South Essex College are currently planning for new buildings in both Southend and Thurrock. We are very aware that for our learners, the idea of College extends beyond the physical building. Social and learning interactions with members of the College community extend to the home, the workplace and increasingly take place online in any of these physical locations.

Our aim is to use the virtual world to provide a link between these different aspects of the student's life. We want to a "Virtual College" that has practical use in the "real" world and becomes an exciting venue for genuine innovation in teaching and learning. Our first developments are in Second Life. We have purchased an Educational Island on which we will place a complete model of the proposed Thurrock building. This will immediately enable several things to happen

• We will be able to experience the building in a freeform and flexible way not contrained by architectural fly-throughs or images
• students, staff and anyone who is interested will be able to explore the building and comment and contribute to the emerging design
• we can try out ideas for external and interior design extremely cheaply and quickly
• it will provide a venue for online learning and collaboration
• we can begin to form the learning communities that comprise any successful College

There are already many Universities and some Colleges internationally who are using this virtual world to deliver teaching and learning, both on the "real world" campus and as a venue for distance learning. Buildings range from traditional architecture to the fantastic. While these buildings are functional and used for as online learning spaces, to the best of our knowledge our project to create the Thurrock building in cyberspace during the design process of a real building is unique. The images on this page show what is possible in Second Life.

Next: Building in Cyberspace >>