Second Life

Key Features

Meet others with common interests while exploring various 3D virtual spaces
Create, buy and/or use various objects, buildings, or lands
Create and customize your own avatar's appearance and even add animated gestures
Participate in events, meetings, discussions and other Second Life activities

Overview

What Is It?

Second Life is a three-dimensional (3D) virtual world that allows a user to create a 3D representation of himself or herself (called an avatar) to explore and interact with various lands, buildings, objects and other avatars. Users can create or purchase their own lands, objects, custom clothing and even custom animations and other modifications. Various kinds of events and activities occur in Second Life, depending on the particular "island" a user visits and the other avatars inhabiting the island.

Who Uses It?

Second Life boasts a large variety of users. Nearly nine million have signed up for an account to date, including many businesses (Coca Cola, advertising firms, etc.) and universities (UNC and Ohio State among them). Second Life also includes virtual representations of real life that may not be entirely appropriate for education (casinos, opium dens, nightclubs, etc.).

Recently, more universities have begun using Second Life as a teaching resource, including Harvard Law. Several resources already exist for educators interested in exploring the possibilities of Second Life, including the New Media Consortium which provides spaces and resources for faculty to try out.

How Does It Work?

A Second Life account is free. To use Second Life, software must be downloaded and installed on the local computer. Here's the basic process for getting started in Second Life:

Create a Second Life account. Go to http://secondlife.com, and click "Join Now".
Download and install the Second Life application (read system requirements here).
Once you've installed the Second Life application and signed in, go to the "Orientation Island" where you'll learn how to modify your appearance, communicate, and navigate within Second Life. If necessary, use this link (not a weblink -this is a SLURL - a Second Life URL) http://slurl.com/secondlife/Orientation%20Island%20Public/97/155.

Things to Consider Before Using Second Life

Second Life's environment is far from controllable or private. Share content at your own risk.
Second Life requires relatively new and fast hardware to run properly. Older computers may not be able to handle the application.
Second Life poses a substantial orientation/learning curve for both faculty and students. Expect to spend more than a few hours learning how to control avatars, communicate with each other and interact with objects.
Except for specific areas (such as the "teen" islands or grids), Second Life does not censor behavior, language or content.

Uses as an Instructional Technology

As a research tool and/or artifact

Second Life is a world yet to be fully explored by social scientists, behaviorists, and others interested in culture, communication, and even architecture.

As an immersive learning experience

Second Life presents the possibility of creating 3D representations of historical sites, which could be used, among other things, for exploring "What if...?" scenarios.

As an introduction to 3D modeling, programming, etc.

Students can create simple, efficient 3D models and make them available to others in Second Life. Second Life offers possibilities for scripting actions, interactivity and functionality of objects, avatars, and events.

As a distance learning platform

Meet with students in a virtual classroom; take a virtual field trip; chat with students and faculty from other countries.

Additional Information

The Second Life Education FAQ is a new and growing wiki/website about teaching in Second Life. The same organization also runs one of the most active email discussion lists on Second Life, which has archives posted here.

For even more ideas on how Second Life could be used for education, take a look at pdf 101 Uses for Second Life in the Classroom.

Oakland University has created a concise introduction page for using Second Life.

The Second Life Best Practices in Education Conference (2007) generated a number of useful articles, discussions and other resources.

The SaLamander Project collects and reviews information and content involving Second Life and education.

To see examples of Second Life without creating a login or downloading software, try watching a few videos of Second Life on You Tube.