Second Life for Administrators

Second Life for Administrators Dr. Andrew Jones , Vice Chancellor for Educational Affairs Dallas County Community College District Patti Jennings , Marketing Executive Dallas County Community College District Erin Jennings , Instructional Design Assistant The University of Texas at Dallas eLearning – February 17-19, 2008 Landscape – Nighthawks24

Overview Overview

What is Second Life?

Why explore virtual worlds?

Vocabulary

Administrative Issues

Content Delivery

Pedagogy

Virtual Field Trips

Resources

Capitol Hill Island – U2Katrina

What is Second Life?

MUVE

Multi-User Virtual Environment

www.secondlife.com

“ Second Life is a 3-D virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents.”

Second Life is NOT a game

Main grid is for adults only (18+)

Harvard’s Berkman Island – U2Katrina

The Horizon Report, 2007 Edition

Campuses and businesses have established locations in these worlds

Much like websites a few years ago

Virtual locations will become more common and more mature as the trend continues.

Time to Adoption: Two to Three Years

Virtual Worlds Ohio State – U2Katrina

Why Second Life/Virtual Worlds

Stimulates the mind to consider others ways of doing and knowing

Helps creates no boundaries mindsets; provides a practical way of doing outside the box

Depicts visible models of possibilities

Because students will expect it

NOAA’s Meteora Island – Sridgway

Allows for explorations in a safe environment

Second Life lets you build customized environments

Places user in totally immersive learning environments

Second Health – Planet Video Why Second Life/Virtual Worlds

Why Second Life/Virtual Worlds

Can devise collaborative models through highly interactive sim-models

Mirrors interactive experience for millennial students

Has unlimited promotional potential (limited by imagination)

Virginia Tech Candlelight Vigil – U2Katrina Why Second Life/Virtual Worlds

Avatar: a virtual representation of a real person. You can design your avatar’s appearance to be whatever you want! Island: a virtual parcel of land in Second Life. Islands may be separated by many meters of ocean or grouped together to form larger areas. Vocabulary Sim (Simulation): a named region that makes up part of the Second Life world. UTD SOM – U2Katrina

Prims (Primitives): simple objects used as building blocks in Second Life. Sandbox: an area of a sim where all residents are given permission to build. Sandboxes can be set to return objects automatically after a specified period of time. Vocabulary UTD SOM - erinserenity

Griefing : the harassment of other Second Life residents through offensive actions, in violation of the SL community standards. Vocabulary Edwards Campaign HQ – U2Katrina

Procedures – Buying an Island

Pitfall: Who owns the official avatar?

Resource: Second Life: The Official Guide

Set up a premium account and avatar

Pick a location for your island

Purchase the island

DCCCD - erinserenity

Real Costs – Buying an Island

Premium account subscription: $10/month

Island: $980 (with educational discount)

Maintenance: $150/month (with discount)

First year total: $2,900

Subsequent years: $1,920

Pitfalls: terms of service, business procedures for monthly payments UTD SOM - erinserenity

Procedures - Development

Select:

steering committee

project manager

developer

Develop:

an island plan

the island

a project approval process

Promote the island! UTD ArtTech – U2Katrina

Real Costs - Development

Project manager

Developer fees

Pre-made objects and scripts

Incidentals

Pitfalls: time, learning curve Resource: Second Life Developers Group UTD SOM - erinserenity

Procedures – Island Management

Training

Administering rights

Waivers and disclaimers

Holding events

Collecting data

Pitfalls: security, hardware, griefing Resource: Second Life Educators (SLED) UTD SOM - erinserenity

Content Delivery – Don’ts

Second Life is not an LMS

Text is clunky

No Flash

No embedded HTML

Pitfall: avatar limit (lag) UTD SOM - erinserenity

Pitfalls: chat radius, image types

Resource: Creating Your World: The Official Guide to Advanced Content Creation for Second Life

Content Delivery – Do’s

Images and video

Lectures and audio

Text and voice chat

Presentation slides

Interactive simulations

Harvard’s Berkman Island – U2Katrina

Pedagogy

Constructivism and “discovery-based” learning:

Active

Facilitated

Social

International Space Station – U2Katrina

Pedagogy

Discovery-based learning:

Immersive

Social

Interactive

Collaborative

Virtual world activities:

Virtual field trips

Chat, voice chat, animations, video

Simulations and learning objects

Projects

Morocco, Casablanca – U2Katrina

Virtual Field Trips: Science

Biology

Genome Island

Heart Murmur Sim

Virtual Hallucinations

Chemistry

Info Island

Earth Sciences

NOAA ( Meteora )

Svarga

Technology

Cisco

Dell Island

Spaceport Alpha

InfoIsland – U2Katrina

Art

UTD ArtTech

Virtual Sistine Chapel

Social Studies

Morocco (Casablanca)

Rome (Roma)

Music

Live concerts

Virtual Field Trips: Humanities Sistine Chapel, Vassar – U2Katrina

Additional Resources For more information about virtual worlds and higher education, and to download a copy of this presentation, please visit our blog: www.higherworlds.blogspot.com And our wiki: www.higherworlds.wikispaces.com More resources: SimTeach wiki: www.simteach.org Sloog HUD for educators: http://www.secondlifeinsider.com/2007/10/30/salamander-sloog-arrives-for-educators/ SL Browser: http://slbrowser.com/ Spaceport Alpha – U2Katrina

Contact Information Dr. Andrew Jones Avatar: DrAndu Jonesford Email: acjones@dcccd.edu Patti Jennings Avatars: Patti Lemuria / Patti Jennings Email: pjennings@dcccd.edu Erin Jennings Avatars: Serinity Gaea / Brianne Jennings Email: erin.jennings@utdallas.edu