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Using GrassRoots as a Tool for EducationThe GrassRoots home page describes the two components of the GrassRoots experience. This page and its links explore component one, The Education Component. See how text-based virtual reality is used to enhance the academic and continuing education experience for K-12 students and adults. GrassRoots can be extended and modified using natural native language statements. In other words, MOO commands are in plain English. The citizens of GrassRoots describe themselves and their homes in text and everyone can read that text to experience the virtual world of the author. There are several advantages of a virtual world created in a text-based language. A text-based virtual world does not rely on bandwidth intensive multimedia and is readily available to individuals who have low-end hardware or slow Internet access. Unlike immersive virtual reality which attempts to recreate the physical world using helmets and gloves, text-based virtual reality stimulates the imagination so individuals recreate the physical world using their minds. The creation of a text-based virtual world is a natural and motivating way to develop literacy. Individuals can learn to read and write in a way analogous to the way they learned to speak and listen. However, the greatest thing about GrassRoots is that it is pure fun! Even though it is being used for serious exploration of academe, one of its strengths is that by using this medium, you can free your imagination and meet new people in the process. We think that this type of recreation beats any multi-media experience! Come see what kinds of teachers and students are at work here. Find out how a group of foreign language teachers are using MOOs to assist in language learning. This virtual classroom is used by Markus Kotter and Randall Donaldson, who are using the MOO to teach English and German.This project is being developed by students at St. John's Prep School in Astoria, New York. |