Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 22
Subject Matter Content Creation
for Second Life Delivery:
Teaching GIS in Second Life
Michael DeMers
New Mexico State University, USA
ABSTRACT
Worldwide, educators are experimenting with the myriad possibilities that Second Life and other multi-
user virtual environments (MUVEs) provide for teaching and learning for online courses. Some find the
ability to collaborate enhanced, others see the social presence improved, more acknowledge the ease
of employing role play intriguing, and a few have employed highly complex simulations as means of
delivering complex material. The ability of educators to develop, test, and effectively deliver meaning-
ful educational content within virtual worlds is often limited by the rather steep learning curve such
environments present. This chapter provides first a set of basic guidelines for preparing instructors for
an incremental approach to content delivery and predisposes learners for successful implementation and
performance. Second, using examples from the discipline of geography, specifically my subspecialty of
geographic information systems (GIS), it describes the use of some basic tools contained within Second
Life for creation of active course content through small learning objects. Finally, it demonstrates real-
world examples of such in-world learning objects from a laboratory-based course to illustrate how
traditional course content can be transformed to hands-on exercises in the virtual environment.
INTRODUCTION
objectives, the application of this emerging tech-
nology as a tool for education (Atkinson, 2008).
Unlike traditional massively multiplayer online
role-playing game (MMORPG) worlds, Second
Life is a free-form virtual world where content,
context, and experience are all formed at-will
rather than being controlled by a preset mission
or objective created by the game publisher (Liv-
Since its inception in 2003, Second Life, a 3-D
multi-user virtual environment (MUVE) cre-
ated and operated by the Linden Laboratories in
San Francisco, California has had, as one of its
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-61692-822-3.ch022
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