ELI Podcast: Virtual Immersive Learning Environments in Times of Economic Downturn

This fifty-two minute podcast features a session presented by Gerri Sinclair, Executive Director of the Masters of Digital Media Program at the Great Northern Way Campus. The speech, "From E-learning to V-Learning: The Advantages of Virtual Immersive Learning Environments in Times of Economic Downturn," was recorded at the ELI 2009 Annual Conference. A video stream of this speech is also available.

Because much of the curriculum of the Masters of Digital Media Program at Great Northern Way involves real-time, team-based collaboration, we have been developing a virtual learning platform to enable geographically distributed students to work together in real-time immersive "spaces" supported by a strong sense of individual and team "presence." This session discusses the strengths and weaknesses of several potential v-learning environments including Second Life, World of Warcraft, Sony Home, Sauerbraten, TokBox, Dimdim, Google Docs, Wonderland, Xbox LIVE, and our very own Great Northern World. The session concludes by exploring the advantages of v-learning environments in times of economic downturn defined by shrinking education budgets and declining consumer spending power.