Educational Gaming Commons - Press Start

Virtual Worlds in Education

Education Technology Services at Penn State is investigating the use of virtual worlds in education, with a current focus on the Second Life virtual space. Five Faculty Engagement Initiatives in Virtual Worlds kicked off this process, ranging from language learning to network visualization.

Faculty Engagement Initiative in Virtual Worlds

In Spring 2007, ETS sought proposals that would use Second Life to investigate the potential uses of virtual worlds in higher education. Five proposals were accepted:

• Dr. Gerry Santoro, Assistant Professor, Information Sciences and Technology (IST), University park – To use Second Life as a futures technology in IST 110 – the IST introductory course, and Security and Risk Analysis 111.
• Dr. Steve Thorne, Assistant Professor, Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, University Park – Dr. Thorne used Second Life in Applied Language 589, a graduate class investigating the use of education technologies for foreign language acquisition.
• Dr. Gloria Clark, Assistant Professor of Humanities and Spanish, Penn State Harrisburg – To develop a virtual Hacienda for Spanish 1-3 students so they can experience the culture and physicality of the Spanish language.
• Alexia Hudson, Assistant Librarian, Penn State Great Valley – To develop an information center for IST Database Design & Concept and Web-based design (INSC521 & IST SWENG560), and Operations Management and Supply Chain Management (OPMGT 510& OPMGT 597A). In addition, a virtual Penn State Great Valley Library will be created, with enough flexibility to ensure it represents the overall Penn State Library System.
• Dr. Keith Bailey, Director e-Learning Institute, College of Arts and Architecture, University Park – To develop a virtual representation of the Penn State Palmer Museum, for use in Art 10, Introduction to Visual Studies and Art History 111, Ancient to Medieval Art, as well as broader applications within the college.

Space in Second Life was purchased for this initiative in Summer 2007, and the space was developed to support the initiatives.

As of Fall 2008, Education Technology Services supports two islands, Penn State Isle and Penn State Isle 2. Penn State Isle hosts three of the five original Engagement Projects - The Hacienda, the Penn State Great Valley space, and the Virtual Palmer Museum.

Penn State Isle 2 is a mixture of semi-permanent projects and "scratch" space, where small plots of land are loaned to faculty and staff who wish to explore the possibilities of virtual worlds:

• Scott MacLeod of Penn State New Kensington teaches a course titled 'Society and Information Technology' there, a course about how the Network Society has developed, vis-à-vis long-time Berkeley Professor Manuel Castells' research on the Information Technology revolution.
• Alexia Hudson is creating the Penn State Libraries virtual space here.
• Bob Avanzato, associate professor of engineering and Information Sciences and Technology program coordinator at Abington, is using Second Life in a freshman IST 110T (honors and FYS) section to explore collaborative learning, team building, and the use of virtual communities to enhance education and campus life.  The course section covers MP3 technology, podcasting, and virtual communities using Second Life.  Bob is also exploring the use of Second Life for 3D modeling, collaborative design, and robotics.
• Michael Moore uses this space for part of his Adult Education 531 class.
• The New Media Art Department in the School of Visual Arts uses this space for various endeavors.
• The Schreyer's Honors College has a presence on this island.
• Matthew Bodek of Penn State Brandywine has a presence on this island.
• Dee McGonigle used this space to create some machinima to illustrate patient care scenarios.
• David Stong uses this space to extend his expertise in 3D art and development.

College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST)

IST has two islands, ISTania and ISTania2. See http://sidev.ist.psu.edu/secondlife for more information.A variety of projects are evolving in this space, including a Security and Risk analysis scenario, where students explore various security scenarios.

Penn State Berks

The Berks campus has an island in Second Life. Mike Bartolacci, IST professor, is engaging students in MIS and IST courses in several Second Life activities:

• Students find some real world companies in SL and review their customer relationship management systems within SL and compare those to what they are doing on their websites.
• Students build a computer networking lab. Mike was purposely vague on the requirements to see what they come up with, but did give them a bunch of "empty" computers and equipment they can add scripts to.

Penn State World Campus

World Campus is using their Second Life area as a meeting spot for online and distance education students, to give them a sense of 'belonging' to the university. They will use the area for events and community building with such things as virtual tailgates, live music performances, and group meetings.  Beginning in January with the "official" opening of the island, they will be conducting academic advising in Second Life and will also be doing group counseling sessions for career planning and workshops.  They hope to use the space to build community among not only World Campus students but all Penn State students, faculty, and staff.

World Campus recently purchased a second island to pursue additional ideas and explorations, including a military center for military students, a multicultural center, and perhaps a replica of Old Main to further represent "Penn State" to students who may never see campus.

Penn State Undergraduate Admissions

Undergraduate Admissions at Penn State has purchased an island in the teen grid of Second Life specifically designed to allow for interaction with prospective students considering college. The island will provide information on Penn State including all of our campuses and the admissions process.

Here's some photos!