UEL Island on Second Life

Second Life® is one of the many 3D virtual worlds (called MUVEs - Multi-user virtual environments) currently available. Users (called residents in Second Life®) can engage in business, entertainment, social networking, gaming and of course learning. Since its creation in 2003, it has attracted a lot of publicity and debate about its potentials. A flickr site listing UK universities and colleges in Second life gives an overview of some of their activities, some with links to their virtual campus.

Current projects

UELconnect has an island on Second Life® available to schools and units within UEL for teaching, learning and assessment projects. Academic staffs in the Schools of Psychology and of Health & Bioscience are currently exploring the potential of Second Life in learning and teaching. In close cooperation with the school's LTA, a UELconnect learning materials developer and an external consultant, the School of Health and Bioscience has recently completed and trialled a variety of different learning environments for bioscience and forensic sciences students on the UEL Island. The overriding aim is to evaluate the potential use of Second Life® as an additional learning space for repetitive experiments and investigations, which are either not possible in the real world or can only be carried out once, due to costs and limited laboratory space. The space has two sections:

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  Wet Lab: The ground floor laboratory contain benches for conducting a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) experiment for analysing DNA. To enter the laboratory, the student’s avatar must conform to all standard health and safety practices by wearing a lab coat, goggles and gloves. Once at the bench, they follow the instructions on the wall to complete the experiment. Not only are students able to conduct the experiment individually they are also able to collaborate with others doing the experiment at the same time on the other benches.
• Crime Scene Investigation: Forensic science students also use the building to learn about the general principles of crime scene investigation and, in particular, the role of the Forensic Practitioner in evidence gathering. The first floor of the building takes the form of a ‘crime house’ - a two-bedroomed apartment which can be variously dispersed with evidence to suit a given scenario. Once a scenario (e.g. alleged overdose) has been selected, students conduct their investigation, making notes, taking photographs and collecting evidence in preparation for a group debrief at a later date with the Scene of Crime Manager (SCM) in the downstairs meeting room.

You can watch the video presentation about the projects on bliptv (Opens in a new windew and Adobe Flash player required). As of May 2009, work has commenced on a separate Health and Bioscience island in Second Life which will be home to existing projects as well as several new ones, including a virtual Polyclinic for use by students on clinical programmes such as Herbal Medicine and Physiotherapy. For more information please email Rose Heaney or Remy Olasoji.

If you will like to get involved or find out more, please please email Remy Olasoji.

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© 2008