Sanchez, whose research focuses on virtual worlds and technology-enhanced learning, said SL is another way to connect people.
"It can provide a social network for people to meet," he said, "a democratic forum to discuss current and political events and an entertainment space where people can watch movies, play games and role-play."
"UT has a rich history of education in SL. Anne Beamish (Architecture) was documented as the first class to ever use Second Life and Jerome Bump (English) was one of the first to measure the effectiveness of Second Life as a learning tool," Sanchez said.
"There are musicians, artists, entrepreneurs, designers, engineers, religious groups, museums, libraries, film and literature, history buffs, and, of course, lots of information technology and communications folks," Jarmon said.
"If you use the Internet, there is probably some professional or personal application for you in Second Life that extends that experience into a 3-D virtual experience with others."
Jarmon is using SL with her Interdisciplinary Communication graduate students. They are preparing semester-long final projects in SL.
One team is creating a virtual presence in SL for sustainable, green, low-income housing models designed by the university's BaSiC Initiative for use around the world. Two of the houses are being constructed in East Austin.
"I have been searching for years for a medium whereby I could integrate my academic and scholarly world with my lifelong work with developing countries and community engagement. The 3-D virtual world environment offers just that," Jarmon said.
"The compelling sense of engagement and social presence can be like a magnet," she said, "and isn't that what we want learning experiences to be like?"
Sanchez uses SL as a tool for active learning.
"I rarely ‘teach’ in Second Life," he said. "Instead I provided opportunities for students to experience my course content."
He said the main advantage of using SL is that it gives the class an experiential lab to work in.
"Before Second Life," he said, "I used to have my students work on problem-based scenarios in small groups. Now, instead of making scenarios, I give them real tasks where they have to work in teams and manage up to 16 people at a time and lead them through a series of events."
Sanchez added that instead of asking students to pretend they are consulting with an organization he can actually have them work with real organizations and people in SL, which is what they did for a final semester project.
"SL affords me the opportunity to connect my students with a large international community outside of my ‘classroom,'" he said. "My students are hosting art shows while others are raising money for victims of the San Diego fires. The ability for the students to connect with organizations in such a way and to work with them directly in such a short amount of time wouldn't be possible without SL."
