Quest Atlantis: 3D Learning Environment
I have just finished my first training session for Quest Atlantis, a virtual world built for students and teachers. Or, as it says on the QA site:
“Quest Atlantis (QA) is an international learning and teaching project that uses a 3D multi-user environment to immerse children, ages 9-15, in educational tasks.”
Myself and my fabulous colleague Anne Mirtschin are doing the 4 session training course together and will then look at implementing it in our school.
From what I have experienced so far, Quest Atlantis looks and functions quite similarly to Second Life which I have used a bit but not extensively. QA seems to be much easier to use which is good. There are about 13 of us doing the training course and the facilitator had us all on a Skype call so she could guide us around.
More of a description from the QA site:
“The core elements of QA are 1) a 3-D multi-user virtual environment, 2) learning Quests and unit plans, 3) a storyline, presented through an introductory video, novel and comic book, that involves a mythical Council and a set of social commitments, and 4) a globally-distributed community of participants. The narrative helps to establish continuity among the QA elements and helps to bridge the fictional world of Atlantis with the real world of Earth, an act of interpretation by each individual child.”
Quest Atlantis has been around since 2002 and has apparently got a strong following of students and teachers and has been written about in many places. It’s an ongoing project of the Indiana University School of Education. Over the past four years about 15,000 children from four different continents have participated in the project.
I think this will be a really great learning and teaching tool. I’ve got a couple of homework ‘missions’ to complete so I can get my personalised avatar before my next session next Tuesday night. I flew and swam, walked and ran. There was a chat function that accompanied out wanderings through and where we could read and post cries for help!
Here’s a link to a video that shows you what QA looks like ‘in world’. (Was having trouble embedding the You Tube video).
Is anyone else using virtual worlds with their students?
