Colleges will soon have to pay full price when setting up virtual campuses in Second Life. Yesterday Linden Lab, the company that runs Second Life, announced that they will end their generous educational discount as of January 1, 2011.
Linden Lab officials did not return calls from The Chronicle for further information.
Aaron Walsh, director for the Immersive Education Initiative, which provides more than 3,000 educators with open access to virtual worlds, says the announcement is consistent with other recent changes by the company. Though Mr. Walsh says there are other virtual world technologies that institutions of learning can utilize, some colleges have made heavy investments in Second Life and may have difficulties switching services. He says he is consulting with members of the initiative to move virtual campuses elsewhere.
Sharon Stoerger, an instructional-design consultant at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, said numerous departments at her institution—ranging from health sciences to the libraries—have Second Life properties. With the higher price, some may not be willing to keep their online classrooms open, she suggested. “If any institution doesn’t have the funds to continue these services, it could cut off the educational experience that immerses students in those types of topics.”
8 Responses to Second Life To Drop Educational Discount
jabberwocky12 - October 6, 2010 at 7:10 am
This is a fairly standard practice by companies who lure educational institutions into a commitment, and then, when they’ve invested heavily, up the charges. Set the bait, hook the college, apply the sinker.There’s always some attrition, but the idea is that the investment is so great, it’s just not worth the effort to leave. See the commercial LMSs.
profshelly - October 6, 2010 at 9:03 am
B”HSecond Life is dropping off the map, and this will just speed it’s decline. One of the main reasons people go there is for the educational opportunities. If the educational centers drop it, there won’t be much left to Second Life.Perhaps they should think about expanding their outreach instead of cutting it off at the knees. Why doesn’t Second Life open it’s own university, and contract out instructional services based upon the number of students registered? Perhaps this would keep them alive.Michelle
nanzing - October 6, 2010 at 9:03 am
For me, it’s the numbers and the ease of obtaining support services from other residents. I have a build on Reaction Grid for my small subspecialty learning center that is very incomplete after many months. I’m committed to finishing my build eventually there, but it’s so dead on RG that I don’t ever imagine I’ll get the kind of foot traffic I get in the learning center and library I set up in SL. And the potential of reaching that very large group of residents who are interested in education, taking courses from other schools, and just interested in my topic: that exists in SL but not elsewhere so far. After touring Blue Mars and OSGrid, I’m working now on building a small campus in SL for our online school. There’s just too much more in terms of value added in SL — over and above the price of land — to make a move to other sims attractive. My operation is tiny though, so a university with gobs of money or heavier graphic/physics engine needs might think about it. Me, I’m staying put.
dmoser5 - October 6, 2010 at 10:19 am
Having just recently been involved in discussion about the longer-term (i.e. more than three weeks, which is 10 years in SL time) impact of SL and what gets done there, there is one question that everyone needs to ask themselves after their first foray into SL: “Why are you in here?”Why, in other words, are you coming back in here after you have seen the wonder/vacuum that is Second Life? Do you have a mission, a purpose that will drive you to continue to have your students come in and learn?If not, you might want to reconsider any and all involvement with using virtual realities of any flavor for teaching.Free is good, but if you don’t know and understand your own motives for being in there, you don’t belong there.That having been said, I am furious about this latest from the Lindens. I have been warning against this possibility for some time and sadly, being Cassandra brings no joy.
nichtsondern - October 6, 2010 at 1:45 pm
But why does education need a discount any more than other users? Is there a justification for having other users subsidize education’s use? Could the same argument be used to justify education’s subsidizing the use by, say, community medical or legal services?
jrogate - October 6, 2010 at 7:08 pm
It is surprising that so many folks are surprised at this. The “chatter” all over has been rampant. Using Virtual Worlds is a great boon to education. Putting too many eggs in a proprietary system as offered by Linden Labs is not wise. Some went overboard. Yes, Linden Labs should not have made the decision as they did. It will further jeopardize their position. They will be sold most likeley, or worse, they will dissolve. There is much to say in this area.I have been working with OpenSim for 2 years now. It is the reverse engineered SL server code, plus much more functionality. But, in essence, it is exact to what you have been using. Exact (plus more). Yes we keep a presentce in SL but it is minimal, and as planned, will go until 12/2011. In the past few years, I have set up dozens of OpenSim regions. I have been through the pains of working with alpha software, but the efforts have proven very rewarding. Guys..OpenSim is opensource. It is free. We have about 100 regions crossing over 6 servers. It worked like crap two years ago. It is still alpha software, but it is fine and can handle what 90% of current educational usage might be, There currently exists many thousands of OpenSim regions and metaverses all over the world They are growing at a rapid rate. There are many that offer free regions, and there are those that have the same structure as Linden Labs where you can pay for the service.Yes, it takes a little bit of technical expertise to set up, but it is nowhere as difficult as it was not so long ago. For most uses, an expensive server is not needed. As of late, I installed about 20 lapptops running windows 7 and Ubuntu. On the Ubuntu side, opensim was installed. Based on need, 10 full regions (allowing 45000 prims) was also installed. The portable classroom! The portable demonstration machine! ANd, if you want, leave it up, and folks can get to your regions from anywhere in the world (if you want to).Seeing this all coming, all copntent plus more was removed from SL. you can still do it, but it is a lot more difficult. In opensim, your conetis always safe, portable, and under your control (if you host yourself). Safe is a relative term since it is alpha software and some securioty issues need to be worked (a natural part of the process, not a flaw). AS I result, I do recommending hosting yourself for the time being.As far as the potential acquisition. The most recent rumor is Microsoft. This could be good, It could be bad. For those of you that understand Microsoft, you understand. But maany large companies have embraced OpenSim. Microsoft is one of them. If Microsoft buys Linden, and embraces OpenSim in the process, we will have a new technology for the Internet. If they follow another route, SL could just become a game and a toy. There would be others that I would prefer as a suitor.If any need some assistance or discussion with opensim, contact me. I am possibly going to host a web Conference on this in the near future. Maybe as soon as Saturday. Sure complain relentlessly to Linden Labs, but if you know the entire situation, your complaints can be for naught.Go to OpenSim as a part of your plan. Those that went overboard, maintain a presenece, but unload the excess. And there is excess. Count on Virtual Worlds as a part of your future. It most likeley will not be through Linden Labs. This, in the long run, is a very good thing.
jrogate - October 6, 2010 at 7:14 pm
Oh, the aticle says difficulty switching services. It is not difficult with OpenSim. The only thing is now you cannot get your content out of SL (well some of it you can…)Contact me at: rogate@champlain.edu if you need help. Do not rush over to some other hosting endeavor. You may be sorry again. Maintain as long a position in SL as you can (but maybe one region only). Depending on what happens, it may proves to be more positive than expected. But Linden Labs has to go. WIth a proper direction, the product, SL, can take the direction it needs to take…and should have taken a long time ago. Keep your fingers crossed.
urspider - October 7, 2010 at 2:14 pm
Linden Lab has made a choice. I supect one of three things are behind this insult to those who used to promote its product:–They are preparing to sell the company and do not want a buyer saddled with discounted contracts–They wish to avoid breach-of-contract suits if they fold or sell next year, and the increase will drive off many insititutions with good legal teams–They need a quick cash infusion before a sale, and they hope that enough educators will remain next year because of ongoing research.Our campus is closing its doors, and the one teaching simulation will move to a private “grid” managed by one of SL’s competitors–with backing from Microsoft and IBM.Now is most certainly NOT the time for any new investment in Linden Lab or its products.