World leaders came together in 2015 and made a historic promise to secure the rights and well-being of everyone on a healthy, thriving planet when they adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Today, with the world suffering a range of crises from climate change to a shifting geopolitical situation these goals seem even more important to the future well-being of citizens across the globe.
You task is to select one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and develop a presentation to explain what it means and how it might be achieved. Each team will choose from the relevant list below and design a virtual education experience explaining what the goal means and what needs to be done so that it can be fulfilled. The team will then build a simulation of this in Second Life. The build must be: • accessible, • authentic, • interactive, • and cite sources
When it is finished you will record a 5 minute video presenting your simulation to the judges.
Elli Pinion (VWEC Co-Coordinator), Valibrarian Gregg (VWEC Co-Coordinator) and Marie Vans (VWEC Event Team Lead) at the kickoff event for the VWEC Student Challenge 2025. Photo by Acuppa Tae
The Virtual Worlds Education Consortium (VWEC) Student Challenge 2025: Serious Simulations in the Metaverse was launched today. The Challenge takes the form of a hack-a-thon except that it occurs over the entire Spring Semester, rather than in a 24-hour period. Details of the brief, the support to be provided (particularly with classes about building in Second Life) and the assessment process were shared and, for those who may have missed the presentation or who would like to review them again, a recording of the event was made which you can see here:
The challenge is to form a team (which has already been done for you) and design a virtual education experience; then build a simulation in Second Life. The experience must be: accessible, authentic, interactive, and cite sources (see below for more details). You will also record a short video to present and demonstrate your solution to the judges, who will be drawn from a panel of international educational experts. Prizes, including memberships of SL and $L, are sponsored by Metaverse Libraries. Here is a video of the exhibits from last year’s Student Challenge:
Here are some screenshots showing the logistics schedule, assessment rubric and rules for the Student Challenge 2025:
This semester we are delighted to be joined by Prof Lia Pop from the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca in Romania – a member of the European University of Technology (EUt+) alliance with TU Dublin – and her students. We all met for an introduction to Second Life at the TU Dublin campus in Second Life (SL) where we friended each other, joined the TU Dublin group and spoke about the timetable for the semester. The importance of attending all the scheduled classes was emphasised. This is particularly necessary for the Student Challenge, which includes tuition on building in SL, an essential skill for completing the project. Also joining the class meeting was Dr Lucia Morales of TU Dublin and her PhD students TallNinja.
The schedule for the semester gives times for all class meetings that must be attended.
We explored the use of voice, Nearby Chat and Instant Messaging (IM) in SL, learning that IMs facilitate contact with anyone anywhere in SL. This can be very useful if you get lost or can’t find your way to where the class is meeting: just send an IM to a class mate or lecturer asking for a teleport (TP). This will enable you to go directly to the location. IMs are private and can be seen only by those who receive them. It is possible also to invite others to join an IM so that you can set up a private chat for your team or group. Saving a landmark (LM) so that you can TP there at a later time was then demonstrated and you were advised to save the TU Dublin campus as your ‘home’ landmark, making it easy to return there whenever you need to. The we practised teleporting away and back again.
Voice can be tempermental in SL, sometimes it can take a few moments before activating after logging on. There are a few things you can do to remedy this. First, try toggling the voice button on and off. If this doens’t fix it you might try logging out of SL and logging back in again. Always check your preferences to ensure you have voice enabled and the appropriate device is selected (eg, if you are using headphones they might have to be specifically selected from the dropdown menu in preferences). You must have voice activated even if you do not intend speaking in SL because if not, you will not be able to hear others speaking.
After going outside to the deck for a class photo we teleported to the Çağ (pronounced ‘chaw’) University campus to meet Magua (Prof Murat Gülmez) and Ginger (Ersin İnal) and their student. We set up three teams to work on the Student Challenge. Each team is to meet before the end of the week and select a Team Leader and an Assistant Leader. Their roles are to facilitate team meetings, ensure all team members are communicating with each other and generally try to support team development. Their role is NOT to do all the work or be responsible for team delivery. They will also be the spokespersons for the Team, with the Assistant taking over when the Leader cannot be present. To enable communication outside of SL each team was asked to agree on a communication tool. This will help with arranging meetings efficiently over the course of the semester. You could share email addresses or numbers for an app like WhatsApp.
Next week, each team will be asked to share the name of the Team Leader and Assistant Leader. We will have a talk from Sitearm Madonna on Team Building and have a briefing on the Student Challenge project. We will meet at the Çağ University campus at the usual time.
In the meantime, the Student Challenge will be launched on Saturday (see your local time on the schedule above) at the VWEC Student Challenge in Second Life. Please go there directly. If you need any help finding the location once you log into SL you can IM any of the class for a TP. This meeting will last no more than one hour.
Welcome to the module ‘Virtual Environments: Is one life enough?’ being offered as an elective module to students of Technological University Dublin studying art & design, architecture, media and business.
Classes will start on Monday 10th February at 1:00 pm for two hours. We meet online every week on Mondays and Saturdays at 5:00 to 7:00 pm at TU Dublin in Second Life and other venues in SL. Please note: you will need a Mac or PC desktop or laptop to access Second Life – you cannot do so with a mobile device.
Full details about the module are available to eligible registered students on the university VLE, Brightspace, where you may self-enrol (If you have any issues enrolling email John O’Connor or Lucía Morales at TU Dublin). Read the Introduction unit carefully where you will find instructions on how to access Second Life and set up your personal avatar. Learning how to get around the virtual world and familiarising yourself with the environment and how to control your avatar will take a few hours so give yourself plenty of time before class starts.
Please read pages 1 to 9 in the column on the right hand side of this website also. If you would like to find out more about what to expect during the semester read the posts in this blog: all class since 2009 have been summarised.
If you have any problems email John O’Connor at TU Dublin.
Once again, this semester we will be working with Prof Murat Gülmez (aka Magua) and his students at Çağ University in Turkey. Also joining us will be colleagues from the European University of Technology alliance EUt+ Dr Lucia Morales and Intesar Made from TU Dublin Faculty of Business and Dr Lia Pop from the Technical University of Cluj Napoca in Romania, along with their students. We will primarily be working on the Virtual Worlds Education Consortium Student Challenge which will see students from across the globe competing for a range of awards.
There is also an opportunity to earn Digital Badges in Global Citizenship through Virtual Worlds and Digital Literacy. For more information on this opportunity see the TU Dublin webpage here.
The Team Project presentations were hosted by Çağ University in the auditorium. John received slide shows from each team and set them up on the platform in advance. There was full attendance from each team and they presented in the following order:
No technical problems arose and each presentation went off smoothly and efficiently. John complimented the participants on their submissions and thanked them for their attendance throughout the semester. He also thanked the Çağ students who had come along to class along with their supervisors and teahers and all the guest speakers.
Sitearm Madonna and Acuppa Tae introduced the concept of thinking about identity with intention, a way of thinking that allows us to deliberately develop our approach to presenting ourselves purposefully. The content of the class emerged from a talk we gave jointly at the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education (VWBPE) conference earlier this year.
Sitearm Madonna talks about identity as avatar. Photo Barbara Collazo
Second Life, through the use of avatars, allows for the opprtunity to choose an identity and so opens the door to considering identity not just in a virtual world but also in the natural world.
Avatar – Identity with Intent, presentation by Sitearm Madonna and Acuppa Tae. Recording courtesy of Sitearm Madonna.
Following the formal talk we demonstrated how easy it is to change the physical appearance of our avatars. Sitearm and Tae explained how to save your current avatar using the ‘My Outfits’ before changing your avatar either by editing your existing one or selecting a completely different avatar from the menu bar. You can also change your appearance by dressing your avatar in the wide range of clothing available freely, or to be paid for in stores, across Second Life or through the web at the Second Life Marketplace. We discussed how the simple act of changing your avatar affects how you feel about yourself immediately. Those of us who have been resident in Second Life for many years shared how attached we have become to our avatars and how strong the identification can be after such a long association. This is particulary noticable in those who attempt to fashion avatars that mirror their natural world appearance.
Demonstrating how easy it is to change the avatar’s appearance. Recording courtesy of Sitearm Madonna.
To close, Sitearm spoke about the many personality tests and team role identifiers that are used both by employers, teams and individuals to identify traits, stengths and weaknesses. Two of the most commonly used systems are the Belbin Team Inventory and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. He introduced a more recent addition, Principles You, that uses a cartographic in an attempt to explore the complex nature of personality archetypes and how they connect. This all comes with the warning that such tools are relatively crude and should not be taken as giving definitive descriptions however, they can be helpful in exploring our personalities and building effective teams.
Sitearm Madonna introduces the Principles You Archetype Archipelago. Recording courtesy of Sitearm Madonna
For example, Sitearm and Tae completed the free test offered by Principles You which yielded the following results:
Sitearm: Artisan; strategist, planner in CREATORS and ARCHITECTS
Tae: Inspirer; impresario, entertainer in ADVOCATES and ENTHUSIASTS
On the map Sitearm and Tae connect through the CREATIVE and LEADERSHIP islands.
You can visit the Principles You website to see the ‘archetypes archipelago’ and see how this approach offers a flexible approach to teambuilding.
Another field trip this week: we visited the Abyss Observatory where Delia Lake brought us on a tour of this science museum / aquarium of the Earth, marine life, undersea technology that inspires a sense of wonder for the deepsea world. This included seeing various ecosystems recreated accurately with appropriate flora and fauna. Delia explained the impact of human intervention on these environments and how they are changing due to the heating of the oceans. There is so much to see in this very detailed and extensive sim that Delia invited us back to explore further in our own time. Everyone is welcome anytime.
There were a few issues with the sound and some participants experienced occasional drop out. So, here is a recording of this field trip from last year’s class which covers much of the same ground.
We had the field trip to Virtual Ability Island (VAI) this week where we were welcomed by Gentle Heron who outlined the history and raison d’être for the community. Following this we broke out into five groups, each one led by a member of the VAI team, for an opportunity to have a discussion about the functioning of the community. The small groups made it easier for the students to ask questions and learn a little more about the members of VAI, why they joined, and what they get from being members.
John O’Connor / Acuppa Tae introduces the work of Marshall McLuhan. Photo Barbara Collazo
This week the class met at the VWEC Eduverse Fireside Deck for a talk on the 20th Century media theorist from Canada, Marshall McLuhan. If you missed it you can view a video of the talk from February 2023. We were joined again by our friends from Çağ University, Prof Murat Gülmez (aka Magua) and Ersin İnal (aka Ginger) along with their students.
The Virtual Worlds Education Consortium (VWEC) hosts the VWEC Eduverse, a space for educators and educational institutions across Second Life. The Fireside Deck is a communal space used for informal meetings, a series of Fireside Chats where issues of interest to teachers and educators can be discussed (with groups meeting to chat in English, Spanish and Polish), and the VWEC Metaverse Expert Series featuring talks by educators and academics with expertise and experience of teaching in virtual worlds. The series is available to review on YouTube with the full schedule of presentations freely available.
Valibrarian talks about literacy in the digital age and digital citizenship. Photo Barbara Collazo
We were joined by the Turkish students from Çağ University for this week’s class. Valibrarian presented on metaliteracy and digital citizenship introducing us to the topics addressed in her 2020 book book Metamodernism and Changing Literacy: Emerging Research and Opportunities. Following the main presentation we teleported to a ‘dark room’ to learn about the dark side of digital existence. Then, to finish on a bright note Val invited us to the Community Virtual Library for a lively discussion on the issues raised in her talk.
The dark side of the metaverse… Photo Barbara CollazoThe class concluded in the Community Virtual Library with a lively Q&A session. Photo Barbara Collazo
We were joined by PhD reseacher from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte who is looking at education in the metaverse. She invited the students to take part in a focus group to provide data for her research.
Virtual Environments: Is one life enough? 