Introducing Second Life To K 12 Educators

Slide 1: Second Sabine Lawless-Reljic, By Life sabine@reljic.com April 16, 2008 CE6-EDUC550, Dr. Maria Schutt University of San Diego, CA “Somehow my invented self was becoming a part of my real self, as if I’d somehow caused a dream to breathe.” Meadows, 2008, p12

Slide 2: Agenda 1-Terminology 2-What is Second Life? 3-The Appeal 4-K-12 applications? 5-More SL educational resources

Slide 3: Terminology • Avatar: online proxy. In 3D interactive worlds, an avatar is a cartoon-like character representing the user in the 3D space. The user uses the avatar to interact with other avatars and objects. • Machinima: [machine+cinema]. A technique that allows creating movies inside a game-like platform. • MUVE: MultiUser Virtual Environments. Acronym used for 3D interactive desktop systems, accessible via the internet, allowing multiple users simultaneously. Usually used to designate non- gaming environments such as Second Life, There, Active Worlds and Croquet. • MMORPG: Massively Multiple-user Online Role-Playing Games. Acronym used for 3D interactive online games such as World of Warcraft (WoW), Spore, and Badge of Honor.

Slide 4: WHAT IS SECOND LIFE? • Launched in 2003 by Linden Lab, San Francisco • Inspired by Neal Stephenson’s “Snow Crash” • 3D interactive user-created world • Web-based platform • Over 13 million avatars (as of 04-11-2008) • Text, Audio, Video, Avatar • Multiple Users • Social-driven system • Roles offer community, goals, commerce, and a structured method of interacting

Slide 5: SECOND LIFE TRAFFIC ANALYSIS source: http://mayarealities.com

Slide 6: Second Life Business MEDIA RL COMPANIES AskPatty.com, Australian AccuWeather,, Adidas, Aegon, Ajax Broadcasting Co., AOL Pointe, Football Club, Alcatel lucent, Bantam Dell Publishing, BBC Radio American Apparel, AOL Pointe, 1, CBS CSI:NY, Channel 4, Choc Armani, Ben & Jerry's, BMW, BNP Hebdo, CNET, Comcast, CW Paribas, Calvin Klein, Circuit City, Network, Endemol, Big Brother Cisco Systems, The Connected Outcast Island, MTV Laguna Home, Citroen Brasil, Coca-Cola, Beach, NBC, Northsound Radio Coldwell Banker, Comcast, Congrex, Scotland, Information Week, Dell Computer, Domino's Pizza, Penguin Books, Popular Science, Europ Assistance, Fox Atomic, Press Association Group, Reuters, Fujitsu Siemens, H&R Block, IBM, Seattle P-I, Sky News, Sundance ING, Intel, Jean Paul Gaultier, Kraft Channel, The Infinite Mind, The Foods, Lacoste,Major League Weather Channel, Wired, Baseball, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, WMNF-FM, Microsoft, MovieTickets, NBA, Nissan, Peugeot, Pontiac, Reebok,

Slide 7: Second Life Education • A Ilha Vestibular Brasil * San Jose State University * Aachen (RWTH University, Germany) * Aarhus Business College (Denmark) * Anglia Ruskin University (Cambridge and Chelmsford, UK) * Arcada University of Applied Sciences (Finland) * The Art Institute of California * The Art Institute of Pittsburgh * Audiocourses Music Production School (London, UK) * Australian Film TV and Radio School * Ball State University (IN) * The Bay School of San Francisco * Beach College (Santa Barbara, CA) * University of Bedfordshire (UK) * Bentley College (MA) * Boise State University * Bowling Green State University * Buffalo State College (NY) * Central Piedmont Community College - Futures Institute (NC) * Columbia University (NY) * Duke University (NC) * Harvard University (MA) * Hong Kong Polytechnic University * Idaho State University (Idaho) * Indiana University (IN) * Iowa State University * Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MA) * Ohio State University * Penn State University * Princeton University * Rice University (TX) * San Diego State University *

Slide 8: Second Life’s Appeal •Co-presence (Isolation/ Inclusion, mutual awareness) •Psychological involvement (expectations, empathy, mutual understanding) Body •Behavioral engagement Physicality (control, attention, Gestures assistance, Focus dependence) Attention •Social realism Engagement (interactivity, Manipulative connection) Text-chat •Realism (locality, Audio permanence) •Transportation •Immersion

Slide 9: 1st Virtual Middle School Suffern Middle School at Ramapo on the Teen Grid

Slide 10: How we Teach and Learn in SL • Self image • Create an avatar - you! • Mentor, collaborate • Office hours, facilitation • Social networks • Share ideas, hold meetings • Class projects • Applied learning • Role-play • Immersive learning • Learning games • Interactivities • Blended reality • Real & virtual meetings • Exploration • Visit, tour, study • Build • Create and customize 80% of the world’s Internet users will be in a virtual world by the end of 2011 (Gartner, 2007)

Slide 11: Current Programs in TSL Global Kids Island in the teen grid is a place for teen residents to learn about important social and world issues. -Digital media essay contest -Save Darfur charity campaign in SL -Photo show -Camp Gk (UNICEF A World Fit for Children Festival) -Machinima program -teen posts, comics, -Virtual video program -Leadership programs

Slide 12: Current Programs in SL Kids Connect is a program that connects young people in different countries via media art, performance and creative collaboration. •Digital storytelling •Live visual performance •Improvisational theater •Soundscaping •Sound recording and manipulation •Video editing •Live video streaming •Collaborative performance •Videoconferencing •3D modeling in SL •Programming (SL scripting)

Slide 13: Current Programs in TSL Eye4You Alliance Sponsored by the Charlotte and Mecklenburg County Presentations Projects •Five Weeks to a Social Library •REZuation •Computers in Libraries •SL Model UN •Teen Second Life: Library Services •NASA in 3D world •Goldsphere: Book7 –Machinima •QueensLand Public Libraries Festival Association •The Epic Resort •Long Island Library Resources •TSL Welcomers Council •The Tech Virtual Museum •Internet Librarian •SL Ecosystem •College Fair

Slide 14: Resources • http://simteach.com (Information and Community for Educators using M.U.V.Es) • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9VZKTT6gZ8 (New Media Consortium virtual tour) • http://torley.com/second-life-simple-answers-to-curious-remarks (tongue- in-cheek answers to critics of SL) • http://www.slideshare.net/sreljic/aect2007sreljic (make sure to click on the hotlinks in the presentation to view the embedded videos) • http://willowshenlin.blip.tv (part of a co-presentation on MIT’s Cultura project and SL. This Machinima introduces some quick ideas of SL use to the conference audience) • http://energycommerce.house.gov/cmte_mtgs/110-ti-hrg.040108.VirtualWorlds.s (110th Congress Hearing -Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet- “Online Virtual Worlds: Applications and Avatars in a User- Generated Medium”)

Slide 15: Resources • http://simteach.com/wiki/index.php?title=Second_Life_Education_Wiki#Institutio (Education and non-profit) • http://www.simteach.com/wiki/index.php?title=Second_Life:_Educators_Working (Educators working with Teens) • http://olp.globalkids.org/second_life (Global Kids’ blog) • http://www.holymeatballs.org/library.htm#video(Global Kids’s videos) • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRkcT3PjYyM(Global Kids Science – Students’ Houses (Machinima) • http://www.holymeatballs.org/pdfs/BestPracticesforNon- profitsinSecondLife_012008.pdf (Best Practices for Non-Profits) • http://www.holymeatballs.org/pdfs/VirtualWorldsforLearningRoadmap_012008.p (Report from the Field) • http://www.holymeatballs.org/pdfs/BestPractices.pdf (Best Practices in Using Virtual Worlds For Education) • http://trumpy.cs.elon.edu/metaverse/gst364Win2005/handout.pdf 101 Uses for Second Life in the Collage Classroom.

Slide 16: “We feel that the defining characteristic of cyberspace is the sharedness of the virtual environment, and not the display technology used to transport users into that environment.” Chip Morningstar and F. Randall Farmer, The Lessons of Lucasfilms’ Habitat, 1990.