Education & Living History in Virtual Worlds Pt. 2

The ACRL-VWIG Summer Program Series Part 2

The ACRL-VWIG program for August continued its' exploration of Second Life as a means for exploring and engaging students via an examination of cultural productions and sites within Second Life.  For August, ACRL-VWIG members were given the opportunity to explore the Rocca Sorrentina build at Westphalia/85/160/2801.  Rocca Sorrentina is a representation of a fictitious but historically-plausible 18th century island community located in the Bay of Naples, off the coast of Italy.  This Second Life sim is maintained as part of an education experiment by Brown University and their Laboratory for Virtual Arts & Humanities.  

Rocca Sorrentina at the Westphalia sim

Rocca Sorrentina is an educational space designed to help participants gain a better understanding of the Enlightenment and the era of the "Grand Tour of Europe" by giving them the opportunity to actually be immersed in a historical recreation of the time period.

Rocca Sorrentina & the Villa Vesuviana

The buildings on the island  reflect the complex society and the diverse architecture of southern Italy in the 1780's. There are the small shops of 18th century tradesmen, a dock area displaying merchant ships of the period, ancient ruins, fortifications, a grand villa, an underground cavern and lake, and a number of private residences.

In costume, at the orientation, waiting for the ship to Rocca Sorrentina

The group of about 15 librarians from the ACRL-VWIG,  met first at the Orientation Center.  Period costume was suggested and everyone pulled their finest frock coats and paniers out of their inventories.  Here, our hosts Aldo Stern and Sere Timeless provided a brief history of the space and its' use as an educational space for engaging in collaborative, self-directed learning.  In this environment, the residents and students can explore topics, and in the process learn not just about history and art but also about how people acquire, share and assimilate information in a virtual space.





Lady Sere Timeless, Professore Aldo Stern and JJ Drinkwater in their Baroque best

 
Our hosts explained that the main purpose of Rocca Sorrentina was to explore how educators can use the unique features of a virtual world to create an immersive learning environment.  The main purpose of Rocca Sorrentina is to demonstrate how a built space in Second Life can be used to do "collaborative self-directed learning". The thought is that instructors can construct a virtual space in Second Life around activities that allow students to actually experience an historical event or setting.   Rocca Sorrentina is a historical recreation and to that end everything about it has been designed to be as historically accurate to the time period and location as possible.  Activities are designed to help residents and visitors understand and learn about the culture, world and  ideas of the late 18th century.

Our guide provided a setup scenario we visitors were to use in our approach to the experience which was that it was 1784, and, we were travelers on the Grand Tour to Italy about to disembark at the small island of Rocca Sorrentina.  We were instructed to look at the world we were about to enter from an 18th century perspective.

After a brief and mercifully calm voyage across the Bay of Naples aboard a sailing ship, we arrived at Rocca Sorrentina's bustling port and disembarked.  The Harbor area features many shops and businesses.  There are also a number of private residences.  We set out first to visit the impressive Villa Vesuviana.

Disembarking at the Rocca Sorrentina dock

The Villa Vesuviana  - a grand residence inspired by Andrea Palladio's famous Villa Capra La Rotunda outside Vicenza in Northern Itlay.  This structure and its surrounding gardens, functions as the administrative center and is the main public building for events which take place on Rocca Sorrentina.  



The Villa Vesuvianna



Highlights of the house tour included the Music room with its murals by Giorgio Vasari.

Inside the Music Room

The  main hall of the palazzo was richly decorated with paintings and other art works and featured a soaring domed cupola.



The Rotunda

Waiting in the wings

The tour continued with a perambulation out onto the great lawn with its' sheep and Egyptian obelisk.

The Egyptian obelisk on the great lawn

The final stop was at  the Accademia di Sorrrentina, home of the island's learned society with its' beautiful lecture hall and a working, stocked library.

Hesitation at the door to the Accademia

Upstairs in the Accademia is the famous Cabinet of Curiosities.  This gallery hosts a variety of historical materials representing the broad range of interests being studied by enlightenment-era scholars.  It reflects the rich history of the island.  Items exhibited highlight all the historical periods and occupants of Rocca Sorrentina,  from the very earliest settlers, the Greeks and Romans,  to the Spanish Bourbons of the mid 1700's.

The Cabinet of Curiosities

At this point,  I had to depart the tour as my ship was sailing on to Naples so that I could explore the ruins of Pompeii.  I understand the rest of the party finished up at a coffee house near the harbor discussing the wonders they'd been exploring.

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I found this experience both enjoyable and educational.  The idea of being able to immerse students into a time period or historical scenario and so evoke a "lived experience" provides educators with a very compelling tool for teaching.    The power of immersion to provide students with a "lived experience" combined with teachable moments reinforced through role play are just 2 examples of the many remarkable benefits that virtual worlds can offer educators.  These elements are hallmarks  hallmark of virtual worlds.  They offers educators a unique and powerful tool for providing students with a unique and powerful learning experience.    As Valibrarian Gregg put it, "This, I believe, is like bringing students "inside the book".