Exploring the Use of Virtual Worlds as a Scientific Research Platform: The Meta-Institute for Computational Astrophysics (MICA)

We describe the Meta-Institute for Computational Astrophysics (MICA), the first professional scientific organization based exclusively in virtual worlds (VWs). The goals of MICA are to explore the utility of the emerging VR and VWs technologies for scientific and scholarly work in general, and to facilitate and accelerate their adoption by the scientific research community. MICA itself is an experiment in academic and scientific practices enabled by the immersive VR technologies. We describe the current and planned activities and research directions of MICA, and offer some thoughts as to what the future developments in this arena may be.Comment: 15 pages, to appear in the refereed proceedings of "Facets of Virtual Environments" (FaVE 2009), eds. F. Lehmann-Grube, J. Sablating, et al., ICST Lecture Notes Ser., Berlin: Springer Verlag (2009); version with full resolution color figures is available at http://www.mica-vw.org/wiki/index.php/Publication

Contributions to Using IT in Education: An Educational Video Player

Following the trends of IT use in education we propose four main principles of educational application development: anytime-anywhere access (including access for mobile devices); user-generated content; assigning users an active role inside the platform; creating a correlation between natural activities and educational activities – adding fun into the equation. With these principles in mind we developed a small Educational Player – a movie player that connects to a database to show information relevant to the events in the movie, more specific to the exact key-frame (in the movie time-line) at the moment of the request. Though the application is still in a conceptual form, its possibilities make us confident in its future success either as an informal way of learning, or by using it in a formal educational context either as an e-learning tool, either as interactivity tool in a traditional classroom setting.E-learning, Educational Technologies, Multimedia Applications

Media Usage in Post-Secondary Education and Implications for Teaching and Learning

The Web 2.0 has permeated academic life. The use of online information services in post-secondary education has led to dramatic changes in faculty teaching methods as well as in the learning and study behavior of students. At the same time, traditional information media, such as textbooks and printed handouts, still form the basic pillars of teaching and learning. This paper reports the results of a survey about media usage in teaching and learning conducted with Western University students and instructors, highlighting trends in the usage of new and traditional media in higher education by instructors and students. In addition, the survey comprises part of an international research program in which 20 universities from 10 countries are currently participating. Further, the study will hopefully become a part of the ongoing discussion of practices and policies that purport to advance the effective use of media in teaching and learning

Advances in Teaching & Learning Day Abstracts 2004

Proceedings of the Advances in Teaching & Learning Day Regional Conference held at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston in 2004

Moral and Ecological Function of Students' Upbringing

The paper considers some social problems and consequences of the consumer attitude of man and modern society to nature. The necessity of changing the stereotypes of man and nature interaction and forming man's reasonable needs is stressed. It is argued that human mentality and value reference points need changing by means of upbringing. The authors develop questions related to the upgrade of higher school in Russia and to the use of functionalist ideas in the upbringing process of higher education institutions. The pedagogical model of implementing the moral and ecological function of students' upbringing at a higher education institution is developed and represented. It includes interrelated structural components: motivational and goal-related, axiological, content-related, technological and final one. The paper reveals the essence of such notions as "new social and ecological ideal", "moral and ecological function of upbringing", "ecological and humanist values". An analysis of upbringing process at a higher education institution is presented from the standpoint of competency-based approach. The researchers underline the significance of art in forming the personality's ecological and humanist values. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd

IMPACT: The Journal of the Center for Interdisciplinary Teaching and Learning. Volume 2, Issue 2, Summer 2013

Impact: The Journal of the Center for Interdisciplinary Teaching & Learning is a peer-reviewed, biannual online journal that publishes scholarly and creative non-fiction essays about the theory, practice and assessment of interdisciplinary education. Impact is produced by the Center for Interdisciplinary Teaching & Learning at the College of General Studies, Boston University (www.bu.edu/cgs/citl)

The genesis and development of mobile learning in Europe

In the past two decades, European researchers have conducted many significant mobile learning projects. The chapter explores how these projects have arisen and what each one has contributed, so as to show the driving forces and outcomes of European innovation in mobile learning. The authors identify context as a central construct in European researchers’ conceptualizations of mobile learning and examine theories of learning for the mobile world, based on physical, technological, conceptual, social and temporal mobility. The authors also examine the impacts of mobile learning research on educational practices and the implications for policy. Finally, they suggest future challenges for researchers, developers and policy makers in shaping the future of mobile learning