Instructional Designer:  Heidi Trotta

Faculty Member:  Marian Glenn, Martha Schoene

Course:  CORE 1101 - Journey of Transformation

Fall, 2008

 

Project Abstract:

Due to limitations of space, distance and complexity, it is not always possible to bring real-world experiences into the college classroom. Field trips and traditional student internships can offer students authentic learning contexts however these are often short in duration or occur late in the course of a student’s educational career. In these experiences, students often have little opportunity to develop team building skills and creative problem solving. 

 

This project proposes to develop a virtual case-based learning environment using an online virtual space such as Second Life, for use in undergraduate Ecology and Environmental Geology courses on the Seton Hall campus. Process over content will be stressed to promote collaborative learning, advanced problem solving and the application of research and scientific thought as students gather, interpret and analyze data to solve an ill-defined real-world problem. The use of this environment will offer opportunities to study how situated affordances and constraints affect the student learning outcomes. Findings will be published.