Drexel opens Second Life campus

By: Nancy Lan

Posted: 7/27/07

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.
On the College of Nursing and Health

Professions floor, Ronald Comer, Director of Behavioral Health Counseling program, created a virtual bar in order to educate students about blood alcohol levels and drunk driving.

"I thought it would be kind of fun. People can … walk into this little bar area, and I have some pictures on the walls, and there's a bar with some drinks and all, and then there's a sign behind the bar that invites people to click on it to learn about blood alcohol levels," Comer said.

Comer hopes to continue to use Second Life to educate students, and is working on another display area that will contain information about schizophrenia.

Although Drexel Island has been primarily utilized by faculty since its acquisition, Bradley and Siftar both hope to get more students involved.

Bradley discussed the possibility of forming a student association that could be in charge of student contribution and interaction in the virtual world. Siftar added that students could use Second Life as a place to organize virtual discussions about books, poetry or different disciplines, referencing last week's Harry Potter festivities as an example.

Students can access Drexel Island by visiting www.drexelisland.wikispaces.com, or they can attend workshops held each week to learn more about Second Life. During these sessions, they can also sign up to become a resident of Drexel Island and begin designing or building their own spaces.

In addition to educational efforts, Second Life offers students a gaming aspect as well.

"There's a whole economy in Second Life," stated Bradley. "You can sell things, you can buy things, and you can also buy services. There actually are people making their living by doing things," Bradley said.

Second Life services include tasks such as constructing new infrastructures. Once developers finish their work, they are paid in Linden dollars, Second Life's currency, which can then be changed back into real money. The marketplace in Second Life handles monetary transactions and currently supports millions of U.S. dollars each month, according to the official Second Life Web site.

"This environment is so infinitely malleable, infinitely manipulative by the users. You can be much more creative … you can achieve more diverse goals … as opposed to just relying on what some game developers did," Bradley said.

Second Life will most likely be a bigger hit with online students sooner than students on campus because of the extra richness it offers when someone is not physically with classmates, said Siftar.

Online students who take virtual courses may feel more engaged, almost like they are sitting in a classroom.

According to its Web site, Second Life was opened to the public in 2003 and presently has over 8 million users from all over the world.