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The Learning Technology team at the University of Northampton (LT@UoN) are currently setting up working groups within the Information Services department to develop online inductions. We are also putting together an online module for staff to take part in within Second Life. We are developing an enclosed seminar room with space for groups to trial interactive discussions using voice. We are also interested in using this learning space to display media developed by students from Art and Design. We are currently investigating the new themed mainland areas to purchase and setup an area to meet and display media.

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Work with virtual worlds at the University of Hull’s School of Arts & New Media continues into 2009/10 with work in Second Life led by Annabeth Robinson from Leeds College of Art coming in regularly as guest lecturer on a module called Applied and Interactive Theatre 2 on the Scarborough Campus. This module explores forum theatre techniques, tactical media, and other interactive forms of performance in the context of contemporary technology, building on foundational work in the area the same students undertake in their previous year of study.

Maria Chatzichristodoulou, who joined the School of Arts & New Media in Scarborough in 2009, is coordinating this work following on from the initial thrust in this area by Ton Sant since 2007. There are plans to expand this work further during 2010/11.

One of the responses in so far is from Bex Ferriday, the lead teacher at the School of Education and Training at Cornwall College. Here’s what she says:

What we are doing

Cornwall College is using Second Life to collaborate with other in world educational establishments and to deliver teaching and student support to Higher Education students studying a range of subjects. We have also designed our sim (Cornwall College Island) to function as an interactive representation of the architecture, geology, geography, sociology and politics of Cornwall. As a result, visitors to the island are as welcome to surf, sunbathe on the beach, hang-glide, share a pasty or walk around a virtual tin mine as they are to enrol on a course of study, have a tutorial or join a class.

A number of projects are currently at various stages of development. Cornwall College’s School of Education and Training (SET) has been delivering a successful introductory teacher training programme using blended learning methods for a little over three years now. Course members study using a mix of asynchronous online sessions uploaded to the college’s Virtual Learning Environment (moodle) and attendance at traditional classroom based sessions. In February 2010 the college will pilot a version of this course whereby all classroom based sessions will be delivered in Second Life. This opens the course to students from all over the globe, and also asks the question – can traditional teaching skills learnt in a virtual world transfer to practice in the real world?

Partnership

The college is also involved in setting up a partnership with Université de Bretagne Occidentale at Quimper using Second Life. It is hoped that students from both sides of the Channel can meet each other and staff can share lessons and resources. This should enhance the college’s current involvement in the Erasmus (European Community Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students) partnership and hopefully lead to students visiting one another in the real world.

Arts and construction

Arts and media students are looking to hold an exhibition of 3D art and sculpture in the gallery that floats above the island as part of their assessed coursework, making work that defies the laws of physics in the real world yet still adheres to assignment briefs and course requirements in the real world.

Meanwhile, construction lecturers are setting up a project which involves a group of students building a house in Second Life while peers studying for accreditation in other construction-based trades such as plumbing and carpentry work closely together in order to make the house function. This will have the duel benefit of honing students’ skills in a safe environment and giving them the opportunity to learn how to work as a team.

Spreading the word

“Spreading the word” is still proving to be difficult. Despite a flurry of interest at the college’s annual ILT Fair held in July (with four Second Life introductory workshops being full to capacity) teaching staff with packed schedules and low confidence in their personal ICT abilities feel that they don’t have the time or ability to engage with Second Life – and many fear they don’t have the imagination to use it effectively or dynamically.

Reasons cited commonly include the lack of time because of workload pressures, the perceived (or real) steep learning curve that is attached to learning to navigate in a virtual world, age (it being seen as something for “young people” despite the suggested average age of a typical Second Life user as being 36) and it just being “weird”. Typically, this “weirdness” boils down to a group assumption that Second Life is a glorified orgy of virtual sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll, though in recent months this world view hasn’t been as vehemently stated as, say, this time last year. A sign that attitudes are changing, perhaps?

The future

With momentum starting to build, it would seem rather churlish to stop now. With the new Nebraska “Behind the Firewall” project in alpha stage the college can consider running a standalone instance of Second Life and in doing so could make access easier for students under the age of 18, as well as those students who are considered more vulnerable. It may even help to allay the fears that many still seem to have regarding adult content. As more and more educational establishments seem to be joining Second Life in order to collaborate and educate, this can only be the start of something good!

Her personal website contains information about her art projects in Second Life. She’s on twitter as Angrybeth.