Click here to receive your FREE subscription to Campus Technology
News
Indiana U To Build Virtual Congress on Virtual World Platform
4/4/2008
Indiana University's Center on Congress has selected ProtonMedia to be its development partner in the creation of a Virtual Congress, an online learning environment announced in 2007 that aims to give high school students an insider's view of representative democracy and help them understand their role as citizens.ProtonMedia will use its ProtoSphere 3D virtual world as the foundation for the Virtual Congress. ProtoSphere lets students participate and collaborate in multi-player activities such as Congressional committee hearings, writing amendments and meeting with constituents. ProtoSphere features private and secure voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) and text chat communications, whiteboards, application sharing and Web 2.0 technologies such as blogs and wikis.
"We are excited about the potential for Virtual Congress to let students experience how Congress really works," said the Center's director, Lee H. Hamilton, himself a member of the House of Representatives for 34 years. "Combining the online role-play game format with serious and substantive educational content about Congress is a promising new way to get young people engaged and informed."
A number of organizations are providing funding for the project or partnering with the Center, including the departments of Telecommunications and Learning Sciences at Indiana U.
Dian Schaffhauser is a writer who covers technology and business. Send your higher education technology news to her at dian@dischaffhauser.com.
Cite this Site
copy text (above) for proper citation
Recommended Reading
- RIAA Outsources Fingering of Students Who Share Music Illegally
The RIAA is outsourcing the hunt for music thieves. Its largest target currently is those who operate from within colleges and universities, a move that has piqued the attention of Educause.
- Microsoft Expands Education Footprint in Asia Pacific Region
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates announced new partnerships to extend accessibility and computer literacy in the Asia Pacific region during a speech in Jakarta at a government leader gathering earlier this week.
- IT Struggling Over Security, Compliance
IT pros are having a hard time balancing security, software patch management and IT auditing with a host of other duties, according to a survey released Monday by Shavlik Technologies.
- Toronto College Upgrades Network with Gigabit Ethernet Wireless Links
Toronto-based George Brown College has gone public about its deployment of six BridgeWave GE60 wireless links to upgrade its campus-wide network.
- Gates Highlights R&D at CES08, Unveils Microsoft Touch Wall
Microsoft's Chairman Bill Gates spent a lot of time Wednesday talking about "empowering the workers" at the Microsoft's 12th annual CEO Summit 2008 in Redmond, WA, where he gave a keynote speech. However, Gates wasn't talking about political revolutions or even pay raises for office workers before the CEO crowd. Instead, he was referring to new software technologies that can better enable collaboration, social networking and decision-making on the job.
- Vista Vulnerability Study Puts Microsoft on Defensive
Microsoft and some independent security researchers had the blogosphere buzzing Wednesday over a series of denunciations after one company claimed that the Vista operating system was more vulnerable to malware and other exploits than previous operating systems.
