Second Life struggling to draw much attention

By Matt Rupel

Four years ago, Santa Clara began to experiment with different forms of education through its design and purchase of a virtual island in the online world of Second Life.

Second Life is a virtual reality program developed by Linden Lab. The program allows users to create an avatar and interact in the Second Life world.

Mike Ballen, an instructional technology resource specialist at Media Services, initiated the use of Second Life at Santa Clara.

Ballen helps faculty integrate the use of technology into their curriculum. He was introduced to the program by a coworker four years ago on a virtual sailboat tour. According to Ballen, this made him think of the interesting applications that a virtual reality program could have for a classroom.

"I thought the concept of the avatar might be something that's around for a long time," said Ballen, "I thought it might be good for us to explore that here at Santa Clara."

Ballen began exploring the different educational aspects of Second Life at the same time as the Technology Steering Committee was announcing grant money.

Ballen was able to acquire a $10,000 grant that allowed for the university to hire a company to design and build a university island in Second Life.

According to Ballen, virtual reality has a number of uses.

"At the time that we launched the island, the library was still in trailers. We were able to build the library virtually so students could get an idea of what it would be," said Ballen.

The island also has a virtual de Saisset museum, in which Ballen and other members of the Media Services faculty were able to digitally recreate student and faculty work for a showing.

The problem, according to Ballen, is that students aren't really attracted to using virtual reality software. "They want it to be a game. They expect to shoot at each other and crash their cars into each other," said Ballen.

"Students just view it as one more thing on top of their workload."

James Linehan, another instructional technology resource specialist in Media Services who worked closely on the project, thinks that virtual reality has gathered some misconceptions around the campus.

"People think it's supposed to be a replacement for real life. It's not supposed to be a substitute, it's intended to augment the assignment, to provide a different take," said Linehan.

Students, according to Ballen, are often turned off by the investment of time and work, and instead make a snap judgment determining that the software is just something to add to their workload.

The technology is only accessed by a few hundred students, said Ballen. The list of faculty that use the software can be counted on two hands. The software sees use within some experimental learning courses and a few other classes. One professor in the Religious Studies Department used the program to have students interview married couples in the virtual reality program to see how it affected their real world relationships.

According to Linehan, Marc Bosquet, a professor in the English Department, uses Second Life for an assignment where students must produce a virtual movie using the software to depict events in a graphic novel studied in the class.

The Second Life project, according to Cutler, is relatively cheap compared to the entire university budget. The grant was for $10,000 and the island costs $250 a month.

Last year, Santa Clara acquired a second empty island in Second Life because the first had been completely developed. The cost of supporting this island is the same as for the first. Cutler said that this small investment was worth the opportunity. "Second Life is just one more tool for faculty to integrate into the curriculum," said Cutler.

"The idea of having an avatar that represents you virtually is something that will be around for a long time," Ballen said, "We're just at the tip of the iceberg."

Contact Matt Rupel at mrupel@scu.edu or (408) 554-4546.