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January 2008 Archives

January 16, 2008

Limiting Forum to specific students

Recently, a lecturer asked us if it is possible to limit forum access to specific students. This is possible though a multi-step process. You will have to assign students to a group, then assign the group to the respective forum. Here's how to do it:

Preliminaries

  • Your Module has already been created in IVLE.

  • Create a Discussion Forum if you have not done so. Workspace > Discussion Forum > Create Forum > Choose Parent Module, Title the Forum > Choose number of Forums depending on number of groups (Two groups in the following example) > Create (Remember to publish the forums once you've set everything up.)

Setting up the limited-access forums

1. From Workspace, click Class Management on the left sidebar.

2. Click Edit.

3. Click Groups, under Management on the sidebar.

4. Click Create Class Groups.

5. Set preferences: Name the group(s). (Numbers will be automatically added to multiple groups.) Describe the group. Decide group enrolment - student or your choice. Choose number of groups. Click Apply.

6. Click Assign Students.

7. Choose how to assign students. If you assign students manually, click on the student's name (Ctrl-click to select multiple students), then click the corresponding arrow button to move the student to the respective group. Click Apply.

8. Click Discussion Forums from the Tools drop menu.

9. Click Edit of the respective Forum.

10. Click Edit.

11. In Accessible To, under Security, uncheck all items except for the group that should have access to this particular Forum.

Voila! Select students now have access to the chosen Forum.

January 14, 2008

Second wind for Second Life

Even though the initial buzz about Second Life (SL) has subsided, the virtual 3D online environment still piques the imagination of several people in NUS. In the near future, the University will establish a foothold in Second Life through the NUS Second Life Committee.

In the mean time, what is an educator to do if he or she wants to use SL?

Linden Labs, the creators of SL, are aware of the educational possibilities of virtual worlds. To awaken educators to the various classroom uses of SL, they have SimTeach, their official educators' resource. This wiki site is a good primer for educators who want to begin exploring SL.

Besides the official educators' resource, Jo Kay and Sean FitzGerald run the independent Second Life in Education wiki. This site offers an extensive list of educational uses of SL. They also offer lots of pointers and resources for educators interested in using SL for teaching.

If you're the type who subscribes to blogs, Second Life and Education (SLED) will keep you up to date with the latest educational developments in Second Life.

About January 2008

This page contains all entries posted to CITations in January 2008. They are listed from oldest to newest.

December 2007 is the previous archive.

April 2008 is the next archive.

Many more can be found on the main index page or by looking through the archives.

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