Teaching in the Virtual Theatre Classroom - Teaching through Multi-User Virtual Environments - page 184

playing within theatrical contexts and SL weddings
elsewhere (Schrum, 2009).
However, there is actually no need in SL for
real classrooms, or even for spaces that resemble
traditional learning environments. In a world
where flying and teleportation are possible,
ground-based walled classrooms, desks and chairs
are unnecessary. While some residents of SL do
report a feeling of discomfort while standing
around (because it does not mimic what they are
familiar with in RL), chairs and benches are not
a requirement.
For my purposes, I utilized two environments
for class meetings. The first was land I owned (at
the time) for my in-world shop and performance
space. On the small parcel of land, dubbed Faust's
Study, I had placed a Victorian building to house
vendors (similar to RL vending machines) for
the poetry anthologies I had created in SL, and
a small outdoor stage, with piano, drumkit and
microphone, and a DJ booth off to the side. This
small area was sufficient for meeting the class
briefly before going off on other explorations, and
for providing a vendor to give the students things
they needed (landmarks to locations around SL,
or other free objects). The second space was the
Greek Theatre, then located on Cookie Island as a
result of the generosity of Thinkerer Studios. Built
by an in-SL company known as PrimeMovers (op-
erated by Jenene Lemaire and Talliver Hartnell),
the structure reproduced in scale an ancient Greek
theatre. The much larger space allowed the class
to sit on benches for speakers or performances,
or to move about and create objects. In addition
to providing ample space for hands-on activities,
the location also imparted a sense of fun to the
students and instructor alike, to be holding a theatre
class in a traditional Greek theatre.
Because only a portion of the class dealt with
virtual worlds, the SL-oriented visits and assign-
ments were spread through the semester, so we
worked in SL between the digital media projects.
This allowed the students to have time to work
on the various media assignments and to develop

their SL skills on a rotating basis, thus laying the
groundwork for later activities. In this I followed
the advice of Carter (2006) who suggests that,
“People tend to learn best in 'small pieces,' so
focus only on a few skills at a time” (p.1).
Their first SL activity was to register with
Linden Lab and create their avatars, or the rep-
resentations of themselves in the virtual world.
This is an obvious first step, since they could not
otherwise enter the world. Avatar creation also
forced them to confront the idea of their virtual
identities. What first name would they create
for themselves, and what last name would they
choose from the provided list? Would they select
their RL biological gender and ethnic appearance
for their avatars? This immediate investment into
the identity of their avatars marked a moment of
conscious and selective rebirth in the new world.
The course had twenty students enrolled. Re-
gardless of sexual preferences, everyone chose
their RL genders for their avatars. In the same
way, all selected the appearance of their avatars
to reflect their RL ethnic appearance; the sixteen
Caucasian students chose Caucasian-looking
avatars, and the three African-Americans chose
African-American-looking avatars. The remain-
ing student displayed his Japanese heritage with
his first and last names, as well as his avatar
appearance. After this initial selection, only two
students tinkered much with their appearance;
one, familiar with virtual worlds from playing
World of Warcraft, found tattoos to decorate his
skin. The other, originally creating an avatar much
larger than his true (overweight) body type, often
appeared for class as the Kool-Aid Man (which, of
course, is also a rotund figure). Clearly SL can be
a fertile ground for sociological and psychologi-
cal research on the comparatively simple act of
choosing one's avatar.
Following the creation of their avatars, and
after allowing them to become familiar with
SL on Orientation Island, I teleported them to
Faust's Study for some further information about
navigation and communication, such as in-world