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Teaching in SL

Over the years, I have been incorporating more and more technology into my chemistry classes. Now that I retired in 2015, it is fun to look back at what I did. Here's a PP presentation I gave long ago. http://www.chem.tamu.edu/class/fyp/keeney/secondlife/Integrated%20Technology-its.ppt I am editing this in 2017.

Fall 2010 was my 3rd semester at trying to incorporate optional weekly review sessions into SL. Optional for a few reasons. (1) My classes are large; I teach two classes of about 250 students each, so obviously I cannot have everyone in SL at the same time. (2) I do have a few students under 18 - which is problematic. (3) Some students are very uncomfortable in SL. Here I'll be blogging about the trials/tribulations of encouraging students to get involved in SL. Here's the link to a video clip of a tour of my area: http://www.chem.tamu.edu/class/fyp/keeney/secondlife/drwendy-in-SL.mp4

Chemistry World is the island Kurt Winkleman and I developed to see if first year chem students can do labs in SL. This blog is not about that project.

You can visit researchgate.com to keep updated with our papers.










Wednesday, November 24, 2010

All Ahead Full for SL Study

Hi, all - I've been meeting with my Ph.D. student, Ms. Zahira Merchant.  She and I are conducting a study of student learning in my chemistry site for her dissertation.  The study will be conducted during Spring 2011.  Since I have two classes, so one will be learning molecular shapes in SL, and the other class will be learning the shapes using traditional 2-D approach.  She and I made a video tour of my site for an initial presentation.  Here it is:  http://www.chem.tamu.edu/class/fyp/keeney/secondlife/drwendy-in-SL.mp4
You can also watch it on my movie screen in SL and link to it from a sign at the entrance.  

One of the issues is getting students familiar enough with SL so as to not inhibit their learning during the actual study.  So, I'm going to be arranging a tiny scavenger hunt (5 stops) and at each one, the student will have to rez a molecule and answer a question about it - not on its shape, but on its composition or name or simple calculation, like % by mass.  This exercise will get students used to working with the tasks they will be expected to do during the learning module.  I'm using the scavenger hunt by Alice Klinger and Alli&Ali Designs called "A&A Networked Scavenger Hunt Kit."  It is expensive - about $50 = $L12,000, but it is very sophisticated and folks must answer a question before they can proceed to the next item.  I'll let you know when it is set up.

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