3B Hamlet 3D Browser

I spotted 3B Village most a twelvemonth agone as well as initially I was impressed, but some recent developments have, I feel, set this on the map every bit a actually useful educational tool.

What is 3B Village?
3B Village is an amazing cross betwixt a 3D virtual chat room as well as a spider web browser. Using the costless software you lot tin see or exercise your ain 3D rooms which induce got walls lined amongst webpages that you lot tin click on to visit. You travel an avatar to wander the rooms visiting diverse websites whilst text chatting amongst other virtual visitors.

• Watch a demo here: Exploring 3B Village (2.4Mb Flash)
  

The learning potential for this software is huge as well as I tin view how it could survive peculiarly useful for creating webquests or spider web based treasure hunts as well as other collaborative tasks for groups of students working virtually / at a distance. The software has none of the versatility of virtual worlds similar Second Life, but partially due to that it seems similar a much ‘safer’ environs to accept students into as well as a much simpler 1 for teachers as well as students to acquire how to navigate.

It is real tardily to exercise your ain rooms for your shape as well as and hence simply invite them along. You tin exercise a room yesteryear specifying the URL of item resources you lot desire to percentage amongst your students or you lot tin generate a ‘quick room’ using a attain of other sources, similar Flickr , Google, MySpace as well as you lot tin fifty-fifty generate rooms amount of YouTube videos.

I created a room simply yesteryear doing a search inward YouTube based on ‘Shakira’ I as well as hence exercise a quick room yesteryear pasting inward the URL of my search results as well as inside less than v clicks as well as v mins I had room amount of videos to wander around.

• See how it looks: Shakira video room (2.5Mb Flash)
  

I also created a gallery type room yesteryear typing the give-and-take ‘family’ into Flickr as well as generating a gallery based on the results.

• See how it looks: Flickr gallery room (2.0Mb Flash)
  

Here’s a quick tutorial moving painting to exhibit you lot simply how tardily it is to exercise a room

• Creating a quick room using Google search (1.5Mb Flash)
  

How to travel this amongst students

• Create webquests as well as store the resources inward a special 3B room(s) hence that groups of students tin piece of employment together virtually analysing information as well as searching for as well as sharing information
• Create celluloid shows from Youtube that students tin sentinel together. They tin as well as hence exercise their viewing tasks together as well as hash out them every bit they watch.
• Meet together virtually as well as discus / percentage spider web resources
• Create your ain collection of bookmarks to percentage amongst your class
• Students who induce got a 'MySpace' tin convert it to a 3B room as well as exhibit their classmates around. This should help to construct upwards a sense of presence as well as familiarity amongst virtual classes, something that is oftentimes difficult to do.
• Get your students to exercise their ain collection of study bookmarks every bit a projection to percentage amongst other students
• Create rooms based on materials from Flickr as well as acquire students to encounter virtually to hash out the images
• Students tin piece of employment together to exercise a 3B room or hamlet which represents their town or country
• Students tin see a 3B urban pith as well as write a study on it, conception a see to that identify based on the resources they access there.
  

What I similar most it

• A dainty collection of rooms already created including some for kids
• You tin either exercise rooms speedily using searches through diverse online content such every bit Flickr, YouTube, or Google, or you lot tin manus selection websites to exercise a customised room specifically for your students
• It’s elementary to travel
• It’s free
• At 14Mb it’s non likewise huge a download
• Love wandering circular the YouTube video type rooms as well as this may good survive a agency around establishment that block YouTube!!?
  

What I'm non hence certain about

• No MAC version yet
• Would survive smashing if it had phonation chat too
• It’s definitely for broadband users only
• A lot of the laid upwards made rooms seem to survive aimed at online shoppers
• There aren’t many casual visitors, hence it’s non a identify where students are probable to bump into people for casual conversation. Though that could good survive an wages too.
  

For anyone involved inward distance instruction or whatsoever form of online courses, I intend 3B Village could brand a actually valuable contribution.

To travel 3B Village you’ll demand to download as well as install the 3B browser software from.
http://download.3b.net/
There’s no MAC version yet, but they are working on it.

As ever, I would honey to listen from anyone who uses this amongst their students. Please experience costless to acquire out comments, though they volition survive moderated.

Best

Nik