Liverpool Hope's Virtual Open Day

My daughter, Young Ms K, is currently going through the process of looking at universities, to get a better idea where she might want to go. The various universities hold open days, when prospective students can come along for an in-depth look and ask suitably penetrating questions (like: "How much is beer in the students' union?" and "Where's the nearest curry house?"). This is all fine and dandy, but it does mean potentially travelling the length and breadth of the country to get around all the uni's of interest. Wouldn't it be more convenient if the university came to you?

Well according to this article on the BBC News website, that seems to be what's on offer from Liverpool Hope University, who are setting up a virtual open day on Second Life. This Thursday, visitors will be able to meet with students (and faculty?) on the virtual campus. To quote from the article:

Dr Charlie Blake, head of media, film and communications at the university said: "The Open Day will be an innovative and exciting interactive experience for our visitors. Student Ambassadors have already created their own virtual characters that will be on hand throughout the day to talk to prospective students and offer them advice about studying at Liverpool Hope University."

OK it's not a replacement for actually going there, in the flesh, and seeing what's what. But it is a nice idea in any case. From the sound of it, the site has been built by students. This is quite common for university builds, and is often the work of Digital Media students.

A number of UK universities have sites in Second Life, including: Edinburgh; Coventry; Leeds Metropolitan; University of Warwick; Brunel and many more.

Warwick University Maths

A short post tonight, with a few snaps, of Warwick University Maths island. The island is located in the huge, sprawling cluster of largely educational sims to be found in the North-East part of the grid. I am very slowly, and highly intermittently, making my way through the cluster and as this island belongs to one of the relatively few UK universities involved in Second Life, I thought I'd take a look. It's also interesting that this island belongs to the Mathematics Department, rather than, say, Art & Design.

The University of Warwick (to give its proper name) is a campus university, establishlished in 1965, in the West Midlands (UK). It has around 16,000 students, a third of whom are postgrads. According to wikipedia: "A recent survey by The Times resulted in the campus being voted the best in the UK by a national poll of university students." The Warwick Maths Insitute website was playing up when I wrote this, but I did find out that the Second Life island is the brainchild of Dr Dave Wood, Director of Undergraduate Studies and Teacher of Hard Sums - and known as Ee Maculate in SL. As far as I can tell, Dr Wood is doing the build himself.

The island is still under construction, and is in a very 'skeletal' state. The main elements of the island are in place: a number of large, hollow polyhedra, connected by pathways. However, these have little (or no) content at the moment, while there are a number of buildings that are still only half-complete. There is a 3D map of the island, so you can check out what is planned.
Oh, and there's a bar / coffee bar (along with a campfire area) that is complete - and presumably provides Dr Wood's students and/or colleagues with somewhere to meet.

Here's a few photos for you to peruse:


And a less formal meeting area:

DePaul CTI

Today, following a tip from a friend, I pootled along to DePaul CTI, the sim belonging to the School of Computer Science, Telecommunications and Information Systems (no wonder they abbreviated it) of DePaul University. Named after Saint Vincent De Paul, the university's main campus was founded in Chicago in 1898 by the Vincentians, but now offers courses around the world. The CTI offers a wide range of courses, including options for online and distance learning.

For reasons best known to the build team, the island is loosely themed on Venice. A number of canals serve to carve up the island, but transportation is not a problem as you can take gondola rides between the various parts of the sim. Thinks: "I wonder if this idea came from the New Media Consortium build?" In any case, gondolas won't get you everywhere (like to the top of a hill, for example) - so there are various "stools of destination", teleports that will whisk you to your destination. The overall build quality is high. There are many excellent, detailed textures, the buildings are well thought-out and there are some nice ideas at play - such as using animated critters from Second Wildlife.

I am told there are all manner of caves and other hidden gems to discover - but to be blunt, I couldn't be bothered looking. Nice looking place, though:

I'm not too sure who this site is aimed at. I found only limited information about the university, while there are many (many!) meeting places of varying sizes. This suggests to me that the site has a couple of functions, both aimed at their own student body, rather than a channel for attracting potential students and sponsors. First, it provides a great example of what can be built in Second Life by experienced builders, and should serve to encourage some students to give it a go. Second, it provides an environment for students and faculty to meet informally - particularly useful for those who are on distance learning courses. I may have this hopelessly wrong - but that's what it looks like to me.