Avatars against a backdrop of TELRport

Avatars pose next to a brainstorming sketch that became the guide for TELRport development.

About TELRport in Second Life

TELRport—TELR’s island in Second Life—allows TELR to explore Second Life (SL) as an educational medium and provides a means to understand the feasibility of supporting virtual environments for teaching, learning, and research.

Tour TELRport to learn more about the island's layout and design.

This island also provides Ohio State faculty, staff, and students with a safe, convenient environment to explore SL social interactions and sample SL’s building tools. (See TELRport Conditions of Use for details about acceptable visitor behavior.)

Pilot Participation

By opening TELRport to select projects from Ohio State’s faculty and staff, TELR aims to facilitate new teaching and research opportunities, including the design and construction of learning environments and in-world 3D models. (See Pilot Expectations for an overview of what is provided pilot participants and what is expected in return.)

After a call for proposals in early 2008, TELR received 17 applications and chose five projects to receive parcel space for construction on TELRport.

TELR is also building common areas for faculty and staff to conduct meetings and collaboration sessions. For more information regarding the use of these areas, please contact us at secondlife@osu.edu. If you missed the pilot application period and you are interested in the opportunity to build your own presence in SL, please contact us at secondlife@osu.edu.

Project Timeline

This pilot project is schedule to run for one academic year, after which future steps will be considered.

Winter 2008

Call for participants
Select program participants
Design and start to build the landscape and general use areas of TELRport
Open Second Life project wiki for university community

Spring 2008

Train and offer consultation to program participants
Invite program participants to begin building on their parcel space
Continue building general use areas of TELRport

Summer 2008

Encourage program participants to finalize construction on their parcel space
Finalize general use areas of TELRport
Sponsor a showcase of TELRport and program participants

Autumn 2008

Use of TELRport by program participants
Assess outcomes of the pilot program and determine TELR’s direction in virtual worlds