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TopSecond Life Uses In Higher Education
Second Life is a virtual world in which inhabitants engage in a variety of rich sensory experiences that allow them to express themselves and co-construct their learning experiences through active engagement in simulations (Antonacci & Modress, 2008), role-plays (Gao, Jeongmin, & Koehler, 2009; Mayrath, Scanchez, Traphagan, Heikes, & Trivedi, 2007), modeling complex scenarios (Gourlay & Tombs, 2009), exploration (Boudreau, Headley, & Ashford, 2009), and solving authentic problems (Muldoon & Kofoed, 2009) (Figure 1).
Linden Labs’ Second Life Multiple User Virtual Environment (MUVE), launched in 2003, is the preeminent “in-world” environment for those 18 and over, with over 31,000 regions (Second Life Wiki, 2010), an average of 589,000 unique users a month, and $133,000 U.S. dollars in transactions a day (Shepard, 2010; Second Life Economic Statistics, 2010). Membership is free, though one must agree to the Terms of Service when downloading the program. Avatars are life-like, photo-realistic, and customizable. Genitalia are usually purchased for an additional cost, but are also found at free marketplaces within Second Life. Second Life (SL) has an income that rivals small countries. With hundreds of universities worldwide in SL, (Second Life Blogs, 2009) and total membership at roughly 1 million, SL is a powerful platform for teaching and learning (Dede, 1997; Tennesen, 2009).
University faculty are using SL for teaching, recruitment, and professional development in greater numbers, worldwide, as they wrestle with what constitutes proper pedagogy (Appel, 2006; Boudreau, Headley, & Ashford, 2009; DiRamio, 2005; Felix, 2005). Some faculty continue to prefer to contain students in an SL classroom that imitates brick-and-mortar buildings and teach traditionally with PowerPoint, fearing potential ethical issues and resulting legal problems that could result from students exploring and building freely. However, a growing number of faculty favor a more active, student-centered and engaged approach to teaching (Hung; Tan & Koh, 2006; Jonassen, 2000; Neely, Bowers, & Ragas, 2010) that involves exploration, student-centered learning, and construction.