baden, Professor of Higher Education Research, University of Coventry; and Professor Liz Falconer, Director, Education Innovation Centre at the University of West England.

Additionally, there will be a special presentation from the Euroversity Network Project partners, a network of 18 European (and Israeli!) universities with significant experience of the use of 2D/3D virtual worlds in learning and teaching contexts, and the day will wrap with a speakers’ panel.

The seminar is free to attend, either in person at Manchester University (please register your intent to attend via the Eventbrite webpage), or via on-line streaming through the Euroversity website. Lunch will be provided for those attending in person.
The seminar will take place at the Kanaris Lecture Theatre, Manchester Museum, University of Manchester, Friday, 14 March 2014 from 09:30 to 16:30 (GMT)

Programme Schedule

At the time of writing, the full schedule for the seminar comprised (all times GMT):

  • 09.30 – Participants arrive (Coffee/ Tea available)
  • 10.00 – Opening introduction and welcome
  • 10.10 – Paul Rudman (University of Leicester): Seven reasons for teaching in virtual worlds
  • 11.00 – Darren Mundy and Luisa Panichi (University of Hull): Virtual courses (Online Presentation)
  • 11.45 – Coffee/ Tea Break
  • 12.00 – Maggi Savin-Baden (University of Coventry): The impact of virtual world learning on Higher Education
  • 12.45 — Lunch and networking
  • 13.30 – Liz Falconer (University of West England): Learning in virtual environments: dimensions of situated learning
  • 14.15 – Virtual session: Euroversity Network Project partners
  • 15.00 – Coffee/ Tea break
  • 15.15 – Final panel (joint on-line and face-to-face)
  • 16.00 – End of day

For up-to-date information on the schedule and activities, please refer to the event’s Eventbrite web page. Further information can be obtained by interested parties contacting Gary Motteram directly via e-mail.

Return of 50% discount to educational & non-profit groups

Posted on by Inara Pey

secondlifeOn Wednesday July 24th, Linden Lab announced the official return of the 50% discount on both private region set-up costs and tier for accredited educational and non-profit organisations. The announcement came via a blog post which reads in full:

We’re pleased to announce an update to Second Life pricing for educational and nonprofit institutions. Effective immediately, any accredited educational institution or any organization with a 501(c)(3) charitable non-profit tax status (or equivalent) is eligible for a 50% discount on private region set-up costs and a 50% discount on private region maintenance costs.

As long-time Second Life users will note, the discount on maintenance costs is similar to a discount previously offered to these organizations. More recently, after reviewing our pricing, we have been offering this discount directly to individual organizations, but today we are happy to formalize this pricing, extend the discount to also include set-up costs, and open applications for all that are eligible.

For more details on the offer, including how to apply, please see the wiki page here. 

Organizations eligible for this discounted pricing are also eligible for invoicing of the private region costs. Invoices must include a minimum of six months of maintenance. Additional details can be found here.

Deep Think East - one of the regions operated by the UK's Open University, one of the educational organisations which still operates within Second Life
Deep Think East – one of the regions operated by the UK’s Open University, one of the educational organisations which still operates within Second Life and now eligible for the renewed educational / non-profit discount.

As noted in the announcement, this comes on top of a move in March 2013, where selected educational and non-profit organisations were offered a similar deal. While it is pure speculation, and despite doubts expressed at the time, it might be the renewal  / extension of the offer to all educational / non-profits might be as a result of the “private” offer being well-received.

Whether or not this is the case, the move is to be welcomed as a reversal of a decision which struck many as possibly unnecessary and damaging at the time it was taken in 2010. Leaving speculation aside, it will be interesting to see how many organisations do respond to the offer (assuming LL release any details) as time progresses and as the offer fits with various budget cycles.

There are inevitably some requirements for qualification for the deal. Not only do organisations applying have to be properly accredited (e.g. hold 501(c)(3) charitable non-profit tax status in the case of US-based organisations), but payments must be for a minimum of six months maintenance (tier), on top of the initial set-up fee, again as noted in the blog post. However, these are to be expected, and were a part of the original educational / non-profit discount offer.

Related Links

With thanks to Mona Eberhardt.

LL offer discounted regions to educational and non-profit organisations on the QT

Posted on by Inara Pey

secondlifeFollowing my piece on the general status of Second Life, some of the comments revolved around educational discounts for regions – or rather, the ending of them in 2010. Many credit the abolishment of the discounts with the loss of hundreds (I’m not entirely convinced on the “thousands” element) of regions from the grid since that time.

It now appears that the Lab is quietly trying to reverse matters by extending a 50% discount to selected educational and non-profit organisations.

The news comes via Hamlet Au, with a natty little scoop on the offer he gained after being e-mailed on the matter. The originator of the e-mail informed Hamlet that he’d been offered a full region for $1,770 USD for a year or $3,540 USD for two years, for use by his organisation. The new prompted Hamlet to drop Peter Gray, LL’s spokesman, an e-mail on the matter. Hamlet comments:

“I’m not able to share numbers,” Gray e-mailed me, “but can confirm that we’ve extended this special offer to a targeted number of educational and non-profit institutions that have recently left Second Life.” The next question is how many institutions they’re offering this to, but there, he is mum. Furthermore, there’s no way for former sim owners of this variety to request this discount:

“There isn’t currently a way to apply for this; it’s a special offer we’re extending directly to some nonprofit and educational institutions as part of our customer win-back efforts,” as Gray puts it.

Deep Think East - one of the regions operated by the UK's Open University, one of the educational organisations which still operates within Second Life
Deep Think East – one of the regions operated by the UK’s Open University, one of the educational organisations which still operates within Second Life

While not privy to the exact arrangements specified in the offer, I assume that as one or two-year discounts are specified, the caveat to it is that the discount only applies to a full up-front payment of said fees.

Like Hamlet, I’m also a little dubious that the offer will be taken-up by everyone who has departed Second Life – although it is interesting to now that LL are apparently targeting organisations which have “recently left” SL, and therefore have yet to put down roots elsewhere. As Hamlet rightly points out, a lot of people got somewhat burnt when the Lab announced they were discontinuing discounts for educational bodies and non-profits, and there has been a good degree of bad feeling since. There’s also the fact that over the past couple of years OpenSim has become a more than credible – and potentially a lower-cost – solution for educational needs.

It is probable that the move might be seen is some quarters of one of “desperation” on LL’s part in order to reverse the decline in the number of privately-held regions. However, given the limited and closed nature of the offer, such views may not be entirely valid – Second Life isn’t anywhere close to balancing on the edge of disaster just yet – although it would be interesting to know what did prompt the move.

In the meantime Hamlet has requested the any organisations or individuals who have been in receipt of the offer drop an comment onto his post on the news.

With thanks to Hamlet Au.

LL announce end educational / non-profit discount

Posted on by Inara Pey

Isn’t it typical?

Just when LL appear to be doing something right for once, and taking steps to address upset and concerns over the future of youngsters and educational activities in Second Life – they then go and do this…

While it is an enormous relief to the majority of us that our tiers are unlikely to increase as a result of LL hiking up the (already exorbitant) cost of sim rental, the second part of Nelson’s post must come as a real kick where it hurts to educators and non-profits alike, specifically:

2) We will adjust how education and non-profit advantages are provided, effective Jan. 1, 2011.
All  education and non-profit private regions of any type, purchased after Dec. 31, 2010, will be invoiced at standard (i.e. non-discounted) pricing.  All currently discounted renewals which occur after Dec. 31, 2010, will be  adjusted to the new price at that time. To continue to provide  entry-level, private spaces to educators just launching their programs,  we will be providing Homestead and Open Space regions to qualifying  organizations without their meeting the retail full-region criterion. Customer Support will be available to answer any questions that you may  have about these changes.

In a rough translation, this could, together with the blog post on 13-15 year olds entering SL be taken to read, OK, we’ve heard the pleas from you educators, and we’re going to provide a means for youngsters to join you on the main grid by limiting them to your private sims…but we’re going to foist a drastic price increase on you at short notice for those sims because or forcing you to take a product we’ve already severely capped in terms of usage, really guys, we don’t want you or your kids here.”

As has been pointed out in many of the (unanswered) replies to this post, this is a double hit from LL that is going to trigger a further migration away from the platform to other environs: not only does it hit educational institutions, but it takes out non-profits as well. what’s more, both types of institution generally set their budgets well ahead of time…and what amounts to a tad less than three-month warning of a massive price hike means that many are likely to be caught out by this move.

It’s a shame this move has been announced as it really smacks of nothing less that giving with the left hand and taking away with the right…