Let’s Virtually Recreate Collaborative Education Dean L. Zeller Dr. Paul S. Wang (advisor) Department of Computer Science Kent State University

Slide 2 of 10 Inspiring Novels The City and the Stars –By Arthur C. Clarke (1956) –Books have been replaced by an immersive environment where students meet with other students to solve “quests.” Snow Crash –By Neal Stephenson (1992) –The Internet has been replaced by a virtual reality called the Metaverse.

Slide 3 of 10 About Second Life 16,000,000 unique accounts. Business conducted through Linden Dollars (US$1  L$300). Instant messaging and item sharing. Virtual meetings and classrooms. Is not a game.

Slide 4 of 10 Popular Culture References The Office episode: Dwight Shrute creates a virtual world within Second Life, called “Second Second Life.” Second Life girls rated #95 on Maxim’s Top 100 Hottest Females of CSI NY episode: Mac used Second Life to locate a suspect in episode “Down the Rabbit Hole.” The Darkest Evening of the Year, by Dean Koontz. One of the antagonists is a private detective who lives vicariously through his Second Life avatar.

Slide 5 of 10 Advantages of Virtual Worlds for Education Immersive 3D environment Communication Collaboration Enjoyable Encourages imagination Motivates learning Visual modeling

Slide 6 of 10 Virtual World Comparison Not all virtual worlds are alike! Advantages of Second Life: –Easiest to use –Established user base –Potential for real income Disadvantages of Second Life: –Cost (accounts, graphics, owning land, etc…) –Inappropriate information –Runs on Linden Labs’ server

Slide 7 of 10 Using a Virtual World for Education 1.Traditional skill and drill Freezetag game, where players must correctly answer a question to get a reward that will help with the game (unfrozen, ammo, weapon) Can be used for any topic Prepare students for standardized exams 2.Solve quests Use the virtual world as an immersive environment for problem-solving and learning. Create quests in a virtual world that students would conquor. 3.Have students write own quests Teach students how to use, build, and script in a virtual world. Have them create stories, quests, or whatever they want. Allow students to go their own direction. 4.Virtual training centers Nurse training simulations Firefighter training simulations Virtual genetics labs Virtual theater

Slide 8 of 10 Future Work SLML Second Life Markup Language (Pronounced “slemmel”) Second Life textbook Negotiations with Pearson Textbook Co.

Slide 9 of 10 References Zeller, D. “The Future of Internet-Based Education through Virtual Worlds.” The International Journal of Learning, Volume 15, Issue 10, pp Weber, A., Rufer-Bach, K., Platel, R. Creating your world: the official guide to advanced content creation for Second Life Wiley Publishing, Inc. ISBN For other lessons in Second Life, see the following wikis

Slide 10 of 10 Funding This research is funded by the Research Center for Educational Technology (RCET), the Web-based Mathematics Education (WME) team, and the Graduate Student Senate at Kent State University.