UNC Charlotte’s Second Life: Virtual Land for Teaching & Learning

The Center for Teaching and Learning recently was awarded a grant from the UNC Teaching & Learning with Technology Collaborative to research and explore virtual worlds as an educational tool for UNC Charlotte’s faculty, students, and staff. We have now leased a space in the Second Life (SL) virtual world for educational use, by anyone interested from our campus community.

Picture of Teaching 4 area in Second Life.
Click image to enlarge in new window.

UNC Charlotte’s Second Life space is hosted by the New Media Consortium (NMC), an organization dedicated to the exploration and use of innovative technologies. The NMC works with Second Life to provide discounted Second Life space and other services to educational institutions and groups.

Second Life is a virtual world that in many ways mimics real life. Individuals are able to create their own “Avatar” (virtual character) which is able to move around and communicate with others. Second Life allows endless opportunities for interaction and exploration, providing the ability to:

  • explore a vast assortment of 3-D virtual lands
  • meet and communicate with individuals and groups
  • participate in role-playing, music, art and entertainment events
  • buy, create and sell virtual objects or land
  • enjoy a wide variety of educational, recreational and learning activities.

For more information about Second Life, please visit http://secondlife.com/. To learn about the New Media Consortium and its Second Life educational services, you may go to http://sl.nmc.org/.

Getting Started in Second Life

If you are interested in exploring Second Life and the UNC Charlotte space, we suggest taking the following steps:

Picture of Second Life home page.
Click image to enlarge in new window.
  1. Apply for a Second Life account

    Simply go to http://secondlife.com, select "join now", and create a free account. You'll also need to meet system requirements and download the Second Life program on the computer. It will give you this option after you create the account.

    System Requirements can be found at http://secondlife.com/corporate/sysreqs.php.

  2. Completing the Required Orientation

    You will need to take an orientation before being allowed access to the rest of Second Life. This will help you learn to move around, communicate, search and modify your appearance in Second Life. You will not be allowed to access other areas of Second Life until you complete the orientation, which can be done in as little as a half hour.

    NOTE: At this time, the orientation is located in a “Mature” location, meaning the type of language you’d expect in an R-rated move is permissible in there. Also as in real life, individuals sometimes say rude or off-color things, particularly to female characters. We suggest you walk or fly away in this event. The actual UNC Charlotte area (which you will have access to after completing the orientation) is located in a PG-rated area, so offensive language is not permitted there.

    NMC will be creating an education-specific orientation area (which will also be PG-rated), to be ready by Fall 2007. In the future, UNC Charlotte faculty and students will be directed there if they will be using UNC Charlotte Second Life space for educational purposes.

  3. Locating and Using UNC Charlotte space in Second Life
    Second Life Map showing basic position of Teaching 4.
    Click image to enlarge in new window.

    UNC Charlotte’s Second Life space is located on an Island called Teaching 4. Our space is part of a virtual island hosted by the New Media Consortium (NMC), which will ultimately be shared by several other educational institutions. The NMC has begun building the common areas in the center, which will contain a library, auditorium and meeting areas and shared by the other island tenants. The island can be located by using the Map feature and searching for Teaching 4. You can then teleport to the island.

    UNC Charlotte occupies an L-shaped portion of the perimeter of the square island, and also has virtual meeting areas, casual spaces and classrooms. Our area is the treed area with a stream and several brick buildings. It will say University of North Carolina, Charlotte in your upper menu bar if you are within its boundaries.

    If you already have a Second Life account, you may teleport directly there with this “slurl“ (Second Life URL): http://slurl.com/secondlife/Teaching%204/213/46/22/. Clicking this link will start Second Life (if not already running) and prompt you to log in. You will then be teleported to the center of the UNC Charlotte campus.

    You may utilize UNC Charlotte space in Second Life for your class or education-related group meeting or event. Soon you will be able to use the Second Life Outlook calendar (coming soon) to reserve space for your event. Please limit your usage of the area to teaching and learning related activities or meetings. If you do not make a reservation, access to UNC Charlotte space will be on a first-come, first serve basis.

  4. Joining the UNC Charlotte and other groups in Second Life
    Shows Groups tab in Search window.
    Click image to enlarge in new window.

    Group notices to our UNC Charlotte faculty, staff and student users will be sent in Second Life via our UNC Charlotte group. Please join this group in Second Life by clicking Search (at the bottom of your screen) - selecting the Groups tab, searching for UNC Charlotte, and clicking the Join button. It is free to join this group.

    We recommend joining other general education or subject-specific groups in Second Life. Many of these groups have meetings and/or share information, tips, pointers and best practices pertinent to individuals using Second Life for teaching and learning. You may find these by searching in Groups for a topic of your interest.

    Some excellent general Education-related Groups include:

    • Real Life Education in Second Life
    • NMC Guests
    • Educator’s Coffee House
    • Teaching and Learning Online
    • ISTE: Educational Technology Association

    There are also dozens of subject-specific groups available.

  5. Resources for Educators in Second Life

    Some great Education resources are available from the Second Life website. Here you may learn about joining groups, listservs, and wikis to network with other educators using Second Life, as well as access a wide variety of Education-related materials and resources: http://secondlife.com/businesseducation/education.php

Questions?

For any further questions about getting started in Second Life, please contact us at secondlife@uncc.edu or ctl@uncc.edu.

Page Maintained By: ctl@uncc.edu