ACRL-Virtual Worlds Interest Group Summer 2016 Programs

ACRL-Virtual Worlds Interest Group Summer 2016 Programs

  

ACRL-VWIG May 2016 Program

Joint session with ALA Virtual Communities in Libraries MIG

 Sunday May 15^th 2016  12-1:30 pm SLT - CVL Auditorium

The Virtual Pioneers: Andrew Wheelock

 

For its’ first program of the summer, Spiff Whitfield met with the ACRL-VWIG to discuss immersive learning environments in Second Life.  Specifically he presented on the activities of the “Virtual Pioneers”.  This group of educators who explore virtual worlds seeking out immersive learning opportunities.  

 

The Virtual Pioneers started as small group of Social Studies educators in 2007.  From there it has branched out to include history minded people from around the world.  The presentation by Andrew Wheelock highlighted the journey of the Virtual Pioneers from its humble beginnings to its present day incarnation of tours and meetings aimed at understanding history and culture from around the world.  The presentation also showcased some of the work that Virtual Pioneer educators have done in the K-12 realm.

The Three Faces of Andrew Wheelock

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ACRL-VWIG June 2016 Program

Joint session with ALA Virtual Communities in Libraries MIG

Sunday June 19, 2016  12-1:30 SLT – CVL Auditorium

Inworldz & Kitely: Librarianship in Alternative Virtual Worlds : Marie Vans

For the June program, Marie Vans shared a presentation on virtual worlds beyond Second Life, “Inworldz & Kitely: Librarianship in Alternative Virtual Worlds”. Marie Vans (Amvans Lapis in Second Life) is the director of the Community Virtual Library in Inworldz and owner of STEM4Girls island Kitely.   Marie has a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Colorado State University. Marie talked about  her work in the virtual worlds Inworldz and Kitely.  She presented her experiences using STEM island in Kitely as examples of cheaper alternatives to Second Life for providing library and educational services. The presentation compared these virtual worlds to Second Life in terms of cost, prims, and other important features.

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ACRL-VWIG July 2016 Program

Joint session with ALA Virtual Communities in Libraries MIG

Sunday July  17, 2016  12-1:30 SLT – CVL Auditorium

“Supporting a Course with a Virtual World Library” with Dr. Nancy Zingrone

Nancy Zingrone of the AZIRE Library & Learning Center

 

July’s program was presented by Nancy Zingorne (Maggie Laraimore in Second Life).  Nancy has a PhD in Psychology from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and she talked about her experience designing, implementing and running a virtual world library for the Alvardo Zingrone Institute for Research and Education within the Chilbo Community/region of Second Life.  The AZIRE Library and Learning Center was designed  to support a MOOC on research in Parapsychology she and her husband are doing online.  She described their experience setting up a learning center in world the purpose of which was to show that real scientific research is being done about Parapsychology.

Slides on the program can be found at http://www.slideshare.net/NanZingrone/supporting-a-course-with-a-virtual-library-the-paramooc-series

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Thanks to Val Librarian Gregg for her help putting this together.