UK Visits with Teens at Virtual College Fair
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LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 24, 2007) − Planning to tour potential
colleges in the coming year? Wouldn't it be great to visit ones even abroad? Maybe you will be
able to online in the virtual world of Second Life. Over last weekend the University of
Kentucky participated in the first Teen Second Life College Fair, the first college fair held
in Second Life, a computer-created virtual world where
people through online versions of themselves called avatars socially interact without ever
leaving their computer desk.
The college fair, presented online Oct. 20 and 21, examined the feasibility of using the new Second Life technology to provide college information to prospective students. The virtual world can allow real-time interaction between teens and college representatives through a low-cost option regardless of geographical distance. While Second Life currently has a small audience, it continues to grow in size and popularity. The inaugural college fair drew an attendance of approximately 150 teen avatars.
More than 20 colleges and universities from the U.S., United Kingdom and New Zealand took part in the fair organized by the Eye4You Alliance, an education island within Teen Second Life. Second Life currently offers two different virtual worlds, one for teens and one for adults. Institutions at the Teen Second Life College Fair were given several options for event participation and could participate in any or all of these ways:
The college fair, presented online Oct. 20 and 21, examined the feasibility of using the new Second Life technology to provide college information to prospective students. The virtual world can allow real-time interaction between teens and college representatives through a low-cost option regardless of geographical distance. While Second Life currently has a small audience, it continues to grow in size and popularity. The inaugural college fair drew an attendance of approximately 150 teen avatars.
More than 20 colleges and universities from the U.S., United Kingdom and New Zealand took part in the fair organized by the Eye4You Alliance, an education island within Teen Second Life. Second Life currently offers two different virtual worlds, one for teens and one for adults. Institutions at the Teen Second Life College Fair were given several options for event participation and could participate in any or all of these ways:
- sending an "approved adult" representative avatar to the virtual world to participate directly with teens;
- allowing representatives to participate in real time live chats with visiting teens using new Web-based technology called SLoodle;
- creating informational displays (similar to booths at typical college fairs) for the two-day fair that allowed visiting teens to interact and collect information from the college via Web links, e-mail icons for feedback, and video streaming on the institution;
- submitting streaming video for the fair's “Film Festival” that featured college videos streamed into the Teen Second Life virtual theater; and
- allowing visiting college representatives to present to fair attendees in a speaker series during the fair.
UK participated in the fair by sending two "approved adult"
representatives, Joshua Branham from Undergraduate
Admissions and Beth Kraemer from UK Libraries.
UK also provided video stream
for inclusion in the film series, gave a presentation titled “Success in College,”
and had a display table of information objects available to teen avatars visiting the fair.
The event gave UK representatives a new recruitment platform with a geographically
diverse audience of teens. "I personally talked with teens from the Netherlands, England,
New York and Texas," noted Kraemer, who volunteers with the Eye4You Alliance and served as
a fair organizer.
The UK display table or booth included a “flip book” of information about Undergraduate Admissions; a Web link object that directed students to UK's home page, Undergraduate Admissions, Visitor Center and more; objects allowing students to request more information by submitting their contact information; and even a photograph of ESPN's “GameDay” broadcast at UK, which was taking place outside William T. Young Library the same weekend. The "GameDay" photograph object also was a tracker device that recorded avatars who visited the site. As a treat, Branham and Kraemer's avatars even distributed virtual UK T-shirts that the teen avatars could wear in Second Life. The UK booth at the virtual college fair took third place honors for best booth at the event.
The inaugural Teen Second Life College Fair, which received attention from the Chronicle of Higher Education, may become especially useful to students interested in attending universities abroad. "I got to speak to people from all over the world, which I couldn't do in my current school," reported a teen grid resident from England, Glasissas Steenbock, to Second Life News Network. "One small step for Second Life, a major step for teens."
The UK display table or booth included a “flip book” of information about Undergraduate Admissions; a Web link object that directed students to UK's home page, Undergraduate Admissions, Visitor Center and more; objects allowing students to request more information by submitting their contact information; and even a photograph of ESPN's “GameDay” broadcast at UK, which was taking place outside William T. Young Library the same weekend. The "GameDay" photograph object also was a tracker device that recorded avatars who visited the site. As a treat, Branham and Kraemer's avatars even distributed virtual UK T-shirts that the teen avatars could wear in Second Life. The UK booth at the virtual college fair took third place honors for best booth at the event.
The inaugural Teen Second Life College Fair, which received attention from the Chronicle of Higher Education, may become especially useful to students interested in attending universities abroad. "I got to speak to people from all over the world, which I couldn't do in my current school," reported a teen grid resident from England, Glasissas Steenbock, to Second Life News Network. "One small step for Second Life, a major step for teens."