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to each assignment to ensure successful imple-
mentation. Its purpose is, through example, to
increase the likelihood that Second Life and other
Multi-User Virtual Environments (MUVE) will
be successfully employed for learning regardless
of discipline.
and by expressing. While quite compelling, such
conceptual models are of little use unless placed
in a concrete setting with practical guidelines.
John Lester (Second Life Name: Pathfinder
Linden) (2006) produced a brief sketch of what
he considered essential elements of preparing
to teach in Second Life. His first suggestion is
that you, as the instructor, establish a relatively
permanent location within which to deliver your
content (Figure 2).
Second Life simulations can often disappear
in an instant. A simulation of a 1950's restaurant
one day can become a western-wear clothing store
the next. Second Life students, like classroom
students need to have a sense of permanence,
familiarity, and routine. There are numerous or-
ganizations providing teaching spaces in Second
Life including many universities, educational
non-profit cooperatives, and other sims dedicated
to teaching.
A second recommendation Lester (2006)
makes, and one I have emphasized in some of
my podcasts (http://idisk.mac.com/akadrgadget-
home) is that the instructor must spend time in
Second Life prior to and during the learning ex-
perience. It is important to remember that Second
Life was not designed as a teaching space, but
rather as a virtual community in which people live,
work, play, and conduct commerce. The faculty
member who comes into Second Life to deliver
a lecture, take part in a discussion, or perform
a demonstration and then promptly leaves does
not really become part of the community and the
students feel just as disconnected from them as
they do when they appear in the classroom three
days a week for lectures and then have no further
contact with the student. I find it helpful to share
fun experiences in Second Life with my students
so that they become comfortable with Second Life
as an environment and, perhaps more importantly,
they begin to view the instructor as more than
a talking head. There are many games, dance
places, carnivals, rides, amusement parks, and
even simulated trips to mars that the students and
LITeRATURe ReVIeW
While Second Life and other MUVEs have been
available since the early 2000's, their use as
potential learning environments has been a more
recent development (Antonacci & Modaress,
2005). This does not mean that educators were
not considering the concept, however, because a
Second Life workshop, held at the Second Life
Community Convention (Livingstone & Kemp,
2006), brought together educators who had already
begun development of their virtual classrooms and
learning environments. These workshops continue
at the Second Life conventions and often provide
useful examples of implementations, but provide
little guidance for others.
Recently, educators have begun the difficult
task of linking pedagogy and virtual worlds to
better understand its effectiveness. Some have
examined the utility of virtual worlds for expe-
riential learning (Jarmon et al., 2008; DeMers,
2010), others examined student perceptions of
learning in virtual worlds (Lowe & Clarke, n.d.),
still others have provided examples of how specific
disciplinary material can be taught in Second Life
(Esteves et al., 2009; Herold, 2009; Lee, 2009;
Pereira et al., 2009; Dos Santos, 2009). These
examples provide encouragement to other disci-
plinary educators to consider the use of MUVEs
as a venue for learning.
What is lacking from the literature is a clear
path to achieving a successful experience both for
the educator and for the learner. Lim (2009) sug-
gested a “six learnings” approach to using Second
Life for education: Learning by exploring, by col-
laborating, by being, by building, by championing
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