Introduction
Investors/Institutions
Institutions are Already Using Second Life
There are a number of higher education institutions who have utilized Second Life, whether it be for housing mass amounts of digital information, or provided coursework in a virtual forum. We believe VWFs have the capability to transform our educational structures, and provide an immersive, engaging, and meaningful experience in knowledge building and creation.
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We would encourage our readers to take a look at the extensive list of both universities and colleges that are utilizing Second Life on an international scale. The following are just a few that we chose to include as examples.
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Educational Institutions Using Second Life
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Rockcliffe University Consortium is a completely online organization that has established a number of Second Life campuses. They offer a number of courses and certification options, all of which are held on online virtual campuses. In addition to course and certification offerings, Rockcliffe also provides for its users digital library collections, virtual ‘sandboxes’ and collaborative educational gaming.
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The following are screenshots taken from my personal Second Life profile:
The world renowned Stanford University utilizes Second Life primarily as a library database only in virtual form. Other design aspects have been included in its design, such as the message board; a place where virtual students can communicate by leaving messages on a public forum. Only students of Stanford university can access this digital material, however, any user can visit the campus and collaborate on the student message board.
What Second Life can do for Your Campus
Imagine being an educator with unlimited access to supplies, the ability to run simulations in any type of study, and being able to create a virtual classroom that completely suits the needs of both educator and student. These are all possibilities within the Second Life platform. The list of universities currently using Second Life is well over 120, with schools from Canada, the UK, Brazil, and more.
Second Life is a truly collaborative environment. It asks your staff and students to work together to create a learning environment in which everyone can flourish. Second Life requires interaction between the participants for it to be successful, meaning that students are still gaining the personal connections and relationships with their classmates and professors. Second Life was built to be a social networking platform, so it enables and supports immersive, meaningful, and memorable experiences through student engagement.
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Second Life can appeal to all learners - visual, auditory, and kinesthetic/experimental. Students can explore the landscape with their peers, move and experiment with models, and experience things that would be difficult (and incredibly costly) to have in a “real-world” classroom. Several nursing programs have already begun their adventure into Second Life for education and create immersive labs where students can inspect their virtual patient, test vitals, and experience the set-up of a typical hospital room. There is no need for thousands of dollars in supplies or equipment, and the student is welcome to try the simulation continuously until they succeed.
With Second Life, educators can create field trips anywhere in the world they can imagine going, or use the in-world experiences that are already in place. Students can fly to the top of the Sistine Chapel, explore the Egyptian pyramids, or see outer space from a completely new perspective.
Second Life will provide your educators with access to field trips, simulations, and in-class activities that they never would have considered possible in a traditional classroom environment. Education researchers and scholars are pushing for the notion of experiential learning - that is, the method of students gaining their information from first-hand experiences rather than reading about them in a textbook.
FAQs and Logistics
How can I start a Second Life University? Is there a cost?
Step one will be purchasing land (called an “island” in-game) for your campus to be placed on. There is an initial start-up cost of $1000 USD and then a monthly fee of $295 USD for maintenance of the region. Each of these regions is roughly 0.025 square miles (16 acres) of “real-world” land. If you are interested in learning more about purchasing land, please click here. Once you own land you can either create your buildings, meeting spaces, and other virtual environments or you can reach out to one of the in-game services to help you design the perfect VR campus.
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Please note that Second Life is completely free for your staff and students to use. There is no fee to create an avatar and join a virtual world, so the only costs associated with using Second Life for your campus will be the start-up cost and monthly fee previously mentioned.
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Can anyone join my campus? Is there a way to make it private?
When you create your island you will have the choice of making it private or public. If you choose to make it private you will be able to create an access list that will allow specific users to join your island. The water around your island represents the edge of your virtual space, but it also ensures that your campus will be completely secure; no one can zoom out and scroll over large expanses of water to get to your campus due to the virtual barrier that will protect you and your students.
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What kind of technology will my students and staff need to use Second Life?
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Please see our page on technology requirements for more information.
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Where can my staff and I go to get support or ask questions about using Second Life?
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There are several blogs and forums with information about creating classrooms and campuses on Second Life. For the most accurate information, please visit the Second Life Wiki. There are several pages on general questions, educational resources, building tutorials and more.
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The Second Life community page is another excellent resource where users can post questions to a forum and get answers from others within the Second Life community. You can sort questions and responses by tags (such as 'education'), and search through previously asked questions to find exactly what you're looking for.
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There is also a large database for in the educational wiki with several tutorial videos that your staff and students can use to ensure that they are getting the most out of their Second Life experience. There are also official video tutorials directly on the Second Life page, which you will be able to access by logging in to your Second Life account.