Staff Guide To The Virtual Campus

Welcome to our virtual campus powered by Gather Town, where the boundaries of online communication are redefined to create a dynamic and immersive experience.  Our campus utilises spatial audio technology, replicating the natural flow of face-to-face conversations based on proximity.  As you explore our virtual spaces, you’ll notice how conversations evolve in real-time, just like they would in physical environments.

Our virtual campus is designed to mirror the essence of a physical campus, featuring tutorial rooms, lecture halls, library spaces, student support offices, cafes, and social zones. Through interactive elements such as virtual classrooms for program introductions, event spaces for orientation or conference sessions, and designated areas for networking, we aim to provide an engaging experience for our online students.

Join us on our virtual campus and together, we’ll create a vibrant and supportive community for our students.

If you would like to discuss using the virtual campus please reach out to Tania Court on tcourt3@une.edu.au

How to Use Gather Town

We get it, learning new online platforms can be a bit confronting.  That’s why we picked the easiest one we could find.  Here’s what you need to know about starting to use Gather Town.  If you would like a more detail guide we recommend you check out Gather Towns Overview of Gather Features 

Getting Around

Use your the arrows on your keyboard.

Interacting with Objects

If an object highlights in yellow it means you can interact with it.  Just press X to close the interaction press Esc.

How to Start a Conversation

To start a conversation with someone all you have to do is walk up to them.  This is part of the magic of our virtual campus!  When your avatar walks up to another avatar, the two of you will connect.  If you have your audio / video turned on they’ll be able to see and / or hear you.  When one of you walks away, you’ll disconnect and end the conversation.

So just like any other campus you can run into people in hallways, as you’re heading to the library or even as you’re hanging out at the student bar.

If you hover your mouse over someone’s avatar you can also:

• Wave at them
• Send them a chat message
• Ring them (it will play a sound)

Private Spaces

You might notice when you enter a space it stays light while the other areas get a bit dark.  That’s because you’ve entered a private space.  Private Spaces act like zoom calls.  You can see and talk to everyone in a private space.  They’re great for study with me sessions, hangouts with students you met at that last intensive or meetings with your club or society.

And that’s it.  That’s enough to get you started exploring your virtual campus.  Our advice?  Hop in and just start exploring.  Think of it like coming to a campus located in the non-virtual world.  Check out the nooks and crannies, start a conversation and press x once in a while.  Oh and if you find Mungus…. can you send him back to UNE Life?

Sector Use of Gather Town as a Platform

A quick note: most universities are using gather town as an event space or utilised it during covid.  We have yet to find any university who has a plan to keep it active throughout the year (which is why we have a year long activation plan).   

Below is a small selection of instances of universities using Gather Town.  

Within the university’s toolbox for lecturer use: 

Carlton University: https://www.carleton.edu/its/services/learning/gathertown/ 

University of Michigan Mechanical Engineering Department: https://sites.google.com/a/umich.edu/me-it-public/home/gather-town 

Research Papers 

Queens University Belfast: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/353223799_Gathertown_An_opportunity_for_self-paced_learning_in_a_synchronous_distance-learning_environment 

University of Greenwich: https://journals.gre.ac.uk/index.php/compass/article/view/1232 

Events/short programs/covid use 

Australia National University: https://psychology.anu.edu.au/news-events/events/science-psychology 

University of New South Wales: https://www.education.unsw.edu.au/news-events/news/gather.town 

University of Twente: https://www.utwente.nl/en/bms/teachingacademy/community/community-blogs/gather-town-bit-iem-module3/ 

University of Chicago: https://college.uchicago.edu/winterfest/uchicago-gather-campus 

University of Florida: https://mdphd.med.ufl.edu/wordpress/files/2021/11/Fall-Retreat-Gather.Town-Presentation2.pptx 

University of Edinburgh: https://open.ed.ac.uk/gather-town-walkthroughs/ 

University of Lincoln: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8_FnGbVjL4 

University of Michigan: https://its.umich.edu/internship/cohorts/2021/using-gather-town 

University of Pennsylvania: https://lauder.house.upenn.edu/announcement/how-use-gather-town 

Purdue University: https://www.purdue.edu/cancer-research/AI2Bedside/Apply/Gathertown%20Instructions.php 

University of Konstanz: https://www.ling.uni-konstanz.de/tiptop/gathertown/ 

Michigan State University: https://maflt.cal.msu.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2022/02/PooleLanierSommer-Farias_MWALLT2022_ReImagineInteractionInGatherTown.pdf 

Drop In Spaces 

University of Warwick – https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/cte/students-partners/academictechnology/projects/dcop/gathertown/