The VWMOOC2023

Learning about the creativity of virtual world educators!

The Virtual World MOOC for 2023 started on September 1st. The sessions so far have been very interesting and I have been having fun attending events when I can, or watch the recording of the live streams on the VWMOOC2023 playlist on Dr. Nellie Deutsch’s YouTube channel.

There are music breaks with live music streamed into Second Life as well as lectures that are hosted by one of the many communities of educators, librarians, and others. The musicians who come in-world to live stream their performances are a real boon. So many different types of music!

The language teachers are particuarly creative putting together immersive experiences that teach languages and requires what was taught to find a magic egg, or tell stories to fit the environments that were constructed for that purpose. I got into DigiWorldZ, and took the hypergrid to Kitely to meet up with Doris Molero, known as Pio Destiny in OpenSim Worlds, to tour the quest environments.

This was the day that my avatar was exploring a complex hunt for materials put together by a group of English as a Second or Foreign Language teachers. We were on the question for a golden dragon egg. I had to leave before we finished but it was charming and engaging, and I’m going to see if I can’t go back and finish it up, not that my English needs improvement. It’s my Spanish that fails to make the grade!

Today I was back in Second Life in the Edunation installation learning how to build scenarios that can be put together in a “hologram,” basically a collection of specific things that produce an environment that can be taken back into inventory and restored, when the the environment fits an assignment in the curriculum. And as always the discussion of a variety of technological services and programs that can help to bring curriculum to life was part of the conversation as well.

The course ends on the last day of September. If you are interested in seeing what is going on in gamification of education, and in Second Life, for 20 years. Click here to be taken to the schedule of the Live Sessions. There are a couple dozen of additional events, including more music and a closing dance at the end of the month. There is also a free Moodle course for students, teachers and others interested in virtual world education which is includes a certification and can be completed without going into any of the virtual worlds we’re going to be visiting across the month. Ingegrating-Technology.org is the host of the Moodle course, and like Dr Nellie Deutsch’s YouTube channel has a wide variety of professional development courses for teachers. The Moodle course can be found by clicking here.