First Office Hour!

Today I held my first Biochemistry office hour in SL. After numerous e-mails in which I had requested free space for this use, I had decided to meet students at the CVL learning lab. This was the announcement that I posted on eCompanion:

Second Life: How to begin

Become a free member in Second Life. You can do this at http://secondlife.com

• Download the Second Life viewer. http://secondlife.com/beta-viewer/

• Once you are logged in, you will find yourself on Orientation Island. Once here, you may get distracted customizing your avatar J However, feel free to attend office hours in whatever outfit you like. It may be beneficial to spend a bit of time on Orientation Island learning how to walk, fly and teleport.

• In order to attend office hours, just click on the following Second Life URL called a slurl. http://slurl.com/secondlife/Info%20Island/111/226/32

• Once you have clicked on the slurl, a box will pop up in your Second Life Viewer and you can click on teleport. I will wait for you here!

My Avatar’s name is Serratia Warcliffe. This is a picture of Serratia in the learning space where we will meet.

• Please note that I am also still a relative “noobie” on SL. The reason that I want to hold office hours here in addition to those on Elluminate is to mimic a sense of physical presence. We can discuss topics and talk about homework problems. However, I am still learning and we will learn together

At first it was pretty disheartening because no-one showed up. But, then after about half hour, someone did come. I was able to chat with him and show him around Amino World and the virtual cell on Genome island. I tried the audio but he was unable to hear. I will play around with this a bit to see if it is my sound or something else?? In just this single meeting I already feel closer to the one student who came. I somehow gained a feeling for his personality and since he is one of 90 in class this summer, his coming to this single office hour will greatly distinguish him!

Session on Performing Qualitative Interviews in SL

On Wednesday evening (June 9th), I attended a session on Interviewing in SL. It was a round table discussion on CAVE island (ARVEL group meeting place http://www.arvelsig.com/). I was a few minutes late as I struggled a bit to find it but I made it right after the introductions. Discussion ranged from whether to use text chat or audio for interviews to the need for some standard protocol to approach IRBs for in world research.

Some thoughts as to why one might choose to perform interviews in SL as opposed to RL:

1) Broader sample - diversity

2) Sense of presence - better than other social media

3) Individuals are free (as is the researcher) to show an imaginative representation of self - I would argue that one's avatar may even represent that person to a greater extent than their actual self?? - hmm this is one to consider

Someone mentioned the author Dennis Beck - writes about avatar presentation

*There was additional conversation regarding public vs. private envs and whether this is different on SL?

There was discussion as to whether the information in one's profile should be accessed / whether special permission is needed on IRB for this?

Seems to be lots of disagreement on IRB - no standardized procedure - ARVEL may work on pulling something together

A good suggestion that came up was to, as a researcher, create a blog or something of that nature describing yourself and your project - this could put participants at ease and allow them to understand your research goals - see you as a professional. I wonder if this could be done within SL?

The presenter for the session was Soleil Lemondrop. Though she was not a phenomenal presenter, I very much appreciated her expertise and was impressed with her willingness to engage attendees.

Still Exploring

A brief exploration in Second Life today took me to a new slurl. It is a Gender resource island and I was able to join Gender Square. My hope is to improve connections with LGBT/Q ... populations within Second Life. I also found a good orientation web site for individuals seeking Virtual Ability in SL: http://virtualability.org/default.aspx

And... wait for it... I finally updated to the new SL browser. It is going to take a while to get used to it. I have to figure out how to stop the music that comes with every environment. While in some cases it's very nice, in many cases I really like the ambient sounds instead.

Finally, I think I've found free space to hold biochemistry office hours this summer. It is an island for Cooperative Extension (Land Grant Universities) - I'll be back soon with more on that...

A Presentation about the SL

Yesterday (May 27th) I presented about the education opportunities within SL. It was the monthly meeting for the Distance Learning Guild through Outreach Credit Programs. I found myself overflowing with excitement and information and I hope that I didn't bore everyone too much. A recording of the presentation can be found at:

https://sas.elluminate.com/site/external/jwsdetect/playback.jnlp?sid=2008263&psid=2010-05-27.1125.M.01D163CEFA144D87944066110C60B7.vcr

*Do note that a bit of the beginning of the presentation was missed!

Final Paper

I am always uncomfortable to say that a paper is really complete. It goes without saying that many more hours of work could be spent. However, at some point, after many hours have already been invested, one reaches a point of equilibrium and calls the work finished... for now.

Here is a link to the paper: A Whole New World for Teaching and Learning: Exploring Educational (Teaching and Research) Opportunities in Second Life

http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B_V7ghXFuSA_ZTY3MmU0ZmEtZWZlMS00OTU5LTlmZmQtZTRhZTY2M2FmODUx&hl=en

Final Paper Draft

By Rachel Watson
I have been working on the draft of my final paper summarizing teaching and learning possibilities observed in Second Life. It has been a time consuming process yet I have found it very rewarding as I have been able to intertwine my own experiences in Second Life with text book coverage and literature discussions.
The draft to which I am linking here is just that, a draft. Work still remains to be done on the latter portion and I have not polished the references. I did want to link to it here, partly for anyone to glance at if you'd like, but mostly as a record of my progress.

Link: http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B_V7ghXFuSA_Yzc5OTVjMTQtZjUzZi00YzUxLTk1OGItYThlN2I1MDNmMmMw&hl=en

Educational Possibilities in Second Life - a table summary

Today I began preparing to summarize the educational possibilities that I have observed in Second Life. Towards those ends, I created the following table. It is in draft form but certainly brings together much of what I have learned and discovered in this independent learning project:

Educational Possibility	Ellaboration of examples I observed and descriptions of regions in Second Life (SL) where these teaching / learning strategies are already being implemented	Theory in Literature
Connect with individuals (fellow learners / practicioners / researchers) in geographically distant locations	Within SL one can join groups which immediately allow an affiliation with individuals with like interests. I very quickly joined the Distance Educators Group and receive information on events and resources for distance educators within SL. This included the announcement for the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education Confernce that I attended on March 12th and 13th (http://www.vwbpe.org/ ). I continue to receive announcments for round table discussions and presentations. There are also sims (regions) within SL that provide a place to connect with fellow scholars. One such example is EdTech Island (EdTech (154, 200, 24)) where those interested in educational technology can collect resources and be invited to join groups such as the Distance Educators Group mentioned above.	Rymaszewski et al. p. 11
Active participation (physical presence) in a normally inaccessible event / time period / geographically removed or inaccessible location	Perhaps the most poignant examples that I encountered were those on Bowling Green State University (BGSU) Interaction Island [BGSU Interaction (1, 253, 33). Here, one can visit a planetarium of the solar system in which it is possible to literally walk by each planet and touch it. Also on this island is an Australian Herpetology exhibit where I was introduced to everything from the thick tailed Gecko to the Green Tree Python. Another region that showcases this possibility, is Wyoming Entrepreneur (161, 42, 24). Here I was able to attend a Native American Art show that I otherwise would never have been able to attend in the geographically-distant Yellowstone National Park. It was also in this region that I felt a bit of experiencing a different time period as I rode a horse through the tall grass of the prairie!
Attend academic conferences	Many professional conferences occur in SL. I attended the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education Conference. Please see the following URL for more information: http://www.vwbpe.org/
Access diverse cultures / minority subcultures	I was interested in LGBT/Q spaces and thus located several regions of note: Gay and LGBT Resource Center, Sutherland (15, 12, 89) and Provincetown (112, 137, 29). However, upon visiting Health Info Island (122, 147, 23), I also encountered Disability Island.	Aldrich p. 50, Rymaszewski et al. p. 44
Space for underserved groups of learners	Virtual learning environments can make it easier to find groups of learners who may be excluded from traditional educational systems: Disability island (above) “People with disabilities inhabit virtual worlds in higher proportions than real worlds” (Slide in Virtual Ability Gazebo)
Cost-free learning	Anyone with access to a computer may start a Second Life
Office hours	For online classes, office hours can be held in Second Life. This can enhance the sense of physical presence which is often lacking in online education.
Provide context to the learning activity and thus enhance emotional involvement	UC Davis's Virtual Hallucinations (http://slurl.com/secondlife/sedig/27/45/22/) is a simulation that allows one to hear the voices and have the visual hallucinations that an individual with schizophrenia would experience. As expected, it was an intense and disturbing experience. However, it will not be quickly forgotten and certainly heightened my awareness about schizophrenia. Another good example of a contextualized learning experience was Story Quest Island (115, 247, 21). In this quest, one learns about living with HIV and dying from AIDS by visiting the home of Uncle D.	Aldrich (p. 6) Emotional involvement triggers memory!
Provide context with the goal of lowering learner tension	In nearly every educational space on Second Life, the ambience is one that promotes relaxation. There are usually birds singing, green trees and welcoming signs and furnishings. This is part of what makes me feel that learning in SL is a "guilty pleasure". The BGSU Interaction island and particularly the Butterfly Pavilian on this island (BGSU Interaction, 204, 30, 26) seemed a poignant example of how context can lower tension.	When tension is lowered, learning assessment is more realistic (Aldrich p. 25-26)
Make and display art / creative design / architecture and machinima	Art, design and overall creativity is central to Second Life. Some spaces are designed simply to show beautiful creations (greenhouse island (63, 113, 22)) but in many education sims, art students create and display their work (BGSU Interaction (1, 253, 33) ). Machinima is the art of making films in Second Life. This has the dual learning application of being a learning experience to make the film but also the film may have an educational message.	Showcases the user-generated content of SL (Aldrich p. 57, Rymaszewski et al. p. 3) also show-cases possibility for learner to take something away from the experience - artifacts (Aldrich, p. 68)
Art to bring writing to life	In her VWBPE session entitled Abstract Thoughts to Concrete Examples:Transferring Student Essays to the Virtual Realm in Second Life, Francis Rawlslyn allowed her atendees to tour her island on which students in her literature course had created places about which they had written. The creations were truly detailed and advanced and really illustrated (brought to life) their writing.
Learning a second Language	At the VWBPE conference, the Virtual Language Resource Center (VLRC) sim project was introduced. This sim is a region to which students can go to learn the English by doing day-to-day tasks.
Access to health and nutrition guidance / infectious disease	On the Centers for Disease Control Island (191, 86, 22) one can garner information on the current H1N1 pandemic, sexually-transmitted diseases, workplace safety, emergency preparedness and resources to find family planning clinics. There are striking photos of pathogens ranging from Escherichia coli 0157:H7 to Streptococcus. Another island called Health info Island (122, 147, 23) provides a Heart Healthy Pavilion that had up-to-date information on eating to promote heart function. There were information slides on CPR and a Virtual Ability Gazebo.
Clinical Simulations	At the VWBPE conference, I attended several sessions regarding the possibility of clinical simulations in SL. A safe but realistic environment can be provided, one in which students can learn by exploring and interaction. Students can learn to read vital sign machines and fetal monitors. The presenters noted an increase in student engagement.	HIVEs can allow for failure and this is an important part of learning (Aldrich, p. 4)
Continuing Medical Education for practicioners	At the VWBPE conference, Heyden, Wiecha and Dorland (2010) reported on the use of a medical education pilot study in SL. A coach was provided and the family practicioners practiced with a virtual patient. http://www.vwbpe.org/files/LETTERS_SATURDAY/Saturday_1300_East_1.pdf
Access to technologies / tools that might otherwise be prohibited by cost or limited production	Called Genome Island (79, 160, 67), it offers learning opportunities for students studying all aspects of genetics from molecular to large organismal. There is an Abbey and Garden in honor of Mendel, a Tower with molecular, human, bacterial and drosophila genetics. There is a garden of prokaryotic genetics (including the Plasmid Patio)! For those with interests in larger animals, there is a cattery and a bunny hutch. If, however, you are in search of more molecular methods, you will not be disappointed as there is a DNA analysis room, complete with virtual lab procedures (PCR, DNA sequencing and electrophoresis). Or, for a slightly different “flavor” of molecular, there is a bioinformatics kitchen.
Virtual labs	The best virtual labs that I encountered can be found on Genome Island (79, 160, 67). Avatars can interact with PCR apparati (e.g. a thermocycler) as well as DNA sequencing tools and media / reagents. Some virtual laboratory environments can be found on Centers for Disease Control Island (191, 86, 22) though they lack interactivity.
Virtual Crime scenes	At the VWBPE, Dr. Donald Lehman, Debbie Jeffers and Chad Sherman presented on the design and development of a virtual crime scene and corresponding lab for a capstone experience in a forensics course.
Molecular modeling	Some possibilities for amino acid / peptide models can be seen at: Amino World – ACS (88, 26, 83)
Green Learning	In all cases, learning in SL limits consumables used ranging from paper to laboratory supplies.	Aldrich p. 48
Predictive modeling of change	This is a broad possibility, as instructors could design sims in SL to show students ramificaitons of actions. One specific idea would be the evantual impact of global warming.	Allow the learner to see impacts of action. (Aldrich, pp. 21-37)
Self-paced learning	All of the learning opportunites of which I partook were self-paced. For me, this lowered anxiety and made learning more fun!	Aldrich p. 69
Self actualization	In choosing the physical appearance / mannerisms / gender and even species of one's avatar, one must reflect on one's own nature. This process can be an internal learning experience.	Gender in Second Life (Rymaszewski et al., p. 14, Yee, 2004, p. gender-bending)
Educational Research	Interviews and observations for qualitative research can be performed entirely in SL	Boellstorff (2008)

Coming of Age in Second Life: Chapter 1

Today I began reading Coming of Age in Second Life: An Anthropologist Explores the Virtually Human by Tom Boellstorff (2008). As I dove into the first chapter, I was reminded of how inspirational Boellstorff is to me personally. With his prior ethnographic research centering on sexuality in Indonesia, I could think of no other expert whose perspectives would be more inline with my interests. Boellstorff’s added ethnographic research in Second Life to his repratoire in 2004 and in Chapter 1: The Subject and Scope of this Inquiry, he not only introduces the work but also himself. With extremely descriptive terminology, Boellstorff relates motivation for writing, intended audience, difficulty of addressing all of his hoped for audiences, focus and an explanation of his choice of terms. With convincing rhetoric, Boellstorff argues that Second Life culture is far from “posthuman” and in fact that it is in, “…being virual that we are human: since it is human “nature” to experience life through the prism of culture, human being has always been virtual being. Culture is our “killer app”: we are virtually human.” (p. 5). After reading this passage I was widely grinning as the meaning in his words seemed multiple, defining the human experience as culturally molded and at the same time reflecting, to me, Boellstorff’s own philosophical lens.

 

Although Chapter 1 was merely introductory, I found myself completely engaged in the words. And words are of particular note to Boellstorff. Originally a linguist, he takes great care in choosing the terms that he uses to describe Second Life. He is careful to avoid references to this virtual world that would indicate that it is artificial, fabricated or in any way unreal (p. 17). Clearly describing not only word meaning but also history and root, he makes apparent to the reader, his motivation for choice of rhetoric. And while he is careful to avoid binaries as they relate to underlying ontology, he makes it clear that there is a distinction between the virtual and the real world. Many, he says, would relate a blurring of the boundaries between these worlds, he argues that while virtual worlds have increasing “real” world ramifications etc…, “Such ramifications take advantage of the gap between virtual and actual. They do not blur or close that gap…” (p. 21). He further notes that crossing of the boundary between the two may actually strengthen the distinction (p. 23).

 

Taken not only with Boellsorff’s attention to detail but also with his careful attention to situating himself within the research, as I became increasingly engaged in his writing, I also became more certain of the possibility for my own narrative research within Second Life. At the same time, as I followed Boellstorff’s effort to set the stage for a full-book ethnography of the culture of Second Life I became overwhelmed by how much I still have to learn within my own Second Life.

 

Boellstorff, Tom. (2008). Coming of Age in Second Life: An Anthropologist Explores the Virtually Human. Princeton, NJ. Princeton University Press.

Health and Hallucination

            In my continued exploration of educational locations in Second Life I visited a wiki created by Navid Tomlinson (http://healtheducationsl.pbwiki.com/). He wrote the wiki while working at University of Surrey and while it is a bit dated and not free of grammatical error he does do a competent job of relating some educational spaces in SL. He also does a fairly thorough job of summarizing some important educational benefits when learning in SL. These included the possibilities for collaborations without boundaries, interactivity and exhibit accessibility.

            I chose to visit one of Tomlinson’s suggested locations, Health Info Island (128, 139, 22) and as Tomlinson had related, it was low on interactivity but nonetheless, packed with good information. There was a Heart Healthy Pavilion that had up-to-date information on eating to promote heart function. There were information slides on CPR and a Virtual Ability Gazebo. In the gazebo, I excitedly jotted down the following quote and was stoked by the affirmation that SL truly is an environment friendly to marginalized groups: “People with disabilities inhabit virtual worlds in higher proportions than real worlds”. Additional information was tailored to help the reader make his/her second life regions more accessible to those with disabilities.

            Upon leaving the gazebo, I realized that there was an entire Virtual Ability Island. I made my way onto the island and was surprised when upon glancing at the mini map I realized that there were a large number of avatars very near me. I found this a bit unsettling as most educational spaces on SL are not particularly populated. Thus, after looking around a bit, I decided to teleport somewhere new.

            I am embarrassed to admit that to date I have not yet visited one of the most talked about educational spaces on second life: UC Davis’ Virtual Hallucinations (http://slurl.com/secondlife/sedig/27/45/22/). This simulation allows one to hear the voices and have the visual hallucinations that an individual with schizophrenia would experience. My reticence to visit this region admittedly rooted in some fear. However, I truly wanted to have the experience and finally made the teleport. As expected, it was an intense and disturbing experience. However, it certainly heightened my awareness about schizophrenia as well as widening my view of simulation possibilities in SL. 

Back in Wyoming

Today my Second Life adventures took me somewhat closer to home as I visited Wyoming Entrepreneur (161, 42, 24). There was an opening of an art exhibit of Native American Art. What a wonderful island complete with Old Faithful (I got to see it erupt), Devil’s Tower, elk and buffalo. I got to ride a horse through the neck-high grass as I took in the art work. It was a liberating feeling as the island was not crowded and the sounds of the horse’s whinny was strangely calming on a Friday evening after a long week. 

Disappointments

                  Tonight I also tried to investigate two other locations listed on the wiki (http://www.simteach.com/wiki/index.php?title=Second_Life_Education_Wiki#Teaching_Resources). The first was A Sexual Health SIM in Second Life (University of Plymouth) - http://slurl.com/secondlife/Education%20UK/33/63/22 (info) and unfortunately it seems to have been bought by the University of Leeds. This would have been fine if there was something of note on the University of Leeds island but it was largely some exhibit rooms with various textures and a few buildings under construction. I then tried to teleport to teleport to Solar Eclipse Planetarium (Aimee Webber) - http://slurl.com/secondlife/Midnight%20City/94/76/27/ and was told that I was not authorized to teleport to this location. So I called it an evening.

More Genome Island

Over the post days, I have continued my exploration of Genome Island. I have flown in a eukaryotic cell (complete with labeled organelles). I have tried my hand and some virtual PCR, gotten a free genome island T-shirt and even teleported to Amino World. I am quickly becoming taken with the educational possibilities made apparent on this island. In fact, today I did a guest lecture in an upper division biology practicum course during which I introduced the students to Genome Island. 

Svarga and Genome Island

Yesterday I decided to explore two of the educational islands suggested on the Second Life Wiki (http://www.simteach.com/wiki/index.php?title=Second_Life_Education_Wiki#Teaching_Resources)

The first was called Svarga (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Svarga/128.0/128.0) and provided a virtual ecosystem tour. In order to take the tour one jumps on the back of a huge wasp and it takes you throughout the environment while information streams on the local chat. It was more on the fantasy side but I saw immense potential as one could use this same approach to allow a student to tour varying geological areas or historical sites.

The second island I visited was beyond stunning (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Genome/130/130/48). Called Genome Island, it offers learning opportunities for students studying all aspects of genetics from molecular to large organismal. There is an Abbey and Garden in honor of Mendel, a Tower with molecular, human, bacterial and drosophila genetics. There is a garden of prokaryotic genetics (including the Plasmid Patio)! For those with interests in larger animals, there is a cattery and a bunny hutch. If, however, you are in search of more molecular methods, you will not be disappointed as there is a DNA analysis room, complete with virtual lab procedures (PCR, DNA sequencing and electrophoresis). Or, for a slightly different “flavor” of molecular, there is a bioinformatics kitchen. I will be spending more time in this location and already have plans to show students in my current microbiology class.

Gender and BGSU

Critical of Gender Identity as Covered in Second Life: The Official Guide

This week I have done additional reading in Second Life: The Official Guide. Unfortunately I have come to be quite critical of the writers of this guide even though I recognize that because it is jointly written it may not be the shortcomings of all writers. In may cases, the writing is preachy. For example in Chapter 7, when speaking about managing ones inventory, it is stated, “Most newborn SL denizens don’t, and the SL forum features plenty of sob stories with this common denominator: my second life is screwed up because of inventory problems. You don’t want to go there, do you?” (p. 129). A more specific grievance that I that regarding an approximately 1-page discussion about Choosing Your Sex on page 86 and 87. With a benign start, the passage notes that most SL citizens choose their real-life gender. However, the discussion proceeds on to note that everyone is free to choose their sex. This seems self evident and is inoffensive, however when the author goes on to note that choosing a gender opposite of your RL gender is okay as long as you don’t want to form a virtual friendship with someone. In which case, it is stated that, “…it’s important that they [your virtual] friends] know who you really are.” (p. 87). To a member of the LGBT/Q community this could be extremely offensive, not to mention horribly naïve as it is perfectly possible that the gender with which you identify is not the gender displayed in your real life. In fact, it may even be that your “real life “ sex is not the gender with which you identify in real life. It seems to me that one of the beauties of Second Life should be the ability to be whomever and whatever you like. Virtual friends should understand this and be willing to accept that their new friend, although they identify in one way on SL may not look exactly like this in real life.

 

Additional opportunities on the BGSU Island

In addition to much reading, I have also spent time on BGSU Interaction Island. As Jamie had suggested the planetarium on this island, I began by visiting this. A truly phenomenal example of the teaching and learning opportunities of Second Life, this site allows one’s avatar to enter a planetarium of the solar system complete with educational statistics on each planet. However, unlike most planetariums, your avatar is literally surrounded by the sun and all of the planets nested within a blanket of stars. While walking by each planet one truly feels a part of the learning experience. Also while on the Bowling Green State University’s Interaction Island, I visited a beautiful butterfly garden as well as an Australian Herpetology Exhibit. After being introduced to everything from the thick tailed Gecko to the Green Tree Python, I was convinced that when I travel to Australia I will try to avoid the night hours as most of the snakes were nocturnal. After thoroughly enjoying this exhibit, I moved along to watch a video on computer technology as well as to visit a stunning virtual art show! And finally, upon thinking I had visited nearly everything, I began flying and realized that I had not yet scratched the surface. More art, presentations and even tutorials on managing one’s avatar in SL were abundant. What an amazing island truly showcasing educational possibilities in SL.  

You Tube to learn about Second Life

The following was a post in response to a fellow student also investigating Second Life:

Hi Jamie! Yay I got to your land today. The slurl worked great. I also now know what my user error was when trying to enter your location on the map. Instead of typing in Class Dismissed, one need only type in Mournful and the coordinates. In any case, great job creating the prims! You are fantastic. What resources did you use when learning to build?

I also watched your first You Tube video which was great. For a quick recap the main educational uses for second life that were presented in the video included:
1) Role playing (e.g. learning by actually being in a Shakespeare play)
2) "being in" history (actually being a part of a re-created historical event)
3) Interactive "gaming" activities within Second Life (e.g. Scavenger hunt to learn vocab)
4) Tour replicas of locations being studied but that are too geographically distant to actually be visited
5) Self-paced tutorials
6) Opportunity to actually be in someone else's shoes
7) Presentation
8) Collaboration with colleagues from around the World.

I will be honest, the more time I spend in Second Life, the more excited I become about its educational uses. Whenever I visit a new educational location, I am excited to learn and feel truly present and engaged. I might briefly comment on the last use of Second Life. When attending the VWBPE Conference I was astonished by the potential for collaboration with educators around the world. In one session that I attended, other attendees came from Tokyo, Delaware, Denmark, Texas etc... It was astounding to be meeting with all of these academics from around the world and I never left my house!

Dress me up

After attending the conference this weekend, I realized that I did not want to attend another conference wearing the same outfit in which my avatar was clad at the beginning. This gave me away as a “newbie” and made me stand out as someone who likely did not know much about Second Life much less its educational uses. So, I broke down and went to the Free Dove: Gallii (113, 53, 33). I would like to say that I enjoyed the experience but that would be a lie. It was hard to determine what I was getting and it seemed that nearly every available parcel was not really “my style”. However, I got a few things and was able to become clad in something slightly different.

This clothing adventure was followed by several disappointing teleports. I wanted to check out some of the GLBT/Q spaces and was disappointed when I failed to find all but one of those mentioned in the Second Life: Official Guide text. I should have more quickly realized that perhaps Internet sources would be more up to date and finally did find a GLBT/Q safe space with some information. 

Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education (VWBPE) Conference

Yesterday the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education (VWBPE) Conference began. Just after 2:00 pm (MST), I teleported to the VWBPE Stonehenge Social Hub and with a notable but surmountable fear, I managed to interact with a conference organizer enough to glean some suggestions about sessions to attend. I thus made my way to VWBPE East 2 and was able to catch the end of a fascinating presentation about the use of Second Life for clinical simulations. The presenters touted the safe but realistic environment afforded within the virtual world. They mentioned the practice that students gain in reading a vital sign machine and fetal monitor with no actual risk to a physical patient. Also noted were some general advantages of teaching “in world” such as increased student engagement and a novelty effect. The presenters made some suggestions to educators beginning their use of SL for education including starting with a small project and focusing on the strengths of Second Life. That is, use SL for educational tasks that could not be accomplished other ways.

I remained in VWBPE East for an additional session on the use of Second Life to learn language. The presenter certainly touted the capabilities of Second Life to allow emersion language learning and introduced an island that is staffed 16 hours a day where ESL students can go and speak with teachers. However, the teachers are not “teachers” on the island but are waiters/waitresses, bartenders, vendors etc. This enables students to learn by interaction!

After this presentation, I attended “Educating Through Machinima: Connecting the Learning Pixels through Virtual Film Making.” Don’t worry; I had no idea what machinima was either. And although I was tired at the end of a Friday, I did glean that the team of three presenters had created a film on Second Life, which they fully animated.

This morning my adventure began anew and I attended the latter portion of  “Abstract Thoughts to Concrete Examples: Transferring Student Essays to the Virtual Realm in Second Life”. What an adventure! This literature instructor had an entire virtual realm where her students had given form to their essays. One of these included an intricate maze.

Immediately after the maze mingling, I headed to what might prove to be the most informative session of the conference. Tom Boellstorff was the presenter of Virtual Worlds, Culture and Change. An anthropologist, Tom Boellstorff studies Second Life culture. He has written a book entitled “Coming of Age in Second Life”. Clearly a leading authority on Second Life and particularly research in Second Life, Boellstorff had a “down to earth” presence. He spoke about how like all cultures, Second Life is always changing. He reminded his audience that in research we can learn the most from things that are the most everyday. Speaking of some of the uniqueness’s of Second Life, Boellstorff noted that it is possible to be immersed but not present. That is, right now as I write this, I am immersed in Second Life (sitting waiting for the next session to start) but I am not present because I am focusing on this writing. I could even get up and go get some coffee and lunch (which I am about to do) while still being immersed in SL. Several questions were asked as to whether SL is a single culture or many microcultures. Boellstorff’s treatment of this question was engaging as he described Second Life as having basic social norms but many subcultures. Boellstorff preferred the term physical world rather than real world because the term real world might denigrate SL to being something other than real. Which, he stated, is not the case.

Perhaps the portion of this session that was most exciting to me was Boellstorff’s experience with doing research in SL. He talked about the critique that some researchers have of interacting with participants solely in SL and not in the physical world. However, he noted that in fact, access to a more diverse participant group may be possible in SL and, in fact, may enhance the quality of the research. After hearing this presentation I was so elated and inspired for the possibility of doing my own dissertation research within SL. In fact, immediately after leaving the session, I purchased Boellstorff’s text on Amazon and can’t wait to receive it!

 

Though less engaging than the prior session, the session I attended next, “The Reality of Transcending the Virtual” raised the poignant question of what underpinning philosophy best explains virtual world interaction. The presenter argued that to best understand virtual world interactions we should change our philosophical approach, moving away from the Aristotelian binary of mind and body and toward a more Asian philosophy where connections and co-creation are emphasized.

Further afternoon sessions looked at the use of instructional design models such as the ADDIE and ARAD to design SL courses. Perhaps the most fascinating to me was the use of SL to create a virtual crime scene for a forensics course (Dr. Donald Lehman – University of Delaware). Dona Connors and Larken Shepherd of Middlesex Community College presented a fascinating session called As the Worlds Turn: In Search of the Perfect Virtual World. They talked about what is needed before deciding to use a virtual world for education (e.g. support from admin, access needs addressed, overcoming cost etc…). They discussed their use of many virtual worlds: Activeworlds, World of Warcraft, Warhammer Online, City of Heroes and There.com. (I posted links to all of these on the web page thread). During this session a couple of great reflections on the advantages of virtual worlds were shared. For example, most instructors see increased motivation as well as student-to-student interaction and student to instructor interaction. Many attendees to the session mentioned that office hours on SL seem to be more effective. I left this session determined to add at least one SL office hour to my online biochemistry class. Guess I might have to start to think about buying land!

The final session that I attended this afternoon was called Learning in a Virtual World: Using SL for Medical Education. The presenters spoke about the creation of a 1-hour synchronous training session for practicing physicians. The session focused on diabetes treatment and utilized a virtual patient for whom the doctors were given a profile. While I liked the idea of this interactive learning for practicing doctors, I was a bit disquieted by the profiling of the patient. She was profiled as an overweight Latina. I just felt like the profiling perpetuated marginalization.

Though most of my time was spent in sessions, during the first break of the day I did pop into a Jazz club and my avatar learned how to dance! What a laugh. I thought I had successfully stopped the animation upon leaving the Jazz club only to see my avatar break into fluid dance movements again in front of the club! It was quite a good time and only further reminded me how much I had to learn just because I needed it in order to live my full day in SL at the VWBPE Conference!

Centers for Disease Control Island

Tonight I made my way to one of the sites for science educators, namely the Centers for Disease Control Island, from the Wiki for educational uses of Second Life. http://www.simteach.com/wiki/index.php?title=Second_Life_Education_Wiki#Teaching_Resources

I followed the link that was provided on the Wiki and oddly found myself on an island called Juwangson (218, 223, 128). It seemed to be largely private and home spaces but there was a billboard for the CDC island and thus I was able to teleport there. Once on the CDC island, my experiences were more rewarding as there was informational material regarding everything from H1N1 to family planning. As I meandered from educational billboard to poster I recognized how much more engaging this explorative learning would be for my microbiology students. 

From EdTech to Greenhouse

My discovery on EdTech island has continued and I have learned how to add free resources to my inventory. After picking up some assets for educators, I proceeded to join my first Second Life group - that for distance educators. With this group addition I hope to receive more informational material on uses of Second Life and this rekindled my inspiration to attend the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education Conference in Second Life on March 12^th and 13^th. Proceeding to the informational website I was able to register for the big event and was charged $0L to attend (the joys of a virtual conference)! For others interested in attending: http://www.vwbpe.org/ Fueled by this success, I found some additional resources including a Wiki for educational uses of Second Life: http://www.simteach.com/wiki/index.php?title=Second_Life_Education_Wiki#Teaching_Resources

Perhaps most exciting were the resources on this for science teachers. I hope to soon visit the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) island.

After I had fully explored the Educational Center on Ed Tech island I geared up for my first teleporting experience! Clicking on the map feature, I entered the name of what I hoped would be a safe and beautiful island called Greenhouse (63, 113, 22) - suggested by the Rymaszewski  text.  And, with only minor mishaps – stinging bees, it was as promised a beautiful island that did afford a “moment of beauty” (Rymaszewski , p.50).

LGBT spaces in Second Life

Tonight I read through chapter 3 of the Rymaszewski  text and was excited to see that as Bubba mentioned there are some specific LGBT communities. As soon as I feel more comfortable with my avatar I hope to visit the Welcome Pavilion: Monty (56, 74, 43). This chapter also introduces a plethora of very fascinating places to visit ranging from the midnight bus at Atrocity to the beautiful greenhouse (63, 113, 22). Just a short look at the options made me realize how right Bubba is when he said that Second Life is a vast and expansive Virtual World. I was a bit disappointed not to find more educational environments. 

Second Life and Gender

Chapter 2 of the Rymaszewski text (Second Life: The Official Guide) gives some useful suggestions for getting started in this virtual world. Very helpful was the link for keypad shortcuts in Second Life. This can be found at http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Help:Keyboard_shortcut_keys and has shortcuts for everything from changing one’s view to looking at one’s inventory. Once logged back into Second Life, I was able to hit Control-I to see my inventory and found that I, much as expected, had not accumulated much of anything.

Further reading in Chapter 2 informed me of advantages of different views (e.g. the first person view vs. the mouselook – top bar under views). Upon trying the mouselook, I could see its potential advantages but found that it made me a bit motion sick. This did, however result in the most serendipitous occurrence for as I was winding around with the mouselook, I found a PowerPoint presentation on my current Ed Tech Island and was stunned to see that the slide displayed was that about gender in Second Life. Fascinated by this topic I had just finished reading in the Rymaszewski  text that women often feel much greater equity in Second Life than in real life. One quote in the text put this well, “SL is a world where women have equality to a much greater extent than in RL. The primary advantage men have over women in RL, which influences many things, is physical strength. Here I am just as strong as any man….” – Jennifer McLuhan (Rymaszewski , p. 14). Thus, I felt quite elated as I scanned through the PowerPoint presentation before me in Second Life. The birds were chirping in the background and I could hear the occasional tugboat on the ocean. I read, “Players who have tried Gender-bending oftentimes talk about how the experience has changed their understanding of gender roles….” (Yee, 2004, p. gender-bending). I cannot tell you the excitement that I felt upon finding this one presentation! With each experience in Second Life and with my continued reading, I begin to think that I may be able to establish connections with individuals and resources that will assist not only in teaching but in educational research. This was further confirmed when I logged onto my dashboard on the Second Life website and saw that there is to be a Virtual Worlds Best Practice in Education Conference on March 12 and 13. I better get my avatar up and moving so I can find the right place.

Reading Second Life: the official guide

Yesterday I received my copy of Second Life: the official guide by Rymaszewski et al. Purchased online for $1.65, the book appeared to have never been opened. Thus, I cracked the spine and began reading Chapter 1, What is Second Life? After only a few pages I began to enjoy the text and found that I had learned several useful tidbits. While not surprising, it was exciting to recognize that nearly all of the content of Second Life is user-created and that really Second Life can and should provide anything for which the user is looking. After a brief introduction, Chapter 1 delved into a bit of Second Life history noting that the idea was conceived by Philip Rosedale in 1991. Beta testing began in 2002 and “on June 23^rd, 2003 Second life went live.” (p. 4) After an actual revolution against the original tax system, new tax and time systems were introduced.

After a brief history, Rymaszewski et. al delve into the details of how Second Life works. I learned that within this virtual world, sims (as we have come to understand are simulations) actually refer to regions. I became educated about how a user can create objects and that Second Life actually keeps track of all of these objects (and, of course, all avatars) by assigning them unique identifiers. I learned that objects can be built from solids called prims and that prims can be made to take on whatever shape you like. Further coverage concerned the local currency, called the Linden dollar. At the time that the book was written the US $ was worth 270 Lindens. I was stunned at the opportunities to make money, sell objects and even score free stuff! Thus, when faced with the section in the book entitled What to Do With Your New Life?, I felt that the answers were limitless. However, for me the most poignant passage in this section was, “It’s also a great place to interact with people not just one-on-one, but via group instant messaging, where dozens or even hundreds can participate in live conversation – an important communication platform that’s become more in important in recent years as the population has grown.” This passage gave me hope that Second Life may just be a good forum for conducting interviews for educational research. 

Becoming Serratia Warcliffe

My exploration of Second Life began today as I created an avatar and logged onto this virtual world for the first time. As I answered the questions, first filling out my real-life name and then choosing my virtual world name, I began to feel excited about the freedom to choose who I would be in this other world. As a microbiology instructor, I have always been taken by the name of a red-pigmented bacterium in the genus Serratia. I thus chose this as my first name. I then became very enthusiastic as I realized that with freedom to choose my own name, I could share my partner’s last name for the first time (she already has an avatar). However I was saddened to see that there were only very limited options for last names and I thus settled for Serratia Warcliffe. Though I had hoped for a virtual world complete with the social justice so lacking our our real-world, I was pleased with the ring of the name that I had chosen and I suppose I was not surprised that any work of art (including a HIVE) would be a reflection of our current culture.

 

I continued on to choose a look for my avatar that seemed most appropriate. This truly was a strange but liberating process. Being able to select an appearance that most reflects oneself is both terrifying – forcing one to consider a physical manifestation of one’s nature- and utterly liberating. With the exception of eyes and hair color, I chose a basic look to which I felt most suited and moved along.

 

After receiving a conformational e-mail and logging in, I was shocked by the extent of the terms and restrictions; they ranged from age to intellectual property. However, I agreed to all terms and began my second life. I found myself on Help Island and originally unsure of even the simplest actions, walking for example, I somehow managed to find a map and teleport to Ed Tech Island. Built by a professional educational technology organization, I felt safe once here, located my partner (who has already spent time on the island) and began to edit my appearance. Now this was when things became overwhelming. Ranging from lip width to underwear color one has a buffet of options, enough to boggle the mind. I am embarrassed that I spent far too much time trying to change my eye color and most importantly give myself the appropriate athletic build. As the minutes ticked on I finally had to pull myself away from the appearance editing, consoling myself that I would return later to achieve a satisfactory hair color.