Thanks for your interest and feedback, Moira.

Re time available, this was a rough sketch, a “kitchen sink” catch-all description, so it would most likely be pared down before use. I’m hoping the product would be a resource that some students would want to use beyond the session itself and perhaps some timepoints would have placeholder content that is developed further in a subsequent module.

There’s no intention to assess the work. In the contexts I have in mind it would be serving primarily as an ice-breaker/scaffolding/reinforcement activity rather than a replacement requiring separate assessment. I could, however, imagine using a walk-through of the timeline as an adjunct to a lecture with the option for students to revisit it in their own time later. The Method of loci/Memory Palace device may be pertinent http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Method_of_loci so, yes, the analogy could be to a museum although other spatial metaphors are possible, including buildings or layouts with which the students are familiar.

The intention is to simplify use of the OpenSim environment to a considerable extent. The timepoints are pre-positioned and the mall easy to use. Students would be employing relatively few techniques and experience shows that the environment itself is straightforward to navigate. There would also be a high demonstrator-to-student ratio initially. The expectation is that students would, indeed, use OpenSim in later modules for different purposes.

If it fits with later parts of ocTEL I may make a rough concept build available (time-willing!).