Comments on: Quick Link: List of Accredited Universities and Colleges in Second Life

By: Graham Mills

Graham Mills — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 21:21:57 +0000

Heh, I should also note that one of the Liverpool universities appears to have either closed or renamed its sim (sims named with obscure initials are a pain when they don’t provide access).

By: Graham Mills

Graham Mills — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 21:11:52 +0000

Sorry, when I said “without consulting any lists”, I meant email lists. I obviously made use of both lists in the original post as well as John Kirriemuir’s excellent series of reports and podcasts, inworld search and Google.

By: Graham Mills

Graham Mills — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 21:09:07 +0000

OK, so I did a quick survey. My best guess is that of 160-ish UK universities and similar (but excluding Further Education, our equivalent of community colleges), about 60 own land of varying sizes in SL (and one in an OpenSim grid). That doesn’t mean, of course, that there aren’t individuals active on their own land or using someone else’s; indeed, I know of examples of this too. I’m aware that other estimates are higher — this was just a quick check, made without consulting any lists. It does, however, suggest that both lists cited in the original post are likely to be short of the mark. It makes no comment on the extent or type of use. If you factor in other countries and types of institution “hundreds” is definitely feasible. Of course, I can’t comment on the nature and extent of use. At least 10 of the sims are off-limits to the public.

By: Graham Mills

Graham Mills — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 06:10:41 +0000

This does surface occasionally on the SLED list in the form of a “How many universities and colleges are there in SL?” type question. The Simteach page is the best list I know about but would benefit mightily IMHO from being a database rather than a wiki. I’m inclined to harvest what’s there in terms of institution, type and SLURL(s), together with a date when last visited and a comment field for highlights. Maybe put it in the Commons version of dabbleDb so it can be emebedded in wikis. I had it in mind anyway as the basis for a teleport gateway to UK university sims. Anyone wants to use that data as the basis for something more sophisticated, fine by me.

By: Dusan

Dusan — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 00:46:18 +0000

@Graham - YES!

Have to apologize, this post was reflexive rather than reflective. Saw the list, found it compelling, needed to read the date.

But it still begs the question - is there a better list since then? Maybe I should get a post to the SL educator list and see what kind of names we can drum up?

By: Joe Sanchez

Joe Sanchez — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 20:12:26 +0000

Wow, the University of Texas at Austin is not on the list and we have had a sim with courses since Fall 2006. Maybe we should self promote a little more…Another thing to consider is that instructors like myself choose not to use their university SL land to teach. I have been teaching on a 1/2 sim at the Educators Coop (http://educatorscoop.org) for a few years now because i like to give my students enough room and prims to work. There are to many vocal “educators” that are trying to define what is happening in SL when they obviously are not leaving the educator ghettos and SLED list for information.

By: Graham Mills

Graham Mills — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 20:11:46 +0000

That’s a very poor list. All three universities in Liverpool UK have a presence in SL and none of them is listed. Likewise 90% of UK universities have a presenve according to recent surveys funded by Eduserv. Should we try to do this “properly”?

By: Doreen Garrigus

Doreen Garrigus — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 17:41:02 +0000

Wait—the blog post containing that list of universities is dated July 25, 2007. Surely it has changed in almost two years?

By: Prokofy Neva

Prokofy Neva — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 16:41:58 +0000

It’s interesting to see that this list does not contain “hundreds” which is often what people claim, and it also doesn’t contain “every” university which is what the Lindens claim.

Woodbury Unviversity does not belong in that list. It has no educational activities in SL, but is a griefing project; in this case it’s not even just students griefing, but the professors are in on it too — it’s an elaborate prank.

“Presence” doesn’t mean “programs”, either. Some schools seem merely to have put up a build, held a few meetings, and like the business sims of lore, abandoned them.