The Brown & White

Lehigh purchased a virtual island on the online networking site Second Life to connect students and professors with people around the world.

Second Life, created in June 2003 by Linden Research, Inc., is a 3-D internet-based multi-player video game that anyone can join to create and interact with the virtual environment through the use of their "avatar," or virtual alter-ego.

Greg Reihman, faculty development director for Library and Technology Services, is in charge of Lehigh's entrance into the Second Life community.

During a forum this past Thursday in Linderman Library, Reihman described what Second Life is and why Lehigh is taking part in it.

"It's a computer world that allows you to connect to other individuals," Reihman said. "Basically, it is a Web-based, 3-D world built entirely by its residents."

In the forum, Reihman compared the program to using a telephone.

"When we talk to someone on the phone, we don't say, 'I just had a conversation with my phone.' You say, 'I just had a conversation with so-and-so,'" Reihman said. "The phone is a medium for communication, which is what the 'avatar' in Second Life is as well."

Reihman also explained how professors at Lehigh University have started using Second Life for lectures and other class assignments.

One professor at the lecture said he used Second Life as a teaching tool by assigning his students to go on the program and talk with someone from another country about a specified topic.

It can also be used for online and distance learning. Reihman said he can now host lectures and discussions with his students even if they are all not in the same place.

"I could be having a lecture while students are in their hometown for summer vacation if they are in a summer class," said Reihman.

The designers of the Lehigh "campus" on Second Life, Johanna Brams, senior instructional technologist for Library and Technology Services, Nyko DePeyer, '08, and Kathryn Lieber, '08, were at the forum Thursday.

DePeyer took the group in attendance on a tour of Lehigh's "campus" in Second Life, while Brams described the challenging process of its design which began less than a year ago.

Part of Reihman's requirement during the designing of this project was that there should be a building of obvious recognition. They chose Lehigh's University Center. He also wanted to include something that was impossible to have in South Bethlehem, which the designers decided should be a beach. There are also meeting spaces where "avatars" can meet for class lectures or for their own personal enjoyment.

"This is kind of what college students use AIM or Facebook for," DePeyer said.

Lehigh's "campus" is still in the development processes, but that's part of the point for Reihman.

"We designed this island for the students, and for them to fill it up with their own ideas and creations," Reihman said.

Reihman encouraged students to e-mail ideas for new buildings and other ideas for Lehigh's island in Second Life to the suggestion box they have posted online.

To enter into Lehigh's Second Life campus, visit www.lehigh.edu/lehighlab/secondlife.