Beth Odets (Second Life name; Beth Brown, real life name) is the creator of the Second Life synagogue, Temple Beit Israel. Beth recently reflected on the background of the Jewish neighborhood and how it began: I did not start out to create the neighborhood. It started with the Synagogue, which was really an artistic rendering [...]
So, how might Jewish learning happen in a virtual, immersive environment? Below are a few examples of what Jewish learning might look like. Imagine: Students who are home schooled in Jewish studies meeting with peers from all over the world and studying together Jewish educators convening at a specially designed lounge, playground, and resource center [...]
On the lighter side, check out this video produced by DraftFCB Paris, a media agency. It should provide a chuckle or two to those who have experienced life on Second Life.
Lately, I’ve been thinking about how to make the case for Second Life (SL) and education. I recently returned from the annual NECC conference. There were a few sessions on SL, and a special playground area and lounge set aside for SLers. I was not able to spend a lot of time there, but it [...]
There is an emerging Jewish presence in virtual environments. Second Life, for example, is home to a virtual Kotel and Torah learning center, Temple Beit Israel synagogue, a Jewish Historical Museum, a Holocaust Memorial Museum, an artistic representation of a mikveh, a Judaic gift shop, a cafe and Jewish art space, and Ir Shalom – [...]
Virtual environments, specifically multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs), have been around for awhile. MUVEs and their predecessors are commonly thought to be the domain of online gaming communities or esoteric science fiction-like academic projects. Recently, however, there has been a shift in how these immersive worlds are perceived. There is increasing buzz about these environments in [...]
jlearn2.0: jewish learning in the digital world