Learning in the 21st Century

The Smithsonian Latino Virtual Museum (LVM) is a cross-platform immersive education initiative based on bilingual mixed media experiences created to enhance visitor's knowledge, understanding and appreciation of Latino Cultural Heritage through innovative and engaging online experiences.

• IMMERSE yourself in untold stories of Latino-American history
• EXPLORE Latino cultural identity
• EXPERIENCE Smithsonian Latino collections and bilingual resources
• WITNESS vibrant cultural cross-sections
• DISCOVER collect and analyze the world of the Olmec as an LVM Eco Explorer
• LEARN about land and water relationships and how we impact the environment

• LVM Spotlight Archive 
• Discover LVM in Open Source based Virtual Worlds through iED Grid for K-12 communities  
• Educational Uses of Virtual Worlds
• Virtual Worlds Impact on Education
• LVM Press Release 
• LVM Blog
• Smithsonian LVM YouTube Channel 
• LVM UStream Channel

"Working in a multi-user world environment such as Second Life has provided us with a wealth of audience research and outreach opportunities to communities we may have not necessarily reached via a regular web presence. Our goals are simple…summed up in this mantra: Presence, Relevancy & Access. We have to create a presence in the mainstream arena leveraging 21 Century tools and resources to remain relevant to our communities while at the same time working to preserve our cultural heritage and establishing the spaces in which we can connect, share and discover the world around us with our communities."

  (Excerpt from Re-affirming Latino Cultural Identity in the Age of the Social Web, Melissa Carrillo, blog post Feb 5, 2011)