SLU Celebrates First "Reziversary" of Virtual Campus on Second Life

Saint Leo University celebrates its first "reziversary" in Second life, a virtual world created by the internet company Linden Lab. Last year, the university opened its virtual campus, operated by the Center for Online Learning, primarily as a service to the more than 5000 online students enrolled at Saint Leo. A "reziversary" is the "birthday" of an avatar—a graphical representation of a person or place in Second Life's virtual online world.

Many of our on-campus students have chosen to study at Saint Leo based on a visit to the main campus in Florida. Similarly, a few of our students who are now enrolled on-campus, through COL, or in the MBA program, chose to study at Saint Leo after they visited our virtual campus in Second Life.

Over the past year, students from many universities all over the globe have been living "double-lives." Saint Leo's online students now have the opportunity, like never before, to attend campus tours and socialize with classmates. Students at the main campus no longer have to wait for their out-of-town friends to come to Florida to show them around. Now students can show friends where they attend classes in virtual representations of buildings such as Lewis and Crawford halls in Second Life. They can also invite their old friends to a social event in Second Life to introduce them to new friends they have made on the real life campus.

As Saint Leo enters into its second year in Second Life, there are more options available for SLU's online students. They will soon be able to attend virtual classes and even virtual graduations. "There are really no limitations to Second Life at all. If you can think it, you can do it," says Michael Dadez, web coordinator at the Center for Online Learning who creates and maintains Saint Leo University's site in Second Life.

Anyone can visit www.secondlife.com, download Second Life free of charge, and create an avatar. To visit the virtual campus, do a search in Second Life for "Saint Leo University." For more information, contact Michael Dadez, web coordinator, (352) 588-7348 or michael.dadez@saintleo.edu.