A Virtual PolyU Campus has been built on the Second Life platform. We are the first educational institute in Asia who has our virtual campus in Second Life for teaching & learning activities. We started from 2007 as a 3C project “PolyU Virtual Hotel” and extend to our current project “CoreSL – HKPolyU in Second Life”. We aimed to enhance the learning experience of our students within the a rich 3D virtual environment to support learning activities and let students gaining a deeper level of learning, extend their professional knowledge and life skills for their all-rounded development.

The work is a joint effort by staff from the Department of Applied Social Sciences (APSS), the Department of Computing, the School of Hotel and Tourism Management (SHTM), the School of Design (SD), and the Pao Yue-kong library. Learning activities for more than 15 courses from the supporting departments with over 2500 staffs (academic and non-academic) and students involved have been practiced.

Our Project ...

A Virtual PolyU Campus was built on the Second Life platform, which is a 3-D virtual world now gaining popularity with over 9 million users worldwide. The project expands and improves on existing PolyU structures in Second Life.

Second Life enables students, educators, and businesses to create innovative environments for distance learning, computer supported cooperative work, simulations and teaching, with an opportunity to use simulation in a safe environment to enhance experiential learning, allowing individuals to practice skills, try new ideas, and learn from their mistakes.

It is extremely challenging for any educational institution to develop a well produced simulation as they cannot compete on budget with industry, nor can they compete with talented game designers, so Second Life provides a ready-made platform to begin with. Undoubtedly, the ability to prepare for similar real-world experiences by using Second Life as a tool for simulation has unlimited potential.

Our Achievement ...
  • Teaching and Learning Innovation Awards 2010 - 2nd Prize
  • Teaching and Learning Innovation Awards 2009 - Finalist

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Our Goal ...

We aim to provide a new virtual campus to enhance the learning experience of students at the HK Polytechnic University through the development and deployment of four functional spaces: Teaching & Learning, Assessment, Design and Resources, within the a rich 3D virtual environment - Second Life, to support student learning activities and let students to be able to gain a deeper level of learning, extend their professional knowledge and life skills for their all-rounded development.

The project is being proposed jointly by staff from the Department of Applied Social Sciences (APSS), the Department of Computing, the School of Hotel and Tourism Management (SHTM), the School of Design (SD), and the Pao Yue-kong library. The project will initially target a number of programs and modules which directly affect over 1000 students in 4 different departments or schools.

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Our Objectives ...

The respective objectives of the four different functional spaces are listed below:

  • Teaching and Learning :
    1. To provide innovative, stimulating and interactive learning environments for students;
    2. To encourage student participation in learning activities through the virtual environment;
    3. To encourage independent student learning and exploration through in-world tasks.
  • Assessment :
    1. To create easy to deploy student assessment systems that are adaptable to other uses and can be adopted for academic evaluations;
    2. To develop feedback systems that monitor student performance and usage of the learning and resource spaces provided.
  • Resources :
    1. To build resource delivery systems using the interactive and design possibilities of the 3D environment of Second Life;
    2. To integrate the real world and digital resource provisions of the PolyU library to promote independent student interaction with available source materials.
  • Design :
    1. To create new forms of learning and resource areas for knowledge sharing and development which enhance student learning;
    2. To develop easy to use and to distribute SL-introduction packages for educators and students.

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Our Team member ...

Name Position SL Name Email
Project Team
Dr. Herold David Kurt [APSS] Project Leader Changduan Short ssherold@inet.polyu.edu.hk
Dr. Ng T.Y. Vincent [COMP] Project Leader   cstyng@comp.polyu.edu.hk
Ms. Gigi Au Yeung [APSS] Project Associate CoreSLManager Core ssgg@inet.polyu.edu.hk
Mr. Bill Liu [APSS] Project Technical Assistant CoreSLDesigner01 Inventor ssyu@polyu.edu.hk
Ms. Angell Yeung [APSS] Project Technical Assistant CoreSLProgram01 Core Angell.Yeung@inet.polyu.edu.hk
eLDSS Support
Mr. Peter Duffy [EDC] Learning Designer Studentof Tomorrow etpeterd@inet.polyu.edu.hk
Participating Parties
Mr. Paul Penfold SHTM Paul Allandale hmpp@inet.polyu.edu.hk
Ms. Chloe Lau SHTM hmchloe@inet.polyu.edu.hk
Mr. Newman Lau SD Newman Larnia mcnewman@inet.polyu.edu.hk
Ms. Mei Li Pao Yue-Kong Library May Lewites lbmeili@inet.polyu.edu.hk
Ms. Zoe Tang COMP izoe Galicia cssytang@comp.polyu.edu.hk

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Our departments in virtual campus ...

Department Use of Second Life
Department of Applied Social Science Media and culture study
Department of Computing AI interview practice, game-based assesssment, virtual tutorial and meeting
School of Hotel and Tourism Role play scenario practice, virtual speech, virtual tour for idea exchange with oversea professionals, facilities design practice, convention and meeting design & setup, student orientation programme
School of Design Character design and modeling, visual and light design, framing practice, students' work exhibition
Pao-Yue Kong Library e-Resources sharing, virtual workshop
Information Technoloy Services Office Virtual help desk and information sharing
School of Nursing Scenario for procedural practice
Institute of Textiles and Clothing Fabric and garment lab
Department of English Resource sharing, students' work exhibition and peer assessment, drama practice




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