Second Life 

By Rubicela Rodriguez

 

Second Life  Historical Background  Relevance to education Glossary of Terms Start-up Costs Key-players, gurus, experts Sample Lesson Plans Tutorial Sources

  

Video by Rubicela Rodriguez for EDTC 6329

 

Historical Background 

 

Imagine this: You are an educator and the bell has just rung.  The students are coming into the room one by one.  They are eager to begin the lesson since they know that today they will be going to visit the planet Mars. You have discussed the properties of Mars in detail, but they are about to experience them in real life.  Well, not their real life, their Second Life.

 

 

Second Life is a virtual world that anyone with a broadband Internet connection can enter. Users download software and create an avatar - a cartoon-like character that they control with their mouse and keyboard that represents them in the digital world.  It is a 3-D virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents or users. Since opening to the public in 2003, it has grown explosively and today is inhabited by a total of 8,054,948 Residents from around the globe.

 

 

Second Life’s creator, Philip Rosedale, defines it as an immersive 3-D communicative tool.  His initial interest in physics played a major role in Second Life’s creation.  He states that he has always wanted to build things and compares Second Life to a child’s Lego experience in which an individual can create and build collaboratively and creatively (Vasconcello & Wyndowe,2006).

 

 

 

When users login to Second Life (commonly abbreviated as SL), they begin the in-world experience. Using the software's tools, they can create objects and communicate with other virtual residents via messaging and now by voice beta.  Users are allowed to engage in a range of activities including socializing, attending events, playing games, shopping, building, collaborating, attending meetings, as well as undertaking training an education. Residents are able to teleport or instantly travel with the push of a button.  As one explores in SL and finds places of interest, a resident may place a landmark which is an inventory of items that contains coordinates to a location in SL. This makes it easier to get to a previous location.  SL is surrounded by primitive 3D objects that can be manipulated. A SL resident may own a parcel or area of land by a single user.  Residents are able to purchase items such as mobile phones, clothing, land, and much more. SL’s fictional currency is Linden dollars or L$. The currency exchange is known as LindeX according to Linden Lab Incorporated (2007). SL offers so many attributes that allow for its residents to be creative and diverse.  As you may have noted, SL is a world of exploration.  I did not really understand it, until I actually immersed myself in it.  Each day is a day of discovery and learning. This is exactly why SL ties into education.

 

Second Life provides vast opportunities for both students and educators. Using Second Life as a supplemental resource to the traditional classroom environment provides new opportunities for enriching the students' existing curriculum (Dillenbourg, 1999). There is still much to explore as far the possibilities that Second Life can offer to education.  Second Life is an existing platform for innovation in the educational arena. Linden offers you the tools; all you need to do is use them. Businesses have been quick to use Second Life to promote their products and connect with their consumers.  It is time for educators to promote education and connect with their students as well (Jarrett, 2007).

 

I leave off with the creator's thoughts. Rosedale's vision is for SL residents to use second life as practice for real life situations making it easier for us in real life (Vasconcello & Wyndowe, 2006). An example would be a person who is torn between two careers. SL can provide the user the opportunity to test out both options to make a decision that the user is confident in rather than basing this decision on a hunch. I’m game for anything that can make my world easier, more efficient, and more interesting.  Although the educational uses of Second Life are still being explored, I have already witnessed some examples that I feel may positively influence the educational arena in its entirety.

 

Relevance to education

 

As educators, one of the biggest challenges in our field is motivating the learners.  Second Life provides many motivational opportunities for teachers in the K-12 environment.  It serves as a motivator while supplementing traditional teaching practices.  For example, if a fourth grade teacher is studying the Oregon Trail, then the students can take on the role of that era and specific time period in second life (Arete, 2007). This could replace the boring “read” and “discuss” approach to learning.

 

 

According to Linden Research Inc. (2007), many current educational practices are teacher centered and do not allow students the opportunity of choice. Second life can aid in providing students with choices in a fun environment.  For example, the students may choose to visit the Spaceflight Museum to learn about gravity, follow the science maze, or head over to the Exploratorium first. Further, educators may build their own environment and restrict membership to their students.  Educators may also present educational materials in entertaining ways while integrating other technology tools such as PowerPoint and Internet games.  Everything that can be done in a classroom can be done in a virtual classroom as well. Second Life simply provides the educator with more tools to help create a learning rich environment that can supplement traditional teaching methods (Rikomatic, 2007).

 

According to McGolerick (2007), there are some advantages to using Second Life.  For shy students, they may find that they are more comfortable speaking up and sharing ideas since they are hidden behind their avatar.  As well, since chats and discussions appear on the screen as they are typed, visual learners have something to refer to for reference and slower learners can go back through the history to search out key words or repeated concepts.

McGolerick (2007) cites disadvantages as well. It takes some time to finish the orientation process to learn how to navigate through Second Life.  Without practice, it would be very difficult to log on, teleport to find the avatars or meeting site you need to meet, and then to chat or post notices. If you are in a group setting and several people are chatting, the messages will scroll by very quickly.  For students who struggle with reading, this is a disadvantage as the words rush past their eyes.  For other students who are distracted easily, following a fast moving chat could prove to be difficult.

 

As with the web, Second Life raises issues of online safety.  Teen second life provides online safety tips for teens at http://teen.secondlife.com/parents/safety. Following these tips will help ensure that children are getting the most out of their educational experiences in Second Life.

 

Glossary of Terms

 

These following terms were extracted from: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Glossary

allocation

The total amount of land a resident can own.

 

 

deed

When a resident gives a parcel of land to a group

 

dwell

This term has been replaced by the term 'traffic.' It refers to a system used by Second Life to determine how long a resident has been on a parcel.

 

estate

Used by Linden Lab, some users, and Second Life's user interface to refer to island regions and their local preferences menu (such as sun position, ground texture, and other things that only effect that region).

 

grid

The world of Second Life is sometime referred to as a "grid" or "the grid". One grid is what other virtual worlds may call one world or one "shard."

 

home

The location in-world your avatar considers the center of their Second Life existence.

 

island

A simulator / region that is detached from the main continent and only accessible by directly teleporting to it

 

land owner

A land owner is a resident who owns land--anywhere from a parcel to (multiple) estates.

 

landmark

An inventory item that contains coordinates to a location in Second Life. You can mark the location on your map, and teleport there instantly.

 

mature

Second Life uses a rating system for sims to let the user know what type of content/behavior to expect in that area. Mature or (M) regions may include (among other things) profanity, nudity, and sexual content.

 

parcel

A section of land within one region that is treated as one lot

 

primitive

The basic building block of Second Life, also called a 'prim'. All in-world objects are constructed from primitives. A prim is a basic shape (such as a box, sphere, cylinder, etc.) that can be manipulated, stretched, cut, twisted, hollowed, and otherwise mangled into various forms.

 

resident

The term for a person who uses Second Life.

 

teleport

To instantly travel to a location (as opposed to manually walking or flying there).

 

traffic

A system used by Second Life to determine how long a resident has been on a parcel.

Start-up Costs

A Second Life basic account is free.  A basic account includes access to events, building, shopping, and scripting.  Any additional basic accounts cost a one time fee of $9.95.  There are premium accounts which are required if one is interested in owning land; this fee starts at $9.95 per month.  Residents with a premium account can own land, entertain, display, and live in their residence. A premium also gives you access to a support help team that handles any issues while you are logged on to SL.

 

As a resident, you can lease a parcel of land for $9.95 per month for a 512 square meter of land.  The land use fee is known as a tier fee. It is a monthly charge based on the peak amount of land you held in the previous 30 day billing cycle. This price does not include additional premium membership fees. The tier fee is tiered and discounted as you get more land.  You can purchase as little as 512 sq m for $9.95 a month to your own island for $1,675.00 for 65,536 sq meters which is about 16 acres. There is also a maintenance fee of $295/month. Real world educators and institutions receive 50% off the price and it must be for educational use only.  

 

The system requirements for using SL include a cable or DSL internet connection; it does not work with dialup.  It requires a computer processor of 800 MHZ on a pc or 1 GHZ or better on a Mac.  A memory of 256 MB or better on a pc is required as well as 512 MB or better on a Mac.

 

Key-players, gurus, experts

Information about the following key players was taken from Linden Labs Inc.(2007) at http://lindenlab.com/management

Philip Rosedale is the founder and CEO of Linden Labs.  Rosedale had developed FreeVue which was a video conferencing system for pc’s. As a result, he acquired RealNetworks in 1996.  In 1999, Rosedale began researching what would become the technology that stems behind the idea of Second Life (Newitz, 2006). Follow this link to view a youtube exclusive interview with SL founder Philip Rosedale:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ttOw5SMmm9g

 

 

 

 

Robin Harper is the Vice President of Marketing & Community Development for Linden Lab.  At first, she was solely in charge of marketing.  In addition to marketing, her efforts have shifted to include establishing policies and facilitating communication, as well as support mechanisms and technical support.  Her job is to ensure that Second Life is surely the click heard round the world. She brings extensive knowledge to Linden Lab through her previous endeavors including senior marketing positions at Mondo Media an online entertainment company and Ninth House Network an online education environment. 

 

 

 

Joe Miller is the Vice President of Platform and Technology Development. He is responsible for ensuring that the Second Life platform is supportive to member communities. He brings a diverse experience to Second Life since he has served executive positions at Atari, Sega, and the award winning LeapFrog, Bright Things, and Fitniks to name a few.

 

 

 

Cory Ondrejka is Linden’s Chief Technology Officer and co-founder of Second Life. Cory leads the team in developing Second Life’s digital world.  It was his team that helped create the avatars, 3D-streaming, physical simulatioin, and colloborative tools in SL. He also aided in crafting Linden’s virtal real estate policy as well. Ondrejka holds two majors in Weapons and Systems Engineering as well as Computer Science (Shankar, 2007). Follow this link to hear a podcast interview with Cory Ondrejka: http://www.podtech.net/home/3400/cory-ondrejka-second-life-co-founder

 

 

 

 

Ginsu Yoon is Linden’s Vice President for the International Department.  He leads the efforts of development and business Internationally.  John Zdanowski is Linden’s Chief Financial Officer who oversees all financial account activities of Second Life’s rapidly growing economy (2007).

 

Truly, it's the active residents who are key players in Second Life. Residents play a key role in collaborating, building, selling, and much more in Second Life which aids in creating the Second Life experience.

 

Sample Lesson Plans

Second Life provides much of what the real world has to offer.  Because of this, there are endless possibilities for educators in creating lesson plans that are unique, motivational, life like, and effective.

 

 

Lesson 1: Bad Hair Day

One lesson plan I implement each year is the “Bad Hair Day” lesson plan.  I begin by engaging the class on a discussion of bad days and how sometimes they end up being not so bad.  I then read a story titled Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst.  I usually have the students bring gel, mousse, hairspray, etc. from home and have them choose a friend to be the barber.  Students then reenact their bad hair day experience and write about it.  Second Life provides a virtual hair salon that can be used as a media rich learning resource particularly for those students who are shy. It can also serve as a salon experience for those who have never been to a salon.  This in turn provides them with more details to write in their papers. 

 

Lesson 2:  Plays

Usually, when students finish reading a novel, the teacher rewards them by letting them watch the movie or play.  Why not have the students create their own plays in Second Life based on a novel.  In Second Life, students are able to perform plays in front of a live audience of other avatars.  Click on the following link to see a short play in SL on you tube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cWF438HgJA

 

 

Lesson 3: Pioneers

History is very important in understanding the here and now.  Students are often presented with facts about the past and relevant issues and events that help shape the world today.  Still, wouldn’t it be neat is the students could actually go back in time.  Well, they can’t go back in time, but Second Life provides them a link by San Diego University that enables students to enter a webquest and meet immigrants first hand. Students will have an opportunity to gain a better understanding of various immigrant populations in the United States (Bellizzi, 2007). Students choose an immigrant character type they are going to research, undertake independent Internet research on their chosen group, and then discuss their findings in class. For more information visit: http://surl.com/secondlife/Meadowbrook/222/97/24 For webquest visit: http://www.lubbockisd.org/webquests/MeetImmigrants/

 

Lesson 4: King for a Day

In honor of Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, you may encourage student residents to enter Second Life as an avatar of a different race. Click here to read more: New World Notes: King for a Day 

 

Tutorial

 

Getting started in second life is fairly easy.  There are sources in the secondlife.com website that offer tutorials on getting started.  I found the best way to learn about it, is by discovery and asking other avatars questions.  I learned how to change my appearance, about the currency, hotspots, and most importantly how to teleport by asking other avatars I met along my adventure in SL. It's a lot like the real world; when you need help, it is sometimes better to just ask. 

The first step you should take is creating a secondlife account.  I suggest getting the free basic account to try it out; you can always upgrade to a premium account which enables you to purchase land and recieve some extra freebies. Log into www.secondlife.com and click on the Join now Free Membership button.  You will then be asked to choose your secondlife name, birthdate, and email address.  You simply answer the questions and at some point you will be asked if you'd like to add your credit card information. If you are skeptical, you don't have to do this; you can still enter SL without providing this information.  Your first experience in SL is a type of orientation.  Follow the arrows on the ground and read each section carefully; it provides you with the basics of SL.  You will also be asked to create a home; this is where your avatar would automatically appear each time you enter SL; don't worry this can be changed at any time.  That's all there is to it.  Be sure and write your username, password, and home; if you forget your password at any time, SL will need this information for verification purposes. 

The following website provides great some second life tutorials on scripting, building, gestures, adding videos to SL and much more: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Video_Tutorials.  These tutorials do not, however, explain how to set up a secondlife account and begin your inworld experience. 

YouTube also provides a realm of sources to getting aquainted with SecondLife.  Watching these videos is a great idea because you can see what things you are able to do.  Then, you could jot them down and view a tutorial or ask another resident how to go about doing that specific task.  Here are some website that have helped me out a lot:

http://secondthoughts.typepad.com/second_thoughts/2006/06/getting_started.html - Scroll down and read the first 6 things I need to know

http://slnatalia.blogspot.com/search/label/*%20Getting%20Started%20in%20Second%20Life%20Guide%20*- Great information on teleporting; lots of humor too

http://youtube.com/watch?v=b72CvvMuD6Q - YouTube Second Life introduction

http://youtube.com/watch?v=mVSzh_QTE00 - YouTube Second Life construction tutorial

There is no need to be intimidated by Second Life.  It's like learning to drive; once you get the hang of it, it's hard to stop.  Have fun...Explore...Don't be afraid to try things out...and remember: ASK, and you shall receive!!! You'd be surprised at how helpful other residents are; after all, they were newbies (new to SL) once too.

Sources

Dillenbourg, P (1999). Prof. Pierre Dillenbourg. Retrieved July 15, 2007, from EPFL Craft Web site: http://craft.epfl.ch/page21625.html

 

This resource provides a brief overlook of virtual learning environments as seen by a former educator who studies (VLE’s). He provides a list of characteristics of virtual learning environments.

Vasconcello, J. & Wyndowe, M. (2006,November 27). iinnovate 9: Philip Rosedale, Founder of Second Life. Retrieved July 15, 2007, from Philip Rosedale, Founder of Linden Labs and Second Life Web site: http://iinnovate.blogspot.com/2006/11/philip-rosedale-founder-of-linden-labs_27.html   

This site provides a podcast, video, and transcript of an actual interview with Philip Rosedale creator of second life. In this video Rosedale discusses the birth of SL and its future potentials.

Linden Lab inc. (2007). Education. Retrieved July 15, 2007, from Second Life Web site: http://secondlife.com/education/

This website is the homepage of the Linden Lab Corporation.  It discusses the business and educational scope of Second Life.

Jarret, Kevin (2007,May). Second life in education. Retrieved July 15, 2007, from Slideshare Web site: http://www.slideshare.net/kjarrett/second-life-in-education

This site provides a powerpoint presentation that discusses some current educational uses in second life.  Some samples are provided and discussed as well.

Rikomatic (2007, July). Education in Second Life:it’s about collaboration not frames-per-second. Rikomatic.com:Rikomatic’s weblog. Retrieved July 17,2007 from http://www.rikomatic.com/blog/2006/08/article_on_educ.html

This weblog provides information about second life's uses in educational; it refers more to higher education and refers to distance education as well.

 

 

Arete (2007, May 29). Education in Second Life: Explore the possibilities. Youtube.com. Retrieved July 16, 2007 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMGR9q43dag

This is a youtube presentation that emphasizes educator's possible uses of second life. 

McGolerick, E. (2007). Online Degrees. Retrieved July 23, 2007, from Second Life University Web site: http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/Departments/eLearning/?article=SecondLife

(2007). Management. Retrieved July 25, 2007, from Linden lab Web site: http://lindenlab.com/management#rosedale

 

Shankar, Kiruba (2007,June 27). Cory Ondrejka, Second Life Co-founder. Retrieved July 25, 2007, from PodTecj Web site: http://www.podtech.net/home/3400/cory-ondrejka-second-life-co-founder

 

 

Newitz, Annalee (2006, September). Your Second Life is Ready. Retrieved July 25, 2007, from popsci.com Web site: http://www.popsci.com/popsci/technology/7ba1af8f3812d010vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html

Millionsofus. (2006,August 29). You Tube. Retrieved July 28, 2007, from Performing a Play in Second Life Web site: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cWF438HgJA

 

 

Bellizzi, D (2007). sleducation. Retrieved July 28, 2007, from Educational Uses of Second Life Web site: http://sleducation.wikispaces.com/educationaluses