New Media Consortium Launches $100,000 Program for Virtual Learning
5/16/2008
The New Media Consortium,
a not-for-profit group of organizations focused on bringing technology
into the learning process, has kicked off a competitive award program
for educational communities in Second Life and Project Wonderland.
Twenty grants totaling $100,000 in cash and development assistance will
be awarded this year to fund these educational efforts.
According to the consortium, NMC is "looking for projects that use
immersive 3D environments to teach cross-disciplinary concepts that are
difficult to teach by traditional means." The criteria for selection
include novel approaches to learning, immersiveness, and broad
applicability (across disciplines).
Individual prizes include $500 in cash and $4,500 in development assistance from NMC Virtual Worlds,
a program within NMC that provides pro bono services for education. The
assistance includes "professional building, scripting, design,
animation, avatar design, and/or related services," according to NMC.
Proposals are being accepted now, and the submission period will
remain open until all 20 grants have been awarded. The competitive
awards are open to all but are geared specifically toward educators at
K-12 and post-secondary institutions. Winners agree to make all
finished materials developed as a part of the funded program available
for license under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Further information about the program can be found here.
