An Educational Tour of Second Life

CHECOCynthia M. Calongne

Colorado Technical University

September 19, 2007

Copyright Cynthia M. Calongne, 2007.

Permission is granted for this material to be shared under a

Creative Commons Attribution - Share Alike 3.0 United States.

You are free to copy, distribute, display, perform, remix and make derivative works.

Attribute the work to Cynthia M. Calongne and distribute it with a similar or compatible license.

Second Life Statistics 3/07

Philip Rosedale, Philip Linden in SL Founder and CEO of Linden Labs

Every day - 120,000 people log into SLThey spend 4 hours at a time in worldThe average user - 15 hours per week10% of users stick with SL, similar to blogs

Second Life Statistics 3/07 II

Larger than 2x the size of San FranciscoA land mass of >120 square miles

28-30k simultaneous logins (>40k in 9/07)Second Life >6,500 servers Adding 400-900 islands per month

The user-to-user economy is about $15 million/month in US dollars -- a little city

$ mostly from land, clothing, jewelry, furniture

Over 9 million accounts (230,000 in 4/06)

Visualizing Second Life at Svarga

Primitive life island - simulating the cycle of life

Educational Activities in SL

Self image Mentor, collaborate Social networks Class projects Roleplay Learning games Blended reality Exploration Build

Create an avatar - you! Office hours, meetings Share ideas, meetings Applied learning Immersive learning Interactivities Real & virtual meetings Visit, tour, study Create and customize

Terminology in Second Life

Avatar representation of self

Island simulator or region

Object linked set of prims

Prim, primitive a shape you build

RL - Real Life

Rez to render a 3D object drag from inventory or

Build menu to the ground

Sim simulator or region

SL - Second Life

Avatar -- Self Expression

Changeable Avatar Looks

Avatars and Roleplay

Navigation in a Virtual World

Teleportation map at the New Media Consortium Campus

Expandable Meeting Spaces

As new avatars sit, a new seat appears and the attendees rotate

NMC 1st Teachers Buzz Meeting

Real and Virtual Meetings

NMC Symposium, Lyr Lobo queries the MacArthur Foundation

Virtual Classrooms

Thomson NETg in SL

Presenting video stream with Thomson NETg online course content

Finding Legitimacy in the Academy

Are we just playing games when we teach in a virtual world?

Assessing Education in SL

Research

Virtual Hallucinations U of CA at Davis U of Queensboro Voices, gender,

schizophrenia, death Survey instrument

Seifert Surface Knot and fractal theory The Future in SL Crooked House

Dr. John Bransford Center for Learning in

Informal and Formal Environments (LIFE)

Cooperation to navigate a maze -- we sit above, gazing down while media screens with slides appear

Avatars sit above the maze looking at slides

Virtual Hallucinations

University of Queensboro University of Calif, Davis

Survey Instrument in SLVoices and Perception

Seifert Surface’s Research

Modeling the Problem

Crooked House

You never run out of house as it rolls over while you walk

Research - Cooperation

Education in Second Life

Rhetoric Class Class Projects

English Composition Writing Topics

Glidden Classes Teaching design,

games, and strategies

Ramapo - 400 8th graders Of Mice and Men

Teen Tutorials from the Ivory Tower of

Primitives - Lumiere Noir

Teen Conferences Interactive content

40+ Free SL Classes Every Day

For RL classes, over 2500 educators are on the SLED listserv

Intellagirl’s Rhetoric Class

English Composition in SL

Writing Assignments in SL

Teaching in Second Life

Tutorials for Teens

8th Graders Learn to Design

Teens and Immersive Literature

Of Mice and Men in the courtroom

Of Mice and Men - Roleplay

Photos courtesy of Peggy Sheehy, Ramapo Visionary

A Classroom Conference Center

Teens Integrate Visuals & Text

Touch for Interactive Notecards

Literature at Ramapo

Photos courtesy of Peggy Sheehy of Ramapo

Ramapo Literature Discussions

Photos courtesy of Peggy Sheehy of Ramapo

Ramapo’s Creative Spaces

Ellis Island and Immigration

Geo Gallery

Ramapo teens study geometry in a virtual world

CTU Classroom and Workspace

Dementasia - CTU experimental design space by Lyr Lobo

Robotics Class Projects

Robots by CTU doctoral students and Lyr Lobo on Acheron LV426

Virtual Office Hours

Communicationin Second Life

Left to right

TeleportGroup Notice

2nd rowVoice Chat (*)Instant MessageURLs embedded

CTU Class - 1st Day in SL

CS 672 Tree Growth & Scanner

Star - Basketball - Water Park

The student designed,textured, linked and scripted her star project the first two hours in SL

Havok physics challenged basketball project; phantom water park

Evolution - CS 672 to CS 641

Evolution of a Merry Go Round - astudy in state machines

CS 641 Projects

Evolution of a Ferris wheel -- on right, has a rotation problem

Blending Systems Engineering & Software Requirements

Student projects -- sensor weapon system and portable duck shoot

CS 641 - Portable Duck Shoot

Score & ducks reset with push button control; Colorado Tech island

CS 641 Eliciting Requirements

DART

DementasiaAerialRapidTransit

CS 641 Requirements Projects

Student designed monorail system with menu and stations

The Effects of Roleplay in Class

The monorail evolved intoa rollercoaster and went underwater after thecustomer requirementschanged during roleplay.

Monorail Goes Underwater then Becomes a Rollercoaster

Physics is enabled at the end, sending the car andriders rolling & plunging into the water.

Customers wanted an attractioncalled The Thing in the Water

Learning Communities

Bridging two CTU classes together with the monorail

Team Project by 12 Students

The game maze sits 300 meters above Lyr Lobo’s Dementasia

A Capture the Flag PVP Maze Game

I survived the Maze Game

shirts

Traps and Scoreboard

PvP capture-the-flag game set in a maze filled with traps

Educational Opportunities

Collaboration and community Extracurricular events

Cultural venues SL groups, including

educational networks

Educational news

Learning extends beyond the classroom Student services and

union board activities Music, dance, art Real Life Education in

Second Life NMC Guests

www.nmc.org/sl

SL in Education listserv SLED Picayune

Art Gallery

Photo by Jeff Hiles

Dragons at Elf Circle

Tolkienesque fantasy roleplay in a creative community

Dance - Important in SL Culture

Elf Circle’s First Anniversary Celebration

Art Exhibit - StarAx Sculptures

One day exhibit at the NMC Symposium October 2006

Launch at the Int’l Space Museum

Notice an avatar floating overhead as the flight crew prepares to launch

An Educational Tour of Second Life

Lyr Lobo in Second LifeRyl Redgrave on the Teen Grid at Ramapo

calongne@pcisys.net

For more information, contact