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Woohoo! I’m on a roll this weekend, and am very excited to be finalising Koala Island’s spaces one by one. Today I managed to get both the Croydon Lecture Hall and the Sarawak Skybox complete, including the gardening and various bits and pieces of artwork.

Croydon Lecture Hall and Exhibition Centre

The Croydon Lecture Hall and Exhibition Centre is the most traditional ‘lecture-style’ build on Koala Island. It is named after Swinburne University’s Croydon Campus in Victoria, Australia, and has been designed to be used for large meetings of avatars.

Although I’m not a huge fan of lecture theatres in SL, there are times, when it is an efficient way to present information and bring large groups of avatars together. The Croydon Lecture Hall provides seating for 70 avatars and is also equipped with chat logger and slide/video screens. It also incorporates indoor and outdoor spaces to ensure that it is multi-purpose and can be used for a variety of different events and interactions.

The entrance way to the Croydon Lecture Hall includes a large open space with tools which ‘rez’ three different scene selections:

• Lounge Areas – Couches and comfy spaces for informal events.
• Poster Display Boards – Frames designed to support student exhibitions and displays and ensure the space is easy to setup for poster sessions and to display student’s work. Includes a slide/video viewer which can be accessed by members of the ‘Swinburne @ Koala Island’ group.
• Discussion Circle – Seats up to 15 avatars and provides a simple setup for large group discussions. Includes a slide/video viewer which can be accessed by members of the ‘Swinburne @ Koala Island’ group.

You can find out more about the Croydon Lecture Hall and Exhibition Centre on the Koala Island Wiki, or view the complete Flickr set with annotations here.

The Sarawak Skybox

The Sarawak Skybox is designed to host private classes, meetings and discussions and is situated in the sky above Koala Island at approximately 300m. The space is positioned to ensure privacy and is equipped with holodeck tools which ‘rez’ five different scene selections:

• Boardroom Style – Formal boardroom style, including slide/video screens. (Seats 9 avatars)
• Discussion Circle – Formal group discussion style, including slide/video screens and a chatlog-to-email tool. (Seats 16 avatars)
• Large Discussion Circle – Large group discussion style, including slide/video screens. (Seats 40 avatars)
• Garden Style – a magical garden space which can be used for discussion groups or small parties. (Seats 10 avatars)

Facilitators from the Faculty of Education at Swinburne University will be encouraged to add new scenes to the skybox as their Second Life projects progress, so this space will eventually house a large collection of ’setups’ for groups from the Koala Island community to use.

You can find out more about the Sarawak Skybox on the Koala Island Wiki, or view the complete Flickr set with annotations here.

It’s 1:30am and I’m finally done! The Lilydale Atrium on Koala Island is finished!

The Atrium is the largest building on Koala Island is a ‘replica-build’ based on the real-life Atrium at Swinburne’s Lilydale Campus in Victoria, Australia. It is designed to be a multi-purpose hub for Koala Island and includes a range of discreet spaces to meet, display student work and provide information about Swinburne University of Technology. It houses a number of spaces and resources including:

• Atrium Entry Hall – A large open space, equipped with holodeck tools which ‘rez’ three different scene selections:
  • Circle of Chairs – Seats up to 12 avatars and provides a simple setup for large group discussions.
  • Discussion Sofas – Seats up to 25 avatars on comfy sofas. Includes a slide/video viewer which can be accessed by members of the ‘Swinburne @ Koala Island’ group.
  • Stage, Seating and Presentation Tools – Seats up to 50 avatars, and includes a slide/video viewer which can be accessed by members of the ‘Swinburne @ Koala Island’ group.
  • Tables and Chairs – Seats up to 24 avatars around small tables, and includes a slide/video viewer which can be accessed by members of the ‘Swinburne @ Koala Island’ group.
• Swinburne University of Technology Information Centre – which includes useful links and information about the Unversity and courses offered, our real-life campuses and student services.
• The Atrium Coffee Shop – an informal space for visitors to meet, chat and grab a virtual coffee
• The Koala Island Project Office – this space is current vacant, but will be used by students involved in projects on the Island
• Atrium Screening Room – Currently showing images from the University’s Spaceworks Program
• Atrium Gallery – Designed as a space to show and share student’s work. Currently showing images from the Swinburne University Image Bank
• Faculty of Higher Education Offices – the upstairs area of the atrium is dedicated to Faculty of Higher Education projects and includes a boardroom style meeting area.

Click here to view a collection of snapshots of the Lilydale Atrium in Second Life on Flickr.

Perplexity Peccable, a colleague of mine in Second Life sent me a great link to a machinima she’s put together showcasing opportunities for science education in Second Life. Check out Science Learning Opportunities in Second Life below:

Congrats and thanks Lexi! A fabulous first masterpiece and a great overview.

Perplexity and her colleague Vitesse Vella have also released some fantastic Slideshares well worth checking out. See: Why Work & Teach With Second Life? and Getting Started in Second Life.