What is a Virtual World?
A virtual world is a computer generated environment used to create simulations or places for electronic representations of people ('avatars') to interact in virtual space. An example of a virtual world is 'Second Life' often referred to as simply 'SL'. Other virtual worlds include 'Wonderland' and others - see Wikipedia for more.
Uses for Second Life
Some universities have used Second Life to create a virtual campus that replicates their physical campus, for example that of Sussex University.
Sussex Campus...
Sussex Virtual Lecture Theatre...
The problem with duplicating your campus religiously online is that there is no mystery to the created scenes. It may be better to create a figurative online presence instead, where more emphasis is put on making students think and reflect on more abstract learning objects.
Another use of Second Life might be to create vehicles for people to meet and interact, without the emphasis on social skills (or lack of them) that would be important in the real world. Avatars can be idealised in SL, and people who may have disability or shyness in real life can meet as equals online.
SL can also extend teaching spaces when physical spaces are in short supply, as might be the case for universities expanding during recessionary times, when adding extra physical buildings can't be done as easily.
The Virtual Entrance to UoP Island...
SL can also promote distance learning, or the meeting of university students and staff with employers, as will eventually be the case for the PBS Placements SL Environment.
The Library Entrance...
Virtual buildings can include classrooms, meeting rooms, seminar spaces, relaxation and meditation spaces, and group working spaces. Walls can include overhead projector and video screens, where streaming video plays from servers outside the SL virtual world. In fact, lectures in Second Life can be every bit as rich as those in the real world, with text chat, instant messaging, headset audio, streaming video, PowerPoint slides and website pages all displayed in world.
The PBS Placements Environment
The world created in SL to promote and facilitate access to placements information has only some of the features that eventually it should have.
Currently there is an Employer Engagement Centre, which has a classroom and video wall, with places for avatars to sit and talk.
The second building in the PBS area is the Placements Centre, and this has scope to provide a placements opportunities wall, allowing students to view real time opportunities posted from the real world by Placements Office staff, or by accredited employers.
Inside and Outside the Employer Engagement Centre
The classroom...
PBS World Landscape and Thought Centre...
More Information on Virtual Worlds
To learn more about the involvement with Second Life being constructed by the steering team at the University of Portsmouth, contact:
To learn more about the PBS Placements World within Second Life, contact the project manager:
Rachel Short, Educational Technologist, PBS eLearning Team, X4185.
To learn more about Virtual Worlds in general, please follow the link below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_world
Uses for Second Life
Some universities have used Second Life to create a virtual campus that replicates their physical campus, for example that of Sussex University.
Sussex Campus...
Sussex Virtual Lecture Theatre...
The problem with duplicating your campus religiously online is that there is no mystery to the created scenes. It may be better to create a figurative online presence instead, where more emphasis is put on making students think and reflect on more abstract learning objects.
SL can also extend teaching spaces when physical spaces are in short supply, as might be the case for universities expanding during recessionary times, when adding extra physical buildings can't be done as easily.
The Virtual Entrance to UoP Island...
SL can also promote distance learning, or the meeting of university students and staff with employers, as will eventually be the case for the PBS Placements SL Environment.
The Library Entrance...
Virtual buildings can include classrooms, meeting rooms, seminar spaces, relaxation and meditation spaces, and group working spaces. Walls can include overhead projector and video screens, where streaming video plays from servers outside the SL virtual world. In fact, lectures in Second Life can be every bit as rich as those in the real world, with text chat, instant messaging, headset audio, streaming video, PowerPoint slides and website pages all displayed in world.
The PBS Placements Environment
Inside and Outside the Employer Engagement Centre
The classroom...
PBS World Landscape and Thought Centre...
More Information on Virtual Worlds
To learn more about the involvement with Second Life being constructed by the steering team at the University of Portsmouth, contact:
- Jane Chandler
- Jonathan Crellin
- Emma Duke-Williams
To learn more about the PBS Placements World within Second Life, contact the project manager:
Rachel Short, Educational Technologist, PBS eLearning Team, X4185.
To learn more about Virtual Worlds in general, please follow the link below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_world
