Using Second Life for Educational Purposes

Second Life, created by Linden Lab, is an online environment where people from around the world can learn and interact with each other. Each user controls their own avatar, or character, and navigates through the virtual world, meeting other people’s avatars, and taking part in classes, business meetings, conferences, seminars, and social events. Second Life is a primary example of Web 3.0, the newest form of web-based interaction which goes beyond the constructed text-based Web 1.0 and more collaborative, user-created Web 2.0 to a web environment that is in fact a virtual world, where participants create all of the structures and content. Education and language-learning are not the main focus of Second Life, but the format of this virtual world supports these activities in an exciting and interesting way.

The opportunities for educational activities in Second Life are recognized as a way to reach students of the computer-literate, gamer generation. There are many locations within the virtual world of Second Life, including areas operated by colleges and universities, where students can participate in virtual classrooms and work on collaborative projects ‘in world’. There are also a number of locations, such as EduNation, which provide space for educational activities and professional development for teachers, as well as teaching resources and links to educational sites, wikis, and groups on the web. The worldwide access of Second Life allows people from all around the world to be involved in these virtual educational environments, so learning can be intercultural, and students from different language backgrounds can interact in an authentic, meaningful way.

Language learners can benefit from the interactive aspects of Second Life, and the opportunities to gather in online communities with other language learners and native speakers. This is particularly beneficial for English-language learners, as much of the text and multimedia available ‘in world’ is in English. Second Life is also available in Japanese, Korean, and German, and there are additional areas and events within the virtual world where other languages are used. Language teachers can utilize these features to provide their students authentic interaction with classmates, or other users, through projects, activities, and events in Second Life that focus on communication, collaboration, and negotiation of meaning to develop their language skills.

Second Life is restricted to an 18+ audience. However, there is a separate Second Life grid for teens 13-17, which is controlled to prevent access from those over 18 unless they are educators or supervising administrators. Therefore, for educational purposes, Second Life is best suited for college/university and adult students who are at least somewhat technologically literate. Additionally, for language-learning, it depends on the environment chosen by the teacher, but the level of difficulty of the text in navigation alone may be frustrating to lower-level students. Although the learning possibilities in this virtual world are exciting, engaging, and supported by an incredible amount of multimedia support, the technological skills required to navigate Second Life take some time to learn, and one can not immediately sign up and join a virtual classroom. The environment of the virtual world itself can sometimes be a hindrance, as it is easy to get lost or find oneself unable to move one’s avatar. Registration for Second Life is free, but in order to access certain features one must pay for property and multimedia space.

Overall, Second Life seems to offer many new possibilities for language learning by integrating it together with the technology of a virtual world. If it is used in such a way that helps to motivate students to learn, and connects them with others in meaningful interaction, then Second Life can be a great tool for ESOL teachers and their students.

For more information on educational uses of Second Life, check out these videos:
An Introduction to Second Life and its Educational Possibilities (2007)
Educational Uses of Second Life (2007)
Graham Stanley's Web 2.0 and Language Learning