Tour TELRport

Welcome to TELRport,
TELR's Presence in Second Life

This tour of TELRport follows a counter-clockwise course, starting from the dock region (facing the center of the island or South East if you were to look on the map) and moving toward the right (West, Southwest, South, Southeast, East, Northeast, North, and then the center of the island).

Although the island does not replicate actual buildings, you will note echoes of the real-life main campus of The Ohio State University throughout the island. This reflects an effort to showcase virtual environments at their best—flexible and innovative learning spaces not constrained by walls, bolted-down chairs, or real-world physics.

Also, throughout the island you may notice the TELRport flag. When you see this flag, it indicates that area was created by a member of the TELR/DU design team.

Dock / Port
in the Northwest Corner

The Dock / Port serves as the landing spot or home base for TELRport Island.

Notice the large buckeye nuts. These are huts that house objects and items that are freely available to visitors, such as a TELR or Digital Union T-shirt or information relevant to TELRport events.

Also available in this area are teleport pads that link directly to various areas of the island, including the pilot parcels for you to explore how faculty, staff, and students utilize Second Life for teaching, learning, research, and outreach.

Buckeye Leaf
in the Northwest Corner

The Buckeye Leaf is symbolic of Ohio State and provides an important visual feature for TELRport. Research has demonstrated that personally relevant interface features help facilitate a connection to the medium for learners. When viewing a map of the island, the buckeye leaf is a strong visual indicator.

The Buckeye Leaf contains areas for informal, small-group meeting spaces. Below the buckeye leaf, and under the water's surface, space has been carved out for additional private meeting spaces.

Traditional Amphitheater
along the West Edge

The Traditional Amphitheater is a space for individuals interested in low-risk, first introductions to virtual worlds and for those who wish to present material in a more traditional manner.

This space can stream media, showcase PowerPoint slides, or display the progress of a Wiki site—just like a real-life smart classroom.

On the hill behind the amphitheater seating are small breakout areas. These areas were designed to allow participants to continue their conversations and learning from the content presented in the amphitheater space.

Beyond the amphitheater (along the island's western shoreline) is a semi-hidden spot to relax and watch the sunset along the western horizon. It's a perfect location to wax philosophical with colleagues from around the world.

Pilot Parcels
along the South Edge

Along the south shore of TELRport are the pilot participants' spaces. These pilot parcels provide the opportunity for instructors and learners to demonstrate or showcase concepts in new ways and for everyone to participate in the construction of knowledge.

The Sandbox
in the Southeast Corner

Sandboxes, as you may remember from childhood, are places to experiment and play. The Sandbox is an area where avatars have been granted full control to build things, script actions to objects, and explore new tools. This is also a place where students can construct projects to demonstrate they understand a process or concept.

TELRport's Sandbox automatically returns objects to their owners every five hours. Note, items are not deleted, but are simply returned to the owner's inventory... the items may be dropped back into the Sandbox for continued work.

Small Amphitheater
along the East Edge

The small amphitheater tucked along the river and water's edge is a more intimate area than the traditional amphitheater on the other side of the island. Like the large amphitheater, this space includes a projection screen.

It is also a convenient spot for collaborating with colleagues around the world or to incorporate guest speakers in a course.

Modular Amphitheater
along the East Edge

Modeled loosely on Ohio State's Learning Collaboration Studio (LCS), the modular amphitheater makes use of flexible seating. This allows the instructor to instantly engage learners in small group discussions and bring them back to the larger group.

After presenting material, the instructor has the ability to quickly and easily move the chairs with simple commands. With specialized commands, the instructor's stage can also easily move from group to group to help facilitate discussion.

Relaxation Shore
along the East Edge

Virtual worlds are inherently social. It is a place to meet colleagues, share and discuss information, and learn from others. Although formal learning spaces are extremely important, informal gathering spaces also are an integral part of the virtual education experience.

This relaxation space along the shore has been set aside for those informal, chance conversations that can help turn an incomplete, passing thought into a research path.

Exhibition Center
in the Northeast Corner

Sharing and viewing art and entertainment is a culturally and socially important activity to bring people together. The exhibition center is dedicated to showcasing the innovative, unique contributions from university members.

Further, this is an area for practicing new theories of gallery designs or configurations for presenting visual and audio pieces.

Learning Commons
along the North Edge

In the same spirit as Ohio State's Digital Union, the Learning Commons showcases the latest technologies and pedagogical considerations for in-world education innovation.

This is a place to share and demonstrate tools and tips found elsewhere in SL, as well as to be a resource hub. Over time, in-world conversations among faculty, staff, and students in this area should serve to guide how virtual worlds may be best used for higher education and outreach.

Ideas for locations to visit or tools to share may be sent to secondlife@osu.edu or IM in-world to TELR Telling.

Mirror Lake
in the Center of the Island

Mirror Lake is another strong identifying feature of Ohio State and thus connects TELRport to the real-life education institution in a non-limiting way.

Much like other areas on TELRport, and in-sync with the real Mirror Lake, this is another informal area for colleagues and friends to meet and talk about the issues of the day. Or, in a truly virtual world twist, visitors can hold a break-out session in one of the floating bubbles high above the lake with a view of the entire island.