From jokaydia: Exploring Virtual Worlds and Games in Education

Literature, Composition and Creative Writing

Second Life provides opportunities for a range of possibilities in literature, composition and creative writing including peer learning, displays and exhibits, lectures, immersive exhibits and performance.

Explore the projects below or Return to the Educational Uses of Second Life Homepage.

Dante's Inferno and Linden Hills

First created on the NMC continent in 2007 and later hosted by an anonymous donor, Dante's Inferno and Linden Hills by Gloria Naylor (SLurl) is part of the Literature Alive! Project which is detailed below. It was created by Eloise Pastuer, Desideria Stockton and Daliah Carter, and was initially used by students at DeSales University as part of a contemporary fiction course.

The exhibit demonstrates how 3D immersive spaces can be used to illustrate concepts which are difficult to convey via text or audio, allowing students to both immerse in the Inferno, and create content which illustrates the themes explored in Linden Hills and the parallel structure of the two works. To achieve this, the sim includes extensive use of video and audio, includes interactive activities and objects and includes a space for students to construct content and meaning.

As visitors descend into the inferno, they are invited to contribute their own content and engage in lots of content and activities, including images relating to the text, teaching resources, comments. Visitors are even asked to nominate candidates for the various levels of hell! Included along the way, you can talk to Dante and Virgil - a pair of rocks who quote directly from the text or engage in supporting content including character profiles and lecture notes Additionally, a number of entertaining and interactive elements have been included including an ice cube treasure hunt, and a gondola ride which helps users to navigate to each level. Additionally, the Literature Alive team have facilitated a number of community activities, events and competitions as part of the project.

For further information read the article 'This Class is Hell!' via the NMC Campus Observer, read about the project and technical details via Eloise Pastuer's website, read a blog post about the project on Beth Ritter Guth's blog, or view images from the original build at NMC on Flickr.

Foul Whisperings, Strange Matters - Macbeth in Second Life

A collaboration by Angela Thomas, Kate Richards and Kerreen Ely-Harper, from an original idea by Kerreen Ely-Harper - Foul Whisperings, Strange Matters (SLurl) brings Shakespeare's Macbeth into the virtual world. The project was funded by the New Media Consortium (NMC) and assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council arts funding body.

The island is divided into four key spaces: the arrival grove, Macbeth's head, the "what if?" copse and the teaching studios and has a feeling of being a windswept heathland. Throughout the island, vistors are invited to engage with the participatory potential of Second Life to remake, co-create and mashup Shakespeare. In particular, Foul Whisperings, Strange Matters’ inworld roleplay studios enable them to take part in group play and workshops that are exploratory, spontaneous and performative.

For further information visit the Virtual Macbeth wiki including the Virtual Macbeth Teaching Resources, explore the Island Guide,watch an interview about the project with Anya Ixchel and Paisley Beebe on SLCN.TV, view the Virtual Macbeth Islands Flythru on Youtube or read the project press release.

Literature Alive!

Literature Alive! was created by a members of the educational community in December 2006 and continues to exist on a voluntary basis. It currently has four active members: Beth Ritter-Guth (CEO), Eloise Pasteur (Educational Designer), Daliah Carter (Assistant), and Laura Nicosia.

The goals of Literature Alive! are:

• to help faculty create ethical and immersive learning environments that provide added value to students in composition, professional writing, and literature courses
• to help students use the resources of a 3D world to add to the depth and breadth of understanding literature
• to foster a community of open-access educators dedicated to the sharing of teaching content
• to promote a lifelong love of learning through a lifelong passion for reading.

Literature Alive also demonstrates the power of working collaboratively in Second Life, producing over thirty literary projects across the grid and engaging many educators and students in that process. The Literature Alive HQ provides pathways to all of these projects and includes:

• The Literature Alive Headquarters (self-sponsored)
• The Literary Holodeck Project (Sponsors: VIT World Campus/Butch Dae and the Foundation for Rich Content)
• British Literature Classroom Series (Sponsors: Education UK/Chris Eggplant, Eloise Pasteur, Alliance Library)
• American Literature Classroom Series (Sponsors: Montclair State, North Georgia SCU)
• Women and War Learning Community (Sponsor: Drexel University)
• Dante's Inferno Project

To find out more  visit the Literature Alive! wiki, read an article about Literature Alive from Educause, view a Literature Alive! slideshow on Slideshare.net or  watch a video about Literature Alive! on Youtube.

  

Tintern Abbey

Tintern Abby (SLurl) was created by staff from the College of DuPage Library team for use in an English 1102 course in December 2007, and is designed to immerse small groups of vistors or individuals in William Wordsworth's poem. The space contains not only an environment to support the text, but also a range of well researched source materials and historical documents including writings and letters from Wordsworth about the experiences which lead to the writing of the poem and is a fantastic example of immersive interpretations used as course materials.

On arrival, visitors click to receive a package of 'student tools' which includes a journal HUD (heads up display) for students to submit assignments. They can them move throughtout the space, engaging in activities which include reflection on various parts of the poem. A transparent platform above the landscape allows visitors to look down on the scene as they read excerpts from Wordsworth, and can then visit each space down at ground level. Throughout the learning environment there are opportunities to hunt for “sound apples” to hear important lines from the poem, search for gift boxes which deliver various related resources, read William’s and Dorothy’s biographies, and sit in a the quiet space to read along and listen to a recording of the poem in the 'read and listen' area.

For further information read the chat transcript of a tour of Tintern Abbey with Pipsqueak Fiddlesticks, read about Tintern Abbey (and other College of DuPage projects in Second Life) via the Community College Librarian Blog, or view a collection of image from virtual Tintern Abbey on Flickr.