Creativity in Second Life
Massachusetts College of Art & Design, Continuing Education
Jun 12-Jul 24
Thursdays 7:35-9:35pm EST, Summer 2008
Instructor: Nettrice R. GaskinsCourse Description | Prerequisites | Contact | Syllabus | Links | Course Wiki | At-Large

Course Description

This unique course will give insights into how the virtual 3D world is being used to create, promote, and exhibit art and how artists and educators are encouraging collaboration through design, social networking, and virtual art making and display. Case studies will be explored as well as providing a list of "dos and don'ts" for 3D worlds. An emphasis will be placed on creating a virtual presence, building things, and uploading images, visual literacy, and media in Second Life. The activities will culminate in a virtual art gallery and exhibition.

This is an ideal course for artists interested in exploring emerging technologies. Each week will include face-to-face and online sessions, in Second Life (students may also meet solely online).

Students will be required to register basic (free) membership accounts through Second Life, download and have access to Second Life outside of class time. Click >HERE< to download the Second Life application.

The following hardware and software is REQUIRED to run Second Life successfully:

• Internet connection: Cable or DSL
• Computer processor: 1.6GHz
• Computer memory: 512MB RAM or better
• Video/Graphics Card: nVidia GeForce FX 5600, GeForce 6600, or ATI Radeon 9600, X600, or better

There are two terms or concepts to consider for this course. The first is creativity and the second is metaverse. We'll start with the latter and explore how SL, as a "metaverse", encourages creativity.

The metaverse is a fictional virtual world, described in Neal Stephenson's 1992 science fiction novel Snow Crash, where humans, as avatars, interact with each other and software agents, in a three-dimensional space that uses the metaphor of the real world. The word metaverse is a compound of the words "meta" and "universe". ~ wikipedia

Second Life or SL is a 3D virtual world where users can socialize, connect and create using voice and text chat. SL is a meeting place and marketplace for communities of artists. SL has a flourishing economy and millions of users doing everything from teaching and taking classes to visiting museums to running galleries. We will use Second Life as our classroom and laboratory. After a facilitated introduction, we'll examine models for virtual exhibition, education and activism. Work for the course will be largely project-based. In the first half of the class students will learn how SL is used to create things and visit various virtual art projects. In the second half of the course students will work collaboratively to create a virtual art gallery.

The course will meet in a non-traditional way. We will have weekly synchronous class meetings in our virtual classroom on Boga Island in Second Life. These synchronous meetings are required class meetings, so you must be available to attend them in order to enroll in this class.

Prerequisites

There are two important prerequisites for this course. First, you must have access to a computer where you can install and run Second Life. Test this out before you begin the class. Second, you must be available for the weekly meetings in Second Life. These meetings take place at a specific time and attendance at these meetings is required and will contribute to your grade. If you know that you will have to miss more than one of these meetings it is not advisable to take the course.

The recommended book for this course is

Contact Info

The instructor can be reached using the course email account nettrice.gaskins@massart.edu.

Class Schedule

With few exceptions, the class will meet virtually on Boga Island in Second Life for all students. The time for the Second Life meetings will be the same: 7:35-9:35pm EST. If you need an accomodation on these meeting times due to time zones or other work requirements, please email the instructor. There will be 6-7 of these required meetings in Second Life. Attendance at these meetings does count towards the class grade. Each student is allowed to miss one of the required meetings without any penalty to his/her grade. Please be sure that you can attend these meetings before registering for the course. The dates of these meetings are as follows:

June 19
June 26
July 3
July 10
July 17
July 24

Office Hours:

Office hours are per request on Boga Island in Second Life. Please come to these office hours to talk about the course material, get help on homework, or just to hang out with your classmates and the at-large participants.

If you need help at other times it is always available by email to nettrice.gaskins@massart.edu. If you'd like to make an appointment to meet with the instructor in person send an email to nettrice.gaskins@massart.edu to arrange it. For distance students the instructor can arrange virtual meetings, chat sessions, or phone calls.

Grading:

The course will be graded using a point system. The total points available in the course sum to 100. Journal/blog/wiki writing will be assigned weekly after reading, viewing or listening to assignments. The journaling may take the form of any media: writing/text, video, audio, web sites, still photography etc. so long as they can be shared with the class electronically via the Internet. Throughout the course of the semester, you must have a minimum of three journal entries that will include a final presentation.

• Blog/Research (10 points)
• Blog/Final Presentation* (20 points total)
  • Research/plan: 5 points
  • First draft: 5 points
  • Final draft: 10 points
• Attendance at virtual class meetings: 30 points -- 5 points for each attendance
• Completion of Midterm Project: 20 points
• Completion of Final Project: 20 points

All homework assignments will be due at 12:00 noon EST on Wednesdays (with some exceptions). All homework must be submitted via the individual student's blog.

* Students will be encouraged to set up a personal blog for this course using any service they choose. Send blog urls/links to instructor after the first session. Students will document their progress via their blog.

Late Work Policy

Late work will be accepted up to one week after the due date of the assignment. Assignments turned in within 1 week of the due date will lose 2-5 points depending on the assignment. Assignments turned in after one week of the due date will lose 10 points or half credit. No assignments will be accepted more than 2 weeks late.

One assignment may be turned in late (within 1 week of the due date) without penalty during the semester.

Extension Policy

Extensions will only be granted in exceptional circumstances such as illness or other unexpected obstacle to completion of work. Extensions must be requested in writing to the course email account nettrice.gaskins@massart.edu BEFORE the due date of the assignment. No extensions will be granted after the due date for an assignment has passed.

At-Large Participation

Second Life provides much more than just a virtual classroom for our class, it is also a vibrant virtual community with many residents interested in learning and sharing their knowledge. In order to promote the opportunity for free access to higher education and to gain the benefit of the support of the community for our enrolled students, we invite the Second Life community to participate in our class as at-large participants. Guests SL artists and at-large participants are invited to join our sessions to discuss the issues raised in the course. We hope that in return for sharing access to the course materials the at-large participants will be willing to serve as resources for the enrolled students in the class throughout the semester. At-large participants will not be able to turn in homework in the course, receive feedback on work for the course, or receive credit or a grade for the course. These are the privileges of the enrolled students that come from their official enrollment and payment for the course. In the event that at-large participants are disruptive, or harassing the instructor and students they will be banned from the virtual classroom space and access will be restricted to students and invited guests ONLY.

Links

Second Life

Course Second Life Location

Course Wiki Homepage

Blogger

Wordpress

Syllabus

weeks: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7