Interview with Instructional Designer Sue Shick, Lead Engagement and Solution Architect for Second Life, Case Western Reserve University

Article link:

http://www.phoenix.edu/uopx-knowledge-network/articles/expert-voices/interview-with-instructional-designer-sue-shick.html

Electric School Boogaloo:
Schooling in Reality and Virtual Reality

                The University of Phoneix’s online presence goes beyond simply distance education over the Web, but a full-fledged university campus in virtual reality. A teacher and designer from the University of Phoenix talks about their campus in the Second Life environment, what they do, and what they intend to do.
 
                The Internet has vastly expanded our ability to find and access information, be it personal or business. We live in an age where we no longer have to see the Internet as a novelty, even though there are novelties aplenty on the Net.  One of these novelties are Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) environments, and the term is usually linked to video games like Modern Warfare or World of Warcraft, where a large population of computer users are gathered together. It's a rich environment, and games are one common way to bridge anonymous users with one another. 

There's a lot of potential in this technology, of course, and it's already in use in business. However, MMO platforms still a ton of possibilities - even within existing ones.  Distance education has been around for a long time. While the Internet has streamlined and sped up delivery of said education and material, the University of Phoenix had taken a grander approach to this field, turning online schooling into an actual online school. Literally.

 In the virtual reality of Second Life, a 3D MMO (mostly) user-created environment, the University of Phoenix has had a virtual campus for a few years now. Using the Second Life environment it is possible to walk a virtual campus, interact with virtual exhibits, view virtual lessons - but the University takes it a lot further, going so far as to include Second Life as part of class labs and holding online classes complete with visual and vocal interaction. The University of Phoenix talks about Second Life and what they do in this article on their website. While the article is fairly recent, it's interesting to mention that tech circles have mentioned (offhand) the University of Phoenix's work in Second Life some time before its official mention of starting in 2007. 

The University of Phoenix isn't the only organization to do their business in Second Life's virtual reality; there have been articles of concerts being held and other corporate names having virtual branches in Second Life. The potential of virtual reality is definitely staggering, and this article has only touched on one way things can be done in the near future.

 By: Roddy Chung