Ed Francisco and I spoke at the last session of the “Virtual Worlds Symposium” to start our discussion on PSTCC’s use of the MMORPG-based virtual world system, Second Life.
I started off the session by demonstrating the current state of the PSTCC virtual world campus. PSTCC purchased two “islands,” one of which will be used as a campus where classes and meetings can be held, while the second island is for use in a proposed gaming curriculum, with the first class scheduled for Fall 2007.
Ed Francisco then discussed ideas for using part of the campus island to host activities related to next year’s common book, Sharpshooter. Ed proposed ideas for how various disciplines might discuss the book and the time period in which it is set:
- English – reports, collages, poetry readings, collaborative exercises
- Biology/Chemistry – Civil War-era germ theory, anesthetics used, changes in life span since that time
- Sociology – class structure, Tennessee’s role in Civil War, the “hillbilly”
- Art/Photography – photography as a new medium in 1861, gentleman’s agreement not to take photos of a battle in progress
- Psychology/Philosophy – ethics of warfare, Tennessee’s reluctance to take sides, guerrilla warfare
- Engineering – war technologies, bridges, railroads, telegraph
- Education – education in the South being put on hold because of the war may help explain why we are still behind…
Some of the ideas that came out during our subsequent conversation included:
- The character in the book is attempting to find meaning through drawing and study, just as we are trying to discover the context of the book through Second Life media.
- Interior design could help with period furnishings and decoration.
- The Library can participate by providing access to e-books and SLURLs to their web resources.
- Students learn this type of environment through play; we can use it to help keep their attention and make learning more interesting.
- We can use in-world events to garner publicity for the college.
- Political geography, the “lay of the land,” can help in providing context for understanding the action of the book.
I talked to Sharpshooter author David Madden last week about his thoughts on using Second Life in the common book experience. We told him of our plans to build Fort Sanders and Bleak House on the PSTCC campus island. He suggested we also consider building the Andersonville Prison Guard Tower and the Coppola at Seminary Ridge. Based on this conversation, we plan to offer a narrated slide tour from the windows of the buildings we build for the common book experience.
This was the last session of our “Virtual Worlds Symposium.” It was very useful to me in both furthering my own understanding of virtual worlds and in understanding how the technology is viewed by others in the college.
I only wish we had more faculty/administrative participation. I believe that this technology provides us with the best mechanism for a multi-disciplinary interaction that we have yet seen, and that because of this, its use will grow rapidly over the next few years.
I’ll be seeing you in-world.
Take care,
David
I’m very excited to hear about the possibility of Andersonville’s inclusion. My dad was a prisoner of war during World War II, and held a special place in his heart for Andersonville and what it represented for the often unknown effects and challenges of wartime imprisonment. He served many times as a volunteer at the National Historic Site there. The Civil War was the first war to have large numbers of prisoners, with the logistical challenges associated, and its study from this standpoint is a fascinating and fruitful one for history, human psychology, and political science.