3D and Web and Virtual Worlds for Instruction

Virtual worlds immerse students in a 3D environment that often involves a collaborative community of avatars interacting with each other.  Environments such as these provide learning opportunities that have been difficult to achieve in the past such as placing the learner in a more authentic environments and providing role playing excercises.

Current Projects:

1. A graduate student exploring the use of virtual worlds to teach history of middle ages.

2. A graduate student using teaching French through and interactive murder mystery

3. A faculty member using the space for office hours, library exploration and readings.

4. A new media in poetry class using the space to explore poetry reading in virtual worlds

5. A Social Work class using the space for student role playing.

6. Available

7. Available

8. Available

Open Event Area: This area can be used for general purpose presentations.

Island FAQs:

Question: Is this a new ITS service?

• No. This is a pilot project intended to understand virtual worlds better and allow university educators an opportunity to explore the instructional possiblities. This project could be closed depending on the results of the pilot project, in addition funding, scalabity, sustainablity have not been resolved at this moment.

Question: What is Second Life?

• Second Life is a commercial product which allows the user to enter a virtual world, chat with other users from around the world, manipulate objects, and engage in other activities.

Question: How do I get started with Second Life?

• Download the Second Life client.
• Obtain a free Second Life login avatar. 

Question: How do I gain acess to the University Island?

• Due to security and privacy concerns the land is not viewable or accessible to the public. If you would like to explore the "Open Event Area" use the faculty request form below to request access.

Question: How do I get land on the University Island?

• Land is distributed on a first come first serve basis. The land is for instructional purposes only. However, if land is available research uses can be accomodated on temporary basis.

Question: How long do I have the land on the University Island?

• Projects typically last one semster, however this may vary depending on the project.

Question: How much does this cost?

• Use the faculty request form below for more information.

Past Projects:

The pedagogical foundation for the Urban and Regional Planning course utilizes a project-based authentic learning model. The Urban and Regional Planning students will work together to design an urban landscape based on an area in their local city, a real-life activity that many of them will have to perform once they receive their degree. Students can build spaces dynamically and collaboratively in real-time. All members of the team can work on the space together and communicate their intentions using voice over internet protocol (VoIP) or text chat. The online access to the designs will allow students to meet and work on their design anytime.An additional benefit is that Second Life immerses your avatar in the 3-D space providing a more realistic and authentic perspective of urban design. For the purposes of this project, we have identified the following learning objectives for Urban and Regional Planning students:

-Create urban landscapes using applicable urban design principles.

-Visualize design concepts based on a real world space.

-Work collaboratively in a real world design project.

To learn about an instructional activity taking place during the spring semester, visit "Using Second Life as an Instructional Tool".

For more information on how to use Second Life, 3D modeling and animation in your teaching use the form to contact us.

Faculty Request Form

3D web and Virtual Worlds

If you would like more information, please fill out this form.