Yesterday I had the opportunity to talk about Second Life in Higher Education at the CASE conference in Baltimore. Here are the links to resources I mentioned, plus many additional links I promised I would post. This is new territory for many - only one person in a room of 100+ acknowledged being a SL resident.

A big thanks to the many people who’ve written inspiring pieces and posted videos about what’s happening in with education in Second Life. Just a few of them are listed below.

Reference

Wikipedia - Wikipedia SL page

Institutions in Second Life

List of Institutions in SL - SimTeach.com

Education and SL - Beth Ritter-Guth’s wiki page on Second Life in Higher Education

University of Alaska Fairbanks - Slideshow on using Second Life for Education

Ohio University - SL promo video

Harvard Berkman Center/Law - Article 1, Article 2

CyberOne - Law in the Court of Public Opinion (See the video promoting the live and SL-based course)

Rockcliffe University SL Campus - Campus Tour

Marketing Viewpoints

Don Philabaum – SL and advancement

Michael Stoner – Better things to do?

DMW Media - Develop a long term marketing presence

Brandweek - Are marketers dying in Second Life?

Om Malik – why Marketing doesn’t work in SL

GM/Pontiac - Pontiac wants to create a car culture in SL


Things to explore about Second Life

Read the news - http://www.metaversemessenger.com/

List of things to do in SL - Twelve things to do in SL

Interviews, in-lifes, commercials, how-to’s, and more- Second Life Videos

That’s the big question, isn’t it?

Paul Baker and I will be appearing in a browser near you tomorrow at 1 pm EDT to share as much as we can share on the topic in 90 minutes.

It looks like registrations are still open. Check the Academic Impressions page for more info.

Many thanks to Paul for the invitation to co-pilot on this one, and to Academic Impressions for hosting.

In this interview I shot at the Society for New Communications Research Fall Symposium in Boston, Giovanni Rodriguez of HubbubPR wonders whether we’re truly in the age of conversation, as some would assert, and whether we should be looking to learning platforms like the open source Moodle as inspiration for deeper modes of conversation.

No one can say that the University of Florida isn’t attempting to maximize every ad penny spent. But how they’re doing it is what’s surprising. (Here is a correction provided from UF via email shortly after publishing this post. The NCAA and SEC provide the ad spots for free, as UF is a non-profit public university. But the idea stands: they’re maximizing every minute of airtime.) They’ve launched the seed for a social-media based support system to connect viewers of TV ad spots running during UF games with each other, with key information about the UF experience and academics, and more. They’re enlisting students, alumni, parents — yea, the entire Gator Nation — to contribute photos and works of video and to network with each other online through the experience of sharing and mashing media.

According to Joe Hice, Associate Vice President, Marketing & Public Relations, goGatorNation.com will be supported by groups on Flickr, Facebook, and YouTube. They’ll run contests, and winners’ videos will be displayed on the basketball arena’s Jumbotron.

“We talked about including a discussion board on the site, but will instead create a Facebook group devoted to goGatorNation.com. Most of our students are Facebook aficionados and we believe this is a better place for discussion. We also expect groups to pop up on Flickr and within YouTube as well,” he said.

“I guess you could say we’re doing everything we can to create a social networking site for everyone who is a member of The Gator Nation and for those who are curious about what we’re up to here in Gainesville.”

What’s going to happen to the brand, you say? I almost cringe when I hear that term. But it sounds to me like UF realizes their people are the brand — if “brand” is even a useful concept any more. In a 1000-word email to me explaining the idea, Joe managed to do it without using the word “brand” even once.

“This is a very different approach than just about any other college is taking,” he said. “Most feature the classic “beaker shot” or students in the classroom. Not us. We have happy members of The Gator Nation sharing good times and encouraging each other to go out there and make the world a better place.”

Allegheny College is up to more creative stuff on the social web. They’ve set up camp on MySpace and are accumulating friends at a frantic pace. But they didn’t stop there.

I emailed Mike Richwalsky for some answers, which you can find here.

Does your institution have an official MySpace page yet? I agree with Mike. You should hurry.

In a few minutes I’m giving a brief presentation about new media for the Council of Graduate Schools New Dean’s Institute and Summer Workshop here in Cambridge. Peterson’s is hosting a breakfast, and they gave me the podium. Here are a few of the links I’m going to mention.

Peterson’s RSS feeds of graduate program information
Peterson’s Directory of College and University RSS Feeds
HigherEd BlogCon, the virtual conference on new media in higher education
Society for New Communications Research
MySpace.com
YouTube video sharing
OurMedia video sharing
Technorati a blog search engine
LinkedIn.com a popular professional networking site
Second Life a 3-d virtual online world

It was another lively discussion yesterday as we heard from Paul Baker of EducationPR about his informal survey of education journalists and their use of new media (e.g. blogs, RSS feeds) as a way of uncovering stories and staying current with trends. Paul reports that very few education reporters he’s encountered recently are reading blogs. Dimitri Glazkov, Karine Joly, and others were on the call.

On next week’s Skypecast, Dimitri will be leading a discussion about emerging data formats such as microformats, and their role in the larger context of search and new media.

Just a reminder about tomorrow’s Conversation Strategy in Higher Education Skypecast at 17:00 GMT. Paul Baker from EducationPR and WISC will be on the ‘cast updating us about the state of new media in education public relations and offering some viewpoints on social media based on recent industry events where he’s participated. And of course, we’ll have the open mic time for which we’re starting to become so famous.

Here’s the mp3 of the May 26, 2006 Skypecast Conversation Strategies in Higher Education, a free-ranging open-mic call, this time exploring the need for social media in the world of non-profits. Participants included Bob Robertson-Boyd, Elaine Nelson, Kevin Guidry, Dimitri Glazkov, Karine Joly, Paul Baker, David Phillips, and others as the meeting went along. Paul was live-blogging it.

Here’s the list of future Skypecasts on similar topics. We’re doing one tomorrow at 1 pm ET, 17:00 GMT. Here is a time converter in case you need one.

If you’re considering working with students in Second Life, a so-called massively multiplayer online world (MMOW), check out the opportunities and guidelines–particularly if you’re planning to work with teens. All but authorized adults are prohibited from entering Teen Second Life, however educators are permitted in, pending a background check, but are then confined to their own islands where teen residents may visit.

Campus: Second Life is a special program granting educators free land for the duration of a class.

And there are wiki pages for those interested in using Second Life for teaching.

The Berkman Center recently staged part of the Beyond Broadcast conference on an island in Second Life. I’m considering hosting or simulcasting some of HigherEd BlogCon in Second Life next year.

Below is my avatar, a very bald Stuart Stanwell, in front of Berkman Center. Looks like Jeremiah Owyang has been playing around too, mashing up SL and other new media.