Sarah Robbins is Intellagirl. It's a part of her identity. The pink hair, the dark glasses and the suit are all just a part of what comprises her online identity. In Second Life, an online world where people can do almost anything, the visual identity is important. Unlike other chat-based communities, in Second Life users have a 3D avatar that shows only what the user wants others to see.
In the fall, Robbins will share her online persona with 18 Ball State University students and help them create their own when she teaches a section of English 104, a core-curriculum class, in the online world of Second Life.
The world, which Robbins describes as "a humongous chat room with three-dimensional avatars and an unlimited box of LEGOs," is an online world that's a game, but acts like a universe. People can mold their image into whatever they want it to be, attend immigration rallies, go shopping at malls and visit places like Egypt and Notre Dame-3D models of course-without airline fare.
The game, unlike other massively multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPGs), does not require a subscription fee and is open to anyone with the computer power to run it.
Robbins thinks the accessibility of the world, as well as the experiences it offers, makes it the perfect place to teach her class.
Even though the class is being taught in a game, it will not be easy, Robbins said. As a core-curriculum class, it will follow the same guidelines other 104 classes have, as well as meet in person once a week. The course work will center on research the students do while exploring the world of Second Life, and what they learn on the island campus Robbins designed for the students in the game. Monday night, Robbins shared a PowerPoint of class guidelines with interested students, in Robert Bell Building Room 284.
Nathan Ungrodt attended the meeting and said Robbins definitely piqued his interest in taking the class.
"I'm actually really excited about it," Ungrodt said. "It seems like there's a lot of stuff built into [Second Life] that will make it easier to take the class. It seems like it's going to be a lot more streamlined."
Although Robbins said the class will not be easier, she said students might see it that way.
"If you get students excited about it, you can teach them; they can learn, and it won't feel like work. It's not that I'm tricking them; it's that I think I know a little bit about who they are; I know what they like ... It's probably going to be harder than any other 104, but it may be more fun. It may be more work, but it may be work that you would rather do."
Catherine Smith, the director of Marketing for Second Life, said the game can be a powerful learning tool or a fun experience, and that's what makes it so appealing to users.
"Second Life is a tool and a toy," Smith said. "You can go there and do nothing other than walk around and explore. You can play games. You can do 3D modeling and rapid prototyping. You can program. You can be an artist. A musician. A filmmaker. You can bag on your friends with big guns and obscene creatures, or you can go to develop physical models for education and science and research."
Robbins said in online communities, like Second Life, students seem to open up more.
"Some of it is anonymity," Robbins said. "It's not that I don't know who they are; it's that they're not face-to-face with me ... They tend to ask me questions they wouldn't ask me to my face."
Robbins said the amount of text students usually generate in an online class is far more than that of a standard class. Second Life, she said, goes beyond the standard for online classes, so she is excited to see what will happen.
"I'm hoping that having that visual representation online of the other person will help them bond a little bit, and we'll see how it affects what they write and how it affects them in the classroom," Robbins said. "I wanted to let them express themselves in one more way that would influence how much they write, and how they write and make it even more genuine."
Ungrodt, who left after the presentation to go and download the game, said the possibilities of the world seem endless.
"It seems like it will be a way to plug into any culture you want to study, and you don't have to do all the traveling and setting up appointments," Ungrodt said, "It'll be actually a lot easier to get research done I think."
Robbins said the support of the English department really helped in getting the class off the ground.
"The whole department is so dedicated to technology and the critical use of technology that this just seems like one more step," Robbins said, "I'm just so grateful that I'm at a school that supports that kind of learning. It really gave me an opportunity to do something so original. So hopefully it will go as well as I think it will."
And if it doesn't, "We'll learn from it-we'll reflect on why it's not working well ... I'll just use it as a tool to teach with."
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