Google SketchUp was used to create a richly interactive and historically authentic 19th-century psychiatric asylum on Harvard's island in Second Life. 3D historical models of Colney Hatch and Bedlam hospitals were created. A Google Earth KMZ file was used for easy distribution and to provide supplementary information.

Teaching Challenge:

The goal of the project was to help give students a far more visceral feel for the experience of mental illness and psychiatry in the 19th century than would otherwise be possible.