Unable to take your class to a vital experience within “first life” (the mundane reality we all know so well)? Then bring your site to them using the wonders of “Second Life.” Second Life is a virtual world developed by Linden Lab that is accessible via the Internet. Second Life enables its users, called Residents, to interact with each other through avatars. Residents can explore, meet other residents, socialize, participate in individual and group activities, and create and trade virtual property and services with one another, or travel throughout the world, which residents refer to as “the grid.” The Second Life “grid” also offers seemingly endless possibilities for virtual tours and educational experiences.

Professor Reid Lifset and Ph.D. candidate Matt Eckelman of the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies will present the Elihu Paper Co., a virtual pulp and paper mill created in Second Life, which they used for a virtual field trip in their course “Greening Business Operations.” The Instructional Technology Group’s Yianni Yessios will then discuss the process of undertaking the construction of such a virtual site.

Bring your Avatars!

Tuesday, March 3, 2009
11:00 to 12:00
Bass Library, Room L01