EFL Professor in SL

  Fanfiction and Storytelling - Resources Storytelling and Fanfiction  This video defines fanfiction, introduces research on fanfiction and language learning, and provides an overview of different types of popular fanfiction.  The video is part of learning doing module that aims to familiarize language teachers with fanfiction and show its potential for language teaching and learning. Introduction to Fanfiction  (Links to an external site.)   Here you can find materials for the FanTales project:  https://www.fantales.eu/materials/  (Links to an external site.)   These are a series of videos by Shannon Sauro. Malmö University, Sweden Using Educational Technology in the English Language Classroom: 1.  MOOC Reading and Technology Fanfiction1  (Links to an external site.)   2.  MOOC Reading and Technology Fanfiction2  (Links to an external site.)   3.  MOOC Reading and Technology Fanfiction3  (Links to an e...

  We can use 3D models created with external modeling programs such as Blender, 3D Studio Max, Maya, or Wings 3D. You’ll export these in   Collada digital asset exchange format   so that you’ll then be able to import them as meshes into OpenSim.  First, let’s find out what Collada is. Collada (short for  COLLAborative Design Activity ) defines an open standard digital asset XML database schema for interactive 3D applications enabling the exchange of digital assets between applications without loss of information. Or, to put it more simply, Collada provides an application-independent schema for representing 3D objects. This means that you can create a model in, say, Blender, export it to Collada (as a .dae file, i.e. ‘Digital Asset Exchange’ format), and import it into, for example, OpenSim. Finding Free Mesh objects on the internet https://www.highend3d.com/3d-model/simple-bookcase-3d-model  (Links to an external site.)   There are several places where...

  Virtually Anywhere in Second Life. Visiting the Terracotta Army. Molero (2020) Virtually Anywhere is a transmedia experience for language learning. Students employed Transmedia Storytelling techniques to collaborate in the creation of new fiction based on an existing short audio story. The storyline used for this project is part of the audio series Virtually Anywhere by Cambridge Assessment English. These audio episodes were created primarily to help students improve their English listening skills. The series tells a story about university students Geeta and Paul who are struggling with their archeology coursework when a mysterious professor offers to help and takes them on a series of virtual traveling to different sites. In the original series, our characters visit two sites: The Terracotta Army in China and the Citadel of Teotihuacan in Mexico. Virtually Anywhere in Second Life. Martha Eugenia Lino (Eugenia Calderon in SL). Molero (2020) Students created two new episodes foll...

Storytelling is a wonderful means of getting our students excited. Recreating such a story in a virtual world would provide a great setting for roleplay and fanfiction. Yet, how difficult is it to recreate scenes of Alice in Wonderland, Harry Potter or King Arthur and his Round Table in OpenSim? What about character creation? Changing avatar outfit, clothes and accessories? When creating the scene, what building skills are required and when it comes to storytelling, what skills are required to come up with a captivating story? These main three challenges will be addressed in this EVO session and we hope to recreate a story in OpenSim. Why OpenSim? During our last year's EVO session 2020 Immersive Language Learning in Virtual Worlds, we spent 5 weeks evaluating 18 different 3D environments and ranked and voted for our preferred 3D solution, which was OpenSim. Our evaluation grid included: easy of use, security, costs, what can be customized, etc.  Objectives By the end of this sessi...

  For five weeks in January and February, TESOL experts and participants from around the world engage in collaborative online discussions or hands-on virtual workshops of professional and scholarly benefit. These sessions bring together participants for a longer period of time than is permitted by land-based professional development conventions and allow a fuller development of ideas than is otherwise possible. Sessions are free and open to anyone around the globe. It is not necessary to be a TESOL or IATEFL member nor to attend the TESOL Convention in order to participate. All you need is access to the Internet. The sessions carry no academic credit, and participants may choose the level of involvement that works for them. This year, we are pleased to offer a record of 19 five-week sessions. Please inform your colleagues about this unparalleled professional development opportunity! For descriptions and abstracts of all sessions, visit the Call for Participation at http://evosessio...

Hello, there! We are back this year with great enthusiasm to invite you all to experience learning in Virtual Worlds. It is definitely a very different experience from remote learning or Zoom conferencing.  As Louise Matsakis from the Wire puts it, "On Zoom, the conversational format is essentially "virtual sharing circle," where one person can talk at a time and you're never completely sure whose turn is next. Social gatherings are transformed into formal meetings—exactly what Zoom was designed to facilitate but not what you always want. Fun backgrounds aren’t enough to feel like you’re at a real party or hangout, or at least not a good one, especially if you’re spending most of the time staring at your own face on screen." Virtual Worlds provide a wonderful venue where you can create a virtual representation of yourself, called avatars, and interact with other avatars, places, or objects. Virtual worlds aren't just fancy chat rooms -- Avatars can do much ...