A Second Life® story:
Try to imagine an online class in a world that looks like a video game, where you can meet your professor and fellow students in a sky classroom, and fly above or roller-skate through Altgeld Hall.
In Glidden Campus, NIU's virtual campus in Second Life, a virtual world online, these and many more things are possible.
In October of 2005, Aline Click, or Ali Andrews as she is known in Second Life, started building the Northern Illinois University virtual campus. Everything you see in Second Life, including the Glidden Campus, is built by its users. Once you sign up and become a member, you can be a part of building the virtual world into whatever you imagine.
Glidden Campus currently replicates part of NIU's older campus including Altgeld Hall, Lowden Hall and the Lagoon. It also includes classrooms that hover above Altgeld. There is also a sandbox where you can try your hand at building your own digital content.
NIU's virtual campus is a space where your online learning can take place without feeling isolated or cut off from your professor and classmates. In Glidden, you can meet your classmates and learn from each other.
Aline Click, Glidden Campus's creator, keeps a blog called Ali Andrews Virtual Environments (aliandrews.blogspot.com) about her experiences in Second Life, gives talks at conferences where she is introduced as Ali, and since 2005, has advised countless other universities. If you end up visiting or taking a class on the Glidden Campus, you will certainly encounter Ali.
Currently, there are over 300 universities in Second Life teaching everything from freshman composition to engineering courses. Over the past two semesters, several NIU classes have used Glidden Campus, including:
In addition Glidden currently hosts several student projects like the "One Room School House" built by Pam Wicks, a doctoral student in the College of Education and various art installations. Glidden Campus is a place for NIU students to experiment with the capabilities of Second Life.
Second Life has its own economy which uses Linden dollars, named for the company that designed the world, Linden Labs. Linden dollars can actually be exchanged for real world money at about the rate of about $3 per 1000L$. Participants in the world buy Linden dollars and use them to pay for products and services in Second Life. As a result of Second Life's popularity and the ability to own and customize land, corporations like IBM, Starwood Hotels and Resorts, and Toyota use Second Life to demo their products, conduct corporate training, and hold meetings, making it increasingly important to the real work world.
Not only are large organizations like universities and corporations using Second Life, individual entrepreneurs are designing and selling everything from virtual t-shirts to airplanes, selling virtual land, offering training and services. Many are now making their entire living in Second Life.
After you have registered and downloaded the client, you need to click on the Second Life application on your desktop. When you log into Second Life for the very first time you will land on Orientation Island. Spend some time there learning the ropes. When you feel ready to move on, click on the "Search" button located at the bottom of your window and a search screen will come up. Click on the tab marked "Places" and then type in NIU in the "Find" box, and click on the “Search” button. Once it locates Glidden Campus, NIU, hit the "Teleport" button and you will be taken to the NIU virtual campus.
Glidden Campus is open to the public, so if you want other residents to know you are from NIU you will need to tell them. What you tell others about yourself is totally up to your comfort level, much like using instant messenger, MySpace or Facebook. What this means is you can be as open as you want about your real life or as anonymous as you please.
Second Life can be compared to the videos, music, and blog content people create for the internet, because everything in the environment is built by its residents. While Glidden Campus is centered on learning and on creating student community, there are areas of Second Life that contain adult content. So be forewarned. Just like the internet, Second Life must be navigated with caution. If you are uncomfortable with anything you see or hear, move on.
You are welcome to visit Glidden Campus anytime. You might think about what you would like to do as an instructor, current student, or alum on the Glidden Campus. If you have ideas, contact Ali at aclick@niu.edu.
Written by NIU Alumni, Elena Haliczer
