Tired of holding class in your classroom?
Learn how to teach on an island instead -- Coastal Carolina University’s island in the online virtual world called Second Life.
David Aguilar, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, and Tayfun Karadeniz, Systems Programmer for the Computer Science Department, speak with us about Coastal’s island in Second Life and give us a tour of the island.
Aguilar, who came to Coastal in August of 2008, has been involved in Second Life since he arrived. “During my interview here, Dr. Sheel mentioned they were planning to teach an Intro to Virtual Worlds course. He asked me if I’d be interested in taking over that project. I’ve been developing my research on Virtual Worlds and expanding it along the lines of what we can do with Education.”
Karadeniz, who is a Coastal graduate, was instrumental in getting the Second Life project going on our campus. “I guess I was the one who had the idea to take a look at Second Life. It had received a lot of recognition. A lot of big universities like Harvard and Ohio State University had been establishing presences in Second Life, so we thought it might be a good idea to take a look at it as a teaching tool."
There are many uses for Second Life in Computer Programming or in Distance Learning courses, but faculty are also realizing the benefits Second Life offers for regular classroom courses when students may want to meet virtually to discuss specific topics.
Aguilar has been working with Fredanna M’Cormack (CCU Assistant Professor in the School of Health, Kinesiology, and Sport Studies).
Aguilar commented, "She has a lot of wonderful ideas about how to expand it outside of Computer Science. A few weeks ago I helped her use it to teach a class session on sexual health in a Woman’s Health class."
M'Cormack's students joined Second Life and created avatars and names. They all met together in Second Life and she taught the class there, using a virtual slide projector to present the course material.
“When you’re dealing with topics of a sensitive nature, people feel less inhibited by the relative anonymity of the virtual environment,” Aguilar explained. The anonymity "allows them to be more open in sharing their experiences.”
Although students are anonymous to each other, professors still need to "keep track of who’s who," he added, "in order to assign grades or if necessary for disciplinary action--if someone is causing problems and disrupting the class, we need to know who it is.” |
