Week+3

=Week 3: January 25 - 31=
 * VWs: Workplace of the Future?**

Regardless of the specific discipline we're teaching, the general goal of education is to prepare our learners for the future. If we accept the premise that the future of work will involve increased telecommuting in many fields, then what can the virtual worlds of today teach us about the workplace of tomorrow? This week we'll explore business and industry use of virtual worlds, and tour corporate and "in-world" business locations in Second Life.

Readings
Kozlov, Slava and Reinhold N., (2008) To Play or Not to Play: Can Companies Learn to be n00bs, LFG, and Level Up? http://philipsdesign.trimm.nl/PlayorNotPlayPaper.pdf

Second Life Tasks
Continue to work on your “outer” and “inner” avatars for Project 1, to be presented to the class at our next synchronous meeting. You should be able to easily switch between your two avatars (hint: create folders in your inventory) and be prepared to talk about your choices and how you might use avatar creation in an educational/classroom setting (hint: you can prepare your words ahead of time by writing your thoughts out and then pasting them in local chat during your presentation).

Forum Posts 4
This week we discussed the possibility of virtual worlds becoming more prevalent for business use. Questions for this week’s forum post:
 * Based on our conversation in class and the Kozlov paper, how likely do you think it is, and in what time frame would you expect virtual worlds to become more prevalent as workplaces?
 * Did our discussion about workplace use of virtual worlds have any impact upon your avatar choices for Project 1?
 * How might we help students think about online identity (and avatars) in the context of preparing for a professional career?