Project description
ISIS (Information Science + Information Studies) explored Second Life for teaching and learning. Students studied virtual worlds as social phenomena and “texts” as well as technical aspects like 3d modeling, scripting, and virtual space design. Projects included: construction of a student project gallery and virtual labyrinth for the ISIS Focus cluster; research assignments in Gender and Digital Culture; developing virtual world content in ISIS 140 and 240; a “getting started” script garden; a Next Newsroom prototype, and a virtual economics experiment (co-funded by VSI).

ISIS is currently consulting with faculty in several departments: in Education, to create the English Café, in Nursing, to provide an online classroom environment; in Writing, to launch a Virtual Writing Center and with the Office of Institutional Equity to launch a virtual diversity training center. In addition, ISIS explored Croquet, Qwaq, and Project Wonderland to assess appropriate applications.

“We came into this project with some experience with Second Life, but also with the broader goal of understanding how virtual world environments can benefit our curriculum as well as be a rewarding object of inquiry. Second Life’s strengths are in its sociability, the ease in getting started, and the support resources available for it. Its limits are in house-only tool, the time it takes for users to get up to speed for construction activities and scripting (as opposed to just participating), and the challenges in integrating it into other systems.”

–Victoria Szabo

Find out more about these virtual world explorations, consider using Second Life in your class,  or learn how to get started with Second Life.

Project start date: 5/4/2007
Funding awarded: $ 2,500

More information:
Focus Cluster on Virtual Realities
Course descriptions
Project wiki
Second Life at Duke

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Project Description

For the course “Introduction to Old Testament Interpretation,” Portier-Young proposed technology based activities to enhance student learning in this core course (enrollment 170), required for all incoming Divinity students. She wished to create a Blackboard-based group activity for students to collaboratively write about course topics, and to digitize a set of images for use in course materials and lectures. In addition, she wished to explore use of a personal response system in class lectures and use the DiVE visualization facility to view Old Testament-related locations.

Portier-Young sucessfully arranged the installation of a PRS in her classroom with coordination between the CIT, A&SIST and her local support staff. Her teaching assistants, with training from the CIT, successfully managed a group activity in which student groups collaboratively authored wiki pages about course topics that could be shared with and expanded by future classes.

Due to time constraints, image digitization was postponed, but the CIT researched several possible 3D models that could be viewed in the DiVE and Portier-Young learned about the facility and the process for converting models for viewing in the DiVE.

Portier-Young reported that the use of the PRS and wiki activity as successful. Encouraged by the potential of viewing 3D models in the DiVE, she submitted a follow-up Jump Start grant request to fully fund conversion of a model for the DiVE and its use in her class.
Project start date: 5/24/2006
Funding awarded: $0

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Project Description

Anathea Portier-Young enrolled in the CIT’s Spring 2006 Fellows program designed for faculty teaching large classes. In Fall 2006, Portier-Young was teaching the course “Old Testament Interpretation,” a core requirement of all incoming Divinity students, and she wanted to explore ways to approach learning activities and manage course logistics in a class expected to have close to 200 students.

During the Fellows program, participants were introduced to methods that could be used to enhance student learning, including approaches to lectures, group activities and grading with large courses. Portier-Young explored class activities including guided note taking to give her students a clearer picture of important topics in the course. She also tried use of a class wiki for communication and collaborative writing, and developed grading rubrics for essay assignments. In addition, Portier-Young looked at methods to improve her lectures for better student understanding and engagement.

Outcomes reported from this Fellowship included that students demonstrated better comprehension of material and more confidence in assignments with the grading rubric, and the wiki received participation from most students in the class. Portier-Young plans to streamline and improve the activities in the future.

Project start date: 1/2006
Funding awarded: $1,250

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Project description

Admay participated in a Faculty Fellows group focused on teaching large classes. This fellowship group discussed a number of techniques, described in McKeachie’s Teaching Tips: Strategies, Research, and Theory for College and University Teachers and Classroom Assessment Techniques.

In the Spring 2006 Fellows program, Catherine Admay introduced multimedia materials and more effective use of Blackboard into two courses, Arts and Human Rights and a Capstone Seminar for professional graduate students. Admay surveyed the students and found that the use of images, sound and video in her course very enriching and challenging and encouraged her students to upload material. Monitoring of discussion board posts displayed a deeper understanding of the subject matter. Admay also explored the use of wikis and surveys in the Blackboard course web site.

Project start date: January 1, 2006
Funding awarded: $1,000

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