Jewish Education Change Network

New Pilot Project Using Second Life for Israel Education

How do we help young students to interact with Israel in a way that allows them to connect with a topic that often feels distant, irrelevant and separate from their lives?

We are beginning a pilot project that uses the Second Life platform to "gamify" Israel education in the complementary school. BJE is working with Johanna Sohn, the Education Director at Adat Ari El congregation, Los Angeles and Simnik to create a 3 dimensional virtual build and curriculum that will provide 5th graders with interactions with Israeli history and culture that will be both immersive and engaging. As these students take on avatars and work their way through the world we are building for them, they will have fun while solving problems that help them to connect with Israel. Using the basic principles behind quests and discovery-based inquiry, we hope to create a robust blended experience that combines classroom instruction with a rich 3D virtual environment in which students interact with content and with each other. As they "level up", the students will also be learning.

I have been looking at the use of MUVEs (Multi User Virtual Environments) in education for a few years and have come to understand that these tools are exactly that- tools. As with every other technology we use (be it a smart board, a pencil or a virtual environment) our job as educators is facilitate a learning experience that results in both the learner knowing more and feeling more connected to the content. Learning has to be grounded in experience and tools like this one create experiences for the learner.

I welcome hearing from my colleagues about the opportunities and challenges of moving into immersive virtual environments. We are just in the early planning stages and I look forward to sharing more about how this experiment progresses.

2 members like this

Comment by Peter Eckstein on December 8, 2011 at 11:32am: This sounds like a fascinating experiment: I want to hear more. Is there any way we can get a guided tour of this SL Israel universe?

Comment by Richard D Solomon, PhD on December 8, 2011 at 11:34am: Phil,

I'm interested in MUVEs as well. Please contact me at rdsolomonphd@gmail.com at your convenience so that we can discuss this topic more thoroughly. B'hatzlacha, Richard

Comment by Deborah Nagler on December 8, 2011 at 5:06pm: Hi All,
As the Director of Simnik, I thought I might contribute a little information. Simnik is a new project of Machinimart, LLC that is dedicated to creating Multi-user virtual environments for education and training. Along with my partner, Simnik Producer Gabe Salgado, we have created a virtual Krakow Sim for the Center for Educational Technology in Israel, as well as other environments for private enterprise. The Virtual Israel pilot is scheduled for completion in early spring.

As Phil suggests, coupled with a robust curriculum, research, and imagination, the MUVE is a great tool for immersive learning, exploration, and transformational play. If you have any further questions I can be reached at Deborah@simnik.com

Comment by Caren Levine on December 9, 2011 at 12:05pm: Can't wait to hear more! Claird Loon aka Caren

Comment by Emily Aronoff Teck on December 22, 2011 at 2:38pm: Sounds fantastic! Deborah, are there existing multi user virtual environments that are being used in Jewish Educational environments?

Comment by Deborah Nagler on December 22, 2011 at 3:52pm: To the best of my knowledge Simnik is the only one producing them at the moment.
Timeless Jerusalem is offline.

Comment by Richard D Solomon, PhD on December 22, 2011 at 4:17pm: Is this link helpful? http://ecocamp.us/

I'm not certain it addresses what Emily is looking for.

@Emily, Is this helpful?

Richard