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Ever heard of Second Life? The University of Kentucky College of Dentistry is on it — and, no, they aren’t racing around, giving Second Life avatars a dental check-up! Instead, tech savvy UK faculty and students teamed up with Texas A&M University’s Baylor College of Dentistry for the Dental Grand Rounds, the first educational Dentistry seminar using Second Life.
After purchasing their own island in Second Life back in 2007, the University of Kentucky got to work building out a virtual UK campus and scheduling events like “Primcutter: An Exhibition of Work.” new student events, even an interview combining real life and Second Life with anthropologist and author Tom Boellstorff – well, UK definitely seems on top of it!
My College Guide wanted to learn more — so we got in touch with the University of Kentucky’s Sandra Challman, the Manager of Information Technology and Dr Mark Thomas, Department of Oral Health Practice Chair and Division of Periodontology Chief to ask, “Why Second Life? Why not use a more traditional approach?”
Dr. Mark Thomas pointed out the more unique features of Second Life, “There is a sense of actually being there…in the form of your avatar (this so-called ‘physicality” mimics, to some extent, the real life situation). It facilitates interactions in ways that can be defined by the users (e.g. in our example, faculty communicated with voice via headsets, while residents/students used keyboards; this resulted in a more orderly and structured discussion.”
“We have a virtual “space” where we can set up and make educational resources available to students and others. All of this can be done from home (as was demonstrated at our Grand Rounds, as a severe snowstorm in Texas prevented some students from coming to school, but they were able to participate on computers from home).”
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Ms. Challman shared that “use of the technology matches many dentistry teaching methodologies including peer learning, patient simulation and patient cased-based teaching.” It makes sense – and with college students having access to this technology now…well, it could only help them grow and adapt to technological changes in the years to come!
Bonus: Ms. Challman revealed that there are “several pilot ideas in the works, both in courses in our College and a few with other Dental Schools.” Sounds like UK students will have a lot of interesting – and fun — new options to choose from in the near future!
Second Life is used by many colleges and universities in a variety of ways – and next week we plan to tell you all about it! Subscribe to My College Guide via RSS or email so you don’t miss a minute of our college goodness!
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- Virtual College Tour in Higher Education: Second Life Style
- Second Life and Higher Education: Endless Possibility
- University of South Florida Teaching Internship with a Virtual Twist
- Dental Plans Cheaper Than A Semester’s Worth of Pizza
- 15 FireFox Add-ons to Rock Your College World (and Increase Productivity)
Tags: baylor college of dentistry, college majors, college of dentistry, colleges and technology, dental grand rounds, dentistry, educational seminar, second life, Technology, texas a&m university, uk, university of kentucky
Second life is such a great resource for distance learning or students who are earning a degree online. At Texas Tech we are using second life to promote reading within our K-12 program. The way University of Kentucky and Texas A&M have collaborated is a great use of the software.
[...] are incorporating elements of campus life into Second Life. The University of Kentucky isn’t the only college to embrace the possibilities of Second Life. For example, The University [...]