Shadowglen
A Global Art Studies Curriculum in a Virtual Learning Environment
What is Shadowglen?
Shadowglen is an immersive interactive learning environment for global art studies where students explore a variety of creative themes as they have been expressed throughout the history of art. The target audience are millennial and generation Z undergraduates. The two principle learning objectives in Shadowglen are to develop metaliteracy skills deemed critical for success in the 21st century, and to engage in a dialog around art as more than just an elitist artifact one strolls past in a museum or a bank lobby, but is instead a relevant reflection of our daily lives.
An Quick Overview of How the Curriculum Works
Shadowglen is a flipped curriculum. The virtual world serves as the course text. Students explore the immersive virtual text, read the linked transmissive materials, and submit formative assessment quizzes prior to the synchronous class interactions.
Each self-directed unit of study is arranged by gallery or or groups of linked chambers. In each gallery artifacts and works of art have been assembled by thematic association. Students explore the island and locate and navigate the galleries as they would a museum. Each work or artifact is accompanied by a hyperlink to a variety of relevant OER learning materials. The learning links are completely scalable to suite the audience goals and incorporate a broad range of digital source material: The Metropolitan Museum Heilbrun Timeline, The British Museum, The Getty, YouTube, Smart History, Google Arts and Culture, Kahn Academy and many other online library resource.
After students have been on-boarded into Kitely Virtual Worlds for the first time they navigate to Shadowglen. Upon entering the orientation zone for Shadowglen they undergo a quick review of technical skills, how to access the OER materials, receive a demonstration on how to maximize their viewer settings and are then given their first quest. The video below is the 1st in-world video they encounter in the orientation area. Each module contains short instructive mini-lecture videos that outline the themes and topics that will be discussed in the upcoming class.
'Welcome to Shadowglen'
The Onboarding Introduction Video for New Students