Virtual project funded

The Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology will this month receive $500,000 for an innovative new project exploring how the virtual world might be used for education.

A proposal was approved by the Tertiary Education Commission earlier this year for the polytechnic to investigate using the 3D virtual world Second Life for teaching, but the polytechnic was reluctant to talk about it until a contract for the project was finalised late last month.

NMIT is the lead organisation in the project headed by information technology tutor Dr Clare Atkins. Otago Polytechnic, the Wellington Institute of Technology and the Open Polytechnic are also partners and computer giant IBM is on board to provide support and advice.

"The big part really is identifying the teaching methods that are likely to be most suitable to Second Life," Dr Atkins said.

She said it came down to whether or not virtual environments offered value to education. "We believe that they do, even though it's early days and no one knows how to use it best. It's a brave new world, really."

Second Life can provide a platform for audio and visual interactive presentations, with people also able to chat with one another.

Dr Atkins said the project aimed to create engaging educational environments. "The setting can be tailored to a classroom or the workplace or a setting normally impossible to achieve, for example, within a beating heart, a nuclear reactor or a fuel pump."

NMIT has had a presence in Second Life for 18 months.

Last year, it bought an island in the virtual world called Koru, which Dr Atkins manages using her virtual incarnation, or avatar, Arwenna Stardust.

Five other polytechnics and Massey University rent land on the island for their own use.

The polytechnic is not currently teaching anything in Second Life but next term a Bachelor of Information Technology student will be doing a project based there.

In May, a small first happened in celebration of New Zealand Music Month when two polytechnic tutors played a live concert on Koru Island. The show wasn't advertised but drew a crowd of eight.

Dr Atkins said the polytechnic would be looking at giving contemporary music students the option of playing in the virtual world as part of their live performance requirements.

It was also thinking of having design and multimedia students design a venue and have business students market it, "but that's all in the future".

Anyone wanting to keep up with NMIT Second Life development can visit Dr Atkins' blog at http://arwennastardust.wordpress.com.

- © Fairfax NZ News