Spring Break
Drexel opens Second Life campus
By: Nancy Lan
Issue date: 7/27/07 Section: News
Originally published: 7/28/07 at 12:19 AM EST
Last update: 7/28/07 at 12:26 AM EST
Originally published: 7/28/07 at 12:19 AM EST
Last update: 7/28/07 at 12:26 AM EST
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The next time you log in to Second Life, the 3-D virtual world run by its residents, you might run in to a Drexel professor teaching a course.
The University bought land on Second Life, May 9. The property has been named Drexel Island and cost about $900 to purchase plus an additional $150 per month for maintenance, according to Jean-Claude Bradley, E-Learning Coordinator for the College of Arts and Sciences.
Bradley said Second Life can help faculty members take their classroom materials to a new level.
"It's a more engaging kind of environment than, say, a message board or instant messaging … it's a lot more intuitive, I think, than blind chat," Bradley said.
Currently, the College of Arts and Sciences occupies the east side of the island, and Hagerty Library occupies the west.
According to Tim Siftar, information services librarian for IST/Education, the library's involvement in Second Life is an initiative to stay on the same level as students. Many librarians have MySpace and Facebook accounts, and Second Life is another outlet that brings the library closer to students in a virtual world.
"We want to exploit the special metaphor that's available to you here to achieve some of the same educational goals we've always had, in terms of sharing information, promoting our resources and delivering information," Siftar said.
The library is still in early stages of development, but students can already access the same research and disciplinary tools as they can on the library's regular flat Web site. Siftar said they plan to finish building by fall 2007.
Second Life will also be available soon on all desktop computers in the library. Siftar said that this implementation will provide "Heightened fun … all on your own computers collocated in virtual space, flying with one another, going and teleporting to different sites. That's a very teambuilding experience."
Drexel Island also houses an 11-story building that contains one college per floor, and each college can design and personalize floors for their own purposes.
The University bought land on Second Life, May 9. The property has been named Drexel Island and cost about $900 to purchase plus an additional $150 per month for maintenance, according to Jean-Claude Bradley, E-Learning Coordinator for the College of Arts and Sciences.
Bradley said Second Life can help faculty members take their classroom materials to a new level.
"It's a more engaging kind of environment than, say, a message board or instant messaging … it's a lot more intuitive, I think, than blind chat," Bradley said.
Currently, the College of Arts and Sciences occupies the east side of the island, and Hagerty Library occupies the west.
According to Tim Siftar, information services librarian for IST/Education, the library's involvement in Second Life is an initiative to stay on the same level as students. Many librarians have MySpace and Facebook accounts, and Second Life is another outlet that brings the library closer to students in a virtual world.
"We want to exploit the special metaphor that's available to you here to achieve some of the same educational goals we've always had, in terms of sharing information, promoting our resources and delivering information," Siftar said.
The library is still in early stages of development, but students can already access the same research and disciplinary tools as they can on the library's regular flat Web site. Siftar said they plan to finish building by fall 2007.
Second Life will also be available soon on all desktop computers in the library. Siftar said that this implementation will provide "Heightened fun … all on your own computers collocated in virtual space, flying with one another, going and teleporting to different sites. That's a very teambuilding experience."
Drexel Island also houses an 11-story building that contains one college per floor, and each college can design and personalize floors for their own purposes.
mike
posted 7/28/07 @ 4:14 PM EST
You have got to be kidding me. Do any of these people realize what Second Life really is?
"Second Life is this massive virtual world where people come from all corners of the bad internet to awkwardly socialize and have pretend sex with people from even worse corners of the internet. (Continued…)