Second Life Viewer 2.0: Additonal Potential for This Virtual World Platform

August 31, 2010 - 3:10pm | by rtbrown
Presenter(s)
Dana Willett (University of Southern Indiana, US)
Session Information
November 3, 2010 - 1:45pm
Track: 
Technology and Emerging Learning Environments
Areas of Special Interest: 
Blended Learning
Major Emphasis of Presentation: 
Practical Application
Institutional Level: 
Course
Session Type: 
Individual Presentation
Location: 
Bonaire 8
Session Duration: 
35
Concurrent Session: 
1
Abstract

The recent implementation of Viewer 2.0 for Second Life's virtual world adds potential for using the platform in distance and blended learning. Now, users can easily display web-based content in-world. See how this enhances Second Life's existing 3D environment to provide a broad range of teaching and learning tools.

Extended Abstract

The 3D virtual world of Second Life has recently received an exciting upgrade that offers additional potential for those exploring the platform for distance and blended learning. Earlier this year, Linden Labs, the creators of Second Life, released an enhanced viewer (version 2.0) for the Second Life virtual world. Participants in this session will see the new features of the viewer including the ability to embed and display dynamic web-based content within the virtual environment. These new capabilities will help connect students to content both inside and outside Second Life without the need to exit the virtual world experience. Combined with Second Life's existing 3D environment, chat and instant messaging tools, and voice and multimedia capabilities, a broad range of teaching and learning tools are now available inside the platform. Further, the new viewer has been designed to improve the initial user experience in-world and to ease the adoption of Second Life for those with limited or no experience inside a virtual world. Those who may have tried Second Life as a teaching platform and found it limiting or faculty who have never experienced this virtual world are likely to find the experience of using Second Life's Viewer 2.0 a significant step forward in merging a virtual world experience with the ease of development of traditional web-based teaching and learning tools.

Supplemental File 1: 
application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document iconGettingStartedSecondLifeSharedMedia.docx
Lead Presenter

Dana R. Willett is the Director of Instructional Technology Services at the University of Southern Indiana. He has lead distance education course and program development for four years and has supported the distance learning technology needs of the university for the past 10 years. Dana has led numerous workshops and presentations on course management systems, podcasting, web-based team collaboration systems, social networking systems, and classroom presentation technology.