Rez Your Teaching

Second Life - Rez your Teaching

Tim Hart / Singularity Mandelbrot

Tim Hart Singularity Mandelbrot

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Who am I?

•Instructional Technologist at UMaine•Blog - www.edutim.com•Twitter - twitter.com/hartastic

http://www.edutim.com/

Who are you?

?

What is Second Life?

Second Life is an online 3D virtual world developed by Linden Lab.

It provides an always-on immersive environment where users interact with each other using a digital character or ‘avatar.’

What is Second Life?Second Life allows users or ‘residents’ to come together to engage in a range of activities including socializing, attending musical events, playing games, shopping, running businesses, building, collaborating, attending meetings and presentations and participating in training and education.

•Second Life has been available since 2003.•Operated by Linden Lab•Approximately 7 million accounts•Estimated 600,000 regular users•Each month more than $12 million transacted between users•Most things you see in SL are created by residents



Still confused?

What is Second Life?Let me offer some one-liners…

•SL is like RL, only you can fly.•SL is the latest attempt at creating the “metaverse” as envisioned in Neal Stephenson’s novel Snow Crash.•SL is a glorified 3D chat room.•SL is Web 3.0 or the 3D Internet.•SL is an MMORPG, except there are no nonplayer characters or quests.•SL is not a game in the traditional sense.•SL is an emerging alternative to face to face interaction.


SL lingo

In-world - something inside Second Life.


SL lingo

Teleport - Think Star Trek. You can teleport to any location in Second Life with the click of a mouse.


SL lingo

Rez - Sometimes called rezzing. Describes the action of creating an object in-world. It can also be used to describe landing in a new location after a teleport.


SL lingo

PRIM - Every object in SL is made of a collection of PRIMs (or primitives). Think Legos.


SL lingo

SIM (Simulator) - Used to describe a region. We will be looking at a few sims in a couple minutes.


SL lingo

Avatar - The digital representation of yourself and how other avatars see you in-world.


SL lingo

Landmark - Similar to a bookmark in a web browser. A way to keep a list of your favorite places and easily teleport back to them.


SL lingo

SLURL - Second Life URL. A special type of hyperlink that you click in a web browser to open a landmark in SL.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Black%20Bear%20Island/150/102/31

SLURL for Black Bear Island


SL lingo

Grid - The group of servers, regions, or simulators that power a 3D virtual world such as Second Life. We will talk about the UMaine OpenSim project in a bit.

What do you do in Second Life?

Create an Avatar

Second Life is inhabited by ‘residents’ who are able to customize their ‘avatar’ to represent themselves.


How to represent yourself?

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.


Communicate with others

Residents from around the world can meet and communicate through text or voice chat. Gestures and animations can be used to enhance communication with others, allowing for deeper social interactions.


Create Content

Residents can build almost anything with freely available tools. Everything you see in SL is created by these tools.A user could give away or sell the things they make.


Second Life Economy

Second Life supports a real in-world economy, with users able to transfer $US to Linden dollars - the in-world currency.


Sharing and Creating Multimedia

Audio and Video can be streamed from the web and played in-world, allowing residents to come together to watch, share and discuss.

Why use virtual worlds?

Second Life and other 3D virtual worlds are an ideal platform for engaging students in creating their own learning activities, experiences and environments. It is particularly appealing to the gamer generation.

Why use virtual worlds?

3D virtual worlds facilitate collaboration and co-creation and are a great platform for engaging students in active and experiential learning in authentic contexts. It encourages social and peer learning.

Educational use of virtual worlds

Second Life if currently being used by a wide range of educational organizations as a platform for engaging students in learning across a range of subject areas.

It offers a fun, creative space where students can engage in rich, sensory, immersive experiences.

There are a range of educational projects currently running in Second Life…

Let’s explore a few!


Graciously paid for by the College of Education and Human Development at UMaine. Used to study Second Life as a teaching and learning platform. http://slurl.com/secondlife/Black%20Bear%20Island/148/101/31

Black Bear Island


ISTE has a very active island in SL. The space provides a venue for educators to network and learn from each other about real-life education opportunities and best practices in Second Life.http://slurl.com/secondlife/ISTE%20Island/92/83/30

ISTE Island


National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration virtual island. Fly through a hurricane, see real-time weather maps, and learn about the planet.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Meteora/177/157/32

NOAA Virtual Island


For a range of examples of the Educational Uses of Second Life visit this great wiki:

http://sleducation.wikispaces.com/educationaluses

Ok, Ok, how to get started?

Getting started in Second Life

1. Go to secondlife.com.2. Sign up for an account.3. Download the client software.4. Login.5. Explore.

More getting started advice at:http://sleducation.wikispaces.com/gettingstarted

Getting started in Second Life

Join us on Black Bear Islandhttp://slurl.com/secondlife/Black%20Bear%20Island/141/111/31

K-12 issues Second Life

You mean it isn’t all peaches and cream?


•SL is hardware intensive.

•SL is bandwidth intensive.

•Second Life is 18+.

•Teen Second Life is teens only and costly for private space.


•SL is hardware intensive.

•SL is bandwidth intensive.

•Second Life is 18+.

•Teen Second Life is teens only and costly for private space.

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Virtual World options for K-12

OpenSimulator is a 3D application server that can be used to create virtual environments. (opensimulator.org)

•Open Source (free as in cost and liberty)•Install on a server and have you very own Grid•Create private virtual space•Only cost is a server•Very alpha•Difficult to configure•Not as robust as Second Life


The UMaine OpenSim project is aimed at providing a private virtual space for Maine educators to study this emerging learning platform.

opensim.umeedu.maine.edu


•Free (unlimited uploads)•Private•Somewhat technical•No stability guarantee!•Users are encouraged to have SL experience•Hope to have Maine schools join the Grid•Let’s take a look…

UMaine OpenSim


•Free•Very Private•Runs as a self-contained application •Can load worlds developed by others•Check edutim.com for the release

Self-contained OpenSim Application

Final thoughts

•Further Virtual World PD•Summertech.org Virtual Worlds strand•EDT 598 Educational Games and Simulations•Join the Maine Educators Exploring SL group