Second Life® Toolkits Project

Undertaken on behalf of The Higher Education Academy Subject Network for Infomation and Computer Sciences by The Technology Supported Learning Group, University Of Portsmouth

Second Life® and SL™ are trademarks of Linden Research, Inc. The University of Portsmouth and The Higher Education Academy Subject Network for Information and Computer Sciences are not affiliated with or sponsored by Linden Research.

The Second Life® Toolkits Project has produced 2 toolkits for academics wanting to use Second Life to support their teaching:

  1. A generic teaching toolkit: a range of Second Life equipment and materials which will facilitate teaching within Second Life. For example multi-gadgets for teaching which bring together such things as whiteboards, powerpoint displays, lecterns, student queuing tools, assessment tools, timers and office hours tools in an easy to use package with incorporated instructions for use and details about how to customise the tools for particular activities
  2. An ICS subject toolkit: sample resources specifically designed to show academics a range of ways of using Second Life to teach ICS topics together with details of existing resources within Second Life that can be used to support student learning.

In addition a Second Life Workshop was held on 10th June 2008 at the University of Portsmouth to support academics wanting to develop their uses of SL for teaching. Details of the workshop and copies of the materials can be found at: http://userweb.port.ac.uk/~duke-wie/wiki/index.php?n=SL.SL

A further Second Life Workshop together with a poster presentaion will be held at the 9th Annual Conference of the ICS HE Academy

 

Generic Teaching Toolkit

The generic teaching toolkit is in 2 parts, both of which are accessible in-world: a TeacherKitBag and (at the HEA-ICS Depot on UoP Island in Second Life) a further selection of freely available tools to copy and use, details of areas in Second Life where further tools can be obtained (some of which require payment) and a selection of tools that can be tried out.

TeacherKitBag - This SL toolkit is worn on the body/avatar and contains a range of Second Life teaching tools which can be 'rezzed' on the ground for immediate use or copied to the owner's inventory. In addition the TeacherKitBag can be easily adapted to the owner's requirements by adding additional tools or removing tools which are not required. A copy of the TeacherKitBag tool can be obtained in Second Life by going to: http://slurl.com/secondlife/UoP%20Island/240/19/53 and touching for the grey prism called TeacherKitBag. The prism and the TeacherKitBag both contain copies of the user manual which is also available on the web: TeacherKitBag

HEA-ICS Depot - An area on UoP Island in Second Life ( http://slurl.com/secondlife/UoP%20Island/240/19/53 ) has been set aside for the use of the HEA-ICS Second Life Toolkits project. In this area the following teaching tools are available:

TeacherKitBagToolsBoard

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ICS Subject Toolkit: Sample Resources

The sample resources are split between web pages (as detailed below) and in-world resources accessible from the HEA-ICS depot. It became clear as the project developed that a wide range of materials was already available, so the emphasis shifted from producing further materials to one of cataloguing what was available and through this site providing access to a selection of materials chosen for their pedagogic value and/or relevance to this project.

Annotated Book List - a comprehensive listing of books relating to Second Life together with a handful of books on virtual worlds in general. The list includes level of the book, a brief summary of the contents, details of any on-line / CD-based supporting materials and an indication of any special features of the books.

Teaching Materials - a list of materials to jump-start your teaching in Second Life

Useful Websites - websites containing links to a range of useful teaching and content creation resources in Second Life

Second Life and Virtual World Blogs - a list of blogs with their web addresses, some information about the topics they cover and some indication of the frequency with which they are updated.

HEA-ICS Depot - In the HEA-ICS Depot UoP Island ( http://slurl.com/secondlife/UoP%20Island/240/19/53 ) links are available to a range of in-world and web-based materials to support the development of SL teaching materials. These include:

Landmarkstutorials