Garden of Healthy Aging in Second Life

Inspiration

Rowe and Kahn's (1999) famous work, Successful Aging

How it works

*Each exhibit based on current research and provides information and links to actual studies through wiki, http://otsl.pbworks.com/ *Uses interactive design principles for virtual environments (The TechVirtual) *Each exhibit idea was developed by graduate students in Occupational Therapy at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia and reviewed by content experts and the project team *Built by project director and graduate assistants in the Department of Occupational Therapy at TJU

Challenges I ran into

*Scripting and building in Second Life (achieved at basic level but there is much more that can be done) *Working with students to overcome their biases

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

Conducted an evaluation of the project with 18 participants of Second Life

What I learned

*Enthusiasm for virtual worlds by adults over 55 *Key concerns of participants - especially caregiving

What's next for Garden of Healthy Aging in Second Life

Integrate a new center for health literacy onsite at the Garden

Built With

• secondlife