JISC

JISC’s new guide to Second Life is written by lecturers for lecturers, to help others  to use virtual worlds for teaching.

‘Getting Started in Second Life’ answers some common questions like how to set up in Second Life, what the rules of the world are, how to plan lessons and how best to help students use it effectively for learning.

The aim of the guide is to present the basics in order to help lecturers experiment, rather than them getting lost in mastering the detail of the virtual environment.

Lawrie Phipps, JISC programme manager, said: “With more institutions exploiting online learning it is important that JISC provides the tools to ensure that UK institutions remain at the forefront of this area.”

The authors are all lecturers who have used Second Life in their teaching, so the guide is full of examples from their own experiences.

Professor Maggi Savin-Baden, one of the report authors and director of learner innovation at Coventry University, said: ‘In terms of the way UK universities are moving, this guide is extremely timely and it is certainly one we will be promoting worldwide. At Coventry University it has been vital for staff new to using these new spaces.”

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Potential advantages of teaching in Second Life are that lecturers are not limited by physical space in a classroom.  Sessions can be recorded and the online interaction can give confidence to quieter students, which can stimulate more open and reflective discussion than would be possible in a traditional seminar.

Lawrie added: “The Second Life guide will be an important tool in helping lecturers make full use of this exciting medium, and supporting student learning appropriately.”

The idea for a practical handbook came from JISC’s Users and Innovation programme that found the most common challenge in using new and web 2.0 technologies, including Second Life, was getting started. The guide comes at the same time as the final magazine from JISC’s Open Habitat project, an exploration of virtual learning environments in education, centred on a series of teaching sessions with art and design and philosophy students at Oxford and Leeds Metropolitan universities and King’s College London.

David White of Oxford University, who led the project, said: “Virtual worlds are not going to be for everyone but it’s important to understand the genuine pros and cons rather than getting a skewed picture from the media. Teaching in these environments feels more like running an event than simply using a piece of software.  This magazine has been created to help educators make informed choices in their use, or non-use, of virtual worlds for teaching and learning.”

Download your copy of the 'Getting Started in Second Life' guide

Find out more about multi-user virtual environments and order the Open Habitat magazine