From several thousand miles away, Stephen Schrum typed the word "hello" to Meghan Moran and smiled as she waved back.
Actually, it was her avatar -- images of characters created in virtual reality -- that waved to Schrum.
From his laptop in Ferguson Theater at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg and her home in San Jose, Calif., Schrum and Moran put on headsets and exchanged verbal greetings.
The two -- and their avatars -- were using the computer program Second Life, an online virtual world owned by California-based Linden Lab.
More than 8 million people around the world regularly log onto the three-dimensional site.
According to Linden Lab's Web site, the program was started in 2003 and is considered a site for social or business networking as well as a creative outlet.
Schrum, 50, is a professor of theater arts at UPG. During a recent demonstration of Second Life, his avatar -- Phorkyad Acropolis -- played drums, flew and teleported.
Schrum has become so fascinated by what he refers to as "in world" that he has held poetry readings and published a book within the program. Next spring, he will offer UPG students a course he's designed called Theater Technology.
He received a grant from the nonprofit Foundation for Rich Content to build a Greek theater "in world." One of his students' first assignments will be to come up with ideas for an ancient Greek tragedy performance.
"You can design fantastical things," he said. "It's just basically whatever you can imagine."
Students will learn various technological skills including creating digital audio and attending and participating in virtual performances.
A virtual textbook he's creating will eliminate the excuse: "I lost my book."
Alternate Educational Universe
Vassar College and Case Western Reserve University are among the campuses conducting virtual tours in Second Life.
And it's becoming a popular site for college classrooms.
Indiana University of Pennsylvania history professor R. Scott Moore and anthropology professor Beverly Chiarulli recently received an IUP new Academic Excellence and Innovation Grant for "The Creation of an IUP Second Life Island for Technology Advancement in the Classroom."
Chiarulli said her students will visit underwater sites and take tours on a Second Life island.
"A more 3-D atmosphere, while sometimes cartoonish, gives a much larger sense of what, for instance, Mayan sites would be like than through books or online," she said.
Advanced technological skills will benefit even social science and humanity students when they compete in the job market, she added.
Chiarulli already teaches online distance learning courses involving video clips, audio recordings and textbooks. The Second Life class is an expansion of technology in the classroom.
It's also a learning experience that might be particularly appealing to a generation "that is more digitally inclined," she said.
Allen Partridge, director of IUP's Applied Media and Simulation Games Center, said his students are providing technical and support work as Moore and Chiarulli design their projects.
He serves as chairman of the school's Second Life coordination committee.
The university started its Crimson Island site on Second Life during the summer, Partridge said.
Partridge said he was skeptical at first about the educational benefits of Second Life.
"I wondered, 'Is this more distraction than benefit?' " he said. "As I got in world and saw students' reactions, I became a big convert."
He said the site will help students become comfortable with navigating 3-D worlds, which he anticipates may have applications in many different fields.
"I think it has tremendous potential as a learning tool," he said.
Schrum got involved with teaching technology years ago and met liked-minded peers through the Association for Theatre in Higher Education.
"For me it's an educational platform," he said. "It's a theatrical venue."
One of Schrum's students, Ashley Peer, 19, of Hollidaysburg, Blair County, also has an avatar, Alexis Zenkova.
An interdisciplinary major, Peer sings and plays drums and the keyboard.
Peer is part of a three-student on-campus band called "Soothing Sensations."
So far, she is the only one with an avatar. If they wanted to play "live," they would have to play their instruments and sing while others controlled their avatars online, she said. But it would eliminate the need to use recorded music.
"It's like The Sims," she said, referring to a popular online community game, "but a lot more complicated.
"You meet new people, and you definitely develop skills."
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