International Academy at Essex University in Second Life

Iffaf Khan from the International Academy at the University of Essex brings us up to date with what they’re doing in virtual worlds.

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The International Academy is a department in the University of Essex. The 65,000 squared meters’ International Academy campus, situated on Wivenhoe Island in Second Life, is a re-creation of part of the University of Essex’s campus in Colchester. It has four towers, 8 classrooms, an auditorium, a self-access centre and several recreational areas. We’re at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Wivenhoe%20Island/243/35/22

View from the anchor house

At Wivenhoe you will find information on free classes for a trial we are running on our other virtual platform (Wonderland). You’ll receive a guest user name and password and be able to use that to log into a SLOODLE course. You’ll be able to get day passes to visit the campus and listen to a maths and an MA Tesol lecture in Anchor House. You may meet current students and staff. You’ll find useful landmarks and objects in the welcome area that may help you if you are new to Second Life.

Simulating the real campus

At the moment, we’re working on a new self-access centre. We got permission from the publisher of a course book to reproduce their work but the publisher wanted to ensure that only International Academy students access it. Since only members of the International Academy group can enter our campus we thought the material might be more secure in Second Life. We’ve converted Word documents into notecards and streamed audio recordings. We’re also putting exclusive revision material for students here. This is material that hasn’t been released in class like exam questions and lecture notes.

Games area

We’ve just finished an Academic Writing course and plan to open a Conversation Club in April.