Second Life and PSTCC

What is Second Life?

That's actually a pretty difficult question to answer. The most accurate-but-brief answer is that Second Life is a platform that uses gaming technology to create a 3D online experience. It is a Multi-User Virtual Environment (a MUVE). Although some users (called "residents" in SL lingo) certainly use SL to play games, SL itself is not a game, and most residents use SL for other things.

Those other things include business, social interaction, therapy, and education.

In brief, though, here's why it matters:

IBM's Wladawsky-Berger suggests that the magic of the original Internet and Web has distracted users from an important question: "We never said: Where are the people?" he says.

Now, Wladawsky-Berger and other powerful Internet players are starting to see Second Life as a better, people-centric way to navigate the Net. It might be a leap like when the Mosaic browser first brought graphics to the Internet. Eventually, Internet users might go to Amazon through Second Life instead of through a browser, walking into the Amazon store and interacting with shoppers and clerks.

—from a USA Today article published 4 Feb. 2007.

For more information about Second Life itself, check the links page under the heading of "SL itself."

What is SLPSTCC?

We have a project at PSTCC to investigate the uses of Second Life as an educational tool. That it is useful for education has been established by academic studies already. (See, for example, "Second Life: The Educational Possibilities of a Massively Multiplayer Virtual World (MMVW)," referenced in our Links list.) We still need to determine whether it is some we want to do—will students and faculty benefit enough from it to justify the learning curve.

As part of that project, some of our students and faculty took part in pilot classes in the spring of 2007 on two "islands" (think of them as "server space" if it's easier to get your head around the concept) owned in SL by PSTCC.

For more information about Second Life and its use in education, check the links page under the heading of "Education and SL."

The short version of its benefits: Web-based classes have twice the dropout rate of ground-based classes. Interviews with students who drop out show that a sense of disconnectedness contributes greatly to that. Even students who stay with Web-based courses often report a sense of disconnectedness and dissatisfaction. This results in lower achievement and a lesser ability to retain material.

Lots of educational research indicates that when students develop a sense of engagement with the material and a sense of connection with the course, the teacher, and each other, they learn more and they retain more.

Early research from multiple researchers indicates that MUVEs (and Second Life in particular) foster what researcher Sarah Robbins classifies as "engagement, community, and collaboration." Even though it's virtual reality, participants report a beneficial psychological effect, which is most succinctly summed up as a sense of presence. That leads to higher retention and achievement.

What's happening with the project now?

For a sense of the development of the project up until its official launch in Spring 2007, check the original home page.

Ongoing news can best be tracked via our blog postings. Just follow the link. That blog addresses several different topics, though, so if something doesn't seem to fit with a discussion of SL, click the SL category in the right-hand navigation bar to make sure you're only getting posts related to it.

How do I find SLPSTCC in Second Life?

We have posted directions on getting set up with a free account and finding us inworld.