College immerses students in languages, lessons with virtual world

By: Katrina Segers, staff writer

IMAGINATION: Team leader Nick Greenup’s avatar Bakus Boccara sits on the Hare and the Bell sculpture in the courtyard area, constructed by Greenup, Saul Epstein and Davy Jones, one of the only areas that will be almost identical to the Johnson County Community College’s actual campus in the virtual Second Life world.

For just $2,607.50, Johnson County Community College now owns and maintains an island.

Director of the Education Technology Center Jonathan Bacon said the college purchased the virtual island in the computer world of Second Life through a technology innovation grant, which sets aside money for grants to follow up on faculty ideas.

Bacon said a number of faculty members had discussed the idea last spring after articles about Second Life began appearing in publications. He said the island could benefit the college and someday offer orientations and be a recruitment tool.

“The premise is that the entire Web is headed toward a 3-D Web,” Bacon said. “In that sense it means that you will have an avatar and you will navigate 3-D space on your screen.”

The Second Life Web site calls the program “a 3-D virtual world entirely created by its residents.” The world allows users to build anywhere any way, including in the sky, and has a currency called the Linden Dollar, named for Second Life creator Linden Labs.

Bacon said the next generation of online classes that JCCC and other institutions teach could be in a 3-D pattern. He said this allows a student who is taking a class on the heart to go into a simulation and see the heart from various angles.

“It really combines the Web and a 3-D space for educational purposes,” he said.

Bacon said JCCC’s island will be similar to the actual campus, with a courtyard and a museum to house students’ digital art.

“We’re not really restricted to make it the same,” he said. “We’ll replicate some areas, but for the most part we’re going to build whatever seems functional in Second Life.”

Senior analyst Nick Greenup said creating objects in Second Life so they do not resemble the real world is difficult.

Greenup said he uses a combination of photos and objects created in other programs to create the virtual items. He said the outside of a building can take a couple of days.

“The biggest hurdle would probably be the size of things and getting the texture in order,” he said.

Near the JCCC island’s courtyard, Greenup said a coffee bar has been created for Spanish language students. He said students can gather there and meet people from around the world to talk with and learn Spanish.

“Second Life now has the ability of voice, so for learning different languages, I think it’s going to be really beneficial,” he said.

Associate Professor of Spanish Jim Hillen said Second Life not only allows students to converse in Spanish, but to visit other places.

“I want to use it as a supplement,” he said. “It’ll be a project and it takes them into Spanish outside of the classroom. They can immerse themselves.”

Hillen said students use a partnership called Teach You, Teach Me, which gives them a Spanish-speaking partner to go on missions with. These missions can be as simple as taking a boat ride down a river in Costa Rica and discussing objects along the shore.

Student Bret Hunninghake, 19, Atchison, said Second Life is a more personal way to learn.

Hillen said students have used Second Life on a limited basis, but feedback has been positive.

“I think that doing something is better than reading something,” Hillen said. “I think that when you’re involved and immersed in something you learn better than reading. I think it’s a valuable tool.”

Bacon said JCCC has had the island for about six months now and is still in the early stages of development.