Virtual Worlds and Web 2.0

The phone rings. The caller begins with the familiar, “I’ve been thinking...” and the rest of the conversation centers on how to pilot an emerging instructional technology. Faculty who are early adopters of technology are experimenters and risk-takers; they broaden the landscape of effective teaching and learning with technology. Yes, they push the envelope, but they also offer partnership for identifying what’s scalable and sustainable for broader use. Our panelists will share their campus perspectives on adopting emerging technologies from Web 2.0 to virtual worlds, their successes and challenges, and the partnerships they’ve formed.

This session will explore the ways Second Life can help students engage in active interpretation of literary texts. Through the development of in-world learning activities, participation in a wiki, and reflection, students engage in material culture analysis and see firsthand the ways interpretative choices can affect the reading of texts.

Second Life is a user-created virtual world simultaneously played by thousands of people around the world. In this session, we’ll share our experiences of teaching in Second Life. Using the interaction combinations integration model we developed as a framework, we will describe our projects, outcomes, and recommendations.

Web 2.0 projects have rapidly expanded into a world of social media. From blogs to podcasts, millions of people have published and shared a growing amount of digital content. At the same time virtual worlds have grown in popularity, from massively multiplayer games like World of Warcraft to metaverse projects like Second Life. How do these two movements apply to higher education? Where do Web 2.0 and the metaverse connect? What trends are emerging for the near future?

Given the demands of teaching, service, and research, faculty are today expected to embrace learning technologies along with everything else, challenging the institution to help them make sense of what works and how to work it.

This research bulletin examines the current state of Second Life in relation to the educational environment. Although literature about virtual worlds dates back many years, this bulletin reflects on more recent publications that discuss both technological and pedagogical issues. Content is drawn from interviews with educators and innovators who are already involved in building campuses, teaching classes, and providing resources to those using Second Life.

Technology and the way information is created, used, and disseminated have changed, as has the definition of "net savvy"

With directed effort, some ingenuity, and a future-focused vision, colleges and universities should be able to identify and leverage existing technologies with which to build aspects of "future" campus learning spaces—today.