UT Arlington in Second Life

Past, Present, and Future

University Library Committee-November 9, 2010Sarah Jones, UT Arlington Library

UTA in Second Life: The Backstory

University of Texas System grant: "Transforming Undergraduate Education“ -- http://tuelearningcommunity.com/ (July 2009-July 2010) pioneered by Dr. Leslie Jarmon, UT Austin

One year's funding for land for all campuses and health science centersThe first university system-wide initiativeGoal: Virtual Learning Community

Researchers, instructors, students, administrators, staffCost savings for travelEnvironmental sustainability: travel, brick & mortar overheadAddition to DE toolkitExploration of immersive environment for education

Accomplishments

Facilities for meetings, classes, study groups, conferences, and exhibitions – see the UTA Island Directory

Interest meetings, Information Fair, Focus on Technology, New Maverick Orientation, Welcome Week Open House

Press coverage: The Shorthorn, The 33 News Class activities: Nursing, English FLOC exhibit on food sustainability Website with info, tutorials, and resources / Facebook page & Twitter feed College of Nursing Genomics Journal Club Undergraduate advising for the Department of Sociology & Anthropology UT System Undergraduate Conference “The Value of Second Life to Nursing” continuing education workshop

UT Arlington in Second Life

Conference Room

Open-air Classroom

Academic Commons

UT Arlington Conference Center

Conference Center Exhibit Hall

Places to relax

Places to think

Challenges

Challenges:Technology – graphics card, processor speed, broadband internetAcculturation – being represented as an avatar in a 3D, synchronous, shared

online environmentTranslation – pedagogy and research in a virtual world

But.. A view to the past…

UTA Web Site, June 1997

UTA Library Web Site, June 1997

A View of the Past

Evolution of the UTA web presence over 15 years Adoption of WebCT 10 years ago UTA hosted blogs as a response to faculty using Blogger The challenges of getting syllabi posted online Even email until relatively recently

Student MavMail Library paper overdue notices

Virtual Worlds – revisiting the web of the mid 1990s

So, why Second Life?

Sense of Self Sense of Place Sense of Presence

Immersive, sensory experience

Synchronous, collaborative environment – more engaging than a web or video conference

Cost-effective alternative to travel, commuting, parking

The Future

Year One: funded by the UT System, with support from the Library (1/2 of my time)

Year Two: funded jointly by the Office of the Provost, the Library, the College of Nursing and the College of Liberal Arts

Beyond? Closer collaboration with other UT System schools to share space and

resources Exploration of companion platforms (rapid growth among educators, less

expensive, but technical challenges behind the scenes) Research into locally hosted compatible spaces

The Future

Millions of kids, tweens and teens are currently using online social spaces and games Already accustomed to being represented as an avatar Already accustomed to the style of interacting, moving, and using an

online 3D environment

Will we be ready when they get to college?

UT Arlington in Second Life

UTA SL website - www.uta.edu/secondlife Follow on Facebook or Twitter or read postings on the site Log in directly to UTA land

Contact me: Sarah Jones - sjones@uta.edu

University of Texas Arlington, Digital Library Services

In SL: Razitra Artizar (Raz)

www.slideshare.net/razitra