Ohio University Second Life Campus

From Ideas to Reality

OU SL Campus History
Number of Developed Islands	2
Number of Undeveloped Islands	5
Director	Merle Graybill
Community Standards	Standards
Campus Projects	Nutrition Game
	Software Engineering Process Game
	Groupthink Exercise

Ohio University’s Second Life® (SL) campus stands at the forefront of educational virtual worlds. The campus currently includes two developed islands, which serve as a virtual representation of the Ohio University campus, and five undeveloped islands purchased in February 2007 to promote campus expansion. Two Ohio University offices, Ohio University Without Boundaries, and University Outreach led by Director Merle Graybill, have played a vital role in the development of the islands which provide a unique space for classes and students to meet and learn. Already, classes in subjects ranging from English to engineering have been held on campus with great success.

The islands have not only been a host for formal teaching and learning experiences, but also grant-sponsored activities. The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Ohio Environmental Education Fund supported a virtual environments competition in two Athens area high schools. The competition challenged participants to build a virtual environmental simulation, with the intention to raise awareness about Appalachia’s unique environmental issues. Also, the Ohio Minority Health Council sponsored the Nutrition Game on OUWB’s island. The game tracks calorie and fast consumption at virtual restaurants, as participants learned about making healthy eating choices in African American and Asian cuisine.

Early Progress

Dr. Chang Liu, Assistant Professor of the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, came across SL as he explored synthetic worlds, searching for educational virtual worlds to aid the Science and Technology Enrichment for Appalachian Middle-schoolers (STEAM) project, sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Teaching Fellows in K-12 Education (GK-12) program. STEAM is a $1.3 million grant project headed by Dr. Liu, Dr. Theresa Franklin, and Dr. David Chelberg. When Liu looked into SL in the spring of 2006, he recognized that it would take more than computer sciences to maximize the potential of the space and decided to involve more people from around the campus. Liu credits the support he received from Merle Graybill, Director of University Outreach, and encouragement from Bill Sams, then CIO of Ohio University. “Bill was one of the first administrators that I talked with about SL. He was extremely supportive and encouraged me to pursue it.” As a resident of SL since 2005, Sams says that he “believed in the ability of SL to provide transformational education experiences,” which is exactly what Dr. Liu was looking for.

On Wednesday June 21, 2006 interested parties met for the first informal meeting of the Second Life Learning Community. Twenty people from across the campus attended the initial meeting. Many of those in attendance had already heard about SL and were excited to talk about what a coordinated approach in this new environment had to offer Ohio University. By the end of the meeting each person left with a vision of how SL could enhance the work that they do. With broad administrative support, Dr. Liu began to work on a way to connect students and faculty to SL.

While Dr. Liu worked to coordinate resources on campus to buy land in SL, Dr. Cable Green, Director of Technology for the Ohio Learning Network (OLN), offered a space for interested OU professors to experiment and familiarize themselves with SL. As a result, OU’s first class in SL, a class on immersive, multiplayer games, took place over the summer of 2006 on OLN’s island.

Setbacks

The coordination of resources started with Marjorie DeWert. She knew of SL prior to the June 21 meeting and was eager to support the ambitions of the learning communi€ty. As the Director of the Center for Academic Technology (CAT), DeWert supports faculty interested in instructional innovation by helping design, develop, and assess instructional resource materials and technology-based tools. Funding from CAT helped spread SL to faculty by providing start up funds to facilitate learning community meetings and install graphics cards on faculty computers.

Meanwhile, SL’s biweekly extensive software updates were preventing SL’s inclusion in computer labs, and thus, student access to the virtual world. Dr. Liu credits Bryan Jordan and Paul Deering and the College of Engineering IT support team with devising a way to connect the Russ College of Engineering students through server updates. As a result of their innovation, OU’s technological infrastructure could support SL’s potential.

Early Second Life Realestate Purchases

In August 2006, just a couple of months after the initial SL meeting, Muriel Ballou, Director of Ohio University Without Boundaries and Christopher Keesey, Project Manager for Marketing and Learning Applications at Ohio University Without Boundaries bought an island and began developing the first phase of Ohio University’s campus in SL. Ballou notes that “SL fits with OUWB’s mission,” which is to open up educational opportunities for interested learners, regardless of their physical location through the use of cutting edge technology. She credits Keesey with the development of the OUWB island. Sams agrees, “Christopher has been a tremendous asset to the project because he brings creativity, skill sets and marketing to OU’s SL campus.” Keesey was familiar with SL because he had been researching 3-D environments for educational purposes. He became interested in SL because of its ability to produce “rich simulations of educational environments.” Keesey hopes that SL can be used as a promotional and marketing tool for the University, so visitors can get a feel for the campus without being physically present.

That same month, Graybill doubled the size of OU’s SL campus with the purchase of an adjacent island. She saw the need to offer an open space to allow for experimentation and building in this new environment. University Outreach is a new office on campus that centralizes information outreach resources and projects at Ohio University. Graybill describes her involvement in this way, “The sheer fun of envisioning an educational setting in the virtual world of Second Life was nearly enough to motivate a seed investment from the University Outreach office. But the real promise (and payoff) was trusting the ingenuity of OU Without Boundaries and Russ College of Engineering and Technology. Their development of the Ohio University Second Life Campus has positioned us on the leading edge of the next big wave of interactive digital learning environments.”

Future of Ohio University's Second Life Campus

Visions

In a meeting with Ken Sampson, Associate Dean of Technology in the Russ College of Engineering and Technology, Dr. Liu received additional support for SL. Sampson had not heard of SL before their meeting, but knew that Dr. Liu was on to something remarkable, “I immediately saw SL’s potential instructional value,” he says. Beyond that, Sampson recognized that 3D virtual worlds could be the future of computer interactions and wanted Ohio University to be an active participant along the way, “Our involvement in Second Life is an opportunity for OU to be on the leading edge of new technology,” he adds. Sampson’s support would be a vital component of the development of a virtual Stocker Center.

Bill Sams describes SL as “a laboratory for the social sciences.” He is encouraged by SL’s potential to deliver and create knowledge among people and cultures. His professional experience in SL at OU has a different focus– making money. He hopes to generate income for the university by reaching out to the corporate world and offering educational opportunities to the workforce. Sams believes that on a grand scale, SL has the potential to “merge the culture of this region to the technology of Silicon Valley.”

The learning community still meets on a regular basis to discuss and share ideas. The have been tremendously beneficial for the participants and the project. Thanks to two grants from the Ohio Learning Network (OLN), the informal learning community is now a formal learning community and participating members receive a stipend. This allows the group to meet more often and share more ideas. Each member of the learning community has an interpretation of how SL will benefit the university in the future, but all agree that SL has a potential to change the way we live and learn.

Campus Snapshots

A Virtual Classroom

The Learning Center

Outreach Island Welcome Center

Virtual Stocker Center