UW-Green Bay Second Life Nursing Complex
As of May 1, the UWGB Nursing Complex Island is now available for the public. Until now, it was a private “invite-only” region as we worked on the initial development and construction. While the various projects and buildings are not yet complete, progress has been tremendous. Some of our Nursing staff have become very savvy with Second Life as they have been actively exploring other regions, experimenting with audio conferencing in Second Life, decorating offices and other spaces, and getting used to the settings and controls of the interface.
The Nursing Complex region includes a replica of Mary Ann Cofrin (MAC) Hall, complete with classrooms, offices, furniture, and textures that were created from still images of the real MAC hall. Our region also has representations of other notable features from the GB campus like the arboretum and Lambeau cottage as well as some structures that take advantage of the creative freedom afforded by a virtual environment e.g., a custom-built amphitheater with a large display screen.
Two of our Learning Technology Center Students, Kyle MacDonald and Julie Harvey have been involved in the development of a poverty simulation with one of our Social Work/Nursing instructors, Christine Vandenhouten. The simulation involves very innovative use of Second Life scripting language in order to assign avatars to different families and keep track of their finances and health. The poverty simulation includes many buildings including a police station, grocery store, and others.
The initiative is supported with a WI-TECNE grant and the involvement of the UWGB Nursing department in conjunction with the Learning Technology Center. We have learned much about virtual island management, group settings, hardware settings, 3D design, and even a new scripting language. There are plans to use our Second Life region for course activities in Fall 2009 (and perhaps sooner) by our Nursing Department. Eventually, we will have a virtual nursing lab and other health-related items, and other GB faculty and staff have expressed some interest in future possibilities. We look forward to seeing instructional activity in our Second Life region. Feel free to stop by the island and look around. SLURL:http://slurl.com/secondlife/UWGB%20Nursing%20Complex/93/107/35 I’ll give you a tour if I’m in world.
Submitted by:
Leif Nelson (SL name: Alf Alter)
Learning Technology Center
University of Wisconsin – Green Bay
nelsonl@uwgb.edu