I was pleased to see that UIC's Margaret Czart is featured in this month's 3rd Rock Grid newsletter. Margaret is a doctoral student from the UIC School of Public Health who also works as a Research Assistant in the Department of Medical Education in the UIC College of Medicine. In Second Life, Margaret is Director of the Health Behavior Research Center, an Associate Director of the NewWorld Clinic, and a member of the Steering Committee for the Virtual Worlds Education Roundtable.
Margaret is known as Margaret Dashwood on the 3rd Rock Grid and has created a education and healthcare center in that virtual world. To quote Cyn Canada, author of the newsletter, "Margaret stated that since her first arrival the grid has grown and evolved with improved performance and stability. It did not take Margaret long to find a home in 3RG. She resides on Stowa Way which is also where her education centre is located. Margaret believes her talents are in being a people person. She can often be found helping citizens with ideas and suggestions on a variety of topics and issues."
In the article by Cyn Canada, Margaret describes her education build, known as Stowa Way, as "a sim dedicated to education in two specific areas: 1) General Virtual Word and 2) Education & Health Education. There are several goals which I hope to achieve. They are: 1) Clinic and Pharmacy for various types of role play activities related to health behaviors for both health and non-health professionals; 2) To educate citizens about general consumer health & health behaviors; and 3) teach 3RG citizens of how virtual worlds relate to education & provide a location for citizens to learn skills required for virtual worlds."
Congratulations to Margaret and best wishes for continued success with your education oriented work in virtual environments.