Wired Campus - Sept. 15

Image from Pathfinder Linden (Flickr)

In today's The Wired Campus, a tech newsletter from The Chronicle of Higher Education, there were two articles that caught my eye. The first was the teaser in the subject line, U. Texas System Buys Land in Second Life. The article reports that the University of Texas purchased 49 pieces of virtual land for a total cost of $34,300 plus maintenance fees of $147.50/month. I'm surprised that the university made such an investment in the tough economic times of tightening state budgets and increasing competition in higher education, but I'm pleased that they see the potiential and were willing to make the investment.

The second article that was of interest, once I scanned the the rest of the newsletter, was one about how the University of British Columbia used clickers to quiz students in multiple locations. I had heard of clickers being used in classrooms but never in a situation where students were in different locations. Here in Iowa, we have the ICN and I think that the use of clickers could really add to the interactivity of a class taught over the ICN.

I'd love to hear your thoughts, what do you think about U of Texas's purchase, smart or silly? Have you used clickers in your classroom? How could they be used over a distributed network such as the ICN?