Virtual Worlds in Education

Hilary Mason

Johnson & Wales University

Participatory Media

http://xkcd.com http://bvlg.blogspot.com

Virtual Spaces = Web 2.0 + 3D

“Video game” technologies enable the creation of a new type of place.

Advantages of Virtual Spaces

• Experience – The closest thing to being there physically.

• Place – Creates a sense of ‘place’ that is not tied to a physical location, enabling serendipitous encounters.

Advantages of Virtual Spaces

Experience + Place = Community

Second Life

Second Life provides an open platform for user-created content with a low barrier to entry.

Second Life is free to use. Fees only apply to build persistent structures.

Second Life and the Web

Second Life contains a full-featured programming language that enables data to flow from the web into and out of the environment.

Educational Projects in SL

• College campuses

• Museums

• Info Island Library

• NOAA

• Non-profits

Global Outreach MoroccoGlobal Outreach Morocco

G.O. Morocco Goals

• Use academic and intellectual skills and abilities to address social issues

• Study-abroad experience

• Student-driven project

G.O. Morocco Project

Virtual Morocco is a “best of” Moroccan tourist experience in a virtual space.

The team researched and designed the experience to educate people about Moroccan culture, while hopefully enticing them to think about Morocco as a tourist destination.

PrototypePrototype

Hassan II Mosque

PresentationsPresentations

• Casablanca Technology Incubator

• Moroccan Ministry of Tourism

Cultural ImmersionCultural Immersion

• Living and working in MoroccoLiving and working in Morocco• Community interactionCommunity interaction• Personal growthPersonal growth• ContextualizationContextualization

Business and Community Development

Students were given the option to take a credit-bearing course to complete the project.

[video]http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2720481925666510600&q=virtual+morocco

GO MoroccoGO Morocco

Virtual Morocco

• Over 4,500 visitors since the official launch

• Created publication and occupational opportunities for students

• Has led to internal and external collaboration

• Platform for new tools

• Generated new projects

Virtual BLAST

BLAST is the Balloon-borne Large-Aperture Sub-millimeter Telescope.

BLAST flew over Antarctica

in December, 2006 and in

Second Life in April, 2007.

Questions• Can a mixed-reality cultural experience

provide the same benefits of a traditional experience?

• How do people interact in virtual environments?

• How can information be communicated effectively?

• Can virtual environments provide a platform for students to prototype business and artistic concepts?

Tools and Visualizations• InfoFez• SLMetrics (

http://www.slmetrics.com)

• Stargate

• Handshow Chair

Future Plans

• Virtual Morocco is growing

• Integrate SL and web services (data and commerce)

• Virtual Rhode Island!

• Coming soon– Voice and open-source– Identity management– Integration with web and other spaces

Getting Involved

• SLED mailing list (http://www.secondlife.com)

• SimTeach wiki (http://www.simteach.com)

• Sloodle (Linking Moodle and SL)

• ICT Library on Info Island

Thank you!Thank you!

http://slurl.com/secondlife/casablanca/132/82/26/http://slurl.com/secondlife/casablanca/132/82/26/