So McLuhan

McLuhan in Second Life: Media 's Role in Virtual Learning

McLuhan in Second Life: How Media contributes to Learning in the Virtual Community

Phylis Johnson (a.k.a. Sonicity Fitzroy, SL) - assoc. professor, Southern Illinois University
Lowe Runo, media producer, owner of Lowe Runo Productions/administrative staff, University of South Florida

a presentation at the The 2nd Louisiana Invitational Conference on Virtual Worlds in Higher Education. Overarching Theme: Getting Virtual Worlds into the Businesses of Higher Education: Teaching, Research, Scholarship, and Service.

Second Life provides a venue for virtual residents to elaborate on nearly every aspect of their mediated life. Life is an extension of real life, allowing them to overcome emotional and physical disabilities and/or challenges, and providing opportunities to extend their creativity in ways not possible in real life. This presentation explores the social realities of Second Life and how they are communicated to our students through the forming of communities as well as how they are communicated within these communities. This presentation provides an overview of the diversity of voices present within Second Life and how these ideas are represented and communicated to other residents through media. An elaborate network of media organizations has emerged over the past several years that has increasingly become the means for educators and students to express ideas, events and form social networks that extend beyond Second Life. This presentation reviews the importation of traditional media into these second spaces and the emergence and exportation of in-world media into real life, as well as how these media help to convey the validity of virtual educational experiences. Intro Video on Vimeo (VirtualSoni - McLuhan in the Virtual Mix)

My part of the presentation evolves from my research for a forthcoming book Second Life, Media and The Other Society (Peter Lang, 2010). I teach a graduate course on Virtual Communities that explores social issues inworld, including the use of media within virtual environments. Topics: use of virtual media in learning, media resources (SL educational videos and documentaries), SL media coverage of education, diversity considerations, and opportunities for the future.

Lowe Runo will present on the various genres of digital filmmaking, as well as those which help support instruction and learning and may even serve as promotional pieces for inworld institututions showcasing the virtues of virtual learning environments. Runo's video is The Many Faces of Machinima http://www.youtube.com/user/SmackyWeezles#p/a/u/0/u9MQTZraJtk

Johnson/Runo Presentation time: Thursday, Nov. 12, 2009, 12:15pm-1:15PM SLT

Conference: Thursday, Nov. 12 and Friday, Nov. 13, 2009, 10:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. CST (8:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. SLT), Louisiana Regents Estate in Second Life – Louisiana Regents, New Orleans, SELU Regents, Tulane Regents, and SUNO Regents Islands

contact: SonicityFitzroy@yahoo.com

sources/references (presentation):
http://somcluhanreferences.blogspot.com/

posted by Phylis Johnson @ 2:34 PM