Dubai Women's College opens new campus in Second Life

DWC is the first educational institute in the region to join several international universities who had opened virtual branches in Second Life.

Founded in 2003 by Linden Lab, Second Life is a three dimensional virtual world which has been gaining significant recognition among international well-established educational institutes as the newest and most innovative e-learning tool to be used in the academic world.

The virtual world of Second Life is created by its own members and allows for multiple online communications channels among users in order to maximize benefits gained from using the tool in academic settings.

Several universities around the world have been using Second Life and the number is on the rise with many more taking up the challenge of incorporating the virtual world environments into their curriculums. Among the leading members is Harvard University, San Diego State University, Stanford University, New York University, Texas State University, and many others.

Academic institutes participating in Second Life come from a large variety of countries includes the USA, UK, Italy, Australia, Denmark, Germany, Canada, Finland, Thailand, Mexico, France, Netherlands, Poland, and others.

DWC's Island in Second Life includes several public features including an Abra with Abra station, a welcome video screen, a Majlis area serving coffee and second TV screen for welcome, scale model for DWC's First Life campus with link to DWC homepage, a UAE flag, and a mosque. In addition, the Island has several private features which are open only to DWC staff, students, and invited guests including a Palm Island development, a library, five classrooms, Abayas for sale, and a Museum which is currently under construction.

"While the educational uses of Second Life are not immediately obvious to some people, I believe this is because they do not understand the active nature of the medium. It can be used for whatever we can dream up, but for people lacking vision, creativity and an entrepreneurial spirit, they simply are not able to comprehend the possibilities. Most importantly, is that we as educational leaders need to understand that it is the students who will drive this new technology. The dream belongs to their generation, not ours, we simply need to provide the guidance and support," noted Robert Peregoodoff, Supervisor of Educational Technology and AV and Acting Program Chair of Information Technology at DWC.

At DWC, Second Life is planned to be used for several learning activities including Hospitality Industry (Hotel simulations and customer service), X-ray department simulations, Hospital and Nursing simulations, Dentistry simulations, Jewelry design and manufacturing , International student exchanges between universities and colleges, Cultural exchanges, and Internet commerce - sales of student created items. DWC's Student shop on campus will become an exchange house for UAE Dirham to Linden Dollars.

"Second Life provides a great educational opportunity for all students since DWC's virtual campus is a safe learning environment which allows students maximize the educational benefits they gain from using it," noted Mark Karstad, E-Learning Coordinator at DWC. DWC's Second Life campus also align with the DWC's graduate learning outcomes including encouraging critical and creative thinking skills, global awareness and citizenship, technological literacy, self-management and independent learning, teamwork and leadership, vocational competencies, and mathematical literacy.