Two videos recently produced by UK universities concerning their Second Life activities are on YouTube.
First up is the University of Nottingham, and their “Getting started in Second Life” production, showing some of their developments:
Over at the University of Derby, a collaboration with the Institute of Quarrying has led to the Virtual Quarry, where the quarrypeople (is there a word for this?) of the future can be initially trained in a safe virtual environment before being let loose with rocks and diggers:
The JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee) have made available an introduction for people in academia to Second Life:
Getting Started in Second Life’ answers some common questions like how to set up in Second Life, what the rules of the world are, how to plan lessons and how best to help students use it effectively for learning. The aim of the guide is to present the basics in order to help lecturers experiment, rather than them getting lost in mastering the detail of the virtual environment.
Information includes ‘Common mistakes and assumptions’, and ‘Practical concerns for your institution’. As well as being useful for academics new to Second Life or virtual worlds, the document is also useful for those making a case for virtual world use within their institution.
