The document discusses the growth and implications of virtual worlds, particularly focusing on educational applications within platforms like Second Life. It highlights the increasing number of virtual worlds, the engagement of educational institutions, and various interactive learning experiences enabled by these environments. It presents practical examples of virtual education, community collaboration, and content creation, while also addressing challenges and future considerations for leveraging these technologies.

1. Virtual Worlds Explorations and Implications Dr. Cynthia Calongne Institute for Advanced Studies Colorado Technical University Association for Information Technology Professionals February 19, 2009 Licensed under a Creative Commons Share Alike with Attribution License

2. The Future Looms Near 80% of the world’s active Internet users will be in a virtual world by the end of 2011 (Gartner, 2007) Are you ready? Cover slide: An avatar stands on the Statue of Liberty at Ramapo A class meets in Second Life

3. Chart Copyright © 2007 by the Virtual Environments Info Group http://www.virtualenvironments.info In April 2008 - over 100 youth-oriented virtual worlds active or in development In Aug 2008 - it grew to over 150 virtual worlds In Jan 2009 - over 200 virtual worlds 59 have microtransactions 57 require subscriptions 46 use advertising From Virtual Worlds Management by Show Initiative http://www.virtualworldsmanagement.com/2009/youth-01-26-2009.html

4. Education in Second Life March 2007 Over 400 universities Over 4500 educators SL Education Support Faire 2009 3,785 unique visitors from 93 countries 50 displays 50 presentations Top 10 countries USA 2,123 UK 364 Canada 173 Australia 117 Germany 112 Brazil 91 Italy 66 Netherlands 56 France 53 Spain 53

5. Virtual Worlds - Science Fiction or Fact? Using a Tardis at the New Media Consortium Symposium Nov 2008

6. Reality from Science Fiction The teleporter Transports an object to a location in 3D space The holodeck Scenes that appear on demand The scene disappears at a command In Second Life (SL) Avatars teleport to new locations and request/use/delete temporary scenes

7. Why Use Second Life? 3D graphical websites accessed using slurls Users visit the site and see other users Users interact & chat using VoIP and text Grid computing architecture Users can create, own and sell their content Users attend classes, conferences, seminars, concerts and socialize

8. What can you do inside Dr. Who’s Tardis? A navigation map of SL regions in the Tardis Navigating between Second Life’s regions Inside the NMC’s Tardis There are a variety of ways to teleport between SL sites. This Tardis in SL was exhibited at an NMC symposium

9. A Visual Tour Let’s take a tour of Second Life Examine how it is used for education and research Explore how information technology professionals can leverage and support these environments

10. Virtual Training at MyBase Second Life region for AF virtual world projects and game simulations

11. AF Global Learning Forum - Serious Game Simulation - to rescue relief workers

12. Metanomics in Second Life

13. National Physics Laboratory Presentation on the innovations in nanotechnology

14. Lyr explores the Nanotechnology Lab. Interactive objects demonstrate the procedure and give info on notecards Field Trips to Science Sites

15. Science Comes to Life The National Physics Laboratory presents the advances in Nanotechnology Interactive Nano Labs

16. Eric McLuhan in Second Life SLCN machinima October 27, 2007 http://slcn.tv/media-ecology-eric-mcluhan

17. Blended Reality Conferences A MacArthur Foundation panel on games in education answers an avatar’s question. Alternatively, a chat bridge can integrate web and Second Life participants

18. Stepping inside the content during a conference presentation

19. CTU exhibit booth at the NMC Rock the Academy Symposium 2008

20. Meeting Minds in Immersive Literature Roleplay and conflict, an immersive literature experience for teens on the Teen Grid Suffern Middle School students at Ramapo portrayed the roles from the book, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. Imagine living the scenes from literature and history rather than memorizing them. A juror hollers “Boo!” when Curley takes the stand

21. Literature Comes Alive Literary discussion of The Charge of the Light Brigade at Caledon Library

22. Does this look like your office? Meetings in an underwater office. Come on in! The water’s fine!

23. IT in Second Life Self image - avatar Social networks Immersive training SL skills Roleplay Help desk Projects Tool integration Build simulations Sense of presence, identity Attend meetings, conferences Context-sensitive, stimulating Camera, navigation, communicate Team building Office hours, support COTS, custom, data, voice Web 2.0, tools, multimedia Create content & an environment

24. Second Life Basic Skills Self Image Your avatar -- is it your real or ideal self? Avatar movement Using the arrow keys? Do you prefer a Navigation HUD? Camera controls Keyboard or HUD? Lyr and her robot avatar

25. Content Creation Ryl mentors an 8th Grade student on the Teen grid as he applies a script to a keyboard override he created with futuristic display textures. It appears when he types and disappears when he is silent. At Ramapo on the Teen Grid

26. Communicating with others in Second Life Left to right Teleport to servers Group notice 2nd row Voice chat ( * ) Instant message Embedded URLs

27. Building a Virtual Workplace IT activities Planning Configuration Deployment Operations & support Retirement & disposal Harassment concerns Adult content Abuse and misuse Compliance issues Corporate image Protection of assets Proprietary content Protection of human rights Fair business practices Ethics These are only the tip of the iceberg

28. The floating book holds handouts as Lyr prepares for class

29. Content Considerations Virtual environment Public or private? Buy or build Branding Visual content Signs & textures 3D objects Animations Does size matter? Island, parcel or sandbox Context-sensitive scenes Imaginative spaces Build, texture and script Upload textures into SL Scripted behaviors For avatars and objects

30. Modeling in Second Life A self-guided tutorial for building a 20-minute project

31. Budget Concerns Bandwidth ==> Create content? Requires skills & time Buy and use content? Custom design? Visit other sites Successful operations and support 3D graphics, VoIP Own, control & adapt Reuse and share Quality site & brand Professional image Community Site access, cleanup, control and activities

32. How do virtual worlds become successful endeavors? Create good content that reflects your company’s brand. Yet, businesses fail when they create lovely, empty sites. People and interaction makes a site come alive. Visitors share experiences, interact with products, explore services and enjoy virtual world activities. Let’s look at some educational examples.

33. Colorado Tech Island Virtual learning space, alumni center and live music festivals

34. Sharing Educational Content Student projects are displayed on the Boardwalk

35. Experimental Design Classrooms Open spaces where CTU students experiment, explore ideas, create content and learn from their mistakes. Imaginative setting in a class sandbox

36. The Value of Interactivity Human barometer activity Futuring and Innovation students take a stand CTU students shop for academic regalia at the NMC Orientation island

37. Student and instructor robots on a public class space A 3-week course activity with real world, virtual, and 2D robot designs Amusement park of student projects on a private space Students choose the preferred class location

38. CS 672 First day in class Student Projects Monorail and rollercoaster Ferris wheel rotation problem & duck shoot Duck shoot

39. CS 820 Winter 2008 Class Newsstand for low vision users, Electronic Voting Machine Refrigerator for wheelchair use From early ideas to testable projects Students collaborate and work independently

40. Early Skill Development Students new to SL learn to build and texture for class activities

41. Students new to a virtual world create low fidelity interface designs and conduct usability tests in a virtual world

42. Project Prototypes Newsstand for the low vision users; selecting option 4 to hear Refrigerator for wheelchair users; shelves move out and down

43. Interaction and Empirical Testing Observed behavior Test plan Test procedure Roles Volunteers Observation Measurements Analysis Results Student interface with objects that render new information when touched

44. Community Collaboration Guests from other schools perform usability tests on student projects TCC Online Worldwide Conference attendees visit to examine student work

45. Are You Ready for the Future? We are at the crossroads, gazing at the future. How do we leverage this capability to our best advantage? Photo: Preparing for An Air Force Global Learning Forum Event at the MyBase region in Second Life, a Huffman Prairie design

46. SL Research Links 1 Second Life http://secondlife.com/ and http://secondlifegrid.net/ Virtual Worlds Comparison Chart http://www.virtualenvironments.info/virtual-worlds-comparison-chart Second Life Education Support Faire 2009 statistics http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Education_Support_Faire#Second_Life_Education_Support_Faire_2009_-_Statistics http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Education_Support_Faire Cynthia Calongne’s Classes in Second Life http://ctusoftware.blogspot.com Research in Second Life presentation http://www.slideshare.net/lyrlobo/research-in-second-life Artificial Intelligence in SL http://web.bvu.edu/faculty/schweller/

47. SL Research Links 2 National Public Radio’s Science Friday in SL http://www.sciencefriday.com/ Virtual Worlds Management http://www.virtualworldsmanagement.com/2009/youth-01-26-2009.html NOAA’s Traffic Analysis http://mayarealities.com/ Best Practices in SL http://www.slcn.tv/bpe-lyr-lobo Annotated Bibliograophy of SL Educational Resources http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~mpepper/slbib Edumuve http://edumuve.com/tour/ and http://edumuve.com/blended/

48. SL Research Links 3 Second Life as a Virtual Learning Environment http://www.dokimos.org/secondlife/education/index.html An Educational Tour of Second Life http://www.slideshare.net/lyrlobo/an-educational-tour-of-second-life A View from Second Life’s Trenches: Are you a Pioneer or a Settler? http://sl.nmc.org/2007/06/09/pioneer-or-settler/ Leveraging the Affordances, Minimizing the Barriers of Virtual Worlds http://sl.nmc.org/2007/06/09/edu-panel/ LearnScope in Second Life http://www.slideshare.net/lyrlobo/learnscope-in-second-life NMC Campus Observer http://sl.nmc.org/

49. SL Research Links 4 Using Second Life www.educause.edu/ir/library/powerpoint/SAC07025A.pps Beyond Course Management Tools: Second Life www.educause.edu/ir/library/powerpoint/SAC07014.pps Virtual worlds in Online Education: Are You Ready to Teach in Second Life? http://www.telecoop.org/conference/materials/CalogneTeachinginSecondLife.ppt What Can We Learn from World of Warcraft & Second Life? http://archive.nmc.org/events/2006fallregional/materials/calongne.ppt SL Podcast by Bayne, Walker and Calongne http://connect.educause.edu/blog/gbayne/podcastusingsecondli/44967?time=1188754831 TCC Preconference Wiki -- SL from a Flash drive tips http://tccpre-conference.pbwiki.com/

50. SL Research Links 5 Who’s on Second? Educational Podcasts http://www.rabble.ca/rpn/podcast.php?id=wos Second Life Development -- VITAL Lab http://vital.cs.ohiou.edu/vitalwiki/index.php/Second_Life_Development Suffern Middle School in Second Life http://rampoislands.blogspot.com/2007_02_01_archive.html Second Life Library 2.0 http://www.infoisland.org/drupal/ and http://www.myspace.com/73899784 Second Life Education Wiki http://www.simteach.com/wiki/index.php?title=Second_Life_Education_Wiki LSL Wiki -- programming tools http://www.lslwiki.net/lslwiki/wakka.php?wakka=HomePage

51. SL Research Links 6 Secondary Worlds http://secondaryworlds.com/ Reuters -- Doors to open on Google Virtual world(s)? http://blogs.reuters.com/mediafile/2007/10/24/doors-to-open-on-google-virtual-worlds/ SL and Google Earth are Transforming the Idea of Architectural Collaboration http://archrecord.construction.com/features/digital/archives/0701dignews-2.asp Timeline - History of Second Life Wiki http://secondlife.wikia.com/index.php/Second_Life_Through_The_Ages UberNoggin: Big Brains - Big Ideas http://www.ubernoggin.com/

52. SL Research Links 7 - News Reuters in Second life http://secondlife.reuters.com/ The SL Newspaper http://www.sl-newspaper.com/ Second Life Herald http://www.secondlifeherald.com/ Metaverse Messenger http://metaversemessenger.com/index.html SLNN http://www.slnn.com/index.php

53. SL Research Links 8 New Worlds Notes http://nwn.blogs.com/ SL A Virtual Universe for Real Engineering http://www.designnews.com/index.asp?layout=article&articleid=CA6490691 Just Virtual http://www.justvirtual.com/index.php/category/second-life/ Seifert Surface - Math in Second Life http://www.segerman.org/2ndlife.html Eric McLuhan in Second Life - Playing Media Ecology http://slcn.tv/media-ecology-eric-mcluhan

54. Virtual Worlds Explorations and Implications Dr. Cynthia Calongne Lyr Lobo in Second Life http://ctusoftware.blogspot.com www.slideshare.net/lyrlobo Twitter Lyrlobo For more information Lyr Lobo http://www.slideshare.net/lyrlobo For a copy of these slides, visit: