Second Life Orientation Workshop
Damien Clark
Curriculum Design & Development Unit
DTLS
(http://damosworld.wordpress.com/about-damien/)

Workshop Aims
• Aims:
– To provide an introduction to Second Life to
understand if it can be used to improve your
L&T at CQUni
– To give you a warts and all overview of the
technology
– To enable further self-guided exploration of
Second Life subsequent to this workshop

Introductions & Pedagogy
• Participant Introductions
• Take turns around the class
– Introduce yourself
– What is your teaching area?
– What problems with your learning and
teaching are you hoping to solve?

Workshop Outline
1. Overview of Second Life (SL)
2. Look at what’s been done before in SL
3. Explore some barriers to using SL for
L&T
4. Talk about the 7 Principles of Good
Practice in Undergraduate Education
5. Second Life Activities
6. Reflection

Workshop Outline
1. Overview of Second Life (SL)
2. Look at what’s been done before in SL
3. Explore some barriers to using SL for
L&T
4. Talk about the 7 Principles of Good
Practice in Undergraduate Education
5. Second Life Activities
6. Reflection

1. Overview of Second Life
• What is Second Life?
– Rather than try to explain it, I’ll show you

1. Overview of Second Life
• What technology is required to use SL?
• http://secondlife.com/support/sysreqs.php
• To summarise:
– Windows, Mac OS, or Linux operating system
– Reasonably new computer (< 3 years old)
– Supported 3D accelerated Graphics adapter
– Broadband Internet access
– Generous Internet download limits

Workshop Outline
1. Overview of Second Life (SL)
2. Look at what’s been done before in SL
3. Explore some barriers to using SL for
L&T
4. Talk about the 7 Principles of Good
Practice in Undergraduate Education
5. Second Life Activities
6. Reflection

2. What’s been done before
• What has been done before?
(http://cddu.cqu.edu.au/index.php/Second_Life_L%26T_examples)
– New Citizens Incorporated (NCI)
(http://www.roscrow.uklinux.net/NCI/index.html)
– Machinima
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBKN4swUaQE)
– Virtual Hallucinations (a schizophrenia
education building)
(http://slurl.com/secondlife/Sedig/26/45/22)
– Nursing Role Play
(http://www2.kumc.edu/tlt/SLEDUCAUSESW2005/SLPres-RolePlay.wmv)

Workshop Outline
1. Overview of Second Life (SL)
2. Look at what’s been done before in SL
3. Explore some barriers to using SL for
L&T
4. Talk about the 7 Principles of Good
Practice in Undergraduate Education
5. Second Life Activities
6. Reflection

3. Barriers to using SL for L&T
• Barriers/Challenges to using Second Life?
– Computer requirements
– Steep learning curve for beginners
– Transient nature of in-world contents
– Large groups & latency
– Text chat can be very slow/clumsy (non-
typists)
– Adult content and minor students
– Student privacy

Workshop Outline
1. Overview of Second Life (SL)
2. Look at what’s been done before in SL
3. Explore some barriers to using SL for
L&T
4. Talk about the 7 Principles of Good
Practice in Undergraduate Education
5. Second Life Activities
6. Reflection

4. 7PGPUE
• 7 Principles of Good Practice in
Undergraduate Education (7PGPUE)
• (http://cddu.cqu.edu.au/index.php/Understanding_and_using_the_7PGPUE)
1. Encourage contact between student and faculty
2. Develop reciprocity and co-operation among students
3. Use active learning techniques
4. Give prompt feedback
5. Emphasize time on task
6. Communicate high expectations
7. Respect diverse talents and different ways of learning
CQUni’s Management Plan for Learning & Teaching
(http://policy.cqu.edu.au/Policy/policy.jsp?policyid=680)

4. 7PGPUE
• Consider the 7PGPUE
(http://cddu.cqu.edu.au/index.php/Understanding_and_using_the_7PGPUE)
• What do you do currently in your course
for each of the 7 principles?
• Are some of the principles under-
represented?
• Can SL help?
• Pair up and discuss

Summary – Topics 1 - 4
• What is SL?
• What technology is required to use SL?
• What are the barriers to using SL for
education?
• What has been done in SL before?
• The 7 Principles of Good Practice in
Undergraduate Education (7PGPUE)

Second Life Hands-on Activities
• The next part of the workshop is to get our
hands dirty with SL
• Print-out with activities to tick off as
completed
• A cheat sheet with keyboard shortcuts for
navigating in SL
• Ask if you need assistance
• Xxx url to blog page