The short answer: an electronic campus. It's where we go for classes, our library, any administrative matters and yes, social interactions. Our campus is constructed from a MOO incorporating features and objects specifically built to provide a comprehensive educational environment. MOOs (or VEEs, as they are more professionally referred to) offer rich ground for exploration of a more effective means of education and engagement via networked environments.

VEEs combine the academic environment of a physical world university, the wide reach of the Internet and the creative, collaborative environment of MOOs. Originally developed by interactive gamers, MOO have recently caught the attention of educators who see them as 1) interactive environments supporting potentially hundreds of concurrent connections; 2) a source of programmable tools and objects; and 3) having the thrill of an interactive, multi-player game. What more could a teacher want!?

Programmable Objects

Rather than being limited to real-time interactions with other people (otherwise known as "chat" programs), programmable objects offer the opportunity to construct "things" like historical periods, atomic processes, Latin phrases and sentences or any dynamic process that respond to input on the part of the student.

Consider the implications of this! Typically when we think of interactive media we think of one user interacting with a multi-media program...or we think of expensive, time-bound, teleconferencing technologies. A MOO provides the opportunity to create persistent, readily available (Internet-based services are cheap compared to dedicated teleconferencing facilities) environments that can have the advantages of many users interacting with a project.

The Future of VEEs

Though currently limited to text-based interactions, because our VEE is built using public domain programs which are being actively developed by a wide range of institutions and interests our site will soon be accommodating a graphical (WWW) front end and, in all probability, some level of voice support. We are also exploring the use of CD-ROMs synchronized to group instruction.

Keep in touch with us....some exciting developments are taking place!

If you haven't already visited the page exploring what a MOO is, its highly recommended.