Conferences in virtual worlds are quite the fashion now, but it seems that the choice of world is quite important. The National Science Foundation held a conference in World of Warcraft and saw all its (virtual) attendees killed during the event!
Second Life is a far more peaceful venue for the SLanguages conference – and I’m sure the 2009 event will be just as safe as the last two, where not a single avatar was lost in action.
To bring his point to a fine head, Bainbridge recently conducted a scientific conference in a game world to discuss research in game worlds. Certainly it was the ultimate of demonstrations, virtually speaking. The conference was the first ever held in “World of Warcraft” (“WoW”) and it had its upsides: None of the scientists had to physically travel and none had to buy any additional hardware. But it also had its downsides: Not everyone was familiar with the game; newbie levels limited access to key meeting places in the game world; in-game chat communications require a minimum typing speed of 50wpm; and, newbies are the natural diet for any number of monsters in the game.
Several attendees met their deaths, as in plural, on the way to the various conference dinners, events and meeting places. A few gave up after one or more resurrections. All of the near-300 attendees ended up “dead” at the end of the conference. The recently deceased lauded the success of the entire operation.
The annual conference on language education in 3d virtual worlds is with us again (for the 3rd time now) and will take place on 8 & 9 May 2009 on the EduNation islands in Second Life.
There were 350 visitors from 28 countries (native speakers of 29 languages) who attended SLanguages 2008 last weekend. For those of you who missed the event, or perhaps some parts of it (it was 24 hours long!), the archive page of the conference website (www.slanguages.net/archive.php) now has most of the presentation available (with audios). I’ve included a couple here to get you interested…
The SLanguages 2008 conference on virtual worlds in language education starts tomorrow. Further details at the website www.slanguages.net. I’m including here the program to help you plan your visits…
SLanguages 2008 Timetable The Conference for Language Education in Virtual Worlds A version is also available in-world. Both versions (website and Second Life) have teleport links to the relevant event location. Further information about the conference is available at www.slanguages.net PST PDT – 1 10.00 (am) PDT (SL) PST + 1 PDT + 0 11.00 (am) UTC/GMT PST + 8 PDT + 7 18.00 London (BST) PST + 9 PST + 8 19.00 Paris (CET) PST + 10 PST + 9 20.00 NOTE: Current time in SL is PDT ********************** MAY 23RD – BLOCK 0 *********************** 11:00 – 12:00 PDT – Conference Opening & Social Gathering [DJ Dudeney Ge] [10:00 - 11:00 PST |18:00 – 19:00 UTC|20:00 – 21:00 CET] Come along and meet participants and presenters, the organizers and a few lost souls. DJ Dudeney Ge entertains with an eclectic mix from 1930 to yesterday… EduNation II – The Club *************************************************************** ********************** MAY 23RD – BLOCK 1 *********************** 12:00 – 13:00 PDT – Plenary I – Iffaf Khan (SL: Iffaf Ling) [11:00 - 12:00 PST|19:00 – 20:00 UTC|21:00 – 22:00 CET] Teacher Training in SL: Lessons Learnt EduNation III – Conference Crossover Space ______________________________________________________________ 13:15 – 14:15 PDT – Simultaneous Sessions I [12:15 - 13:15 PST|20:15 – 21:15 UTC|22:15 – 23:15 CET] Session 1.1 – Gavin Dudeney (SL: Dudeney Ge) Teaching Tools for Second Life EduNation II – Seminar Space Session 1.2 – Ton Koenraad (SL: Koen Antonioni) The Making of the ViTAAL project EduNation III – Conference Crossover Space ______________________________________________________________ 14:30 – 15:30 PDT – Simultaneous Sessions II [13:30 - 14:30 PST|21:30 – 22:30 UTC|23:30 – 00:30 CET] Session 2.1 – Št?pánka J?nová (SL: Stefi Kohime) Applying different language teaching methods in Second life EduNation II – Seminar Space Session 2.2 – Graham Stanley (SL: Baldric Commons) The Sword in the Stone- Language Learning Quests (part I) EduNation III – Conference Crossover Space ______________________________________________________________ 15:30 – 16:00 PDT – Break – Exhibition, Poster Presentations SLanguages 2008 Timetable The Conference for Language Education in Virtual Worlds A version is also available in-world. Both versions (website and Second Life) have teleport links to the relevant event location. Further information about the conference is available at www.slanguages.net [14:30 - 15:00 PST |22:30 – 23:00 UTC|00:30 – 01:00 CET] EduNation II – Sandbox *************************************************************** ********************** MAY 23RD – BLOCK 2 *********************** 16:00 – 17:00 PDT – Plenary II – Howard Vickers (SL: Howie Yoshikawa) [15:00 - 16:00 PST |23:00 – 00:00 UTC|01:00 – 02:00 CET] Blended Learning – Combining Virtual Worlds with Web 2.0 Tools EduNation III – Conference Crossover Space ______________________________________________________________ 17:15 – 18:15 PDT – Simultaneous Sessions III [16:15 - 17:15 PST |00:15 – 01:15 UTC|02:15 – 03:15 CET] Session 3.1 – Kip Boahn (SL: Kip Yellowjacket) What is Second Life English? : Current project status and future aspirations. EduNation II – Seminar Space Session 3.2 – James Abraham (SL: Calisto Encinal) Mi casa es su casa: A Simulated House for Spanish EduNation III – Conference Crossover Space ______________________________________________________________ 18:30 – 19:30 PDT – Simultaneous Sessions IV [17:30 - 18:30 PST |01:30 – 01:30 UTC|03:30 – 04:30 CET] Session 4.1 – Kane Naylor (SL: Basho Singh) Welcome to CHACHAT! EduNation II – Seminar Space Session 4.2 – Dafne Gonzalez (SL: Daf Smirnov) Teaching Training: Second Life vs. Online / Blended Courses: Implications EduNation III – Conference Crossover Space ______________________________________________________________ 19:30 – 20:00 PDT – Field Trip with Howard Vickers (SL: Howie Yoshikawa) [18:30 - 19:00 PST |02:30 – 03:00 UTC|04:30 – 05:00 CET] Real Cities and Themed Locations in Second Life EduNation II – Seminar Space *************************************************************** *********************** MAY 23RD – BLOCK 3 ********************** 20:00 – 21:00 PDT – Simultaneous Sessions V [19:00 - 20:00 PST |03:00 – 04:00 UTC|05:00 – 06:00 CET] Session 5.1 – Gloria Jeanne Bodtorf Clark (SL: Flora Almendros) Coordinating the Physical Classroom and Teaching from My Virtual Hot Tub: Hybrid Spanish Classes in Practice EduNation II – Seminar Space SLanguages 2008 Timetable The Conference for Language Education in Virtual Worlds A version is also available in-world. Both versions (website and Second Life) have teleport links to the relevant event location. Further information about the conference is available at www.slanguages.net Session 5.2 – Kip Boahn (SL: Kip Yellowjacket) What is Second Life English? : Current project status and future aspirations. EduNation III – Conference Crossover Space ______________________________________________________________ 21:15 – 22:15 PDT – Simultaneous Sessions VI [20:15 - 21:15 PST |04:15 – 05:15 UTC|06:15 – 07:15 CET] Session 6.1 – Paul Preibisch (SL: Fire Centaur) Bots for educators! EduNation II – Seminar Space Session 6.2 – James Abraham (SL: Calisto Encinal) Mi casa es su casa: A Simulated House for Spanish EduNation III – Conference Crossover Space ______________________________________________________________ 22:30 – 23:30 PDT – Plenary III – Chris Surridge (SL: Christopher Flow) [21:30 - 22:30 PST |05:30 – 06:30 UTC|07:30 – 08:30 CET] Motivated Interactions in Second Life EduNation III – Conference Crossover Space ______________________________________________________________ 23:30 – 00:00 PDT – Break – Exhibition, Poster Presentations [22:30 - 23:00 PST |06:30 – 07:00 UTC|08:30 – 09:00 CET] EduNation II – Sandbox ______________________________________________________________ 00:00 – 01:00 PDT – Field Trip with Heike Philp (SL: Gwen Gwasi) [23:00 - 00:00 PST |07:00 – 08:00 UTC|09:00 – 10:00 CET] Sightseeing tour to language learning sites EduNation II – Seminar Space *************************************************************** ********************** MAY 24TH – BLOCK 1 *********************** 01:00 – 02:00 PDT – Mid-Conference Building Basics – Gavin Dudeney (SL: Dudeney Ge) [00:00 - 01:00 PST|08:00 – 09:00 UTC|10:00 – 11:00 CET] If you’ve always wondered what the ‘Build’ button in SL does, come along to the Sandbox and get started with building. We’ll cover the basics and put it all together to make a scripted gadget that actually does something. This is a very basic session, so if you’ve done any building already you may want to use this hour to get some sleep… EduNation II – Sandbox ______________________________________________________________ 02:15 – 03:15 PDT – Simultaneous Sessions VII [01:15 - 02:15 PST|09:15 – 10:15 UTC|11:15 – 12:15 CET] Session 7.1 – Kyle Mawer (SL: Frank Spearmann) Robin Hood – Language Learning Quests (part II) EduNation II – Seminar Space Session 7.2 – Mark Karstad (SL: Buy Short) Second Life in Conservative Societies, Considerations from the Middle East SLanguages 2008 Timetable The Conference for Language Education in Virtual Worlds A version is also available in-world. Both versions (website and Second Life) have teleport links to the relevant event location. Further information about the conference is available at www.slanguages.net EduNation III – Conference Crossover Space ______________________________________________________________ 03:30 – 04:30 PDT – Simultaneous Sessions VIII [02:30 - 03:30 PST|10:30 – 11:30 UTC|12:30 – 13:30 CET] Session 8.1 – Dongping Zheng (SL: MinnSU Koga) Quest Design in SL Chinese School EduNation II – Seminar Space Session 8.2 – Gavin Dudeney (SL: Dudeney Ge) Teaching Tools for Second Life EduNation III – Conference Crossover Space ______________________________________________________________ 04:30 – 05:00 PDT – Field Trip with Gavin Dudeney (SL: Dudeney Ge) [03:30 - 04:00 PST|11:30 – 12:00 UTC|13:30 – 14:00 CET] Multiple Intelligences in SL… EduNation II – Seminar Space *************************************************************** ********************** MAY 24TH – BLOCK 2 *********************** 05:00 – 06:00 PDT – Plenary IV – Paul Sweeney (SL: Head Teacher) [04:00 - 05:00 PST|12:00 – 13:00 UTC|14:00 – 15:00 CET] What is the ‘right’ kind of innovation? EduNation III – Conference Crossover Space ______________________________________________________________ 06:15 – 0715 PDT – Simultaneous Sessions IX [05:15 - 06:15 PST|13:15 – 14:15 UTC|15:15 – 16:15 CET] Session 9.1 – Graham Stanley (SL: Baldric Commons) and Kyle Mawer (SL: Frank Spearmann) Language Learning Quests (part III) – Discussion / Workshop EduNation II – Seminar Space Session 9.2 – Mark Karstad (SL: Buy Short) Second Life in Conservative Societies, Considerations from the Middle East EduNation III – Conference Crossover Space ______________________________________________________________ 07:30 – 08:30 PDT – Simultaneous Sessions X [06:30 - 07:30 PST |14:30 – 15:30 UTC|16:30 – 17:30 CET] Session 10.1 – Dafne Gonzalez (SL: Daf Smirnov) and (SL: Christina Papp) Teaching Spanish to Beginners in SL EduNation II – Seminar Space Session 10.2 – Heike Philp (SL: Gwen Gwasi) Sightseeing tour to language learning sites EduNation III – Conference Crossover Space SLanguages 2008 Timetable The Conference for Language Education in Virtual Worlds A version is also available in-world. Both versions (website and Second Life) have teleport links to the relevant event location. Further information about the conference is available at www.slanguages.net ______________________________________________________________ 08:30 – 09:00 PDT – Presentation moved to 03:30 – 04:30 PDT, Saturday [07:30 - 08:00 PST|15:30 – 16:00 UTC|17:30 – 18:00 CET ] *************************************************************** ********************** MAY 24TH – BLOCK 3 *********************** 09:00 – 10:00 PDT – Closing Roundup – All [08:00 - 09:00 PST|16:00 – 17:00 UTC|18:00 – 19:00 CET ] A chance for everyone to reflect on – and discuss – the conference itself. Moderated by Gavin Dudeney (SL: Dudeney Ge) EduNation III – Conference Crossover Space ______________________________________________________________ 10:00 – 11:00 PDT – Conference Closing Party [DJ Dudeney Ge] [09:00 - 10:00 PST|17:00 – 18:00 UTC|19:00 – 20:00 CET] Come along and meet participants and presenters, the organizers and a few lost souls. DJ Dudeney Ge entertains with an eclectic mix from 1930 to yesterday… EduNation II – The Club **************************************************************
The second annual SLanguages conference has been announced for 23 and 24 May 2008. The conference has a website this year (www.slanguages.net) with information in various languages.
Avatar Languages is very pleased to be sponsoring this year’s event, which promises to be bigger and better than the 2007 conference.
Join us in celebrating European Day of Languages. We are organizing a treasure hunt with free language lessons to be won.
The event will start from our Second Life tropical island on Hope Islands CTR (visit www.avatarlanguages.com/school for a direct link) on Wednesday 26 September. The treasure hunters will be taking a tour of European cities on a social and communicative quest.
Skype us!
