Dubai Women's College opens Second Life campus

Dubai Women's College (DWC) has opened a virtual campus in online world Second Life.

The virtual campus will be used to create learning simulations for students for sectors such as healthcare, hospitality and manufacturing, as well as for cultural exchanges with other learning institutions in Second Life. The college also plans to sell student made items in the virtual world.

Robert Peregoodoff, supervisor of Educational Technology and AV and Acting Program Chair of Information Technology at DWC commented: "While the educational uses of Second Life are not immediately obvious to some people, I believe this is because they do not understand the active nature of the medium. It can be used for whatever we can dream up, but for people lacking vision, creativity and an entrepreneurial spirit, they simply are not able to comprehend the possibilities. Most importantly, is that we as educational leaders need to understand that it is the students who will drive this new technology. The dream belongs to their generation, not ours, we simply need to provide the guidance and support."

The virtual campus will be situated on an island in Second Life, and will include a copy of the college's real world campus buildings, a mosque, majlis and an abra station. The island will also have private areas for staff and students only, including library, classrooms and a museum.

"Second Life provides a great educational opportunity for all students since DWC's virtual campus is a safe learning environment which allows students maximize the educational benefits they gain from using it," said Mark Karstad, E-Learning Coordinator at DWC.