1. UT Arlington in Second Life
Past, Present, and Future
University Library Committee-November 9, 2010
Sarah Jones, UT Arlington Library

2. UTA in Second Life: The Backstory
 University of Texas System grant: "Transforming Undergraduate
Education“ -- http://tuelearningcommunity.com/ (July 2009-July 2010)
pioneered by Dr. Leslie Jarmon, UT Austin
 One year's funding for land for all campuses and health science centers
 The first university system-wide initiative
 Goal: Virtual Learning Community
 Researchers, instructors, students, administrators, staff
 Cost savings for travel
 Environmental sustainability: travel, brick & mortar overhead
 Addition to DE toolkit
 Exploration of immersive environment for education

4. Accomplishments
 Facilities for meetings, classes, study groups, conferences, and exhibitions – see
the UTA Island Directory
 Interest meetings, Information Fair, Focus on Technology, New Maverick
Orientation, Welcome Week Open House
 Press coverage: The Shorthorn, The 33 News
 Class activities: Nursing, English
 FLOC exhibit on food sustainability
 Website with info, tutorials, and resources / Facebook page & Twitter feed
 College of Nursing Genomics Journal Club
 Undergraduate advising for the Department of Sociology & Anthropology
 UT System Undergraduate Conference
 “The Value of Second Life to Nursing” continuing education workshop

5. UT Arlington in Second Life

6. Conference Room

7. Open-air Classroom

8. Academic Commons

9. UT Arlington Conference Center

10. Conference Center Exhibit Hall

11. Places to relax

12. Places to think

13. Challenges
 Challenges:
 Technology – graphics card, processor speed, broadband internet
 Acculturation – being represented as an avatar in a 3D, synchronous, shared
online environment
 Translation – pedagogy and research in a virtual world
 But.. A view to the past…

14. UTA Web Site, June 1997

15. UTA Library Web Site, June 1997

16. A View of the Past
 Evolution of the UTA web presence over 15 years
 Adoption of WebCT 10 years ago
 UTA hosted blogs as a response to faculty using Blogger
 The challenges of getting syllabi posted online
 Even email until relatively recently
 Student MavMail
 Library paper overdue notices
 Virtual Worlds – revisiting the web of the mid 1990s

17. So, why Second Life?
 Sense of Self
 Sense of Place
 Sense of Presence
 Immersive, sensory experience
 Synchronous, collaborative environment – more engaging than a web or
video conference
 Cost-effective alternative to travel, commuting, parking

18. The Future
 Year One: funded by the UT System, with support from the Library (1/2 of my time)
 Year Two: funded jointly by the Office of the Provost, the Library, the College of
Nursing and the College of Liberal Arts
 Beyond?
 Closer collaboration with other UT System schools to share space and resources
 Exploration of companion platforms (rapid growth among educators, less expensive, but
technical challenges behind the scenes)
 Research into locally hosted compatible spaces

19. The Future
 Millions of kids, tweens and teens are currently using online social spaces and games
 Already accustomed to being represented as an avatar
 Already accustomed to the style of interacting, moving, and using an online 3D environment
 Will we be ready when they get to college?

20. UT Arlington in Second Life
UTA SL website - www.uta.edu/secondlife
 Follow on Facebook or Twitter or read postings on the site
 Log in directly to UTA land
Contact me: Sarah Jones - sjones@uta.edu
University of Texas Arlington, Digital Library Services
In SL: Razitra Artizar (Raz)
www.slideshare.net/razitra