Second Life: Universities and Private Islands

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See also: Institutions and Organizations in SL.

Contents

Pontifical University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio)

Groupware is a research group from the Laboratory of Software Engineering (LES) at PUC-Rio. We use Second Life as an experimental environment of Virtual Worlds. The 3 PUC-Rio islands are used to develop several projects as:

  • Conferences streaming
  • Second Life course
  • Machinima
  • Health Development
  • Educational Games

You can teleport direct to our reception area here Or visit our projects websites:

TREG is a game for training the Workshops technique (Requirements Engineering) in Second Life.

This collaborative game offers different tools for storytelling in Second Life.

Contact us: 

 Professor Hugo Fuks
 hugo@inf.puc-rio.br
 Avatar: Loop Renard

 Katia Cánepa Vega 
 katia.canepa@gmail.com
 Avatar: Kfcito Capalini


The Australian Film TV and Radio School

The Laboratory for Advanced Media Production LAMP is leading several educational and professional training activities on its own island Esperance (slurl) on behalf of AFTRS - Australia's premier film and alternative media training establishment. As well as research strands (economic, sociological, identity, community, immersion, communication) with our Screen Studies Dept. the other departments involved in bespoke classes include: Drama/Screenwriting, Sound Design, Screen Composition, Set/Environment/Interactive Design, Cinematography and Digital Media. Specific accredited units that have incorporated Second Life are: Graduate Diploma in Sound, Production Design, Music and Cinematography. External Short Courses in Machinima, Game Design & Social Media. Foundation Diploma various modules.

LAMP is a department within AFTRS, externally facing and working with independent professionals. The Second Life production projects from LAMP through AFTRS range from:

  • Machinima. Role playing, improvisation, script and story development
  • Experience Design - Gameplay, immersive enviroment, level design, Artificial Intelligence
  • Set design and pre-visualisation
  • Mixed Reality Entertainment - in and out of world, inter-dependent services
  • In-world lectures from international speakers
  • New media arts - new form scripted art, music, sound, installations etc:
  • Screenings and festivals of real and virtual films

Specific Second Life Projects initiated or produced via LAMP include

  • Thursday's Fictions. Award winning, deep & immersive story world based on the book/stage/film looking at spirituality, poetry, literature & meaningful game SLURL
  • InWorld - A team in 2006 who developed a TV from inside Second Life project. The prototype featured Starr Sonic (LAMP mentor Keren Flavell) who went on to run SLCN.TV in Melbourne
  • Macbeth in Second Life - Originally prototyped at a week long LAMP residential & follow up machinima labs at AFTRS, Kerreen Ely-Harper then went onto to collaborate with NMC and other individuals to create the full island experiential and learning experience in SL SLURL
  • Emergence - A project in mid 2006 that utilised Second Life for a Mixed Reality performance between virtual world and Sydney Opera House. The performance can be seen on the various Emergence sites.
  • City Games - Mixed Second Life with real street stories delivered via Mobile. Those listening to stories on the street could communicate with real time mapped avatars in a model in second life
  • Mixed Reality Games LAMP runs hybrid SL/RealWorld Alternate Reality Type Games
  • Many more projects including mixed reality dance, live debates, concerts etc:

People:

  • Main contact: Laboratory for Advanced Media Production - Gary Hayes (Director)
  • Digital Media - Peter Giles (Head of), Catherine Gleeson (Head of Foundation)
  • Screen Studies & Research - Karen Pearlman (Head of)
  • Computer Graphics - Ian Brown (Lecturer)
  • Sound - Mark Ward (Head of)

Other SL based blogs from staff

Digital Worlds Institute (University of Florida)

Our Mission:

Digital Worlds exists to nurture leading edge research and education between the arts, engineering and the sciences, utilizing advanced media systems and digital culture. Through the use of interactive tools and technologies, the Institute promotes transdisciplinary creativity across classrooms, continents and cultures.

Our Projects:

  • WORLD HOUSE:Connecting the Global Community On the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, the University of Florida’s Digital Worlds Institute in cooperation with King’s alma mater Morehouse College in Atlanta will kicked off the first of four interactive global webcasts with experts from UF and Morehouse, along with institutions in China, India, Kenya and South Africa, discussing and sharing King’s meaning for the 21st century in real-time.
  • In Common: TIME - Maximum Impact:Percussionists from across North America convene LIVE onstage (physically and virtually) to present In Common Time: MAXIMUM IMPACT. The event includes CODEX Tympanos, DRUMMA and the World Premiere of SMOKE|WIRE|ROCK a new site-specific work created specially for the Ingenuity Festival.

Our People:

  • For an invite to the UF Islands, please contact Lisa.

Drexel University

Drexel Island serves as a platform to both facilitate teaching and to provide information about Drexel programs and resources. The main sections currently involve the College of Arts and Sciences and Drexel Libraries.

People:

  • Jean-Claude Bradley, E-Learning Coordinator for the College of Arts and Sciences and Associate Professor of Chemistry
  • Tim Siftar, Drexel Libraries

Edinburgh University (aka The University of Edinburgh)

The Virtual University of Edinburgh (Vue) micro-continent in Second Life - [SLurl: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Vue/205/53/30]. The Vue group is a virtual educational and research institute bringing together all those interested in the use of virtual worlds for teaching, research and outreach related to the University of Edinburgh.

The School of Education has been using Second Life since September 2006 to provide teaching spaces for the distance MSc in E-learning programme. The School of Management MBA course has also been an early adopter. The Artificial Intelligence Applications Institute (AIAI) in the School of Informatics has been using early MUDs/MOOs and virtual collaborative spaces for over 2 decades in its work, and exploring the use of Second Life since mid 2006 to explore persistent task-supporting intelligent agents, AI applications, AI technology transfer and collaborative working in virtual community sims, especially for emergency response. The School of Arts, Culture and the Environment (ACE) is exploring Branded Meeting Places in Virtual Worlds.

People (on coordinating group for Vue Regional Planning Authority):

  • AghAghlab Al-Attili, Edinburgh Stanford Link & Entrepreneurship MSc
  • Sian Bayne, Lecturer in E-learning, School of Education
  • Ian Graham, Senior Lecturer, School of Management
  • Fiona Littleton, Second Life Support, School of Education
  • Hamish Macleod, Senior Lecturer, School of Education
  • Naomi Nunn, Informatics Alumni Officer, Development and Alumni
  • Jessie Paterson, Divinity
  • David Richardson, Business Development Executive, School of Informatics
  • James Stewart, School of Arts, Culture and the Environment
  • Austin Tate, Professor, School of Informatics
  • Morag Watson, Library

Elon University

Elon has been involved with Second Life since 2004 when the first class of students participated in the now-defunct "Campus Second Life" program. Since this time, Elon students have led a variety of learning experiences in Second Life, including:

  • conducting “open houses” for The Second Life Planetarium, a virtual facility created by Professor Crider for demonstrating the motions of the stars. Approximately 30 students wrote astronomy shows for the planetarium in Fall of 2006.
  • sponsoring public outreach events in Second Life related to the University common reading, An Inconvenient Truth. Approximately 60 students built simulations inside Second Life related to the theme of global warming.
  • writing-intensive technology and society seminars on cyberculture and the social impacts of virtual worlds
  • researching mathematical concepts and building models of these concepts, for example building a model of the Galton board used in many statistics demonstrations (similar to the "Price Is Right" Plinko game).

People:

Emory University

SIMsim Island and the Center for Virtual Business and Virtual Government Research (V-BIZ and V-GOV) are pilot efforts and part of an course (459/659: "Virtual Worlds and New Realities") cross-listed between the Department of Information Systems and Operations Management within the Business School and the Department of Political Science within the University. For details on the (V-BIZ and V-GOV) premise, a short video is available discussing implications of virtual worlds and other technology advancements in the year 2019. Comments are welcomed.

People:

  • R. Konsynski, is the George S. Craft Professor of Decision and Information Analysis at the Goizueta Business School, Emory University.
  • Holli A. Semetko, is Vice Provost for International Affairs at Emory University and Director of Office of International Affairs and The Claus M. Halle Institute for Global Learning, where she is also a Professor of Political Science.
  • David A. Bray, is currently a PhD candidate in Information Systems at Emory University; he previously was a Visiting Associate and 2007 Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar at the University of Oxford’s Internet Institute.


Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture, University of Houston

University of Houston's Money & Design is a Design Economics course of real live modeling of business practices in a virtual world where designers can try their design and entrepreneurial skills against an entire market rather than the code of simulation software. SL provides a real time simulation with real time economy and fickle customers. This all makes for a realistic and quick experience in running an entrepreneurial venture with the favorite coin of the land, design. As more people with different applied sciences fall into SL, the educational potential of Sl is being applied to journalism, music, policework, law, etc. Students are free to create content and learn business skills under the mentorship of real architects and businessmen, as well as successful virtual shopkeepers and developers.

People:


Great Northern Way Campus - Centre for Digital Media

The Great Northern Way Campus (GNWC) is a unique academic partnership of British Columbia's four major post-secondary institutions: the University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, Emily Carr Institute of Art + Design, and the British Columbia Institute of Technology. MDM graduates will receive a master's degree bearing the seals of all four of the Great Northern Way Campus partner institutions. In keeping with the GNWC vision, Masters of Digital Media (MDM) students have access to exploring the creative utility and collaborative potential of some of the most innovative and advanced tools in today’s digital media.

The Virtual Centre for Digital Media is the Masters of Digital Media Program’s space for exploring innovative program activities and events in Second Life. The island on which the Centre is located also includes a sandbox space for project work, a virtual green screen room, several classroom types, social space and lots of space to try out new ideas.

We have hosted a number of events and activities using the Virtual Centre for Digital Media including:

  • Blended/Mixed reality campus events (including Recruitment & Open House, hosting William Gibson, the Vancouver Police Department and BC Premier Gordon Campbell for program launch event)
  • Collaborative building workshops
  • Conferences (such as CITASA Mini Conference 3.0 2007)
  • Use in courses such as Building Virtual Worlds, The Visual Story & Interdisciplinary Improvisation

The Virtual Centre for Digital Media will evolve over time, as students contribute to creating and building their own virtual environments, with continuous potential for expansion and remodeling.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/University%20Project/150/84/23/

http://mdm.gnwc.ca/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gnwc

http://www.youtube.com/user/gnwc

People:

  • Joanna Robinson (JoannaTrail Blazer)- MDM Research Associate/Virtual Worlds Project Manager
  • Dr. Gerri Sinclair (GerriTrail Blazer)- MDM Executive Director
  • Catherine Winters (Catherine Omega)- MDM Bricoleur


Hong Kong Polytechnic University

The School of Hotel & Tourism Management is building a virtual campus to use initially for new student orientation for all 450 Year One students joining the School in September 2007. Designed to help new students adjust to university life and make the transition from secondary school, the programme aims to provide Year One students with a range of interpersonal, learning and self-management ideas to help them succeed in their university life. We plan to run the programme in blended mode - some face to face sessions, and on our own island PolyUSotel in Second Life. We have set up a series of learning activities (practical information, games, visual media, resources), planned community activities (meeting teachers and student mentors) as well as optional social activities (getting to know new classmates etc). The programme starts in early September and will continue through to October, providing a forum, a social meeting place and a learning resources centre online then will continue to be available for students and teachers to use in various ways.

We have previously built a Hotel Workplace Simulator as a place for students to practice some of the practical skills involved in hotel operations - front office, housekeeping, food service and food production.

We are now designing a Virtual Hotel using SL.

People:

Huddersfield University

The School of Education and Professional Development's project, beginning in May 2007, will create a small number of imaginative builds in Second Life, so that we can evaluate their use with MSc Multimedia and Foundation Degree in e-learning students. The focus will be on the unique affordances of Second Life and an exploration of whether there are any novel pedagogies associated with its use.

People:


Idaho State University

Institute of Rural Health Play2Train is a virtual training space in SecondLife designed to support Strategic National Stockpile (SNS), Simple Triage Rapid Transportation (START), Risk Communication and Incident Command System (ICS) Training. This virtual environment spreads over two islands Asterix and Obelix (65536 x 2 sq. meters), with one island dedicated to a virtual town and the other a virtual hospital. The design of this virtual environment is influenced by dioramas frequently used by emergency services to support their tabletop exercises. A diorama is a partially three dimensional full-size replica or scale model of a landscape typically showing historical events, nature scenes, cityscapes, etc. for purposes of education or entertainment, source: wikipedia. Play2Train will provide opportunities for training through interactive role playing and will be the foundation for our emergency preparedness educational machinima. This site will document activities and developments in this part of the SecondLife virtual world. This project implements one of the distance learning methodologies proposed by the Idaho Bioterrorism Awareness and Preparedness Program funded by HRSA.

People:

  • Rameshsharma Ramloll, Research Assistant Professor, Institute of Rural Health
  • Jaishree Beedasy, Research Assistant Professor, Institute of Rural Health
  • Joshua May, Research Assistant, Institute of Rural Health


International Business (IB)

at Pforzheim Universtiy´ http://ib.fh-pforzheim.de

The Second Life campus of our programme will open soon!


Ithaca College, Roy H. Park School of Communication

The Park School owns two islands, one (Park Communication) for the general school population and one (Indy Media) for the new Center for Independent Media starting in Fall 2007.

We use the island for qualitative research, to meet with professionals in the fields of interest to our students (journalism, media making, public relations, advertising), and in new efforts involving the design and creation of video games and virtual worlds. We currently have a variety of spaces on the main island for small group discussions, lectures, and receptions - experimenting with educational spaces. Students have built/placed most of the buildings, including a replication of our real world building in Ithaca, NY, on the main island so far.

People: Dianne Lynch, Dean of the Roy H. Park School of Communication Kim Gregson, Assistant Professor, Television-Radio Department

Leeds Metropolitan University (West Yorkshire, UK)

Leeds Met manages three sims, and co-manages a sim with The University of Oxford and King's College London as part of the JISC funded Open Habitat project.
LeedsMet sim
LeedsMet - Faculty of Arts & Society sim
LeedsMet - Technology Enhanced Learning sim
Open Habitat project sim

  • Our central sim, LeedsMet, is a virtual studio space where staff and students learn through the creation of stuff, and through dialogue regarding this stuff. It's flat and green and messy.
  • LeedsMet FAS is a partial recreation of our campus. We use this to help students feel at home when they log in for the first time.
  • LeedsMet TEL features the partial construction of our forthcoming real art school building, so we can get familiar with it whilst the real one is being built.

People:

  • Ian Truelove (SL: Cubist Scarborough), Principal Lecturer, School of Contemporary Art & Graphic Design, Faculty of Arts & Society
  • Graham Hibbert (SL: Kisa Naumova), Senior Lecturer, School of Contemporary Art & Graphic Design, Faculty of Arts & Society

Link Campus University (Rome, Italy)

Link Campus University has launched an international experiment on the harmonization of the higher education system's architecture, by activating an entire study cycle based on 3 plus 2 years, which maintains the traditional methodological setting of the Anglo-Saxon system. Our programmes and courses are based essentially on Communication, International Studies and Economics.

Soon, Link Campus in SL will offer:

  • Areas for exhibitions of art, photography, fashion and design
  • A space where students from all over the world(s) will be able to submit their original research and theses for dissemination
  • Short courses, conferences and seminars

People:

  • Pasquale Russo, Head of Technology
  • Grazia Torsiello (SL: Frizzetta Winx), SL Manager

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Second Life @ MIT - Second Life at MIT wiki, OEIT

MIT is exploring the use of virtual worlds for teaching, learning, and building social communities. The MIT Sim is in development in collaboration with the Virtual Worlds building group of the New Media Consortium.

Current Project: Second Life Design Competition- The goal of this project is to design and create a student created space within Second Life that represents the residential diversity of the MIT campus. These architectures will be represented by clusters of pods. The pods will be modular, replicable, and easily customizable, such that any MIT student can join Second Life and with little foreknowledge create and add their own pod to a cluster. It is not necessary for the architecture to resemble the visual appearance of actual MIT structures. What will be important will the manner in which the pods are created, and how they interact and connect with each other.

People:

  • Eitan Glivert, Graduate Student, EECS
  • Scot Osterweil, Comparative Media Studies Project Manager
  • Phillip Long, Associate Director, OEIT


Nottingham University

Griefing in Online Communities: Causes, Casualties and Coping strategies Nottingham University

This project will examine the phenomena of griefing in virtual worlds, using both qualitative and quantitative methods, to achieve the following objectives:

-identify griefing behaviours in virtual worlds and examine similarities and/or differences with behaviours seen in other contexts (e.g. school or workplace) - examine the perceptions of its victims (who are able to walk away from the virtual world at any time) on the impact of such behaviour -assess potential reasons why griefing occurs and possible options to combat such behaviour -attempt to quantify who the likely targets and perpetrators are

People:

  • Thomas Chesney, Nottingham University Business School
  • Iain Coyne, Institute of Work, Health & Organisations
  • Brian Logan, School of Computer Science & Information Technology
  • Neil Madden, School of Computer Science & Information Technology

The University of Nottingham Web Campus

Ohio Learning Network

OLN Island' OLN Island

The Ohio Learning Network has set up an island in Second Life for Ohio educators. OLN is an initiative of the Ohio Board of Regents charged with assisting colleges and universities to prepare for the knowledge economy. OLN is a consortium of two and four-year public and independent colleges and universities in Ohio.

Set up a free account and then contact Cable Green (aka “Cable Enigma”) to access the OLN Island.

People:


Ohio University

Designing Effective Learning Environment in Second Life Ohio Outreach Ohio University Ohio STEAM

Three Ohio University units have developed a Second Life campus currently consisting of three sims, two in the Main Grid, one in the Teen Grid. The blueprint was based around how best to serve traditional college students, adult and distance learners, high school students, and middle school students in a convenient and engaging fashion that would allow for both synchronous and asynchronous learning experiences. Our goal is to provide an attractive and engaging metaphor for Ohio University's beautiful real-world campus and extend Ohio University's mission into the synthetic world in Second Life. The Ohio University Second Life campus can be found at: http://slurl.com/secondlife/ohio%20university/20/36/24/

People:

  • Chang Liu, Assistant Professor, School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
  • David Chelberg, Associate Professor, School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
  • Christopher Keesey, Project Manager, Ohio University Without Boundaries
  • Merle Graybill, Director of University Outreach
  • Teresa Franklin, Associate Professor, College of Education
  • Tiao Chang, Professor, Russ College of Engineering and Technology

Polytechnic University (Brooklyn, NY)

"Kids Connect" programs teach performance, storytelling, and collaboration through simple (bare stage) and digital means (audio/video creation, streaming, and Second Life work and play). The Kids Connect island is located on the Teen Grid.

"Kids Connect" is a joint project by several institutions, and their work in Second Life is supported by the YES Center and the Integrated Digital Media Institute.

Co-directors of Kids Connect NY: +


Saint Leo University (Tampa, FL)

Saint Leo University and Virtual Campus:

Saint Leo University has provided world-class academic degree programs to its students since its founding in 1889. Today the university offers several academic programs including some of the most sought-after Undergraduate and Graduate programs you'll find anywhere.

About 20,000 students pursue associate’s and bachelor’s degrees at our 17 Continuing Education centers in seven states and through the Center for Online Learning. We offer online classes to students using a web-based program called eCollege and WebCT. The classes are not help 100% in Second Life. Although once you enroll and are a student with the University you do have the opportunity to live on the Virtual Campus in a residence hall. You will have your own room on the Virtual Campus living among other students. There is also a chance to work Part-Time paid with the University as a Virtual Student Employee ($8.50usd an hour up to 20hrs a week). You will work on projects such as welcoming student and guest and/or creating a new educational resource tool.

More than 1,000 students live and study on our main campus in Saint Leo, nestled in the rolling hills of west central Florida just 30 minutes north of Tampa. Our students receive personalized attention in classes since these tend to be small – 18 students on average. They can choose from more than 40 undergraduate majors and specializations. Saint Leo University also offers graduate degrees in business administration, education, teaching, criminal justice, and theology.


Website and Contact Information:


Contact Name: Michael Dadez
Avatar contact name: SaintLEOlions Zimer (Owner)
Main Website: Saint Leo University
SLurl: St Leo University Virtual Campus
Department: Center for Online Learning


St. John's University, New York

St. John's is exploring the use of virtual worlds for teaching, learning, and building social communities.

People:


The University of Idaho

We have created a virtual University of Idaho campus we call Idahonia - [1]. We are using this SL space for course support and for the Virtual Technology and Design Program. Currently two upper division courses in Toxicology meet regularly in SL: Principles of Environmental Toxicology and Food Toxicology. Project information is available at Second Life University of Idaho

People:


University of Southern California

Annenberg Island, USC Center on Public Diplomacy and the Annenberg School for Communication.

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 dealing with each other to build a better world.

Principal Investigators:

  • Douglas Thomas, Associate Professor, USC Annenberg School for Communication
  • Joshua Fouts, Executive Director, USC Center on Public Diplomacy
  • Anna Berthold, Project Manager, USC Center on Public Diplomacy


University of Notre Dame

The Faculty Learning Community on Virtual Worlds has been creating demonstration projects on the Island of Sophia http://slurl.com/secondlife/Sophia/140/116/23/. Our goal is to explore the potential of virtual worlds to enhance teaching and learning. We will also develop a white paper on "The opportunities and challenges of virtual worlds." Projects and areas currently under development include:

  • Library skills
  • Foreign language and culture
  • World religions
  • Direction and spatial cognition
  • Conflict early warning
  • Emerging technologies for teaching and learning
  • OpenCourseWare
  • An implementation of Stephane Zugwang's Virtual Reality Room
  • A mockup of a future engineering building
  • A student-created basketball game

See our wiki for details.

A set of standard Second Life icons and a collection of basic LSL scripts are available for free at our public sandbox area.

Contact: Chris Clark, Assistant Director, Kaneb Center for Teaching and Learning


Vassar College

Vassar Island

We have just started to explore the ways in which virtual environments, such as Second Life, can support and/or enhance the ways in which we educate our students and communicate with our various constituencies. While the role of products such as Second Life in the support of distance education activities seems obvious, Vassar is a traditional residential liberal arts college that does not have a distance education program. Thus, one of the things we will be exploring are the ways in which Seconnd Life can be used in and around traditional classroom instruction. The island is a "proof-of-concept" and is meant to provide a number of different types of spaces to stimulate our on-campus discussions of its possible uses.

People:

  • Bret Ingerman, Vice President for Computing and Information Services
  • Steve Taylor, Director, Academic Computing Services
  • John Collier, Director, User Services
  • Justin Ficurilli, Media Services Technician


Virginia Tech

Immersive Faculty Development and Instructional Technology Outreach ICT Library

Individual efforts are currently focused on continuing to build and maintain the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Library located on Info Island. This building hosts free and commercial resources that educators can use within the Second Life environment. Additionally, training educators how to best use desktop virtual reality in their classrooms, or how to use the SL tools themselves, is provided. The ICT Library is sponsored in part by the Alliance Library System of Illinois, which provides the land on which it sits. Another initiative is the in-world publication, the "SLED Picayune," which covers news, events, and people working in education, museums, and libraries within SL. Virginia Tech School of Education

People:

  • Ross Perkins PhD, Sr. Project Associate, School of Education

Other institutions to be integrated into this list

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