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Slide 11

The fact that Active Worlds has been available for over a decade to educators, and that it has accumulated a generally positive research base, begs the question, why has interest in Second Life taken off as it has? This slide gives possible factors. In sum, these factors boil down to greater sophistication of SL over the less compelling AW, greater awareness of it thanks to communication via the blogosphere and other social networking threads (and hence, greater user base with better prospects for growth, as opposed to AW, which is in decline, partly due to competition from SL), and better integration of learning objects into the interface.

The Bobcat video shows progress on a presence in SL of Texas State University at San Marcos (the Bobcats). It is interesting here because it shows how the spaces have been conceived, to be filled in with learning objects later. It can be found here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRNP6IJwY90

Copyright 2007 by Vance Stevens
under Creative Commons License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/