Landscaping in Second Life

By Dale Bailey, Lance Brown and Rob Loeffel

Overview

Imagine taking an online course on landscape design in which you gain a foundation of design principles. You study a plethora of components, including plants, trees, structures, sitting areas and water features.

Suppose now that someone asks you to apply your newfound knowledge to landscape a park, business or residential lawn. Wouldn't it be great if you could build, destroy and rebuild as you see needed changes? Unfortunately, lack of land, time and money make this an unrealistic desire. What if your class, however, provided multiple opportunities to practice the concepts beforehand? How much more would that increase your confidence?

Second Life, a complimentary three-dimensional environment simulation, provides the unique opportunity to practice landscaping in a virtual setting. This program facilitates application, practice and problem solving in a realistic yet computerized setting. Furthermore, it allows peers and/or instructors from anywhere in the world to contribute feedback to your work.

Instructional Objectives

The "Can You Dig It?" simulation will reinforce the following instructional objective:

Given all equipment, plants and accessories and a client developed scenario, create a garden space.

Upon completion, the garden space will be evaluated by your facilitator against the client’s criteria and the principles of design rubric. The instructor will walk through your project for the evaluation.

*Click here to download your evaluation rubric (.doc file)*

Learners

Assuming an equal representation of males and females, learners may constitute the following demographics:

Learners are global, but the course is conducted primarily in English.
Learners may enter with the following background:

Landscape workers moving into design
Entrepreneurs starting a landscaping business
Individuals with a hobby in design
Individuals who want help and practice designing their own yard.

Learners may range from their 20's to 60's in age.
Learners might encompass a wide range of socio-economic statuses. They would, however, generally have the means needed to create landscapes personally or through an investor or employer.
Learners must have the ability to access the course via Internet and possess the general knowledge of technology needed to take it. They should also have a basic understanding of Second Life and eLearning.

Context of Use

The simulation supplements a face-to-face or online course in landscape design and contains many scenarios from which to apply design concepts. The class may be part of an online gardening website or part of a gardening facility's clinic. In this instance, the audience comes mostly from around the United States, but the class and/or simulation could be expanded globally.

Prior – Participants learn the basic principles of landscape design, hardiness zones and common plants and trees within those zones. The class is supplemented by information on a website and a model garden using the twelve principles of design.

Post - Learners are evaluated on their knowledge of the twelve principles of design. The participants then have a chance to design their own landscapes in Second Life, which should take between fifteen and forty-five minutes.

Motivation

This simulation will follow the ARCS model below:

Attention - Second Life inherently gains the attention of the learner. Participants will be fascinated by the approximation to the real world and the ability to create and visualize their work in a three dimensional environment. In the "Can You Dig It?" practice simulation, learners see a sample garden already created, adding a "wow" factor to the program. Learners will be able to walk through the garden and view it from different angles. There will be an emphasis on the fact that 1) they will be able to create something similar; 2) they will be able to try different ideas; and 3) the possibilities in this world are infinite.

Relevance - The realistic nature of Second Life and the scenarios distributed to teams create a true-to-life simulation of what learners are actually doing. The plants are real approximations of the actual thing and the land can be manipulated to look like the learner’s yard or job site. Learners are able to practice freely without the constraints of physical labor, cost and materials.

Confidence - After practice, facilitation and instructor feedback, learners will feel confident in navigating Second Life and its tools. Moreover, the ability to visualize creations in different ways will build their confidence even more. Most importantly, once learners build their gardens, Second Life will afford them the opportunity to manipulate their creations.

Satisfaction - Second Life can give a learner instant satisfaction. The visual nature demonstrates the capability of turning a virtual creation into reality. Witnessing one’s own vision turn into something natural and beautiful also ensures fulfillment.

Avatars and Roles

The avatars are posed as beginning landscape architects. Using the affordances in Second Life, they are able to manipulate plants, trees, rocks and objects to design a garden without getting dirty. Each avatar is offered a gardening outfit to wear during role-play. This outfit includes old jeans, boots, safety goggles, DLR T-shirt, shovel and a hard hat.

Objects and Locations

The avatars are given instructions, various plants, a set of work clothes and links to informational websites. Additionally, there is a vacant parcel of land next to the model garden in which the avatars can work.

Game Goal

To create an aesthetically pleasing garden using the principles of design criteria listed on the Twelve Principles of Design website.

Play by Play

Step 1 1. Teleport to Marguerite's Hangout, Meadowbrook (49, 87, 22).

Step 2 2. Stop by the Welcome sign and get your scenario notecard.

Step 3 3. Click the colored boxes and save their content to your inventory.

Step 4 4. Click shirt and select 'copy and wear' to change into your work clothes.

Step 5 5. Look for this sign near your lot, it has your design principles notecard.

Step 6 6. Enter the vacant lot, open your inventory and select an item.

Step 7 7. Drag selected item onto your work area.

Step 8 8. Right click on item to edit its size and position.

Step 9 9. Using the colored arrows, manipulate the item's position.

Step 10 10. Create your garden by adhering to the design principles.

11. Upon completion, you will walk through the garden with your instructor to receive feedback.

References

Books & Journals

v3image (2007). A Beginner's Guide to Second Life. Taesot (169, 47, 117): ArcheBooks
Thompson, J. (2007). Game Design . Hoboken, New Jersey.: John Wiley and Sons Inc.

Electronic

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Last updated October 31, 2007