First Behind-the-Firewall College in Second Life

Location: Cleveland Plain Dealer Web Site

Just uncovered this (tip of the tophat to Alvin) news about Case Western Reserve University:

CWRU on Thursday announced that it is partnering with Linden Lab, the creator of Second Life, to build a private virtual world, or "grid," just for the university.

I have been very excited at Linden Lab's plans for a "behind the firewall" solution for faculty who need stability and a secure haven for projects, hosted on local servers and connected to SL's main grid. For sensitive data in med school classes (a dental lab simulation is pictured above), hosting SL locally provides a perfect solution: the institution, not Linden Lab, is responsible for housing and protecting materials that may be covered by FERPA and other Federal laws.

As I read the account in the Plain Dealer, I became momentarily concerned. While CWRU is the "first university to get its own version of Second Life," would the university lock down student access to the larger grid beyond its walled garden?

It seems not. Read the entire account of how some teachers will use SL, and for many of them, I'm betting that the protected college space, supported by their own on-campus experts, will create an ideal learning environment. On campus, students need never worry about a griefer from the broader world of SL ( faculty can handle student griefers just fine). Off campus, the students will enter a larger and less controlled world, just as they do when they complete experiential-learning projects outside a campus' brick-and-mortar gates.

We'll see more campuses do what CWRU is doing, and soon, in SL and other virtual worlds.

Education and Browser-Based Worlds: Win-Win?

Location: Metaplace Web Site

This will sound Pollyanna-ish to those who know me, but I feel strongly that browser-based worlds could, under certain circumstances, capture a lot of the education market from Second Life.

Here's why:

• Graphics, graphics, graphics: Linden Lab adds features to the SL client that ramp up the system requirements and add lag. Colleges and universities do not upgrade labs as often as most digerati upgrade their systems, and most students here use laptops. For those reasons, any virtual world with even the versimilitude of SL in 2006 would be "good enough" for most of the builds I can contempate in education. As cool as the new King Tut simulation may be, it won't be of much use to many of us at schools that cannot run it.
  
• No Orphans: Many schools have I.T. policies that permit frequent upgrades to lab-images. Richmond and many others do not: we manage system upgrades over the summer terms. That means we never install SL's client; my students must download it every time they want to use a public computer. Browser-based worlds will not face this hurdle.
• Platform Neutrality: We have a great number of Macs, once again, on campus. While Linden Lab has been able to admirably support multiple platforms, some other VWs with clients are not even trying. Browser-based worlds work around this problem.
• No "Gaming" Rules: Second Life is considered a game by far too many admins. Browser-based worlds fly under the radar, except at schools that restrict by URL (not many in my experience).

I suppose I've missed a few points, but as much as I enjoy SL, I think there are pronounced advantages to using something inside a broswer. It's not, to my mind, the kluge that many SL partisans claim.



But I'm no digerati hipster or social gamer: I'm just an early-adopting faculty member. I just jump for joy (using Metaplace's emote tools) when something works well.

Correspondence The Old-Timey Way

Location: Writing Desk

A funny characteristic of the Millennial students who attend Richmond is their preference for old-school communication, at least after graduation. I guess I'd expected them to invite me to some social networking site (a few have) but I get more letters than anything else.

A printed card or letter comes as a shock to faculty who still remember when this medium was the default choice for communicating between two people at great distances. For a student writer, the letter or card shows real seriousness, and a faculty member is more likely to remember the writer. This is no small thing when a graduate comes asking for a reference or letter of recommendation (usually done online, these days).

Today, as a break from grading final projects, I'm answering printed mail. That used to be a large part of the day for many people who kept up correspondence with others.

Since my stamps are SO old, I'm running out to get some one-cent ones to avoid the recipient finding a "postage due" announcement (if the post office still does that).

At times I miss letters. My handwriting is actually decent when I slow down and use my favorite pens. In the crush of answering e-mail, replying to blog-posts, and preparing for class, I do wonder what we've given up in the service of greater productivity.

But usually I'm too busy to think about that. If you'd like to send me a letter, just drop me an e-mail first. I'll clear the desk and pen a reply.

No Teen Grid Merger In Second Life & More Details on Adult Content

Location: Montclair State University's Virtual Campus

Photo Courtesy of Olivia Hotshot

Special thanks to AJ Brooks for convening this meeting and moderating what could have been a free-for-all and not a civil discussion.

What will the new adult-content policies mean for educators? The big news at the recent roundtable, led by special guests Claudia, George, and Pathfinder Linden, is that Linden Lab has no plans to merge the teen and adult grids. This has been a popular topic in the SL rumor-mill.

Of continuing concern to LL is how to address the needs of 17-year-old college students who must use SL in a class.

The Lindens spoke to a gathering of more than 75 educators (as well as Prospero and Nya Linden, who joined the party) and answered questions the audience had put to them in advance and on the spot. Here are some highlights from the transcript :

• George Linden stated that there are around 2,000 islands in Second Life that have the educational discount.
• All of the Lindens sought to clarify the term "mature" as compared to "adult," a key distinction that many are not making in blogs and forum-discussions.
• Claudia Linden made it clear that Linden Lab has no plans for a "grid merge" at this time and that the Adult Content changes are a distinct intiative.
• Claudia Linden acknowledged that Linden Lab is aware of the problems with accommodating mixed ages for high schools and universities (since some college students are younger than 18, and some high school students are over 17, the upper age limit for Teen Second Life). She stated that Linden Lab employees "have been attending a series of meetings with educators from around the world about this issue. She said (as transcribed) that the issues are "very complex problem & they are working hard to come up with solutions."
• Prospero Linden noted that as of the time of this meeting, 5088 sims are zoned PG and 22401 sims are mature. 8 sims are adult zoned (test regions).
• Pathfinder Linden reminded educators that pressure from the education market alone did not drive these changes. Linden Lab listened to many residents in crafting the new guidelines but the issue was larger, "part of any platform maturity cycle." He compared this to "Google, it didn't originally include safe search but that was incorporated in response to users."
• Claudia Linden contended that filtering search results will be "a win for education."
• She also clarified several points about appropriate use of adult-themed materials in a course that uses SL. In making decisions, "we may take into account whether apparent or reported adult content or conduct on a particular Region serves only an extremely limited or passive function, or an important educational or cultural function."
• When the example of Michalangelo's David was put to the Lindens, they noted that this sort of artistic nudity would not have to be in an adult-zoned region.
• Nya Linden explained that a verified Paypal account or a credit card would suffice for age verification, and she added "If you have a payment relationship with XStreet or LL, you are verified."

Want more detail? Links to resources from Linden Lab? Study the entire transcript. No voice recording is available, but see the entire transcript for links to MP3s of earlier voice discussions by the Lindens on this topic.