Education

The VITAL Lab is involved in two Second Life Learning Communities funded by the Ohio Learning Network (OLN), as well as a larger informal Second Life Learning Community at Ohio University that enjoys support from Academic Technology, Office of University Outreach, Ohio University Without Boundaries, and the Russ College of Engineering and Technology. Dr. Chang Liu, Director of the VITAL Lab, and Andrew Goodnite, VITAL Assistant Director, coordinate all of these Second Life Learning Communities. Paul Shovlin from the Department of English is a co-coordinator.

The Appalachian Ohio K-12 Second Life Learning Community is funded by the Ohio Learning Network and involves teachers from Athens High School, Meigs High School, Athens Middle School, and Alexander Middle School; as well as faculty members and graduate students from Ohio University. The goal of this learning community is to

1. Create teaching aids and interactive science experiments in Second Life that are based on the Ohio K-12 Science Academic Content Standards,
   


2. Help K-12 teacher community members use these Second Life teaching aids in class, and


3. Establish an active community of K-12 teachers, Ohio University faculty members and graduate students who are interested in introducing synthetic worlds to classroom

The focus of Health Education extends into Second Life through the Nutrition Game. The overall focus of the game is to emphasize the impact fast food has on health. This is done by allowing players to experiment with different eating styles to learn the health impacts in both a short and long term context. The goal for an individual player is to make healthy choices that will result in a high score for the game and a positive effect on health.