I have toured over 100 university, education and training sites in Second Life.  This has been a valuable, rich experience for me which has demonstrated the positive potential of Second Life as a platform for education and leaning by engaging students in active learning that builds upon their skills, interests and knowledge. 

What follows is at least a partial list of universities that I have visited.  Photos of these sites may also be viewed in Facebook on the Virtual Worlds Assessment Group page.  These photos are not tagged, there are hundreds of them...if you see your university please tag it. 


My proposal is that through the research a rich resource will be developed that will provide an educators, institution, and other information on how to best design an engaging learning environment in virtual worlds in general and Second Life Specifically.

1.      University of West Scotland
2.      Northeastern University
3.      University of Idaho
4.      Minnesota State University
5.      Eastern Iowa Community College
6.      Rachelleville and Imagination Island
7.      Meteor--Elearning
8.      University of Sidney
9.      Phaarmacy Medicine
10.    American Business College
11.    Henry Ford Community College
12.    Lighthouse Learning Island
13.    College of Northwest London
14.    Waseda
15.    VIO
16.    Wexler Education
18.    Berkley Training Group
19.    University of Pottsdamn
20.    Ball State
21.    Georgia State University
22.    College of Dupage
23.    Texas A & M
24.    UT -- In development
25.    Post Graduate Medical and Dental
26.    University of Southern Denmark
27.    Woodbury University
28.    Nova South Eastern
29.    University Telematic
30.    Central Piedmont Community College
31.    University of Iowa
32.    European University
33.    University of Hertfordshire
34.    University at Albany
35.    SUNY Learning Network (several colleges)
36.    Queens University
37.    University of Strathclyde Business School
38.     Clarkson
39.    University of Vienna
40.    Kelly Education Partners
41.    Marshall University
42.    McGill University Library
43.    Old Queens Campus
44.    Online Virtual University
45.    University of Wisconsin--Stout
46.    U21 Global Campus
47.    Rockcliffe
48.    University of Cincinnati
49.    University of Toulson
50.    University of Texas-Austin
51.    USC Marshall
52.    Bowling Green University
53.    Champlain College Graduate Center
59.     University of North Carolina -- Pembroke
60.    Gennessee Community College
61.    Monroe Community College--Dept of Music
62.    CPA Island
63.    AIM Columbia
64.    Bradley University
65.    Central TX College
66.    Miami University
67.    Australia Commonwealth Scientific Research and Organization
68.    Johnson and Wales
69.    Griffith University
70.    Illinois State
71.    Kansas State University
72.    Plattsburgh
73.    Telecom Universities
74.    University of Hawaii
75.    University of
76.    Youngstown
77.    University of Western Australia
78.    North Carolina State Wolflands
79.    St. Charles university
80.    iSpace-FSU
81.    Victoria University
82.    Lancaster University
83.    University of Southern Maine
84.    South Dakota State University
85.    Black Hills State University
86.    Toulouse University
87.    Lafeyette College
88.    Ohio Learning Network
89.    Berkman--Harvard Campus
90.    Colorado Technical Class Location
91.    Glidden Campus---Northern Illinois University
92.    Kansas State University
93.    University of Nebraska OK
94.    University of Deleware
95.    University of AZ
96.    Univeristy of TX---Dallas
97.    University of New Orleans
98.    Louisiana Board of Regents
99.    Front Range Community College
100.  Imagilearning
101.  Train For Success---Gronstedt Group
102.  University of Caledon---Oxbridge
103.  Saint Leo University
104.  Minnesota State University -- Moorhead
105.  James Madison University
106.  University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee
107.  CESL -Counselor Education Second Life
108.  Montclair State University
109.  Sprotts Shaw












          

As I  have considered the use of Second Life (SL) as a platform or 'content delivery" medium I came to the realization that we cannot really  determine the potential  or effectiveness of Second Life for learning/education until we can define what SL is and what it does.   How we define Second Life will prove to be the foundation upon which  education approaches the virutal world.  The institution should understand the potential of  Second Life as a framework for their campus activities, to enhance student learning, improve the quality of distance education delivery, and provide a venue upon which the instructor can delivery their knowledge and course content with confidence knowing that students are achieving the established learning outcomes for the course.

The definitions of what Second Life is varies depending on who is identifying it Linden Labs defines Second Life as a place to connect, shop, work, love, explore, be different, ..further definitions are that it is "a online 3D virtual world imagined and designed by you. From the moment you enter Second Life, you’ll discover a universe brimming with people and possibilities..." Other definitions are as varied as the sites where I found them such as WiseGeek, "Second Life is a three-dimensional virtual community created entirely by its membership. Members assume an identity and take up residence in Second Life, creating a customized avatar or personage to represent themselves. The avatar moves about in the virtual world using mouse control and intuitive keyboard buttons." 

A richer definition comes from the Diplomacy Island website regarding their current roll out of a Second Life presence:   "Second Life ( SL) is an Internet-based virtual world .... The users, or Residents, interact with each other through mobile avatars, providing an advanced level of social network services. They can explore, meet other Residents, socialize, participate in educational and social activities both individually and in groups, and create and trade virtual property and services with one another."


The author of the Second Life Grid, Kimberly Rufer-Bach defines Second Life as:  " a platform that provide users the ability to create public or secure 3D online virtual spaces or to visit and use spaces created by others. As she stated in her book, she found that,  that good projects for the grid are immersive, interactive, and social.  SL offers 3D Graphics, the option to communicate via text or voice, customer immersive environments (which can be developed inexpensively and quickly) pre-exising content,a community of educators and Residents, streaming media, and the ability to log in from anywhere to interact with people far away. "



From Ultraviolit the definition is:  that Second Life is  100% end user driven, and participation is required in everything from designing and building the world to exploring and interacting with it. Second Life represents a view of a true virtual participation economy, one that is global, 24x7, and is useful for everything from real world business to user built gaming to fantasy role play and everything in between.


From PC Magazine Encyclopedia:  A virtual world on the Internet from Linden Research, Inc., San Francisco, CA (www.lindenlab.com), in which "residents" create an identity, meet people, buy land and build their own environment or purchase an existing one. It is a "massively multi-player online role playing game" (MMORPG), but one that offers users total freedom to create and interact as if they were living another life. Playing the game requires a client download for Windows, Mac or Linux.
 

From Virtual Worlds Review the definition is that "Second Life is a highly imaginative, creative environment...  the (creative nature) conveys the idea that this is more of a rich, complex online experience



The editors of the Journal of Virtual World Research presented that "Multi-User Virtual Environments (MUVEs) such as Second Life®, OpenSim and Active Worlds (http://www.activeworlds.com/) offer new collaboration and immersed teaching and learning opportunities..."



From his article Jace Hargis from his article in the Turkish Journal of Distance Education defines Second Life (SL) is a three dimensional virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents, which has become a trend with the Web 2.0 electronic social approach. Other social mechanism include collaboration tools...with further observations that... the potential for community building, networking, socialization, and life-long learning become evident.

Daniel Terdiman states in his book The Entrepreneur's guide to Second Life, that "Second Life has many of the characteristics of the real world...it is still just virtual reality.  It's really just ones and zeroes. It's stored on servers, its representations of people are often rudimentary, and even its economic activity is conducted in a make believe currency...."

Common themes are apparent in these..creative, 3D, social, collaborative, is immersive..allows for creating through building, scripting,etc...it allows for networking, interacting with others  As a designer plans a virtual presence for a college or university in SL these are all things that should be taken in to consideration.  Once the site is in place then activities should be planned around these activities.

There are several features of Second Life that a student needs to be familiar with  or understand how to manage in order to effectively learn in the environment.  Primary of these are, in my opinion, communication, navigation, how to manipulate the environment and changing the appearance of the avatar.  There are features of Second Life that allows the learner to engage the environment in the creative learning process these include scripting, building and some things as fundamental as writing on note-cards. 

Some of the basic activities of communication include those actuvuutes such as following local chat, how to use the local chat and window and using instant messaging to talk with others as well as responding to another person using local chat.  If a student is in a group with other students then they should  understand the use of the group chat feature and how messaging the group means that his/her message is broadcast to everyone in the group.  As the student's knowledge and time in world grows he/she may seek out and find groups to participate in which share his/her personal and professional interests.   The student should also be aware of and be comfortable with the fact that when out in some public areas such as sandboxes, orientations areas and shopping that strangers may"instant message" them students need to understand that they can choose to respond to these unsolicited messages or not.   

Students should also understand the use of voice in Second Life, when it is appropriate or when it is not.  Interestingly a conversation among Second Life users on Twitter also underscored the appropriate and  inappropriate use of voice chat in second life.  This group noted that "voice is good for lectures, debates, and live stage performances,"  to this I will add that there are times when private group chats/discussions are beneficial if done in voice chat.  Using voice chat can be compared to public speaking, not everyone is comfortable to "talking" in Second Life in much the same way they are not comfortable to presenting in front of an audience.  This comfort level may be impacted in how well the student knows the other members of the group. 

In addition  Second Life, like many other similar programs, is not without it's own unique "language," a site maintained by Second Life provides information on these unique terms at this Second Life Wiki.  Having an awareness of these terms will allow the student to better communicate with more knowledgeable Second Life users with confidence as well as understand the  history and  "behind the scenes" operations of Second Life

Tied to communication is the identify and appearance of one's avatar.  Did the student choose the avatar's name with care and consideration to how that defines his/her identity, what is the image of the avatar overall and how comfortable is the student in altering that appearance.  The student has many options in how he/she wants to project their image in Second Life.  In addition to human avatars he/she may want to be a robot, a furry, a tiny, or any other possible avatars, the only limitation is his/her imagination. 

Feeling comfortable in how to navigate in the environment is also essential to student learning.  The "duck" walk that avatars initially have in Second Life is not only awkward looking but, at least in my experience, makes it difficult to accurately walk directly to a target. There are "animation override" tools available, some for free, that allows the learner to alter his/her walk in order to provide for a smoother walk.  These are for local navigation.  Navigating across "sims,"  teleporting and allowing others to teleport you are essential to participating in the environment as well.  Using and understanding the map and search function in Second Life are also essential to navigation.  These tools allow for exploration and navigation grid wide and help the student better grasp the structure of Second Life, how people are using the environment, and use Second Life for experiences beyond the classroom.

These are, in my opinion and experience of helping newbies in Second Life, basic elements of being in the environment.  Advanced activities include taking advantage of the creative opportunities in Second Life including building and scripting.  There are also opportunities to work  in world, take part in role play, as well as buy and sell land.  Of course shopping is always fun!

Resources are available to educators and people interested in learning more about Second Life. Ater my initial entry I was  not comfortable in being in world until after I read Second Life for Dummies, other books I have read include Second Life Grid, and Second Life Entrepreneurship, and reviewed the Second Life website.   In addition to that site there are many blogs, Second Life users on Twitter, and websites such as this one:  http://www.sltriptips.com/ that would be of help to new users in Second Life.

I am excited to see the growth and potential for higher education in Second Life.   I have spent several hours in the last week just touring university sites in Second Life and I have to say, given that we are in the beginning stages of recognizing the potential for education in virtual worlds that what I am seeing is exciting.  One of the better developed Universities in Second Life is that of the University of Hertfordshire.  There are some interesting interactive displays, evidence of activities, and some good models of builds that lend themselves very well to the Second Life environment. 

This site has a demonstration of a wind tunnel which is described as:

            The wind tunnel is completely interactive - Build an object on the orange platform and press the green button to turn on the particle stream. You will see the different collisions that can occur  and, in doing so, understand how air flow is             measured inside a real tunnel.  (retrieved from Second Life note card at the University of Hertfordshire)


            Another good demonstration at the University of Hertfordshire is the Biocomputation area, further information, and activities are available for the Adaptive Research Group and Universe.
 


This type of build allows for an economical way for universities to demonstrate the operations of a piece of equipment that they may not be able to purchase in "real life," however one that may be easily replicated in Second Life.  The slurl for the University of Hertfordshire is here:  http://slurl.com/secondlife/Uni%20of%20Herts/41/218/26  For more in depth information on the activities of the University of Hertfordshire I would suggest watching their videos a this link.

Another good example of a University is site is that of the Kelly Executive Partner's site.  This is a new site in Second Life, the website for Kelly Executive Partners is as follows:  http://www.kelleyevents.com/, slurl for Kelly Executive Partners can be found by clicking on the highlighted link.   This in world site makes good use of inworld videos and providing information  Kelly Executive Partners is the business school affiliated with Indiana State University.     According to the website, "Kelley Executive Partners is one of the world's leading innovators in executive education," they will be key to watch for best practices in virtual world's education and training.   The associated Second Life Site for Kelly Executives Partners is found by clicking on the highlighted link. 


I have looked at several other universities and more postings on universities will be coming up, however for the sake of brevity I will identify one final site and that is European University.   The associated website for European University is found here:
http://simteach.net/eui/ ...  European University also has a Facebook site here:  http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5359384823   Check out the activities of European University in world and out!

The intent of this posting was to provide an overview of the book Learning and Teaching in the virtual World of Second Life, Edited by Judith Molka-Danielsen and Mats Deutschmann. From the book jacked this book is described as covering "the experiences and lessons learned in educational projects undertaken by the editors in Second Life.  The book provides a road-map on issues of instructional design, learner modelling, building simulations, exploring alternatives to design and integrating tools in education with other learning systems. 

As I read the book I became interested in learning more about the teaching and learning methods they presented in the book these included Active Learning, Action Learning, Social Constructivism, the Ecological Approach to learning, as I considered these I thought of some others that may also apply; experiential learning, applied learning, problem based learning

Andragogy identifies the following regarding adult learners:

1. Adults have the need to know why they are learning something.
2. Adults learn through doing.
3. Adults are problem-solvers.
4. Adults learn best when the subject is of immediate use.

Further observations are as follows:

            

Principles:

1. Adults need to be involved in the planning and evaluation of their instruction.

2. Experience (including mistakes) provides the basis for learning activities.

3. Adults are most interested in learning subjects that have immediate relevance to their job or personal life.

4. Adult learning is problem-centered rather than content-oriented.

Constructivism:

 

 

The main theme of constructivism is that learning is an active process. This activity or experience allows learners to construct new ideas or concepts based on their current or past knowledge.

 

 

1. Learner's predisposition to learning
2. Ways in which knowledge can be structured so that it can be readily grasped by the learner
3. Most effective sequence for presenting information
4. Nature and pacing of instruction, rewards and punishments
5. Encourage ownership in learning
6. Social interaction and learning as communal activities

Further principles are defined as follows:

1. Instruction must be concerned with the experiences and contexts that make the student willing and able to learn (readiness).
2. Instruction must be structured so that it can be easily grasped by the student (spiral organization).
3. Instruction should be designed to facilitate extrapolation and or fill in the gaps (going beyond the information given).(retrieved from http://www.ettc.net/tech/adultlearning/constructivism.htm)

Social Learning Theory:       emphasizes the importance of observing and modeling the behaviors, attitudes, and emotional reactions of others


According to the author of the article in the book on pedagogical design:  The New Learning and Teaching Environment, Judith Molk-Danielsen, PhD..."educational or teaching models based on Social Constructivism will emphasize collaboration among learners and with educators." 

1.  The highest level of observational learning is achieved by first organizing and rehearsing the modeled behavior symbolically and then enacting it overtly. Coding modeled behavior into words, labels or images results in better            retention than simply observing.
2. Individuals are more likely to adopt a modeled behavior if it results in outcomes they value.
3. Individuals are more likely to adopt a modeled behavior if the model is similar to the observer and has admired status and the behavior has functional value.

According to Stanley Frielick in his presentation  Beyond constructivism: An ecological approach to e-learning the key idea is that teaching/learning is an ecosystemic process of transforming information into knowledge, in which teacher, subject and student relationships are embedded or situated in a context where complex interacting influences shape the quality of learning outcomes. 


Experiential based learning:

The principles of experiential learning are as follows;

Principles:

 

 

1. Significant learning takes place when the subject matter is relevant to the personal interests of the student

2. Learning which is threatening to the self (e.g., new attitudes or perspectives) are more easily assimilated when external threats are at a minimum

3. Learning proceeds faster when the threat to the self is low

4. Self-initiated learning is the most lasting and pervasive.(retrieved from http://tip.psychology.org/rogers.html)

Finally I felt that Problem Based Learning could also apply to the virtual world/Second Life:

Problem Based Learning may be characterized by

Problem Based Learning:

• Learning is driven by challenging, open-ended problems.
• Students work in small collaborative groups.
• Teachers take on the role as "facilitators" of learning.
• Accordingly, students are encouraged to take responsibility for their group and organize and direct the learning process with support from a tutor or instructor. Advocates of PBL claim it can be used to enhance content knowledge and foster the development of communication, problem-solving, and self-directed learning skill.  (retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problem-based_learning)