Virtual Worlds: A Guide to Using Second Life in Education

This seminar will introduce educators to the benefits of using virtual worlds in the classroom.  In particular we will look at 3D environments of Second Life and Open Sim. Many educators are now looking at virtual worlds as a great way of engaging and motivating learners.

We will look at how Second Life can be used to enhance teaching in a variety of curricular areas and see practical examples of this from classrooms around the world. 

Kate Farrell will discuss the highly successful Global Science class that she supported at the High School for Global Citizenship in Brooklyn, New York.  The students learned about issues such as sustainable living and renewable energy sources using Second Life as a tool to explore and understand these issues.  This course was so engaging and enjoyable that a pupil continued to login and attend the class remotely whilst he was excluded from school. 

"This is the most amazing thing that I've experienced in high school so far", Andrysse, 14.

We will then look at a variety of options which you can use to provide access safely for your students, and how to plan and carry out a virtual worlds project in the classroom.

Kate Farrell teaches Computing to students aged 12 to 18 at Castlebrae Community High School. She also works as a Lead Practitioner in Moving Image Education with Scottish Screen.

Kate has been using Second Life in education for several years now. She is a Linden Labs approved educator in Second Life's 'teen grid'. She has worked on various projects, teaching and facilitating activities with young people around the world both in person and remotely.

Last year Kate supported a Science class being run at the High School for Global Citizenship in New York. She also advises on curriculum development for the American charity Global Kids and has written teaching material for new teachers learning how to use Second Life.

Sean Farrell is an e-learning technologist, based in Heriot-Watt University.

He works for the Scottish Physics Universities Alliance (SUPA), a research pooling initiative. He supports staff and post-graduate students across Scotland in their use of video-conference lectures and open-source distance learning tools to provide a shared graduate school programme between seven universities.

Sean has supported several organizations which have had Second Life based projects over the last three years. He advises people who are planning new projects and runs training programmes for teachers in the use of virtual worlds.