Faculty+Participants


 * Rachel Baum **(rbaum@uwm.edu)

University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee Course: Representing the Holocaust in Words & Images (Jewish/Hebr St 261) Enrollment: 40

This course provides students a strong introduction to the issues of Holocaust representation, but the course would benefit from a 21st century update. The course focuses on literature and film, asking students to consider the gap between an event and a representation of that event, and raising the ethical, aesthetic, and emotional concerns of representing horror. Adding an activity in SL would allow my students to consider the future of Holocaust memory, and to compare the simulated experiences of SL to earlier media such as film. One of the current learning goals of the course is that students will be able to evaluate the aesthetic and moral issues raised by Holocaust representation. This would be fulfilled well by an SL activity paired with an evaluative essay. The students’ ability to compare and contrast SL to other texts in the course would be especially significant.

**Josh Fishburn **(fishburj@uww.edu)

University of Wisconsin - Whitewater Course: Introduction to Media Arts & Game Development (MAGD 150) Enrollment:  25-40

Introduction to Media Arts and Game Development is the first class in the major. For some students, it is their first time being exposed to programming, design, and videogames in any depth. By incorporating aspects of social networking, virtual identities, telepresence, and games, Second Life is an ideal tool to teach these concepts in a (virtually) embodied way. It combines things with which students are familiar with things that they may not be, providing a good space for shared inquiry and creative activity. These social learning concepts are as important as the technical concepts for our students, who will have to navigate online and offline, with people and programs, in their future careers.

**Tony Keys ** (KEYSAC@uwec.edu)

University of Wisconsin - Eau Clare Course: Project Management Enrollment: 30 students, upper division <span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; vertical-align: baseline;">Managing a project is a difficult process to replicate in the classroom. Principles and best practices can be related to the students to provide an academic framework for the subject. However, this does not bring home the reality of the problems that arise in a project. Second Life allows the students to participate in a “real” project. It allows them to try out different roles to give them different perspectives on the project experience. They interact with ‘real” people in an unscripted scenario, thus providing a succession of novel experiences for them to deal with. Second life enables them to use teamwork and collaboration to accomplish the plan. In essence Second Life transforms their experience of Project Management, creating an experiential learning environment in which they can carry out a project and make mistakes that would seriously affect a real-life project.

**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Veronica Lundback **(lundback@uwm.edu)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Course: Third semester Swedish and Fourth Semester Swedish <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Enrollment: 5 students Level: 203 and 204

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Second Life is an environment that could easily be a valuable tool at all levels of language. However, at an introductory and experimental stage it appears that the second year of Swedish is more suitable than lower levels. These courses have a more advanced Culture content which lends itself perfectly to the Second Life environment. A higher level of student language proficiency also allows the instructor to focus on content, rather than basic vocabulary and structures. For example, a unit concentrating on various geographical regions (traditions, food, profiles, attractions, music) would be much more interesting to explore in Second Life than in a face to face class. Language learning and especially the oral performance part, is often associated with high anxiety. Using Second Life can lower that anxiety by a higher degree of separation, although the students are still a part of, and have the support of a learning community.

**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Brian Wolhaupter **(wolhaupb@uww.edu)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">University of Wisconsin - Whitewater <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Course: LDRSHP 121/221/321/421 - Leadership Laboratory <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Enrollment: 30-35 students, freshmen through senior levels

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">In this class, Second Life would be used to simulate face-to-face leadership reaction and situational training exercises typically conducted in the UW-Whitewater natural area within Second Life on the UWW Mainland Island or other space. Utilizing Second Life enables scenario based leadership training exercises and evaluations that will augment the current program. The ability for students to participate in these exercises through Second Life significantly minimizes or eliminates training opportunities missed due to untenable winter weather during the harsh winter months of our Wisconsin academic year. In addition, there are a number of sites in Second Life to take the students on field experiences too. These include replicas of combat outposts, Veteran's themed museums and memorials, to provide opportunities to explore various military applications and concepts. Utilizing Second Life will also help to reinforce many technical skills while training them in a more immersive and comprehensive format than is currently afforded by the simple "imagine this is happening" approach utilized in the traditional classroom.

**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Miriam Zahedi **(zahedi@uwm.edu)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee <span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Course: Global Information Technology Management <span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Enrollment: 45 students/section, senior (undergraduate)

<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">In this course, the coverage of SL is intended to complement and re-enforce discussions related to multiple topics in the course—web-based global collaborations, global virtual teams, global culture, e-commerce, and global delivery of services (such as education, health care and organized information presentation). Students will learn how to use SL for their actual e-collaboration and team work. To this end, they will collaborate in SL for preparing a deliverable in the course. They also learn to discover various facets of national and ethnic cultures through the exploration of various cultures in SL. Moreover, the role of SL in e-commerce is discussed through visiting islands of multi-national companies that have presence in SL. Finally, the potentials of SL in global delivery of services (such as education and medical care) will be covered.