Clark Aldrich is the founder and Managing Partner of Clark Aldrich Designs, and is known as a global education visionary, industry analyst, and speaker. In this interview, he responds to questions about his ideas, his work, and his theories.

Sigmund Tobias came to the United States in 1948, after his family had fled to China from the Holocaust in Europe. His Memoir ("Strange Haven: A Jewish Childhood in Wartime Shanghai") describes that part of his life. He settled in New York, where he completed his B.A. and M.S. in School Psychology from the City College of New York, and a…

In the context of classroom, it is possible to create a playground with digital technology beneficial for learning in spite of rising enthusiasm in incorporating educational games in classroom. This paper is an essay to describe a learning playground called Digital Learning Playground (DLP). It is essentially an application of digital technology…

Education in virtual worlds has the potential, it seems, for engaging students in innovative ways and for enabling new discourses on a host of issues. Virtual locations like "Second Life," "Kaneva," or "World of Warcraft," among other multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs), also come with unique challenges for educators as they consider the…

When asked what Facebook is for, kids will say that it's there to help them make friends. The kids the author celebrated in his early books as "digital natives," capable of seeing through all efforts of big media and marketing, have actually proven less able to discern the integrity of the sources they read and the intentions of the programs they…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to give a brief introduction to Second Life, and to provide an outline of how one academic librarian has got involved with using it and reviews the issues that have arisen from a library perspective. Design/methodology/approach: The paper offers a reflection on whether library activities in Second Life are…

There is currently widespread interest in exploring the opportunities to develop learning that can be delivered in three-dimensional multiuser virtual environments (3-D MUVEs). In this paper, I argue for the need to conduct research into the emerging cultures of use in 3-D MUVEs, focussing on the example of Second Life. Drawing on social and…

This article considers some of the ways in which the transformative power of Web 2.0 digital technology is reconfiguring learning, knowledge and academic identities in the contemporary university. Through a focus on five specific examples, we consider the impact of virtualization processes on spatiality, materiality and embodiment, and pedagogic…

Most people have at least secondhand knowledge about Second Life, a virtual-reality world created by Linden Lab, in which avatars (digital characters) lease "islands" for real-life purposes--to sell products, conduct classes, do research, hold conferences, and even recruit for admissions. About nine million avatars reportedly interact on this…

Presents the results of a forum on the use and misuse of computer games and simulations. Questions from History Microcomputer Review (HMR) readers are edited and then presented to a panel of history professors who answer them individually. (BSR)

Interactive digital media, or video games, are a powerful new medium. They offer immersive experiences in which players solve problems. Players learn more than just facts--ways of seeing and understanding problems so that they "become" different kinds of people. "Serious games" coming from business strategy, advergaming, and entertainment gaming…

This article presents an interview with Robert Taylor, a leading figure in educational computing. Among the topics covered are: (1) current developments in educational computing, (2) the changing role of teachers, (3) the resources computer technology will provide to social studies teachers, and (4) whether the probable future uses of computers…

This article presents an interview with Jeremy Koester, an eighth grade math teacher and football coach at Alamo Heights Junior School in San Antonio, Texas. In this interview, Koester describes his use of technology in his classes and describes his dream of advancing Second Life (SL) as a distance education environment. SL is a "3-D virtual…

Suggests that simulations and new technologies present new ways to look at historical questions. Discusses approaches from basic board game simulations to the use of artificial intelligence. States that educators must accept new technologies as instructional tools and that the concept of history must be modified to work with these tools. (GEA)

Discusses the computer as a communication medium to support learning. Illustrates the benefits of this reconceptualization in the context of having students author and play interactive simulation games and exchange them over the Internet. (RS)