0Our ITS crew took a group exploration of Second Life today. Part of the good fun was walking around in a virtual world with a group of people who were all in the same room. ([CF] New World Notes' suggestion).

0The question lurking in all of our minds, which Jerry made explicit afterward, was "how could this be used in teaching?". That's why we're exploring, and why people like Rachel Smith are exploring, too ([CF] her Faculty Academy Talk.

0I'm starting to think of two conceptual directions: representational and behavioral. Representational is a bit more traditional, in that it would allow, say, recreating an ancient building in order to convey a richer spatial sense of how a culture would experience a cultural space. Of course, doing so would also introduce the possibility of a distinctly opposite experience when, for example, a student would fly around a building, rather than walk around it. I think flying can be disallowed, but the basic point that, even while it would introduce a more complex representation of the artifact, it would also mediate the perception of the artifact in equally complex ways.

0The behavioral direction is a bit more artistic pedagogically. There are great animations that people have built in SL. And a good visual animation, especially by the faculty, is great for teaching. A good animation (gesture, expression, etc.) gives a spatial medium for conveying an idea. Put that together with SL, and maybe a really sophisticated animation -- one which, unlike most in SL, goes beyond the usual (i.e., real life) limits of a body -- could be a way to convey an idea. I don't know the degree to which SL would allow going beyond what a real body can do (e.g., could I animate my arms to stretch out 5 meters?), but there should be possibilities.

0Addition: [CF] Andy's thoughts.

0Much to work on