WGSS110d: Gender, Sex and Power
Dr. Sharon Collingwood
This section of WGSS110 is a distance course that meets online in the virtual world Second Life. If you are unable to attend class, you may replace your participation through written work. You will also work on our Carmen site, where you will be able to access text, images, quizzes, self-tests and podcasts; these will help you to be sure you have understood the written and multimedia material in our course.
Educational use of Second Life is still a very new idea, and the concept of a "virtual world" is foreign to many people. You may be wondering how such a class will be taught.
Simply put, you will be asked to become a member of Second Life (there is no fee for this) where you will form an animated persona (an avatar) which will represent you in our classroom. You'll be able to communicate with others in the class in real time, and participate in collaborative work through text and voice chat.
Before the course begins I will meet with each student in Second Life to go over the course requirements and to introduce them to the basics of getting around in Second Life. Please look in the introductory materials in Carmen to find the orientation sign-up sheet.
The syllabus for our course is here.
Please see this introductory video to understand how classes work in Second Life.
This video shows you how virtual worlds can be used socially.
If you have already signed up for this course, you will soon be able to access these materials through Carmen, our learning management system. (https://carmen.osu.edu/).
If you would like to learn more about Second Life before class starts, please explore the link "Minerva Island" in the sidebar on the left, or read my article on feminist activism in Second Life.