Stories from Second Life

Just for a breath of fresh air something positive from Linden Lab:
I know everyone is down on Lindens right now with the openspace debacle still very much in everyones minds so LL trying to sidetrack the residents with spin is not unknown but on this showcase I do actually agree simply because I believe this is the kind of thing LL should be high lighting for all residents:

Stories from Second Life: How Languagelab gave language learning a new lease on life

This is the second installment of “Stories from Second Life,” an occasional series of profiles of the people behind Second Life innovations, and the tangible benefits that these individuals and their businesses have brought to both the virtual and the real worlds.

In 2005 David laid out the idea for teaching English as a second language to the global audience within Second Life, and at the end of the year he incorporated Languagelab. At that point he decided to put all his focus on his new venture and by the fall of 2007 Languagelab was completing its beta. This year they enrolled their first paying students.

Today Languagelab operates exclusively in Second Life and has invested a significant amount in terms of R&D and testing to provide an unparalleled virtual learning space where students can be paired with highly qualified, innovative language teachers from around the world.

It’s long been known that immersion in an environment with native speakers is the best way to practice and learn a second language. And as David realized early on, the virtual world environment naturally lends itself to language learning, due to its immersive nature and ability to make learning contextually relevant to both situations and locations.

Using the creation tools in Second Life, Languagelab built “English City” where students learn to have contextual conversations with native speakers, for example, by sitting in a café and ordering food together. This methodology of supervised user driven instruction is called in Languagelab parlance; IAL (Instructor Assisted Learning.)

You can read the full showcase on the official blog or follow the forum for suggestions and comments HERE