Second Life is an online virtual world where users create avatars to interact with others. Users can socialize, attend events, play games, and build virtual objects. It has been used educationally by allowing students to engage in experiential learning activities. While useful, Second Life requires technical resources and its adult rating limits K-12 use. Alternatives like OpenSimulator provide free, private virtual worlds for education but with less stability than Second Life.

1. Second Life - Rez your Teaching Tim Hart / Singularity Mandelbrot

4. What is Second Life? Second Life is an online 3D virtual world developed by Linden Lab. It provides an always-on immersive environment where users interact with each other using a digital character or ‘avatar.’

5. What is Second Life? Second Life allows users or ‘residents’ to come together to engage in a range of activities including socializing, attending musical events, playing games, shopping, running businesses, building, collaborating, attending meetings and presentations and participating in training and education.

7. What is Second Life? Still confused?

9. What is Second Life? SL lingo In-world - something inside Second Life.

10. What is Second Life? SL lingo Teleport - Think Star Trek. You can teleport to any location in Second Life with the click of a mouse.

11. What is Second Life? SL lingo Rez - Sometimes called rezzing . Describes the action of creating an object in-world. It can also be used to describe landing in a new location after a teleport.

12. What is Second Life? SL lingo PRIM - Every object in SL is made of a collection of PRIMs (or primitives). Think Legos.

13. What is Second Life? SL lingo SIM (Simulator) - Used to describe a region. We will be looking at a few sims in a couple minutes.

14. What is Second Life? SL lingo Avatar - The digital representation of yourself and how other avatars see you in-world.

15. What is Second Life? SL lingo Landmark - Similar to a bookmark in a web browser. A way to keep a list of your favorite places and easily teleport back to them.

16. What is Second Life? SL lingo SLURL - Second Life URL. A special type of hyperlink that you click in a web browser to open a landmark in SL. http://slurl.com/secondlife/Black%20Bear%20Island/150/102/31 SLURL for Black Bear Island

17. What is Second Life? SL lingo Grid - The group of servers, regions, or simulators that power a 3D virtual world such as Second Life. We will talk about the UMaine OpenSim project in a bit.

18. What do you do in Second Life? Create an Avatar Second Life is inhabited by ‘residents’ who are able to customize their ‘avatar’ to represent themselves.

19. What do you do in Second Life? How to represent yourself?

20. What do you do in Second Life? Communicate with others Residents from around the world can meet and communicate through text or voice chat. Gestures and animations can be used to enhance communication with others, allowing for deeper social interactions.

21. What do you do in Second Life? Create Content Residents can build almost anything with freely available tools. Everything you see in SL is created by these tools. A user could give away or sell the things they make.

22. What do you do in Second Life? Second Life Economy Second Life supports a real in-world economy, with users able to transfer $US to Linden dollars - the in-world currency.

23. What do you do in Second Life? Sharing and Creating Multimedia Audio and Video can be streamed from the web and played in-world, allowing residents to come together to watch, share and discuss.

24. Why use virtual worlds? Second Life and other 3D virtual worlds are an ideal platform for engaging students in creating their own learning activities, experiences and environments. It is particularly appealing to the gamer generation.

25. Why use virtual worlds? 3D virtual worlds facilitate collaboration and co-creation and are a great platform for engaging students in active and experiential learning in authentic contexts. It encourages social and peer learning.

26. Educational use of virtual worlds Second Life if currently being used by a wide range of educational organizations as a platform for engaging students in learning across a range of subject areas. It offers a fun, creative space where students can engage in rich, sensory, immersive experiences. There are a range of educational projects currently running in Second Life… Let’s explore a few!

27. Educational use of virtual worlds Graciously paid for by the College of Education and Human Development at UMaine. Used to study Second Life as a teaching and learning platform. http://slurl.com/secondlife/Black%20Bear%20Island/148/101/31 Black Bear Island

28. Educational use of virtual worlds ISTE has a very active island in SL. The space provides a venue for educators to network and learn from each other about real-life education opportunities and best practices in Second Life. http://slurl.com/secondlife/ISTE%20Island/92/83/30 ISTE Island

29. Educational use of virtual worlds National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration virtual island. Fly through a hurricane, see real-time weather maps, and learn about the planet. http://slurl.com/secondlife/Meteora/177/157/32 NOAA Virtual Island

30. Educational use of virtual worlds For a range of examples of the Educational Uses of Second Life visit this great wiki: http://sleducation.wikispaces.com/educationaluses

31. Ok, Ok, how to get started?

33. Getting started in Second Life Join us on Black Bear Island http://slurl.com/secondlife/Black%20Bear%20Island/141/111/31

34. K-12 issues Second Life You mean it isn’t all peaches and cream?

38. Virtual World options for K-12 The UMaine OpenSim project is aimed at providing a private virtual space for Maine educators to study this emerging learning platform. opensim.umeedu.maine.edu