Real Life Education Places in Second Life
This information is provided by Pathfinder Linden in Second Life on Campus 152, 146, 2
Second Life Science Centre
At the Second Life Science Center you'll find a 3D visualization of live national weather ( http://tinyurl.com/yfajns ), an exhibit on 3D carbon nanotubes ( http://tinyurl.com/vvew4 ), and more! They are also working to help those interested in creating science content in Second Life, as well as organizing a directory of in-world science content.
US Government National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
The US government's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Earth System Research Laboratory ( http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/ ) has set up a simulation space in Second Life to teach folks about the earth's weather and oceans. Ride a plane inside a hurricane, experience a tsunami, take a trip in a submarine and more. Hackshaven Harford is the driving force behind this amazing space, and you can read more here ( http://tinyurl.com/hgf3w ).
Second Life Ecosystem on Terminus
Interested in artificial life? Check out the Second Life Ecosystem on Terminus, which features a working ecosystem with different species created by various Resident developers. You'll see many natural wonders, elusive "gridlouse" scurrying about, and beautiful swimming jellypods in the ocean. It's a fascinating collaborative experiment. Learn more including how to contribute to the project by visiting their wiki ( http://tinyurl.com/t7w7t ).
SLED Picayune
The SLED Picayune is a publication created to cover topics related to education, training, and library sciences in Second Life. Its format is a 'notecard' that readers can get by touching any SLED Picayune kiosk. Should you wish to receive a copy automatically (in-world), consider joining the group, "Picayune SLEDheads." Our intention is to publish a new issue each Wednesday afternoon. The publication and joining the group are free to all.
Sections in the publication include: news, events, opinions & ideas, product reviews, people, links & landmarks, as well as an "Info Island Update." For those wishing to advertise "Help Wanted" or "Help Offered," there is also a classifieds section.
To contribute a news item, event, article or classified ad, or to get a kiosk placed at your location, email: sledpicayune@gmail.com
Archives of older issues will be stored at the SLED Picayune office on Info Island. Some of the information will also be repeated at the website.
Founder and Executive Editor: Milosun Czervik
Managing Editor: Intellagirl Tully
Laukosargas Svarog
Nearly all of the plant-life in this area of the sim is part of a beta test for a fully functional artificial ecology system for Second Life. Everything is actually growing and replicating by itself, complete with a simulated weather system. For more information, please contact Laukosargas Svarog and read this notecard:
NASA
An amazing museum featuring lifesized models of real life spacecraft and rockets. Lots of interactive exhibits and educational material covering astronomy, space exploration, and astrophysics. There's also a viewing area where you can watch a live feed of NASA TV, and there are frequently live educational events and discussions. This museum covers an entire region (16-acres), so plan on spending a day exploring! For more information please contact Troy McLuhan.
Social Simulation Research Lab
The Social Simulation Research Lab is a public hub of cyber-research resources in Second Life. The Lab's library brings together over 50 publications on the social science of internet research, computer-mediated communication and online studies, plus many links to researchers' homepages, other online resources and online cyber-research journals.
Contributions are welcome! If you have a paper/resource you'd like to add to the SSRL's shelves or would like to suggest one, email secondlife@surrey.ac.uk
The SSRL is a non-partisan project, but is the home of University of Surrey PhD student Mynci Gorky (aka Aleks Krotoski). It's also the base for the Second Life Social Network research project, which aims to map the social relationships of SL residents in order to understand how information flows through social virtual worlds like Second Life. More information on the research is available at http://www.surrey.ac.uk/~psp1ak
You can contribute! Everyone with an account is welcome to take part and help us fill in the gaps in the SL social network! Participating is easy - simply go to the online survey at http://www.psy.surrey.ac.uk/survey21 and fill in your SL friends. Further questions help to determine where they're placed in your immediate social network. This information will be added to the SL network to generate a meta-map of interaction.
The associated SocialSim blog also tracks changes in the project and makes announcements of interest to cyber-research and online culture. Check it out at http://socialsim.blogspot.com
Finally, the SSRL is also host to events, including in-world discussions and lectures with leading cyber-researchers from around the world. If you would like to participate in this exciting lecture series or would like to suggest a researcher, please contact the SSRL at secondlife@surrey.ac.uk!
Look forward to seeing you here.
Info Island
Visit Info Island! Come to the Alliance Second Life Library to get information, attend programs of interest including book discussions and authors, find out about great books to read, and more. The Island also has a Medical Library where you can get information and programs on health, a history gallery garden where you can get to know people from the past, a scifipod in the sky where different science fiction writers will be featured each month, and a beautiful rock pond garden where you can relax. Alliance Library System is spearheading this project, but librarians and others from around the world are involved to create a library presence in Second Life.
Info Island also has a Writing/Performance Center, the ICT Library, Techsoup.org, and World Bridges.
Please contact Lorelei Junot with ideas and suggestions.
For more information, visit http://www.infoisland.org
If you'd like to participate in the RL discussion about Second Life Library 2.0, please also consider joining the Google group: http://groups.google.com/group/alliancesecondlife
BetterWorlds
BetterWorlds.com introduces virtual solutions to real world adaptive learning education with our new line of products, the Better Worlds VIEW System. (The Virtual Interactive Educational Workshop System).
Better Worlds VIEWs brings technology based immersive learning to the classroom. Using adaptave learning concepts in a virtual world environment will enable educators to offer nearly any sort of first hand learning experience that they can imagine. With Better Worlds VIEWs virtually any life experience can be simulated in a realistic and immersive environment.
Of course, we realize that an animated virtual Zebra is no substitute for the sights and smells of a trip to a real zoo, but we believe that combined with one or two such real life trips, virtual worlds offer a way to continue these types of lessons back in the classroom. In fact, some studies researching the use of virtual reality for concept reinforcement and adaptive learning, along with real world exposure to the lesson content show that such combined experiences are often competely successful. We have lots of supporting evidence and we'd be thrilled to share it with you. Some of this information will be made available via our web site at BetterWorlds.com and some will be made available through video, notecard and live presentations made here at Better Worlds Center. See one of our in-world staff members for more concrete evidence about the success rates of using virtual worlds for real world education today.
News Flash: Better Worlds is considering non-profit status allowing us to provide low cost or free educational opportunities to disabled and disadvantaged students. If you are interested in helping to sponsor our activities, contact us for more information on how you can help out.
ICT Library
The ICT Library is a not-for-profit endeavor formed to reach out to members of the educational community working within Second Life. Funds received from sponsors will be used to expand the knowledge of SL members who are interested in using this virtual environment as a way to mediate classes or training.
It is based on a premise of taking information that exists on websites (ex., www.simteach.com, www.secondlife.com/education, various blogs, etc.) and putting it in SL for display and demonstration. The library hopefull will help solve the difficulty many new educators have in finding useful tools and ideas (rather than leave it to serendipity). Central to the Library's goals is the tenet that outreach to educators is essential in helping expand understanding and knowlege of media tools. Specifically, the ICT Library will:
- serve as a repository of tools and scripts that would be useful for instruction (both commercial and "free" tools)
- give hints and tips about how to best use the virtual environment to promote higher levels of thinking and constructivist approaches to learning
- provide case studies of how educators are using tools
- show pictures/descriptions of innovative educational projects
- offer small grants to spur innovation in educational implementation
For more details, or if you are interested in sponsoring the ICT Library, please contact Milosun Czervik.
USC Annenberg Island
Our vision for USC Annenberg Island is that it be an international virtual worlds portal for public diplomacy. Our goals are to explore how virtual worlds can be used as effective tools to bridge cultural gaps, to foster new ways to resolve conflict, and to learn and teach new skills in communicating with each other to build a better world.
Real Life education In Second Life Group
A public space to share information about real life education in Second Life as well as to hold meetings of the "Real Life Education in Second Life" group. Be sure to visit the kiosk in the photo and click on it to learn more about education opportunities, our Campus:Second Life program, and how you can participate!
Campus
Most of the Campus: Second Life classes are held right on a region named "Campus" (easy to remember, eh?). If you look around this region, you'll see different classes working on various projects on their individual plots of land. There's also have a public meeting area, a sandbox for temporary building, a public pictureboard for sharing fun photos, a sculpture garden for relaxing between classes, and a campfire for late-nite fireside chats. For more infomation, please see this notecard:
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Glidden Campus
Glidden Campus is a replica of a real life campus in midwest USA. Altgeld Hall is the main structure on the Glidden Campus and was originally built in 1895 by the Architect Charles Eliphalet Brush of Chicago. This 130,000 square foot building was then renovated in 2004 and built in the virtual world in 2006. In order to preserve the immersive quality of the Glidden Campus landscape our virtual classrooms are 600m in the sky. To access them use the bus stop/teleport.
Virtual Hallucinations
The virtual hallucinations project seeks to educate people about the mental illness schizophrenia. About 1% of the population will develop schizophrenia during their lifetimes. It usually strikes in the late teens or early twenties, and is very debilitating.
People with schizophrenia have "disordered thought" or difficulty maintaining thought processes. They develop delusions, like the belief that the police are after them. They also experience auditory hallucinations, typically one or more voices speaking to or about them. About 25% of people with schizophrenia also experience visual hallucinations, typically distortions of the environment around them.
This clinic building is based on the hallucinations of two specific people with schizophrenia. They were interviewed in detail and gave feedback on early designs for the hallucinations. While the hallucinations are not glamorous, they fairly accurately reproduce these patients' experiences. You should get a sense of just how intrusive the voices of schizophrenia really are.
The virtual hallucinations environment is best experienced in mouselook. One person should go through at a time. Also, at the end, please click on the "Click to take survey" object. We're interested in feedback on the experience.
- Nash Baldwin, aka James Cook, MD MS
Heart Murmur Sim - Cardiac Auscultation Training Concept
Tour a virtual clinic and test your skills at identifying the sounds of different types of heart murmurs.
Concept and sound editing - Jeremy Kabumpto
Scripting - Eloise Pasteur
Architect - Moon Adamant
Sound files - McGill University Virtual Stethoscope - http://sprojects.mmi.mcgill.ca/mvs/mvsteth.htm
Production of Architecture
The course Production of Architecture at the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm examines the history, theory and practice of representation and production of architecture. We will see that projective systems affects our understanding of space through the evolution of media such as painting, photography, film and computer generated imagery.
Fourth year students of architecture has started LOL architects; the worlds largest virtual architecture office. Visit us at our office: The Office or look at PDFs, powerpoints, images and texts on the internet.
For info: www.unrealstockholm.org, IM me or e-mail at tor@llp.se (SL name: Kapital Metropolitan)
Pathfinder Linden
Well, it's not really an education "place" per se, but rather my inworld office. One of my roles at Linden Lab is to help the real life educator community and run the Campus:Second Life program. If you're a student or educator and have any questions about Second Life, please feel free to visit me at my office or send me an IM. I can also be reached at pathfinder@lindenlab.com.
Take care,
-Pathfinder Linden
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The networked kiosk system used to distribute this notecard was developed with scripts by Sasun Steinbeck. If you would like more information about the system, please feel free to contact her directly. Thanks, Sasun!
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