Torley's Guide to Making Movies in Second Life!

A very good guide to making movies in Second Life from Torley. Tutorials cover:

• How to optimize performance
• Which recording tools you can use
• Hiding the interface
• Changing sky + water settings
• Avatar movement
• Where to host your video

Creating Engaging and Interactive Online Nursing, Medical, and other Courses

A very helpful posting from John Miller on Creating Engaging and Interactive Online Nursing, Medical, and other Courses

John mentions the use of different Web 2.0 tools to engage the students as well as his use of Second Life.

College Fair - Second Life

College Fair at Alliance Virtual Library!

Hong PolyU, along with almost 40 colleges and universities set up their exhibition booths on Info Island on Sunday November 16th to meet potential students. Students came to discuss course offerings, admission and financial aid requirements, college life and other information to help them with the college selection process. The fair was held at: Alliance Virtual Library

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Info%20Island/128/128/2

PARTICIPANTS:

• The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, School of Hotel & Tourism Management
  
• The University of Akron
  
• East Tennessee State University
  
• St John’s University
  
• Berkeley College
  
• NY College of Osteopathic Medicine
• Penn State World Campus
  
• Darton College
  
• University of North Carolina at Pembroke
  
• University of the West of Scotland
• Rio Salado College
  
• University of the Incarnate Word
  
• Saint Leo University
  
• Great Northern Way Campus
  
• Jacksonville State University
  
• Seton Hall Law School
  
• University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign
  
• Bradford College (UKRC)
  
• Liverpool John Moores University, UK
• University of Wisconsin Wisconsin Oshkosh College of Nursing Accelerated Program
  
• University of Florida
  
• Ohio State University, Dept Women’s Studies
  
• Johnson & Wales University
  
• Georgia State University
  
• University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, College of Nursing
  
• University of Kentucky
  
• University of Puerto Rico Graduate School of Information Sciences and Technologies
  
• University of Kansas - Art Dept.
  
• College of DuPage
  
• Buena Vista University
• Bowling Green State University
  
• City College Norwich
  
• Northwest Vista College
  
• West Liberty State College
  
• Mercy College
• Squirrelverse

Virtual world activity in UK education

Thanks to Virtual World Watch and the Eduserv Foundation who have released the latest snapshot of virtual world activity in UK Higher and Further Education. The report can be downloaded in PDF format here

Summary

This is the first snapshot survey where a significant number of respondents were supported by external, often research-based funding. The spread of funding sources is diverse, including national sources (JISC are mentioned by several respondents), European funding and non-academic sources. Of the other respondents, the majority had institutional support, e.g. from central funds, the department, or a Pro-Vice Chancellor’s fund; such funding is sometimes multi-departmental in nature.

Many respondents had either carried out some kind of teaching and learning activity, or were planning such events for the new academic year. These included collaborative learning and design, seminars, workshops, tutorials and induction courses. Several lecturers and supervisors were using Second Life to hold tutorials, or communicate with remote undergraduate or PhD students. A significant number of universities are carrying out research as to the effectiveness of using Second Life especially in teaching and learning.

Some, but not all, teaching and learning activities were assessed by the academics who carried them out, with no particular method of assessment being predominant. Positive benefits were mentioned by the majority, such as student skill acquisition, ease of communication and the ability to meet peers one would otherwise not meet. Problems such as the amount of work required to run in-world sessions were also reported.

As with previous snapshots, the two issues of obtaining funding for virtual world development, teaching and learning, and technical problems, predominated. Several respondents indicated a need for guides and tutorials, as well as a ready-to-use ‘kit’ of high quality, education-specific resources.

The general reaction of peers and academics to virtual worlds seems to have improved over time. More respondents reported largely positive, or a mixed, attitude locally and in the wider university sector. Some academics who were previously cautious or negative about the use of virtual worlds in education become more positive after using the technology, or seeing the benefits. Funding for research and virtual world projects has also had a positive effect on academic attitudes.

Looking ahead, most respondents who chose to answer thought that virtual worlds were more likely to be a ‘mainstream’ feature of UK education, rather than a ‘niche’ or ‘novelty’. However, several of these respondents felt this would be a gradual long-term development over several years.

Many respondents had used, or were considering examining, virtual worlds and online environments other than Second Life. A dozen such applications were cited. Of these three were mentioned by far the most: Google Lively, Wonderland and OpenSim. Lively was found to be disappointing in terms of education-relevant functionality, Wonderland had considerable communication potential, and OpenSim had attractive options for creating a closed virtual environment.

This theme, that Second Life is not the only option for teaching, learning and other educational activities in virtual environments, will be explored in future snapshots and activities of Virtual World Watch.

The Forbidden City

The Forbidden City: Beyond Space and Time is a partnership between the Palace Museum and IBM. The goal of the project is to provide the means for a world-wide audience to celebrate and explore aspects of Chinese culture and history. The Virtual Forbidden City is a 3-dimensional virtual world where visitors from around the world can experience the Forbidden City in Beijing.

Teaching tools for Second Life

We have compiled a collection of tools we have used for teaching in SL. Some are a bit technical, but all are pretty useful. You are welcome to download here.

Teacher guide

Second classroom

Second Classroom is a project to explore ways in which educators can create projects for students using immersive media such as Second Life, MMORPG and social networks to create authentic learning.

Linking virtual worlds

Quite an interesting development in connecting people with one single avatar to many virtual worlds.

Myrl is a cross-world entertainment platform, bringing virtual worlds and their users together on the web. We are building a layer on top of each virtual world, linking them up to create an integrated playground with endless possibilities and applications.

The first release of Myrl is focused on social virtual worlds and connects users from 19 worlds like Second Life, Lively, Entropia and There. Check out the complete map of the worlds supported here.

Student orientation to SL and University Life

We have almost completed an orientation for 400 freshman students joining our Department. Started 3 weeks before the new semester, with 16 SL workshops in our computer lab first, then the last 2 weeks fully in SL.

The program consisted of 7 individual learning activities: learning styles, multiple intelligences, active learning, academic honesty, classroom etiquette, citing references and room design. Plus 3 competitions - parachuting, through the hoops and fashion show, and 8 live sessions on learning challenges, plagiarism, library and open Q&A finishing with a dance night tomorrow after the fashion show.

For details of the program see: http://virtel.shtm.polyu.edu.hk/sotel/ and you are welcome to visit our campus island and have a go at some of the activities. We have been using a couple of chat bots to help with some of the activities and also employed some student helpers to assist and support students on a roster basis so someone was always around from 9am to 9pm every day. Our island is called HKPolyu campus at http://slurl.com/secondlife/HKPolyU%20Campus/123/153/26

China islab in second life

An interesting look at a Chinese Second Life virtual world

The Social Virtual World's a Stage

A Film by Gary Hayes © Personalizemedia 2008

Flying to the moon - Teleporting across virtual worlds

"Staff of Linden Labs, the creators of virtual world Second Life, and IBM announced last night that they have achieved the first recorded teleport of their avatars from one virtual world into another. Researchers from the two companies teleported avatars from the Second Life Preview Grid to an OpenSim virtual world." This could be the beginning of a real interaction between virtual worlds and make it possible for many of the millions of users/avatars to experience other virtual environments.

"While unaffiliated parties have created versions of this process before, Linden says theirs is the first effort to achieve trans-world teleportation without logging out of one world and logging in to the other. No virtual goods were transported across the barrier, a major concern for Second Lifers concerned with virtual property theft and rapid depreciation of their assets' value." (from Linden Labs reported in Read Write Web

Journal of Virtual worlds

Here is the link to the journal

Journal of Virtual Worlds Research

This looks to be a very useful source of research in VW:

The Journal of Virtual Worlds Research has just launched its first issue. "JVWR is an online, open access academic journal that adheres to the highest standards of peer review and engages established and emerging scholars from anywhere in the world. The Journal of Virtual Worlds Research is a transdisciplinary journal that engages a wide spectrum of scholarship and welcomes contributions from the many disciplines and approaches that intersect virtual worlds research."

Vol 1, No 1: Virtual Worlds Research: Past, Present and Future. This is the inaugural edition of the Journal of Virtual Worlds Research and is published by the Texas Digital Library with Jeremy Kemp editor.

Chapters that interest me include:

• Toward a definition of virtual worlds
• Avatars Are For Real: Virtual Communities and Public Spheres
• A Typology of Virtual Worlds: Historical Overview and Future Directions
• Virtual communities - exchanging ideas through computer bulletin boards
• 3D3C Real Virtual Worlds Defined: The Immense Potential of Merging 3D, Community, Creation, and Commerce
• How Open Source Software Will Affect Virtual Worlds

2nd Issue: Social Identity and Consumer Behavior in Virtual Worlds
3rd Issue: Culture of Virtual Worlds

Well done Jeremy for getting this going

Virtual Plants on Mobile Phones

This project is called the "green tamagotchi project". The idea is to take care of a plant on your mobile phone - change light, put water, some fertilizer, and see the growth of a virtual plant. After some days you'll get a beautiful plant with green leaves and flowers. You could then send it to your wife for her birthday...

See the story here: Virtual Worlds

Congress Holds First Hearing on Virtual Worlds; Linden Lab CEO Philip Rosedale Testifies | Virtually Blind | Virtual Law

Congress Holds First Hearing on Virtual Worlds; Linden Lab CEO Philip Rosedale Testifies | Virtually Blind | Virtual Law

Private, Secure Sims & Open Source

MUVE Forward by Topher Zwiers: A New Hype Curve for SL: Private, Secure Sims & Open Source

An interesting post by 'Topher Zwiers' on MUVE Forward blog. He discusses the opening up of SL to commercial enterprizes for collaborative work. He says "this move by Linden Lab and IBM focuses on the collaboration potential of Second Life for global organizations: reducing travel costs, increasing communication, establishing deeper relationships within an organization, etc."

Virtual World Gets Another Life - WSJ.com

Virtual World Gets Another Life - WSJ.com

Lectures in Second Life

Yesterday SHTM held its first virtual Professor-for-a-day in the PolyU virtual campus. Prof Patti Shock from Harrah Hotel College at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, gave a unique lecture from the USA to Hong Kong students in PolyU. At 9.30am Hong Kong time, Prof Shock joined us at 5.30pm in Las Vegas to make a presentation on Marketing & Promotion Strategy for Meetings.

Using the virtual world of Second Life Prof Shock was able to give a live talk with powerpoint presentation in the virtual campus. Students both in the lecture theatre in Hong Kong as well as virtually from their laptops elsewhere were able to join the session. After a 40 minute presentation, students asked questions about virtual meetings, marketing strategies and promotion, and feedback and further discussion took place.

Students were also asked to give their feedback to this virtual lecture, and 20 percent found it a 'very interesting experience' with the remainder saying it was 'interesting' and 61 percent said they enjoyed virtual learning. Comments on the experience included, "It eliminates the time and geographical barriers, especially useful for the meeting industry where time and cost is a major concern...once a semester is enough for a virtual lecture, it would be boring if we had a virtual lecture every week...human interaction cannot be replaced."

This was the first time SHTM has used Second Life for a lecture, which demonstrated the ability to bring together teachers and students from two continents in one classroom. On 15 April we will hold a virtual conference with an event planner from the USA giving a demonstration of how virtual meetings and conferences take place.

Second Life is a Multi User Virtual Environment (a virtual world) where the users or residents create the content and activities. It is currently being used or tested by over 400 universities around the world, and SHTM/PolyU is the first in Asia to develop a full campus and offer a number of courses in Second Life. We are also collaborating with other universities overseas and departments in PolyU to pilot new teaching ideas and develop best practices in teaching and learning in virtual worlds.

Virtual conferencing in Second Life

A commercial Second Life conferencing service, has some useful ideas about what and how to do it.

"Using the on-line virtual world Second Life, Conference Island provides a far more enjoyable meeting experience than video conferencing and is without doubt better value for money. And it out-performs telephone hook-ups because it is so visually stimulating.

It's about more enjoyable meetings. It's about putting people in the same room at the same time, even though they work in different parts of the world. Think about this: through Second Life you will give them a sense of shared space. Face to face across a table, dangling their feet in a swimming pool or flying on a magic carpet." Read more here.

Snapshot below of virtual meeting between PolyU students (HK) and staff from Rixos Hotel Group, Turkey