Northridge Magazine

Professor Specialtech Wirefly sat in class with a group of her students, refining a point she’d made on a study topic. Oliver Bigboots, one of the students, suddenly levitated. Perfectly calm, he continued the conversation from his mid-air vantage point.

During the first weeks of assistant special education professor Ashley Skylar’s spring 2009 experimental course offered in the Second Life virtual environment, an abrupt flotation like Oliver’s was nothing unusual; it took time for students to get used to controlling their avatars.

In the not-quite-real world of Second Life—a virtual, interactive world accessible via the Internet—gravity is no drawback and learning possibilities are likewise boundless. It is a world that attracted Skylar, a.k.a. Specialtech Wirefly, like a moth to a flame.

“My doctorate is in special education with disabilities, but my master’s is in instructional technology,” she said. “So my passion has always lain in using technology in education.”

Second Life has arrived in a big way as a learning environment at university campuses nationwide, with varying success, from advanced whole campus “builds” to less ambitious offerings. In her work with CSUN education students, Skylar hopes to introduce the six-year-old technology as a potent tool in their teaching careers. “What’s great about Second Life is that they could virtually go to the Taj Mahal and actually see it, instead of just showing still shots of it on a computer.”

With the help of information technology expert Rick Shaw, Skylar won a campus grant to offer her class, “Intro to Special Education,” in a virtual classroom. After naming and choosing clothing for their avatars, about 30 students entered a classroom in which Professor Wirefly frequently walked up to their tables and engaged them in the same back-and-forth they would have experienced in a real world setting. Only thing was, their real bodies were at home.

One of the students, Dominic Marcucilli ’09 (English) of Valencia, is a secondary level credential candidate who plans to teach special education. “I’m curious about new platforms and how classes could be hosted in the future,” he said. Marcucilli “attended” the class from his home office, in the company of a terrier named Pippin, who barked only once: the first time he heard Skylar’s streaming voice. “He was looking for another person and there was no one in the room but me,” Marcucilli said.

Mastering the system’s mechanics was a challenge, said Marcucilli, a.k.a. Oliver Bigboots, whose avatar sported a spiffy suit and tie. “I was starting at Ground Zero.”

He soon saw daylight and began to appreciate Second Life advantages. “Because each group had its own table [in Skylar’s virtual classroom], you weren’t distracted by talk at other tables,” said Marcucilli, who also enjoyed the frequent YouTube clips and PowerPoint presentations Skylar was able to offer in the virtual setting.

In the fall 2009 course, an introductory orientation class will be held on Second Life-equipped computers in the education college’s lab, where the last class also will be held. Otherwise, students will “attend” at home. “They appreciate the flexibility,” Skylar said.

Still, Marcucilli doubts whether instruction will ever be all Second Life, all the time. “You need that on-campus thing,” he believes, “to gain the life skills.”

— Brenda Roberts

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