UNLV and PolyU meet up in SL

Yesterday I met up with colleagues who teleported in from the US and Canada to exchange ideas on what we are all doing in the world of Second Life. It was great to have Patti Shock and Mauri Collins from University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), Dan Parks (creator of MeCo Mansion and Virtualis Convention Centre) from Vancouver and Gloria Nelson (Gloria Nelson Event Design) from Wisconsin, visit us in Hong Kong.

They arrived at our virtual PolyU campus at 8 am (HK time) and around 4 pm (US Pacific time) for a tour, and then flew to our new ‘resort hotels’ on the island next door.

We then flew over to tour Dan’s remarkable and beautifully designed MeCo Mansion. Dan has created both an innovative setting with a range of communication and technology tools to use in Second Life. Later he showed us around the Virtualis Convention and Learning Centre, the largest public convention center in Second Life with state-of-the art virtual facilities with educational breakout rooms, a grand ballroom, exhibition hall and the Eisenstodt Learning and Community Matters Center.

Dan has kindly offered to let educational institutions use the Centre for training and educating students in the meetings, events and hospitality fields at no charge. We finished our tour by swimming in the pool on Gloria's yacht Victoria and watching the pyrotechnics from the cockpit of the yacht.

During the visit some of my colleagues came into the office to see what was going on, and found they knew each other from previous real world meetings in the US and elsewhere. We were able to link up with Karin Weber and David Jones from Hong Kong PolyU, Dan Hawkins (Washington State Uni) and other PolyU colleagues who wandered in during the 3 hours of discussion, chat and exploration. All in all, a very interesting and informative time spend in the virtual world...and now back to work!

See snapshots of the tour and also Patti's blog posting on their visit

Creating Museum Content and Community in Second Life

For educational and museum communities, a social Internet can allow you to stay in touch with community members and casual audiences and design and present content that’s relevant for and interesting to them in a personal way. Multi-user 3D virtual worlds allow ‘face to face’ interaction between Internet users in spaces that are representational, abstract, or completely imaginary.
Visitors are not just bringing usernames; they’re residents who can express an identity and demonstrate their interest in your museum’s ideas, creations, and challenges. That persistence of identity and level of expressiveness through character design, chat, and gesture allows both museum staff and participants to make important social connections that, for many, are not as easily made or maintained on the 2D Web.

An interesting paper from the Exploratorium by Rothfarb and Doherty on creating content and community in Second Life

Second Life Annotated Bibliography

Second Life Annotated Bibliography

An evolving bibliography with a range of the more interesting, relevant, and popular sites about education in Second Life.

MUVE Forward: Real Life Education in Second Life by Topher Zwiers: Investigating the Learning Power of Second Life

This is a very timely article by Topher Zweiers on how Second Life educational development is progressing from the design of infrastructure and artifacts into the educational uses of virtual worlds for learning.He says, "What are some ways in which the effort required [to use Second Life for a learning activity] and benefits received [by learners] could be measured?"
MUVE Forward: Real Life Education in Second Life by Topher Zwiers: Investigating the Learning Power of Second Life: "Learning Power = Attention * Depth * Efficiency"

Another useful insight from the Sloan-C group workshop says, "If 'technology toys become our tools,' time will enable us to distinguish between wishful thinking and a genuinely useful solution. The true measure will not be how many colleges, universities, groups, wikis, blogs, listservs, and islands are dedicated to SL and virtual worlds in general, but the adoption and application of learning using this medium over a sustained period of time"

20 Trends Defining Virtual Worlds

This article deals with trends defining virtual worlds in 2007, much seems still relevant for 2008. Here are the key trends:

1. Shedloads of virtual worlds will be launched in 2008.
2. Teen-focused virtual worlds are huge.
3. Brands still get it wrong.
4. There's a problem with communication.
5. There will be big growth in corporate use of virtual worlds.
6. Virtual items will be a big moneyspinner.
7. Mobile is a bit of a wildcard.
8. Governments are waking up to virtual worlds.
9. Is it an online game or a virtual world, or both?
10. China is getting into virtual worlds.
11. Interoperability is important.
12. Advertising is another wild card.
13. Virtual worlds need to become easier to use.
14. Media streaming is more common, but strangely low-profile.
15. Social networking convergence.
16. Which brands should set up their own virtual worlds?
17. Different approaches to graphical realism.
18. Booze and fags.
19. Is Second Life going to stay a niche?
20. Nobody talks about sex.

Read the full article here.

Cruising in Second Life

Thought you might be interested in the virtual cruise ship (for field trips) now available. Maybe we can offer field trips for the classes? See news item below.

The SS Galaxy is a luxury ocean liner that is probably the single largest build ever to land within the realm of Second Life. Spanning three entire sims it is the creation of builder Bill Stirling.

Stirling had the idea for the ship build almost two years ago but didn’t get the chance to build it until he was contacted by Galaxy’s owner Nova Straffe. Beginning in February of this year,

Stirling has been working constantly on the ship, he said. “I really wanted to build something different for Second Life,”Stirling said. It looks as though he has accomplished his goal, for nowhere in SL is there a fully functional cruise ship of such massive proportions. It is in real life terms 1950 feet in overall length, making it 818 ft longer than the Queen Mary2.

Adorned in the style of the romantic cruise ships of the past, it is more of a floating palace than a ship. Hidden among the eight decks are large open spaces and cozy nooks. State rooms and suites are available for rent by the week or the month.

Over forty shops line the lower deck with designers from all over SL selling their wares and restaurants that make the stay on the ship inviting. The Japanese restaurant is more like a little quaint village than an eatery. An indoor pool with a sauna/steam room and a full-service work-out room complete with treadmills and tanning beds await the weary SL traveler. The luxury liner boasts a classic onboard casino.

The Zodiac Ballroom is a massive mid-ship area, which will host live jazz and dancing events.

Another club on board is the Boiler Room. According to Captain Seaton Skolnick, “The Boiler Room has that rustic Russian industrial look.”

Outside there is a pool deck where many events are also planned. There will be live streaming video during certain events sent to all three sims. A running track spans the upper deck’s perimeter.

Second Life residents can also "tie the knot" in the deluxe wedding chapel. The Galaxy’s chapel has high ceilings and rows of ornate columns. Adjacent to the chapel sits the Reception Garden , decorated with an array of plants and a fountain. Next to that is the Reception Hall where guests can congregate and chat about the ceremony. Honeymoon suites can also be arranged.

“This ship was built to live on and to play on. It is a fully functional cruise ship with everything one could ask for,” Skolnick said.

“The Inaugural cruise is called 'The Cruise to Nowhere' because nothing this large can move in SL,” Stirling joked. “For those hardcore seafaring types there is a joke done with the navigational lights, red, white, red, meaning 'Restricted in the Ability to Maneuver.'”

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Galaxy%20AFT%20/116/45/22/.

Second Life: the new Disney or vaporville?

Is Second Life the future? Or a cul de sac? On balance, there is in Second Life lots to like and lots to loathe. But I believe two things are clear. We now have proof of concept. And as Second Life supplies real opportunities for engagement and sorting, this social world will expand at pace, supplying in the longer term, every kind of cultural innovation and commercial opportunity.

A very interesting analysis of SL from Grant McCracken: Second Life: the new Disney or Vaporville?

Comparing synchronous 2D and 3D learning

Designing a 3D learning event

Very helpful checklist on designing 3D educational events, from Karl Kap

Prior to Class

* Make sure everyone can access the 3D world prior to the actual event...have a "dry run" exercise.(technical specs, fire walls and other requirements need to be addressed for all learners to be engaged during the event.)
* Send plenty of advance notices about when and where to meet.
* Set up a site outside of 3D world for correspondences and messages (like a wiki).
* Make sure learners have an avatar prior to class.
* Encourage learners to explore the 3D world prior to class so they are somewhat oriented to class.

In-World

* Make sure everyone can do basic navigation. Start with an orientation exercise.
* In Second Life (SL), make sure avatars are off of the Orientation Island.
* In SL, provide a SURL to transport students to place for instruction
* Regardless of the instructional exercise/archetype, create a gathering place for learners for pre or post briefings.
* Establish some method to speak (or text) to the entire group.
* In SL, consider whether or not you want to permit flying.

During the Class Activity

* Make instructions are clear (vague instructions are hard to follow, provide them in written format if possible…in SL, use a note card.)
* Provide a time limit for the instructional exercise.
* As the instructor, go group to group to see how the learners are doing and to answer any questions specific to a particular group (if a group exercise).
* If the setting is more classroom-oriented, provide a mechanism for hand raising and for developing an orderly method of call on students.
* Establish rules of behavior in terms of gestures, sounds, building.

After Class

* Conduct a debriefing.
* Make future assignments clear so everyone understands.
* Assign in-world activities outside of class to keep learners involved with 3D world when class is not officially meeting.
* Provide opportunities for after class, informal, peer-to-peer learning and exchange of information.

Educational uses of Second Life

China cafe in Second Life - English language for Chinese speakers

Today, the China Cafe officially opened in the virtual reality environment “Second Life” (www.secondlife.com) on the Info International sim. The purpose of this cafe is to provide English language instruction for Chinese persons. It will also be a forum for Chinese speakers to mingle with native English speakers to practice conversational English. This pagoda-shaped building features a garden with three types of tea, a classroom, a library, a meeting area, and a tai chi meditation rooftop area.

13 Tips for Virtual World Teaching

13 Tips for Virtual World Teaching - from Campus Technology

Don't look now, but multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs) are gaining momentum as the latest and greatest learning tool in the world of education technology. How do you get started with them? How do they work? Arm yourself with these 13 secrets from immersive education experts and educators, and you, too, can have real success implementing these new tools and technologies on your own campus.

TEACHING & LEARNING IN SECOND LIFE

EdTech Island on Second Life (Revised)

The SaLamadar Project - Stuff useful for Teaching and Learning in Second Life

The SaLamander Project is a collaborative project coordinated by researchers and educator at The Center for Advanced Technology in Education at the University of Oregon. This project aims to create a resource that frames and focuses the need for a Community of Practice surrounding the use of Learning Objects in the Second Life MUVE.

The project is to enlist people in collaborating together to find, index, and discuss aspects of MUVEs that have educational value and share in the research, development, and training opportunities associated with those factors.

Why all this Second Life stuff??

Well this blog is all about e-learning at Hong Kong PolyU, and Second Life has served as a test bed for our e-learning over the past 6 months. Starting with our student orientation programme for new students in the School of HTM, we have since held some joint workshops with our Educational Development Centre with almost 30 teachers and others involved.

Session 1 was a lunchtime open session 15 November on the features and possibilities of using SL, Session 2 "Get a Second Life" was a more detailed introduction on 20th November, and this was followed by a support session on 22nd November for teachers wanting more details or help installing and setting up SL on their laptops. We ran a 'how to use SL' session on 27th November with 9 participants online in SL.

The session went fine in a technical sense (no serious lagging or crashing, though communication between facilitators and participants using text-based chat was found challenging as we hardly knew whether the participants were with us in the process. Audio was not used because not everyone had the tools set up in advance.

We introduced some basic controls and tools in the first 45 minutes and then teleported to Boracay, where Nick Noakes from HKUST very kindly spent about 30 minutes to introduce some educational tools on his island.

Interest in SL has been quite strong in the PolyU, especially from the Student Affairs Office, Library and English Language/ELC departments. We also had a contingent from the HK Police College for session 3 to learn more about using virtual worlds for simulations and role play for crime scenarios.

We plan to continue to provide follow up to these sessions, and to probably form some support group and share experiences using SL. We have opened departmental 'sandboxes' on our island and will meet with departments to see how we can explore working together. In addition, we will be discussing renting a cluster of islands so we can interact more easily and learn together.

10 Challenges & Solutions to Teaching in Second Life

10 Challenges & Solutions
to Teaching in Second Life

November 17, 2007

These responses were authored by graduate students and faculty, and compiled as part of a weekly assignment in EDTECH 597: Teaching & Learning in Second Life, Boise State University, EDTECH Island. Topics were chosen based on the author’s own interest.

See link here

Many thanks to Lisa Dawley of Boise State University for sharing these thoughts from here EDTECH class, on the challenges and solutions to teaching in Second Life.

Bibliographies: Web 2.0 and Education

ICT4D Bibliography � Bibliographies � Reader: Web 2.0 and Education

Introduction to Second Life

SL Teaching video

NMC Virtual Campus