Sloodle = Second Life + Moodle

• Sloodle - Learning Systems for Virtual Enviroments
• Sloodle project in Second Life
• Sloodle Wiki
• Sloodle Whitepaper (pdf)

WHAT?
Sloodle is an Open Source project which aims to develop and share useful, usable, desirable tools for supporting education in virtual worlds, making teaching easier. Through engagement with an active community of developers and users, the Sloodle project hopes to develop sound pedagogies for teaching across web-based and 3D virtual learning environments. Sloodle integrates the Second Life multi-user virtual environment and the Moodle learning-management system.

MASTERMINDS?

• Edmund Edgar aka Edmund Earp (developer)
• Jeremy Kemp aka Jeremy Kabumpo (instructional developer)
• Daniel Livingstone aka Buddy Sprocket (developer)
• Paul Andrews aka Optimus Paul
• D.I. von Briesen aka Icabad Vallejo (moodle evangelist)

JUICE?

To understand the real story behind this great initiative, perhaps reading the Sloodle whitepaper entitled "Putting a Second Life "Metaverse Skin on Learning Management Systems", would give you a deeper understanding about how this project became a reality. If you are interested in setting-up your own Sloodle, you should perhaps first explore their wiki, and watch the Sloodle Tutorial Series.

Since I discovered Second Life a few years back, I have yet to see the beauty of it from a teaching and learning point-of-view (formal education!). However, with projects like Sloodle I am beginning to see lights at the end of the tunnel. And you know what, I am thinking about also exploring this idea further, and perhaps actually take active part and see how we can blend Moodle and Second Life in our online learning environment in the future. If we can blend these two unique learning spaces to facilitate a more effective and engaging learning environment for our students, why not!

I suppose this is just the beginning, and soon all widely used LMS whether commercial or open source will have integration modules enabling us to blend easily virtual worlds with their solutions. Why reinvent the virtual world, when we already have a few of them, with Second Life leading the way.

Now, the next step is to move away from the keyboard, joystick and monitor, and instead wear electronic goggles (or helmets) and electronic suits (with 'Back to the Future' kind of shoes!), so that we can truly immerse ourselves into the 3D virtual learning spaces. 'Total Recall' might become a reality sooner than we realize :)