One of Ball State University's new classes is being offered entirely in a virtual world known as Second Life.
The class, "Building 101: The Building Blocks of Second Life," is an eight-hour course that includes lectures and hands-on-building in the world of Second Life.
Second Life is a virtual world that lets users interact with each other through customized avatars. The simulation allows people to create objects, sell them and build communities, explained instructor Judy Singer.
"The only difference in the virtual world is you can fly and teleport yourself," Singer said.
Building Better Communities, an ongoing immersive-learning program at Ball State, is sponsoring the new class.
The Second Life course has no classroom days or face-to-face interaction with the instructor. Instead, it is being taught in Second Life through avatars.
Singer's avatar's name is SunQueen Ginsberg. She has been building for three years.
Singer said she will teach beginner to intermediate skills and give students the knowledge they need to build their own projects.
"I'd like them to be able to create on their own," Singer said. "They need to use all the building tools and get lots of practicing, and it is amazing what students come up with."
Linden Labs in California developed the idea of Second Life in June 2003. There are more than one million residents in these virtual communities, and more than five million accounts have been created. Using Second Life is free unless you "own land," which requires a small subscription fee.
"You can go in and do most things for nothing. The only problem is that is gets so addicting," Singer said. "I could be the architect there that I never could be [in real life]."
Senior English education major Hilary Brown said she has used Second Life before.
"It is really cool," she said. "I used it in my English as a Second Language class (ESL) as a way to communicate. It's really easy to use, but very addicting. You want to keep going and building."
Along with her own world, Singer has contributed to building Second Life projects for the Mexican government with tourism projects. Singer described the new form of advertising that can be used with Second Life.
"Many companies, such as IBM, have had entire meetings in their Second Life communities," Singer said. "It saves money with no travel for a meeting. There is tremendous opportunity for businesses and it hasn't even been tapped yet."
The class, which began on July 11, has five students enrolled.
To sign up for this class, students must have a computer that is at the minimum level recommended by Linden Labs, be able to use a keyboard with camera controls and be prepared to spend about four to five hours a week practicing in Second Life.
The cost is $149. The second course will begin Aug. 22. For more information, visit Secondlife.com or bsu.edu/bbc.
Go to http://www.secondlife.com/ to get a Second Life account.
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