Rethinking Teaching and Learning through Machinima Professional Development on Sloodle

Abstract

As we near 2012, and Australian higher education institutions strive to meet the new demand driven marketplace to encourage student enrolment, engaging and innovative teaching strategies are required to encourage students to make their choice of institution. One such approach is the implementation of a virtual world into an educator's repertoire of teaching and learning materials. As virtual worlds are coming to the fore, and more educators want to use them in their teaching, a plan needs to be put in place to enable the smooth transition for implementing them. Professional development through video will enable educators to learn how to use the virtual world of 'Second Life'. 'Second Life' can be integrated into 'Moodle', known as 'Sloodle'. Professional development undertaken via machinima (videoing in virtual worlds) of 'Sloodle' can be a more effective way of providing learning for educators.