Second Life Development and Consulting

Second Life provides a great opportunity for both traditional in-class and distance education. It is the next logical step in the development of e-learning / web-based learning / flash simulations. Unlike earlier tools, Second Life presents a great opportunity for "learning by doing", experience, engagement and collaboration. It allows instructors to brings trainee into conditions exceedingly similar to real life situations to practice newly aquired skills. Second Life is especially well suited for training that requires person-to-person interaction (sales, customer service, negotiations, teamwork, leadership, etc.), involves work in a specific environment (lab, plant floor, warehouse), requires visualization of objects in 3D (e.g. equipment training).

Person-to-person interaction in Second Life can be conducted using role-play or Second Life robot avatars that can be programmed to act like real people and interact with the trainee.

Ability of Second Life objects to communicate with the web applications allows easy integration of Second Life training modules into the structure of your existing e-learning program. Simulations data and results are stored in the back-end database that can be hosted on our servers or on your corporate network behind the firewall, making Second Life training simulations secure, flexible and easy to update. Web-based graphical user interface which is a part of our Immersive Communication Training System allows instructional designers to update existing simulations or create entirely new ones without any programming knowledge or background.

In the early days of using new media, it is a common mistake trying to replicate existing program in a new media environment. Remember scanned sales brochures that were original web sites of many companies in 1995? Similarly, creating a virtual world space with reading materials, power point slides, podcasts and streaming videos will not work. Instead, consider using Second Life in the areas where it uniquely fills in the gap in present day e-learning. For example, provide practical exercises that allow trainee to "learn by doing", practice newly aquired skills, visualize the concept, work with 3D models. Creating buildings that look like exactly like your corporate headquaters, filling space with billboards will result in a failed project. Leveraging the unique abilities of Second Life aimed at practice, engagement, and collaboration will result in success.

Training simulations in Second Life - presentation at Innovations in Learning Conference