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TELRport

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Avatars pose next to a brainstorming sketch that became the guide for TELRport development.

About TELRport in Second Life

TELRport—TELR’s island in Second Life—allows TELR to explore Second Life (SL) as an educational medium and provides a means to understand the feasibility of supporting virtual environments for teaching, learning, and research.

Tour TELRport to learn more about the island's layout and design.

This island also provides Ohio State faculty, staff, and students with a safe, convenient environment to explore SL social interactions and sample SL’s building tools. (See TELRport Conditions of Use for details about acceptable visitor behavior.)

Participation

By opening TELRport to select projects from Ohio State’s faculty and staff, TELR aims to facilitate new teaching and research opportunities, including the design and construction of learning environments and in-world 3D models. (See Pilot Expectations for an overview of what is provided pilot participants and what is expected in return.)

If you are interested in the opportunity to build your own presence in TELRport, please contact us at secondlife@osu.edu.

TELR has also built common areas for faculty and staff to conduct meetings and collaboration sessions. For more information regarding the use of these areas, please contact us at secondlife@osu.edu. Also, visit our reservation page.

Next Steps

The following provides an overview plan for the TELR/DU Second Life project during 2009, and a vision for SL growth and use moving forward in 2010 and beyond.

Winter 2009 through Autumn 2009

• Formalize phase-out / transition plan for pilot participants
• Define resource limitations and explicate resource allocation to constituents
• Create a SL support/help tickets structure and procedure
• Develop standard and customized workshops/training for OSU community and department/units
• Expand Web presence to detail, show, and describe the project and possibilities
• Sponsor campus and outside speakers, teachers, and/or researchers who use SL
• Maintain or expand campus interest and involvement through the SL interest listserv
• Support interdisciplinary interaction in SL
• Explore potential pilot addendum for a new TELR service–acquiring land and renting to university entities (professors, departments, colleges, units, and so on)

2010 and Beyond

• Continue 2009 vision activities
• Generally advance the notion of digital learning (distance education)
• Encourage co-location of future OSU islands
• Explore and advertise virtual worlds as a research medium
• Investigate alternative virtual world platforms
• Develop a pool of design and programming experts to assist faculty with projects
• Promote community dialogue surrounding a global concern
• Sponsor larger campus conversations

 

TELRport is a pilot program of TELR in the Office of the CIO.
Having trouble accessing this page? Contact us at SecondLife@osu.edu or call us at 614.688.4357 (688-HELP) (V), 614.688.8743 (TDD) for assistance.