Second Life is a Powerful 3D Training Environment

Second Life provides a safe and powerful platform for interactive learning experiences that would otherwise be too expensive, dangerous, or impossible in the real world. You can either create exact replicas—or mirror worlds— of your physical classroom settings or you can create more dynamic training environments that more closely align to your curriculum. Training in Second Life is particularly powerful for highly complex simulations or dynamic team interactions such as sales, customer service, new hire, compliance, leadership, or military training. You can learn as a group, conduct team-building exercises, and have break out sessions as effectively and easily as in real world training sessions. Unlike other e-learning technologies, Second Life brings trainees and their instructors into the same virtual workspace where they can ’feel’ as if they inhabit the same immersive environment.

Training Solutions

Second Life Solution Providers have created these training solutions to meet your needs.

• AHG’s Immersive Communication Training System (ICTS): ICTS allows trainees to practice any kind of corporate communications (sales, customer service, annual reviews, manager-to-subordinate and peer-to-peer communication, negotiations, etc.) in Second Life using robotic avatars. Simulation is connected to an outside database (that can be located on corporate network behind the firewall), where simulation information, scenario and results are stored. Graphical web-based interface allows instructional designers to update simulation scenario or dialogs, or even create new simulation from scratch without using any programming. Administrative web interface allows authorized users to review simulation usage and results of individual trainees.
  
  For more information, go to the AHG website and view a simulation video or a front-end interface video. For sales information, contact Alex Heiphetz at AHG.
  
  
• Daden Limited’s PIVOTE: PIVOTE allows you to create the structure and information content of a training exercise on the web - independent of a virtual world. You can then link 3D assets in your chosen virtual world to the exercise, and potentially play the same exercise in multiple virtual worlds, on the web, and even on mobile phones. Tutors don’t need to learn virtual worlds scripting or building to create and maintain content, and all student performance data is saved directly to the web for analysis and upload into a VLE. PIVOTE is an open-source application, which Daden helped develop, and for which they can provide consultation, development, training and hosting. Since PIVOTE is open-source under the GPL v3 license you will have no license fee to pay, and you’re always free to download and install the server software yourself. However, since Daden designed and wrote most of PIVOTE, who better to help you use it?
  
  For more information, go to the PIVOTE website, view a video, and download the brochure or a slide show. For sales information, contact David Burden at Daden Limited.
  
  
• Indusgeeks’ Metamersive™ Learning Spaces (MLS): Metamersive Learning Spaces (MLS) is a solution being developed by Indusgeeks- as an immersive, interactive, multi-user, real time virtual solution for improving our existing delivery of education and training. MLS, once developed can be integrated with existing Learning Management Systems (LMSs), Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) on the web as well as 3D environments such as Second Life. A version of the MLS solution catering to the global K-12 and Higher Education market is currently being developed by Indusgeeks in partnership with one of UK’s largest and most advanced VLE solution providers. A part-prototype of this solution is currently available on the Second Life Grid.MLS will be offered both on the Software as a Service (SaaS) model and the Licensed Software model.
  
  For more information, go to the Indusgeeks website, or download a brochure. For sales information, contact Ashima Misri at Indusgeeks.
  
  
• iSN’s vLearning: vLearning is an online, distance training tool that integrates 3D immersive spaces in Second Life with traditional eLearning solutions, to achieve the best of both worlds. User accounts within the web platform are tied to Second Life accounts, with different systems and databases in place allowing information exchange between the virtual world and the web platform. This allows data collection and reporting on both sides, and allows administrators to manipulate SL accounts and resources via web. The vLearning solution is a powerful training tool, giving users access to document sharing, live slideshows and PowerPoint presentations, online whiteboard, webcam conferences, in-world conferences, web tests, in-world testing (point-and-click and other methods), immersive navigation of dynamic and 3D scenes, and detailed data reports. The platform follows SCORM standards to allow portability of results and all training modules.
  
  For more information, go to the iSN website, view the demo videos, or download the brochure. For sales information, contact Mattia Crespi at iSN.

Case Studies, Blog Posts, and Media Coverage

• Chief Learning Officer Magazine: A Second Look at Second Life (PDF), May 2009
  
  
• CIGNA-vielife Case Study: “CIGNA-vielife in Second Life: Engaging and Interactive Health & Lifestyle Training for the Global Workforce.” (PDF)
  
  
• Northrop Grumman Case Study: “Simulation Training and Prototyping in Virtual Worlds: Northrop Grumman in Second Life,” (PDF)
  
  
• Ernst & Young Blog Post: Ernst & Young has created a cookie factory simulation to teach their auditors how to conduct phyiscal inventories. (Video)