CASE STUDY1

Executive Summary:

The New Media Consortium (NMC), a non-prot consortium of learning-focused organizations founded in 1993, has nearly 300 members, includingmost of the top colleges and universities in the world, museums, researchcenters, foundations, and other forward-thinking organizations. Since 2006the NMC has used Second Life as another medium to achieve their mission - toencourage the use of emerging technologies in support of teaching, learning,research, and creative expression – with remarkable results. By helping morethan 150 colleges and universities learn to make broad use of virtual spaces,including institutions like MIT, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, USC, Rice, and manyothers, the NMC has built the largest educational project in any virtual world.The NMC’s not-for-prot project has recovered all its costs through virtualworld operations and became completely self-sustaining in early 2007.

Developing New Learning AndCollaboration Environments For Educators:

The New Media Consortium (NMC) In Second Life

“In a live videoconference,I could make a gesture and you’d see that, but we’restill not together. We’re notaffecting each other’s space.In Second Life, we…experiencethings together.”

Larry Johnson, CEO, The NMC

“I think it’s safe to say now that nearly every college and university has some project in Second Life.”

- Larry Johnson, CEO, The NMC

CASE STUDY

Second Life Enhances theNMC’s Visionary Pursuit of Innovation and Creativity

The NMC was founded on a deepcommitment to exploring andembracing new collaboration andlearning technologies. By 2005, virtualworlds had caught their attention.Larry Johnson, CEO of the New MediaConsortium, and his team instinctivelyunderstood that virtual environmentsfree users from physical constraintswhile fostering meaningful interactionand collaboration. They began tosearch for a platform to serve asthe NMC’s virtual world hub, and in2006 they chose Second Life. TheNMC then created a new servicesunit — NMC Virtual Worlds — tospearhead their work creating virtualcampuses and learning spaces for theirclientele of educational institutionsand NMC member organizations.Their collective work in Second Lifeis called the NMC Campus Project.Lev Gonick, the former Board Chairof the NMC, also serves as the CIOof Case Western Reserve University.Gonick was one of the original NMCCampus Project partners. “The NMC’sbusiness model for virtual worlds isconsistent with the mission to sparkinnovation and creativity,” Gonicksaid. “Second Life is an invitationto explore, create community, andadvance common interests andpurpose. This is also the core missionof most universities and colleges. TheNMC Campus Project is one of themost exciting undertakings ever madeby the NMC in its 15-year history.”

The NMC Conference Center is a Hub of Activity

The NMC campus in Second Lifewas originally built to provide NMCmembers a place to experiment invirtual space, but quickly became aconference center venue for virtualconversations, such as the MacArthurFoundation series on Digital Mediaand Learning and the IBM GlobalInnovation Jam. The original design hassince evolved into a full campus withdozens of thoughtfully designed virtualfacilities for meetings and learninginteraction. There is a library, a neart museum, a conference center, anorientation island, an island-sizedopen-content object repository andmuch more. Over a 100-day period in2008, 15,518 visitors from 56 countriesvisited the NMC’s virtual campus foran average of 98 minutes each.The NMC’s two full-time developers,Christopher Holden and Beth Sachtjen,keep the project moving forward withthe assistance of other NMC staff. They

The NMC Experience inSecond Life, By the Numbers

•1,500 unique visitors a weekhit the NMC virtual campus.•In a 100-day period in2008, 15,518 visitors from56 countries visited theNMC’s virtual campus for anaverage of 98 minutes each.•11,000+ educators &students have beenoriented into Second Lifeby the NMC since 2007.•As of March 2009, acollection of nearly 100Second Life regionshave been developedby NMC members

CASE STUDY

not only help create member spaces,they also provide best practices andtraining. With a vibrant roster of liveevents, a wealth of content fromthe NMC’s robust online libraries(including 7,000 periodicals andresearch databases), and outlets forexperimentation, the NMC now attractsnearly 1,500 unique visitors each weekto its Second Life campus. This istestimony to the fact that the NMC doesnot just create learning environments—they help clients build communities.

Supporting a Global VirtualWorld Learning Community

In conjunction with the shared spacesprovided by the NMC, many memberorganizations have created their ownunique campuses that are an essentialpart of the NMC Campus project. Infact, at the time of this writing nearly100 Second Life regions have beendeveloped by NMC members. The list of Universities on the NMC’s membershiproster with campuses in Second Lifeincludes Princeton, Yale, the Universityof Southern California MarshallSchool of Business, Ball State, New York University, Pennsylvania StateUniversity, and international memberssuch as the University of Helsinkiand The Open University. Museumsand not-for-prot organizations addto the NMC’s multi-disciplinary mixof global members and clients.From 2007 to date, the NMC hasoriented a remarkable 11,000+educators and students in Second Life.These new Residents use Second Lifefor a wide variety of collaboration andinnovation initiatives. For example,there’s a simulation curriculum and