The VWEC Student Challenge Awards Ceremony 2026 was presided over by Marie Vans (founder of the project), along with VWEC Board Chair Elli Pinion and her fellow Board Member Valibrarian Gregg. To start with each participating student was presented with a certificate ‘for achievement in building, problem solving, and team work’ and a medal. Congratulations to all the student participants for completing the module and the Student Challenge. It was great to see everyone receive their awards. Special thanks to Marie Vans, Elli Pinion, and Valibrarian Gregg for organising, managing and supporting this initiative which always plays such an important part in this module.
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Erin Mc Ilwain (avatar name, erniemcs) certificate ‘for achievement in building, problem solving, and team work’.
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This was followed by the presentation of the overall team awards, of which five were won by our teams:
Green Team was awarded First Prize for “Virtual Village Sustainable Development Goals”. Team members: Erin Mc Ilwaine (erniemcs, team leader) and Jessica Finnegan (JessicaAmanita, co-lead) both from TU Dublin; Iuliana Todorean (IulianaMonica) from Cluj-Napoca; Yeşim Toytok (yesimtytk) and Yasemin Damla İnceoğlu (ydmlinceoglu) both from Çağ. Team mentor: John O’Connor (Acuppa Tae) from TU Dublin and Çağ.
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Purple Team was awarded Third Prize for “A Sustainable and Accessible College of Further Education”. Team members: Liliana Trushkevych (Liliana0520, team leader) from TU Dublin; Samia Jailani (samia17, co-lead) from TU Dublin; Atahan Hosta (atahosta); and Ayça Dilara Helvacı (aycadilaraa) both from Çağ. Team mentor Magua Theriac (Murat Gülmez) from Çağ).
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Gold Team received the Award for Best Presentation for “A Sustainable and Accessible College of Further Education”. Team members: Diana Boț (Diana Bot, team leader) from Cluj-Napoca; Goda Majauskaite (GodaMajauskaite, co-lead) from TU Dublin; Catherine Ifa-Uwadiae (Catherine004) from TU Dublin; Ümmühan Bobuş (ummuhann); and Cemre Uysal (cemreuys) both from Çağ. Team mentors: Andrea Pasca (Andreea88) and Raluca Pascaniuc (Raluca1984) from Cluj-Napoca.
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Blue Team received Honorable Mention. Team members: Nisa Karataş (nisakrs, team leader) from Çağ; Mariana Kifa (marianakifa05, co-lead) from Cluj-Napoca; Óskar Rondán (Oskar333) from TU Dublin, and İlayda Lara Bağban (ilayda11) from Çağ. Team mentor Çağla Solak (Merino) from Çağ.
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Red Team received Honorable Mention. Team members: Eliza Iura (iuraeliza, team leader) from Cluj-Napoca; Huilin He (Huilink057, co-lead) from TU Dublin; Uliana Dovhoteles (Uliana) from TU Dublin; Ayfer Güvenç (ayyferr); and Sıla Naz Tepebaşı (Silanazzz) both from Çağ. Team mentor Lia Pop from Cluj-Napoca.
Other awards were made to teams from Sekolah Bintang Mayantara, a virtual world school initiative in Jakarta, Indonesia. The student teams were unable to attend due to their time zone and were represented by their instructor Maria Magdalena (Marcel Mosswood):
Ice BeAm Team Red was awarded Second Prize for “Water in the World”.
IceBeAM Blue Team received the Award for Most Authentic for “Animal Cells”.
IceBeAM Orange received the Award for Most Interactive for “Urban Farming for Sustainability”.
Finally, a Special Acknowledgement:
Global Digital Citizenship Minecraft Club received a Special Acknowledgement with the “Minecraft Innovation Award”. Team members: Ezio, Pomni, and Eve. Team mentors: Lucía Morales (ceriumsolas), Çağla Solak (Merino), and Valerie Hill (Valibrarian Gregg). This team of 9 to 11 years olds entered the contest to build without competing with the university teams.
Recording of the ceremony courtesy of Francisco Koolhoven.
This week the Student Teams made their presentations and Merino recorded them to produce the final video which plays at each team build. Many thanks to Merino for her work recording, editing, and posting these videos. Students were reminded that they now have two more days to refine their submissions before the closing on Wednesday this week. Check the schedule for the specific deadline. Don’t forget the Awards Ceremony on Saturday!
The VWEC Student Challenge presented the Intermediate Building Class hosted by Tilly from Builders Brewery. The recording of this practical class can be followed by those who couldn’t attend, or by those who attended but would like to brush up on their skills. The supports for the class can be found at the Student Challenge lecture space in the red coloured Builder’s Brewery box.
Merino (aka Çağla Solak) has produced this really useful and easy to follow series of short YouTube tutorial videos for building in Second Life. You can follow the instructions and practice building at Çağ University’s sandbox in the Second Life campus. Don’t forget to activate the Cag University group so you have permission to build.
How to Build in Second Life demonstrates the basics: creating a prim; using the ‘object’ tab to edit; applying textures; and linking objects.
Build a Basic Solar Panel in Second Life applies what was learned in the previous video.
the Basic Mushroom Lamp Modelling in Second Life tutorial explains how to make an object interactive by using a script.
The Second Life Marketplace Guide | How to Buy and Use Items tutorial explains how to find free items to use in your own building.
Using scripts to animate objects so that they react to being clicked is explained in How to Use a Script in Second Life.
Second Life Notecard Giver Tutorial exlpains how to have an object give out a notecard to anyone who clicks on it.
The class this Saturday began with Gentle Heron talking about the importance of accessibility when building in Second Life. The founder of Virtual Ability, she has a lifetime of experience in the area and her approach is based on the principle that ensuring accessibility is not simply to support the disabled but, it significantly improves results for everyone. Gentle also shared a link to the Second Life wiki on accessibility which has lots of useful information.
This was followed by a visit to the Happy Hippo Building School with Leslea Aldrin and JeZeBeLe Dagger. The school is a tremendous resource for anyone building in Second Life. It offers regular building classes at all levels and specialising in a range of topics from scripting to adding media. Many classes can be taken at your own convenience and are available all the time. The school is well worth visiting to see the huge range of support available. Here is the Landmark for the school in Second Life.
The VWEC Student Challenge presented a Absolute Beginners Building Class hosted by Tilly from Builders Brewery. The recording of this practical class can be followed by those who couldn’t attend, or by those who attended but would like to brush up on their newly acquired skills.
Classes commence on Monday 9th February and we will meet every Monday thereafter. This semester we will take on the VWEC Student Challenge with teams made up of students from TU Dublin in Ireland, Çağ University in Tükiye, and Technical University of Cluj-Napoca in Romania. Instructors will include John O’Connor in Dublin; Murat Gülmez and Çağla Solak in Türkiye; and Lia Pop in Romania. There will also be guest speakers making presentations and hosting site visits across Second Life throughout the semester as we explore technology and society. There will be additional class meetings on some Saturdays for support in the Student Challenge.
Monday class meeting times are:
0500 to 0700 Second Life time. 1300 to 1500 Ireland time. 1600 to 1800 Türkiye time. 1500 to 1700 Romania tiime. This will change when summer time arrives.
The Awards Ceremony for the VWEC Student Challenge 2025 was well attended by instructors, tutors, lecturers, students, participants, judges and more this year. All the students were presented with the individual certificates marking their completion of the challenge. In addition, The Red Team was presented with the trophy for Second Place overall winner and the Blue Team received the certificate for the Most Authentic Exhibit. Congratulations to all the students who participated in this year’s challenge. Well done! Huge thanks to the instructors who mentored the three teams and to all the guest speakers who shared their knowledge and experience over the semester.
Congratulations to the Red Team who were presented with their certificates. Photo courtesy of Acuppa Tae.John O’Connor (Acuppa Tae) accepted the trophy for Second Place on behalf of the Red Team. Photo courtesy of Acupp Tae.Congratulations to the Blue Team who were presented with their certificates. Ersin Ïnal (Ginger) accepted the certificate for Most Authentic Exhibit on the team’s behalf. Photo courtesy of Acuppa Tae.Congratulations to the Green Team who were presented with their certificates, with Lia Pop.
Virtual Environments: Is one life enough? 