Learning in Second Life: Virtual Education [VizWorld – Jan 23, 2010] – Several universities have begun to embrace “online courses”, coupling traditional education tools with web-based systems like Blackboard to increase revenue with a minimum of expense. It allows teachers to very easily re-use class materials (doesn’t get much easier than cut-n-paste, or simply clicking a “publish” button from their library of assets), and enables the university to open classes to students around the world. Virtual Worlds are becoming the “next generation” of these online courses, and Second Life is on the forefront of the wave.
Unmoderated, Remote Usability Testing: Good or Evil? [UXmatters – Jan 18, 2010] – Recently, there has been a surge in the number of tools that are available for conducting unmoderated, remote usability testing—and this surge is changing the usability industry. Whether we want to or not, it forces us to take a closer look at the benefits and drawbacks of unmoderated testing and decide whether we should incorporate it into our usability toolbox.