ConsiderIT Archive
A Virtual Environment for Education: Second Life
Speakers: Kathleen Kyzer, ITS Teaching and Learning, and Larry Taylor, School of Information and Library Science
When: 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.,
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Where: Pleasants Family Room, Wilson Library
One of the "Technologies to Watch" identified in this year's Horizon Report is "Virtual Worlds." The applications behind these worlds, the report details, "offer opportunities for education that are almost limitless." One such application, Second Life, provides a unique virtual environment for educators interested in increasing interactive learning, exploration, cooperative work, simulation, role-playing, new media studies, and training. Students and educators can work together in Second Life from anywhere in the world as part of a globally networked virtual classroom environment, thus mitigating the "distance" issue relating to online education. In addition, Second Life can serve as a supplement to traditional classroom environments by providing new opportunities for enriching existing curricula.
There are currently over 2.5 million subscribers to Second Life, including educators and students from such institutions as Harvard, MIT, and Princeton. Kathleen Kyzer, from ITS-Teaching and Learning, and Larry Taylor, School of Information and Library Science, will provide a brief demonstration of Second Life and lead a discussion exploring the possibilities that this virtual UNC-Chapel Hill in Second Life could afford real life UNC-Chapel Hill.
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