Prize for virtual graduation

The University has won an award for its virtual graduation ceremony, held for the first time last year.

It was given an Edublog Award for Best Educational Use of a Virtual World.

In November 2009, the University hosted an online graduation ceremony in virtual community Second Life for graduands of the distance-learning MSc in e-learning.

A united ceremony

This innovation enabled students who could not attend the ceremony in person to formally mark their achievement alongside other graduands.

The virtual ceremony ran in parallel to the traditional McEwan Hall graduation, which was streamed live into the Second Life event.

Four graduates from the postgraduate programme graduated in Second Life.

They were joined via the live stream by their two fellow graduands who were graduating in the traditional way.

The virtual graduation was a joint initiative between colleagues from Information Services and the School of Education.

Holding the ceremony in Second Life is a great idea, especially on a distance-learning course. This kind of innovation is what I’ve loved about studying at Edinburgh.