"Gather" Site

This just in from Jennifer:

"Here is something that I just started playing around with and think it has great potential to create more connectivity with coworkers while working remotely and I can see it lending well for synchronous (maybe even asynchronous, if you get creative) online learning and classroom/discussion break-outs: 

Link here.

If you played games like Zelda growing up, you’ll enjoy the aesthetics ;-)

You can create your own space and design it to fit your needs. 

I’ve thought of creating a space that looks like my office suite at my work. This would allow me and my co-workers to 'work' in our own private spaces (our 'offices'), but 'pop-over' for questions/discussions like we used to be able to do when in the office together or meet in the conference room. 

As you move through the space you create, you can see (via webcams) different people and talk to them. You can create private areas (these would be good to use for discussion break-outs) where only the people in a specific space can see and hear the other people in that particular space, even though another group could be having their own discussion right next to them. You can make a 'spotlight' section so whoever is in that area broadcasts to everyone in the space, even if in a private area, to for example say 'come back to the main area.'

We plan to use this for a virtual social event with about 70 participants so it will mimic more traditional mingling that you would do at an in-person event. You can even play games together through the platform!

You could also create a 'scavenger hunt' interaction where your learners have to go to different areas in your space to view documents, watch videos, etc. It could be like they’re walking around a museum.

Let your imagination go wild!"