Virtual Environments: Is one life enough?

Linden Lab, the owner of Second Life, has allocated a dedicated tract of land solely for use by educators and educational institutions inworld. Although the majority of those using the space are universities and other third level institutions, there are also training schools, vocational educators, museums, galleries, libraries, and other organisations associated with education to be found there also.

The Virtual Worlds Education Consortium (VWEC) was invited to establish, maintain and manage this Eduverse. A team consisting of a professor of architecture, an ecologist, a diversity advisor, builders and some academics who had been teaching in SL for many years (including John O’Connor / Acuppa Tae) was tasked with developing the central meeting area, information space, resource store, direction hub, lecture hall and social space. The result is an excellent example of good design practice for virtual worlds.

Various public activities take place in the VWEC Eduverse. The Metaverse Expert Talks Series occurs every second and fourth Friday of the month at 9 pm Irish Time (1 pm SL Time) and runs for an hour, followed by a half-hour of social interaction. You can see recordings of previous talks on the YouTube channel.

There are also a series of more informal gatherings known as Fireside Chats that take place at different times and in different languages, a scifi reading circle and many others. You can find details of these and many more on the VWEC website. You can visit the VWEC Eduverse in SL anytime.

John / Tae is a member of the VWEC Board and sits on the Events Committee which organises the Metaverse Expert Talks Series.