A sociocultural perspective on negotiating digital identities in a community of learners

Three dimensional virtual world environments are becoming an increasingly regular feature of the education landscape, providing the opportunity for richly graphical augmented and immersive learning activities. Those who participate in these experiences must mediate through an avatar, negotiating and managing the complexities of this new variation of digital identity alongside their more familiar identity as learner and/or teacher/facilitator. This chapter describes some key moments in the construction of our own digital identities as a lecturer and a student in the Open University’s community in Second LifeTM. We explore our experiences in relation to the impact of trust and consistency from a sociocultural perspective, privileging the role of social interaction and context where meaning is socially produced and situationally interpreted, concluding that social interaction is pivotal to any meaningful identity development that takes place. The chapter ends with thoughts for future issues surrounding digital identity in relation to lifelong learning

Integrating Mobile Technologies in Multicultural Multilingual Multimedia Projects

This chapter explores the role of mobile technologies, such as Global Positioning System (GPS) and cell phones and tablet PC technologies, in higher education and professional development; offers creative strategies and possibilities for integrating GPS and mobile technologies into the curriculum with limited resources; outlines participants\u27 projects and digital stories; and demonstrates examples that integrates Maps, Mathematics, and Media Education using cell phones, tablet PCs, and GPS devices in a gallery walk. The study explores a wide range of meanings participants associated with experiential projectbased learning activities; the impact of mobile technologies in developing multicultural and multilingual curriculum that promotes inclusive and differentiated instruction; the ways in which participants integrated math, maps, and media into their learning; and how they gained alternative points of view on global education and renewed interest and commitment to community service and socially responsible teaching. This chapter will benefit teacher candidates and teacher educators who seek innovative and cost-effective strategies and tools in higher education