The document discusses the educational potential of Second Life, a 3D virtual world launched in 2003, highlighting its flexibility for immersive learning experiences across various disciplines. It emphasizes collaboration, constructivist pedagogies, and the engagement of students through avatars and interactive environments, as well as the absence of fixed goals which differentiates it from traditional gaming. The text also outlines the necessary planning and pedagogical considerations needed to effectively integrate this technology into education, along with the growing market for virtual world technologies.

1. Second Life AJ Kelton / AJ Brooks Blending the real and virtual worlds for a hybrid learning experience

2. What do you already know about Second Life? Why Second Life?

3. A Universe of Virtual Worlds Platforms Adult - 22 Teen /Tween - 18 “ Kids” - 15 55 virtual platforms 80.8 million users

4. What is Second Life? Officially Launched in 2003 (beta in 1999) “ Second Life is a 3-D virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents.” A flexible space for learning and exploration An opportunity for people to interact in a way that conveys a sense of presence lacking in other media. Generalized rather than contextual, applicable to almost any discipline, business, industry, etc...

5. What is Second Life? Second life is NOT a game - there are no rules or a fixed goal-oriented purpose. 10-15K sign ups daily - over 13 million total 30 - 60K residents on at one time - avg 50K (2000 census puts Montclair and Little Falls at about 50K) over $1 million spent daily (real US dollars) Well over 300 educational institutions with thousands of meters of land dedicated to education

6. Show me the money “ We don't see any slowing in the market adoption of virtual worlds technologies and expect investment in the space to continue. In fact the market is growing significantly, with the rate of adoption of virtual worlds increasing as the technology matures and has more to offer both consumers and enterprise customers.” Christopher Sherman, Executive Director of Virtual Worlds Management

9. Collaboration

10. InfoIsland

11. Princeton

12. The Sistine Chapel Vassar

14. Vassar Island

15. Genome Island

16. NOAA

17. The CHSS Pilot Project

18. Recreate What Exists

19. Recreate what exists, differently!

20. Walk into a story

21. Always “On” Content

23. Traditional Spaces

24. Engage Your Students

25. ENWR 105:18 Introduction to College Writing I

26. ENWR 105:18 The technology use was required Notification prior to the start of classes (MWB / MWH / MWO) Full support from the Department Open and Clear Communication Email prior to class starting Posting syllabus prior to class Expectations clearly outlined in syllabus Expectation of use Expectation of access

27. ENWR 105:18

29. Assignments Explore NMC’s Orientation Island Group work Info Island field trip Research and share relevant SL places Alternate meeting place Library research (RL and SL) Friends, Groups, and Landmarks Final Project: Dorm

31. What does it take to teach a technology rich class? Relevance Planning Flexibility Experimentation Research

40. Courses Jack Baldwin-LeClair (Political Science and Law) : Jurisprudence and Cyberlaw Patty Keefe-D’Urso (English) : 2 section of Introduction to College Writing II AJ Kelton (English) : 2 sections of Introduction to College Writing I and New Student Seminar Laura Nicosia (English) : Art of Fiction Leslie Wilson (History) : The Study of History and New Student Seminar

41. Pedagogical Validity for Teaching with Second Life (with special thanks to Laura Nicosia for the following 22 slides)

42. First, we recognize… There is significant media hype focused on the “darker sides” of the in-world experience - violence, sex, drugs and rock & roll The label of “gaming” poses an image problem for SL insofar as its potential uses in secondary and/or higher education Without proper directions, goals and objectives, SL is as aimless and as pedagogically bereft of meaning as any other poorly designed or poorly deployed classroom lesson

43. However, with constructivist pedagogies Comprehension soars when millennials engage with their avatars and co-journey through the learning environment’s unfolding episodes and processes (Dede) Learning communities are fostered Collaborative knowledge-building develops and cognitive capital is distributed among groups and individuals

44. Each site is “always on” and “always full of content”

45. Sites may appear vacant, but may be filled with content

46. Meet Students in “Interesting” Places

47. Second Life permits the use of unconventional educational settings and hands-on experiences that would be difficult/impossible in Real Life. Such as…

48. Dante’s Inferno and Linden Hills

49. Second Life provides Guided Inquiry, where experience is central to learning Scaffolding of in-world prior experiences through seeking, sieving and synthesizing experiences Decentralization of the class, where knowledge is created across a community rather than delivered from an individual

50. In the process, we… Share and exchange resources, cultural knowledge, stories and experiences Engage in social exploration using a multiplicity of perspectives and points of view Apply critical thinking and problem-solving in context and in process Unlearn assumptions about communities and the “Other”

51. Pedagogical considerations: Asynchronous participation and deep reflection at each user’s pace Synchronous virtual exchanges to heighten immersion and foster interactions A combination of mediated , situated learning-environments (teacher established challenges) and free, evolving situated learning environments (to experience virtual exploration)

52. Autonomous Learning

53. Students visit the always available site

54. They enter the learning space

55. Explore and orient themselves

56. Encounter your assigned tasks

57. They can open search engines and visit my pre-selected urls. I control the environment.

58. They receive tasks to accomplish (whether I am with them or not)

59. Students write essays on Notecards and deliver them to me via an “inworld email” system or deposit them in items.

60. Creating Notecards is as easy as opening a file.

61. Their Notecards can be as long as they need to be.

62. An effective virtual learning environment (VLE) may: Supplement face-to-face interaction Be used in combination with other multi-media (e.g. videoconferences embedded within the SL platform or concomitant with SL) Be an adjunct to Blackboard or another more linear, asynchronous interactions with discussion groups and blogs

63. Ultimately, We Must Make the environment part of the learning experience—not an end unto itself Enable metacognitive reflection on the SL experience Construct feedback loops and self-renewing frameworks to inform our praxis Investigate the pedagogical successes and failures of using Second life for our classes and disciplines

64. Business

65. Spaceport Alpha and Delta

66. Abbott’s Aerodrome

67. Renaissance Island

68. The Second Louvre

69. The Lost Gardens of Apollo

70. San Francesco Assisi

73. Kelly Employment Services

74. Challenges

75. For discipline-specific uses of SL in the class: “ 101 Uses for Second Life in the College Classroom” Dr. Megan S. Conklin—Elon University http://trumpy.cs.elon.edu/metaverse

76. ?

77. MUVEing Education Forward For Anyone Interested in Second Life as a Tool for Teaching and Learning Monday, June 23rd, 2008 University Hall - 7th Floor 10:00am to 3:00pm Free and open to all http://capricorn.montclair.edu/mediawiki/index.php/MUVEing_Education_Forward MUVE is a Multi-User Virtual Environment MUVE is a Multi-User Virtual Environment