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Learning in a virtual 3D environment: SecondLife This pupose of this page is to discuss the use of SecondLife (SL) as a 3D educational environment and the future possibilities for both learners and educators. In the following catagories you will find information about SL and SLED as well as have an oportunity to add your own experiences and opinions on the subject. Please feel free to look around and borrow any useful information, add information or make comments in the discussion areas. Included here you will find: Table of contents
Be a contributorIf you've contributed to content on this page, feel free to leave your name behind. If you'd like to advertize your own page here for others to access, please do so. Nicole Long has created and edited this page Please feel free to add or edit material found here. What is Second Life?Second Life  (abbreviated as SL) is an Internet-based virtual 3D world created by Linden Research in 2003. It has steadily gained popularity over the last few years with a reported 11 million users, refered to as residents. The user must download a viewer interface and create a profile before joining the community but can do so within minutes and for no cost. Within the virtual environment, residents can interact with one another, visit numerous continents and islands through a teleport device, buy and sell property and land and participate in various activities such as concerts, sports or dancing. Second Life has quite a varied usership from those that are interested in pornography and cybersex to many others that are there for international connections. One of the surprising aspects of the world has been the financial appeal. Residents can buy and sell Liden dollars (L$), create virtual goods to sell, trade land or work. It's actually risen to such heights that the U.S. IRS is considering how to task earners within Second Life. While Second Life is sometimes referred to as a game, this description does not fit the standard definition. It does not have points, scores, winners or losers, levels, an end-strategy, or most of the other characteristics of games, though it can be thought of as a game on a more basic level because it is "played for fun". There are gaming islands and there were casinos up until early 2007 but the primary purposes of the 3D world seem to be for interaction and creation. For more detailed information, please visit, Wikipedia To watch a 4 minute introduction movie go to Introduction to Second Life Four Common Myths about Second Life 1. Second life is a re-creation of real life. Second life is much more than real life in that users don't have the same physical restrictions. They can fly and manipulate their environment without limitations. It's also possible to create simluated environments (sims) that can not possibly exsit in real life. Such as historical sites or possible future sites. 2. Second life is like the internet in that people will visit my island to get information about what I'm selling or doing. Second life users want 'experience' rather than information or new websites to visit. For educators, this means that they need to make their 'classrooms' inviting and useful. They also must market them through the various forums available. 3. It's easy to make money in Second Life Innovation is even more necessary in Second life than in real life. Business needs to out perform the rich experiences available in Second Life 4. There is a plan for the future of Second Life and it's features This is an on going experience for everyone. No one knows what will happen next. Who could have predicted Moodle or Sloodle? Educators are constantly trying new ideas and developing new software that must be tested in Second Life. The outcomes are beyond anyone's imagination. What have you assumed about online virtual environments like SL? Justyna: I had no idea of how extensive the Second Life environment is. I have no experience with virtual environments, but I think that it's a fascinating technology. I've always imagined that virtual environments would be nothing like real life, and that they would offer infinite possibilities. I have never considered the aspect of making real money in a virtual environment. Please feel free to add or edit material found here. How do I join Second Life to see for myself?It's really quite simple to join up and has been free for the last year or so. Go to Second Life and follow their instructions. You will need to install a small interface which allows you to see the virtual environment and to create a profile. When you enter the environment you will find yourself on Orientation Island which has several tutorials that teach you how to manipulate your appearence, walk and fly, play interactive media and communicate. From personal experience, I would advise taking the time to try out a few of the tutorials before going out into the 'real world'.I joined Second Life to see what it was all about, how easy it was and if I would ever consider using it for educational purposes. Getting started was fairly easy however for the non gamer there is a bit of a learning curve that would need to occur in regards to setting up your avitar and learning how to move through the 3D environment. I believe a certain amount of prep time would be required for any course using this tool if the students are not already familiar with the world of virtual life. Nathalie I began going through this phase in order to set up my avitar and explore the world of Second Life, but as I am not much of a gamer, I eventually got frustrated and left. I will likely un-install the program and hope that I never have to use it. I simply don't have time right now to spend learning what is needed in order to use this as a tool. Nathalie I definitely become frustrated at how to manipulate my avatar and and where I should go but got lucky enough to meet a volunteer at the Space Center who gave me a file full of info including locations for learning etc. You can find these helpful volunteers on most educational islands and they have their job titles listed above their heads with their names so you can identify them. Nicole I joined Second Life as part of undetaking this course and agree that getting started was pretty easy but even for someone with a small amount of PC gaming experience I found that I was having difficulty moving around and not running into walls etc on Orientation Island. The controls didn't seem responsive enough to the way I wanted to move. Also unfortunately just as I finished all the tutorials on Orientation Island my computer froze stating that my 'virtual memory was low'. So i never actually got into Second Life itself. It sounds like volunteers are the way to go once I get there though. Also for those people who do not have broadband access with unlimited download Second Life appears to use a lot of megabytes. Natasha I have tried Second Life but found that moving in the environment (even walking) makes me feel sick. Maybe it's because I wear varifocals? Anyway, it made me wonder how people with visual impairments manage and the short answer is - they don't; Second Life is largely inaccessible for them. See this blog by Peter Abrahams for an example of comments on this topic. So - you could not use SL exclusively for delivering any course material, an accessible option would have to run in parallel. I am on Help Island at the moment (got the teleport from Orientation Island) but can't leave until I have looked at everything as you can only visit this island once and are not allowed to return. My screen name is Ceilidh Jaxxon. Penny Gardner (whose name does not begin with N!)I think that Penny Gardner makes a valid point about accessiblilty in SL, especially for educators who must consider all possible aspects. Further down on the weblog mentioned in Penny's contribution was a quote from Joshua Linden on behalf of SL which shows that accessibility might be simply a matter of time. He says "We have recently done a substantial rework of our keyboard focus code to make things more predictable. As a benefit that was clearly in mind at the time, this will make it easier to eventually hook up focus-based screen readers (which typically work by interrogating the active application for changes in the displayed text) and support alternative input technologies. This is a much longer term project than simply saying “we support the W3C WAI” since accessibility hooks are built into many Web browsers already, whereas the Second Life viewer is a stand-alone application. (Long term, one could hope that content-creators in-world can tag their creations in such a way as to be more accessible once the viewer is fully accessible!) Speaking of opening up, today (8 Jan 2007) we announced that the Second Life viewer source code is available under an open source license. See http://blog.secondlife.com/2007/01/08/embracing-the-inevitable/ for the announcement and links. We strongly encourage other developers to take on projects such as interfacing the Second Life viewer to work with alternative input and output mechanisms such as screen readers. Don’t just wait for us to do it! " (8th January 2007: 'Joshua Linden') blog  Have you heard of Second Life? If so, what are your impressions of this type of 3D environmentPlease use the edit tool to participate in this discussion. Feel free to include your avatar and comment on the content of the page or the other postings. Nicole says: I thought Second life was a porn site until I joined. Certainly there are people there for that but there are many more opportunities for learning than I thought possible. Nathalie says: I had heard of it in a CSI episode but had never tried it out until this course. I think it definitely has some benefits for learning as it gives access to courses across the world and many times people will take the opportunity to participate when they can hide behind a mask. People who are insecure or shy might find this environment liberating as it gives them the ability to be anyone they want. Nicole says:I actually saw it on that same CSI episode and couldn't believe it was as good as they made it look. One of the things that impressed me as a possible learning tool was the 'voice' application. Unfortunately, as TV often does, it had been slightly overdone. The 'voice' is only available on certain islands and cost more money. One ESL school that I visited offered in in special classes for more money. Natasha says:I had heard of Second Life but had never wanted to enter the world as i thought i would get hooked pretty easily. Until undertaking this course I did not know that it was used for educational purposes. Justyna: I've never heard of Second Life until this course, but I have been generally aware of virtual environments such as this one. With this site, I just assumed that it was geared towards computer game players. I must admit that I had fairly negative assumptions about this type of environment. Please feel free to add or edit material found here. What is Second Life Education or SLED?Seond Life has some attractive features for educators and learners. International classrooms, authentic environments, easily accessible multimedia and anonimity being just a few. Imagine a classroom with students from ten different countries sharing their unique perspectives in replicated construct of the real world environment of which they are studying. Late in 2006, a large consortia purchased several islands comprising an archipelago of education-focused land. The land is then subdivided into smaller parcels and rented to colleges, universities, and educational projects. Moving through these parcels of land, the user can see open lecture halls, librarys, meeting places and student and teacher materials. Typically, land is rented for as little as $200 per year and comes with permission to use some common space for larger events. Two prime examples are the Info Islands, which includes EduIsland I and II, and the New Media Consortium's NMC Campus which includes many Teaching Islands and a wide range of educational tools, services, and meeting spaces, a museum and library, and a planetarium. The consortial model has allowed for many more institutions to offer participation to students and faculty within a learning-centered environment. As a result, there are now hundreds of colleges and universities experimenting with Second Life, some hosting adverts for real life teaching facilities / jobs. There are now many universities, colleges, schools and other educational institutions researching the use of Second Life as an environment for teaching and learning which offers a community of practice and situated constructivist learning. Among the institutions bringing the use of Second Life into the provision for distance learners is the Open University in the UK which already offers a range of teaching and learning provision on two islands in the metaverse (CETLment and SchomeBase) and is gradually developing a range of tools and resources which support learners and offer a sense of presence and engagement to distance learners who can otherwise feel isolated and alone. Among the more active educators in Second Life are librarians. The Illinois' Alliance Library System and OPAL have teamed up to extend the programs currently offered online to librarians and library users within Second Life. There are numerous libraries within what is referred to as the Info Islands. A virtual reference desk in SL is staffed by real life volunteer librarians for many hours every week. They also teach workshops there to help librarians and educators learn more about Second Life. Wikipedia, 2007 To watch a 2 minute move on education in SL go to: Ohio University Second Life Campus ,watch a 6 minute move from: New Media Consortium NMC or watch a 6 minute movie overview of education in SL at: Education in Second Life: Explore the Possibilities Use the edit tool to add your own movie clips on the relevant subject     Please feel free to add or edit material found here. How Educators are Using Second Life For Education?Best PracticesAs there are so many educational sims in Second Life, it makes sense that educators would want to have some guidelines or best practices for running their classes and institutions. For that reason, on May 25, 2007, 1300 educators from around the world gathered at the Second Life Best Practices in Education: Teaching, Learning, and Research 2007 International Conference in the virtual world of Second Life. The event was the first 24 hour, international conference ever to take place entirely within a virtual world. This event was expected to be a small event but became something else entirely when over 1,000 educators from around the world registered to attend the free conference, and over 50 volunteers and 100+ educational institutions, non-profit organizations, and businesses from both the real world and the Second Life world signed up to take part. Data analysis of traffic patterns following the conference show that 1,300 unique avatars participated in the in-world event. Technology in education blogger Ryan Bretag (known as Existential Paine in Second Life) wrote, "There are those rare occurrences where in the moment, you can feel a change, you can feel a complete shift. The past 24 hours I bore witness to that rare moment where you literally witness the shift happening in front of you and know things are never going to be the same from this point forward."Some Topics Discussed
To watch Second Life TV interviews and broadcasts on the conference, go to SLCN.TV Manipulating The Educational EnvironmentOne of the most recognizable avatars in Second Life is Intellagirl, known in RL as Sarah B. Robbins. She states that by allowing students to create their own virtual classroom, educators can understand more about their students' learning needs. Other educators have created their own environment as diverse as the Sistine Chapel and Dante's Inferno with the idea of promoting creativity but one of the strongest motivators among the educators in SL is that the virtual environment is student-centered (Foster, 2007). Can you imagine what type of 'world' your students would create? Can you imagine what problems educators might face in having their students creating personal learning spaces? Justyna: I think that an obvious problem would be quality and content control. I'm curious what kind of limitations (and censorship) educators could place on their students. Would you take a class in Second Life? Could you imagine taking Emerging Technologies in SL?Please use the edit tool to participate in this discussion. Feel free to include your avatar and comment on the content of the page or the other postings. Nicole says: I attended an ESL class (the first one was free) and thought that it was great. I would definately enjoy taking my USQ classes in this way. Just the fact that you can 'pretend' to look at your classmates and have face to face contact made me feel more connected. Natasha says: I would like to undertake a course or conference to see what the experience is like and can see huge benefits for an organisation in having meetings and/or conducting training in Second Life. Justyna: After having a brief look at the site, and reading this page, I would definitely be interested in taking a class in Second Life. I agree with Nicole that it would be very interesting to interact with our classmates. I think that there are many benefits to these kinds of learning environments, if they are controlled properly. 2D Learning vs. 3D Learning?Please use the edit tool to participate in this discussion. Feel free to include your avatar and comment on the content of the page or the other postings. Until very recently, education has been two dimensional. Textbooks and, even the internet, have provided a 'flat' interface for the learner. With the removal of technological restrictions, educators can begin seriously examining the migration from two dimensional learning platforms to three dimensional platforms. Learners can gain access to a learning environment and experience that previously had only been accessible in real life. Situational learning is now possible within the artificial confines of a classroom. (Goncalves, 2005). Potential Problems
Potential Advantages
What other potential advantages or problems can you imagine? Justyna: I think that there would be many of the same problems facing 3D environments as 2D environments, and then some. Sloodle - SL + Moodle - A learning management systemPlease use the edit tool to participate in this discussion. Feel free to include your avatar and comment on the content of the page or the other postings. Sloodle is an Open Source project which aims to develop and share useful, usable, desireable tools for supporting education in virtual worlds, making teaching easier. Through engagement with an active community of developers and users, the Sloodle project hopes to develop sound pedagogies for teaching across web-based and 3D virtual learning environments. Sloodle integrates the Second Life multi-user virtual environment and the Moodle learning-management system. Visit Sloodle.com for more information.Please feel free to add or edit material found here. A List of educational sites in Second LifeThese are the top education sites as listed by; Second Life Education Wiki
Science and Health
Places to Learn about Education in SL
Related knowledgeGarden pagesPlease add any KnowledgeGarden sites that are relevant to education in Second Life
Related web sitesPlease add any sites that are relevant to education in Second Life Related FET8611 web sitesPlease add any sites that are from FET8611 Natalie's site "Evaluating Alternative Educational Course" Jane Ross's Multimedia Blogging in Education Phillip Marsh's Adopting open source learning environments Learning Management Systems FET 8611 Workgroup: The Time Machine Collaborative environments for sharing resources ReferencesAmerican Libraries, It's All in the Gaming. Dec2007, Vol. 38 Issue 11, p48-48, Retrieved from EBSCO Retrieved January 12, 2008 from EBSCO Online database (AN 27870966) http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.usq.edu.au/ehost/pdf?vid=12&hid=22&sid=7086c1b9-f78e-4d4d-a0bd-e96ff26c070f%40sessionmgr7 Boklaschuk, K. & Caisse K., Evaluation of Educational Web Sites http://www.usask.ca/education/coursework/802papers/bokcaisse/bokcaisse.htm Accessed December 5, 2007Dede, C. (1995). The evolution of constructivist learning environments: Immersion in distributed, virtual worlds. Educational Technology, 35(5), 46-52 http://www.encorewiki.com/download/attachments/12654/constr.pdf Accessed December 1, 2007Dickey, M. D. (2005). Brave New (Interactive) Worlds: A Review of the Design Affordances and Constraints of Two 3D Virtual Worlds as Interactive Learning Environments . Interactive Learning Environments, 13(1-2), 121-137 http://www.simteach.com/slccedu07proceedings.pdf#page=25 Accessed December 1, 2007Foster, Andrea L.. Professor Avatar Chronicle of Higher Education, 9/21/2007, Vol. 54 Issue 4, pA24-A26, Retrieved from EBSCO Retrieved January 12, 2008 from EBSCO Online database (AN 26910978) http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.usq.edu.au/ehost/detail?vid=19&hid=22&sid=7086c1b9-f78e-4d4d-a0bd-e96ff26c070f%40sessionmgr7 Goncalves, N (2005). Educational use of 3d virtual environments: primary teachers visiting a romanesque castle, Recent Research Developments in Learning Technologies http://www.formatex.org/micte2005/367.pdf Jones, J. G. (2004). 3D on-line distributed learning environments: An old concept with a new twist. In R. Ferdig & C. Crawford (Eds.), Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education International Conference (Vol. 2004, pp. 507-512). Atlanta, GA.: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education. Jones, J. G., Morales, C., & Knezek, G. A. (2005). Rethinking Cognition, Representations, and Processes in 3D Online Social Learning Environments http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=6EMOFjbABbQC&oi=fnd&pg=PA89&dq=Jones ,+J.+G.,+Morales,+C.,+%26+Knezek,+G.+A.+(2005).+3d+online+learning+environments:+Examining+attitudes+toward+information+technology+between+students+in+internet-based+3d+and+face-to-face+classroom+instruction.+Educational+Media+International&ots=dxN3lAaNbO&sig=RSuWDiqr-onBDvhRjaW0BexJfZU#PPA89,M1 Accessed December 1, 2007
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