Virtual or Virtually U: Educational Institutions in Second Life
Educational institutions are increasingly exploring the affordances of 3D virtual worlds for instruction and research, but few studies have been done to document current practices and uses of this emerging technology. This observational survey examines the virtual presences of 170 accredited educational institutions found in one such 3D virtual world called Second Life®, created by San- Francisco based Linden Lab®. The study focuses on what educational institutions look like in this virtual environment, the types of spaces educational institutions are creating or simulating, and what types of activities are being conducted.
[1] College of Communication, Ohio University, The GRID Lab: The
Game Research and Immersive Design Lab (Online.). Available:
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[2] University of Bath. Media Technology Research Centre (Online.).
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[3] New Media Consortium. (2006, August 1). About the NMC (Online).
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[6] New Media Consortium. (2007, March 8). 2007 Horizon Report.
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[7] E. Rogers, Diffusion of innovations. New York, NY: Free Press of
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[8] G. Moore, Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling Technology
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[9] W. H. Geoghegan, "Whatever happened to instructional technology"
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[11] Second Life (2007, July 25). Second Life (Online). Available:
http://secondlife.com
[12] Long Now Foundation, The North American Premiere of 77 Million
Paintings by Brian Eno (Online.). Available:
http://www.longnow.org/77m
[13] Guardian Media, Secondfest (Online.) Available:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/secondfest
[14] Red An Orchestra, (Online.). Available:
http://www.redanorchestra.org/secondlifehome.cfm
[15] The Second Life Best Practices in Education: Teaching, Learning, and
Research 2007 International Conference (Online.) Available:
http://slbestpractices2007.wikispaces.com/
[16] Dell, Dell Enters the Metaverse (Online.) Available:
http://www.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/corp/conversations/en/2
006_11_14?c=us&l=en&s=corp
[17] M. Gross, (2006, November 3), It-s My (Virtual) World. New York
Times, (Online.) Available:
http://travel.nytimes.com/2006/11/03/travel/escapes/03second.html
[18] A. Reuters, (2006, November 9), IBM accelerates push into 3D virtual
worlds. Reuters, (Online.) Available:
http://secondlife.reuters.com/stories/2006/11/09/ibm-accelerates-pushinto-
3d-virtual-worlds/
[19] Alliance Library System, (Online.) Available:
http://alliancelibraries.info/secondlife.htm
[20] B. Read, (2006, August 29), Second Life keeps chugging along. The
Chronicle of Higher Education, (Online.) Available:
http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/1529/second-life-keepschugging-
along
[21] G. M. Lamb, (2006, October 5), At colleges, real learning in a virtual
world. USA Today, (Online.) Available:
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/gaming/2006-10-05-second-lifeclass_
x.htm
[22] Gartner. (2007, April 24). Gartner Says 80 Percent of Active Internetusers
will have a "Second Life" in the Virtual World by the End of 2011
(Online.). Available: http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=503861
[23] W. Roush. (2007, July/August). Second Earth. Technology Review
(Online.). Available:
http://www.technologyreview.com/printer_friendly_article.aspx?id=189
11
[24] D. G. Oblinger and J. L. Oblinger. (2005, June 23) Educating the Net
Generation (Online). Available:
http://www.educause.edu/educatingthenetgen
[1] College of Communication, Ohio University, The GRID Lab: The
Game Research and Immersive Design Lab (Online.). Available:
http://gridlab.ohio.edu.
[2] University of Bath. Media Technology Research Centre (Online.).
Available: http://www.bath.ac.uk/media/
[3] New Media Consortium. (2006, August 1). About the NMC (Online).
Available: http://www.nmc.org/about
[4] C. Lagorio. (2007, January 7). Pepperdine in a treehouse. New York
Times, Section 4A, p. 22.
[5] Campus Computing Project. (2000, October). The 2000 National Survey
of Information Technology in US Higher Education. Available:
http://www.campuscomputing.net/pdf/2000-CCP.pdf
[6] New Media Consortium. (2007, March 8). 2007 Horizon Report.
(Online).Available: http://www.nmc.org/pdf/2007_Horizon_Report.pdf
[7] E. Rogers, Diffusion of innovations. New York, NY: Free Press of
Glencoe, 1962.
[8] G. Moore, Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling Technology
Products to Mainstream Customers. New York, NY: Harper Business,
1991.
[9] W. H. Geoghegan, "Whatever happened to instructional technology"
presented at the 22nd Annual Conference of the International Business
Schools Computing Association, Baltimore, MD, 1994
[10] Long Now Foundation, (2006, November 30). Interview at the Cowell
Theatre in San Francisco, CA with Philip Rosedale (Online). Available:
http://fora.tv/searchresults.php?keywordsearch=rosedale&page=1
[11] Second Life (2007, July 25). Second Life (Online). Available:
http://secondlife.com
[12] Long Now Foundation, The North American Premiere of 77 Million
Paintings by Brian Eno (Online.). Available:
http://www.longnow.org/77m
[13] Guardian Media, Secondfest (Online.) Available:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/secondfest
[14] Red An Orchestra, (Online.). Available:
http://www.redanorchestra.org/secondlifehome.cfm
[15] The Second Life Best Practices in Education: Teaching, Learning, and
Research 2007 International Conference (Online.) Available:
http://slbestpractices2007.wikispaces.com/
[16] Dell, Dell Enters the Metaverse (Online.) Available:
http://www.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/corp/conversations/en/2
006_11_14?c=us&l=en&s=corp
[17] M. Gross, (2006, November 3), It-s My (Virtual) World. New York
Times, (Online.) Available:
http://travel.nytimes.com/2006/11/03/travel/escapes/03second.html
[18] A. Reuters, (2006, November 9), IBM accelerates push into 3D virtual
worlds. Reuters, (Online.) Available:
http://secondlife.reuters.com/stories/2006/11/09/ibm-accelerates-pushinto-
3d-virtual-worlds/
[19] Alliance Library System, (Online.) Available:
http://alliancelibraries.info/secondlife.htm
[20] B. Read, (2006, August 29), Second Life keeps chugging along. The
Chronicle of Higher Education, (Online.) Available:
http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/1529/second-life-keepschugging-
along
[21] G. M. Lamb, (2006, October 5), At colleges, real learning in a virtual
world. USA Today, (Online.) Available:
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/gaming/2006-10-05-second-lifeclass_
x.htm
[22] Gartner. (2007, April 24). Gartner Says 80 Percent of Active Internetusers
will have a "Second Life" in the Virtual World by the End of 2011
(Online.). Available: http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=503861
[23] W. Roush. (2007, July/August). Second Earth. Technology Review
(Online.). Available:
http://www.technologyreview.com/printer_friendly_article.aspx?id=189
11
[24] D. G. Oblinger and J. L. Oblinger. (2005, June 23) Educating the Net
Generation (Online). Available:
http://www.educause.edu/educatingthenetgen
@article{"International Journal of Business, Human and Social Sciences:60390", author = "Nancy Jennings and Chris Collins", title = "Virtual or Virtually U: Educational Institutions in Second Life", abstract = "Educational institutions are increasingly exploring the affordances of 3D virtual worlds for instruction and research, but few studies have been done to document current practices and uses of this emerging technology. This observational survey examines the virtual presences of 170 accredited educational institutions found in one such 3D virtual world called Second Life®, created by San- Francisco based Linden Lab®. The study focuses on what educational institutions look like in this virtual environment, the types of spaces educational institutions are creating or simulating, and what types of activities are being conducted.
", keywords = "educational technology, emerging technology,
metaverse, Second Life, virtual worlds", volume = "1", number = "11", pages = "708-7", }
