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| The PolyU virtual campus in Second Life was opened on 25
September. |
| Copyright : The Hong Kong Polytechnic University |
The virtual campus of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU)
in Second Life was opened on 25 September by Professor Timothy W.
Tong, PolyU President, and Professor Suleyman Demokan, PolyU Vice
President (Academic Development).
Addressing the ceremony, Prof. Tong said, "PolyU is known for its
innovation in teaching, research and applied learning. I am glad to
know that we are the first educational institution in Asia with a
virtual campus in Second Life. This digital platform readily
provides both academics and students with exciting opportunities to
enrich their teaching and learning experience."
PolyU has taken the lead in Hong Kong to develop an entire virtual
campus in Second Life. The campus contains a range of facilities
such as a library, a teaching hotel, an exhibition centre, a
medical centre and other areas for educational use. A team of
colleagues from the Departments of Applied Social Sciences,
Computing, School of Hotel and Tourism Management, School of
Design, Educational Development Centre and the Pao Yue-kong Library
have worked together over the past two years to develop an
extensive facility in Second Life. More than 10 subjects have been
taught to over 800 students through virtual tutorials, lectures,
field trips as well as virtual assignments and placements.
In addition, SLActions 2009, the world's first 48-hour non-stop
research conference in Second Life, was held from 24-26 September.
The conference spans across different time zones around the globe,
starting with Hong Kong, moving to California and Texas, US, south
to Brazil, then across the Atlantic to Portugal and the UK,
concluding in Israel. PolyU plays host to the Hong Kong Chapter of
SLActions 2009. Synchronized with the conference, the University
also hosted a series of local events such as workshops and seminars
to encourage academics to make use of the virtual environment in
their teaching and research.
SLActions 2009 was a unique and one-of-a-kind event, conducted both
in the virtual world of Second Life and on-site in a number of
countries throughout the world. Various themes were explored at the
conference, from educational research, gender studies, media
distribution, virtual branding, advertising and fundraising, to
emerging technology applications. As a hybrid online and physical
conference, all paper presentations and plenary sessions by guest
speakers were held in the virtual world, and projected locally for
participants attending physically. Participants could interact with
the one another via a local avatar and microphone.
For more details and programme of SLActions 2009 Hong Kong Chapter,
please refer to website at URL:
http://coresl.edc.polyu.edu.hk/SLActions/HKChapter.html |