Western Courier

Issue date: 2/29/08 Section: News

Media Credit: www.wiu.edu

Western Illinois University's College of Education and Human Services has recently acquired "land" to enhance its academic offerings. To visit the college's newest site, all one has to do is create an avatar and hop into the world of "Second Life."

Avatar? "Second Life"? Welcome to the 21st century.

"Second Life" (secondlife.com), a 3-D virtual world that opened to the public in 2003, is the size of a small city, with thousands of servers (called simulators) and a resident population of more than 12.4 million and growing. Western's COEHS has leased land (www.slurl.com/secondlife/Teaching%205/204/116/37) on "Second Life" through the New Media Consortium - a group of universities from across the country - to build academic classrooms and centers that will provide virtual learning opportunities for students and meeting space for faculty.

According to Dawn Sweet, COEHS instructional technology systems manager, Leaunda Hemphill, an instructor in instructional design and technology, is currently using "Second Life" to prepare IDT graduate students and their counterparts in China to collaborate on activities related to technology integration in K-12 schools.

"Teachers can use 'Second Life' for such events as virtual field trips, role playing, re-creating worlds and so much more," Sweet added. "For example, Lincoln's boyhood home re-created in 'Second Life' would allow educators to take their students to this land to learn more about Lincoln's childhood; students learning about social responsibility can visit such sites as Camp Darfur and other islands that illustrate social responsibility at work."

COEHS's foray into the virtual world started during the Fall 2007 Semester when college officials participated in a college fair on "Teen Second Life." From there, the college began exploring virtual uses for the academic realm.

"I'm interested in using virtual worlds, specifically 'Second Life,' to create richer learning experiences for my students beyond the flat Web environment I currently use," Hemphill said.

"There is currently a debate among educators whether or not it is worth the effort of preparing learners and teachers to use the environment as the steep learning curve. Increased hardware and connectivity requirements are just a few of the issues that need to be considered. In my IDT 534, Issues in Instructional Technology and Professional Development for Educators, course, we will be reviewing these issues as well as the professional development opportunities in 'Second Life' for teachers," she added.

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