[MUD-Dev] Virtual environments for education?

[Edward Glowacki]

We have a professor that wants to create an online virtual
environment for her students.  I met with her only briefly, so I
don't have an entirely clear understanding of what exactly she
wants, or more importantly how she intends to use it (I'm not sure
she knows the answer to either question), but I'll try to
interpolate as best I can.

The goal a place where students are free to express themselves, be
creative, share their ideas, and work on projects together.  It
should also be "By the students, for the students."

To reach this goal: 

  - Students should be able to create objects within the
  environment, such as rooms, messages, creatures, or whatever else
  their imagination desires. (i.e., much like a MOO)

  - Students should be able to communicate both person-to-person and
  in groups (in real-time or very near real-time), and have the
  option to log conversations for later online viewing, i.e. to
  capture brainstorms, discussion, etc. (e.g. IRC, ICQ, MOO/MUSH/MUD
  communication functions)

  - Students should be able to use graphics and other media types to
  express their ideas in different ways other than just
  text. (e.g. WWW)

  - Students should have some form of avatar to identify themselves
  and to invite communication and interaction.

  - Everything should be contained in the environment as a unified
  package, and should be easy to use without reading copious
  quantities of documentation.  The focus of the project is on the
  student's ideas, not on the mechanics of the system.

  - Access to the system should be easy and widely available.

What I'm looking for (and hope that the MUD-Dev community can help
with) is:

  - Examples of systems that do some or all of these things

  - Suggestions or experiences with using an online environment for
  shared learning.

  - Any other ideas or thoughts that we may have overlooked.

Any and all feedback is welcome.  Thanks!

ED

--
Edward Glowacki			glowack2 at msu.edu
Michigan State University	
"...a partial solution to the right problem is better than a complete
solution to the wrong one." (http://uiweb.com/issues/issue14.htm)

_______________________________________________
MUD-Dev mailing list
MUD-Dev at kanga.nu
https://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev