Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Misuse in the educational realm
After researching the educational uses of Second Life I'm beginning to wonder if professors are really utilizing its limitless possibilities or simply recreating traditional learning experiences in a virtual environment?
The article “Slices of life in a parallel universe” states: "One way of looking at Second Life is that it is a virtual ecosystem capable of replicating almost anything in the real world that can be digitised, but without any shortage of resources. "
Besides the fact that “digitised” is misspelled… it seems to me that recreating the real world is the exact opposite of a beneficial way to use second life for educational purposes. My dad is a professor at ISU and he attended a lecture by a university that is using Second Life in their classes. He told me the lecturer was so proud of their revolutionary use of Second Life: digitally replicating a building to look like one on their campus, setting a time for all students to meet in this digitally replicated classroom with their avatars, and then showing a POWER POINT presentation through Second Life. In a world where you can fly around in a wheelchair and smoke a candy cane, this educator chose to meet in an exact replication of a real building and show a power point presentation?
Educators need to use Second Life in a non-traditional fashion instead of forcing students to meet synchronously in an asynchronous world and watch a tradition presentation that could be seen on any computer. I haven’t researched all the current uses of Second Life in the classroom, but from what I’ve gathered the trend seems to be to use it in a traditional manner. I’m interested to see if educators continue in this conventional direction or if the vast world of Second Life can convince them to step outside the box.
The article “Slices of life in a parallel universe” states: "One way of looking at Second Life is that it is a virtual ecosystem capable of replicating almost anything in the real world that can be digitised, but without any shortage of resources. "
Besides the fact that “digitised” is misspelled… it seems to me that recreating the real world is the exact opposite of a beneficial way to use second life for educational purposes. My dad is a professor at ISU and he attended a lecture by a university that is using Second Life in their classes. He told me the lecturer was so proud of their revolutionary use of Second Life: digitally replicating a building to look like one on their campus, setting a time for all students to meet in this digitally replicated classroom with their avatars, and then showing a POWER POINT presentation through Second Life. In a world where you can fly around in a wheelchair and smoke a candy cane, this educator chose to meet in an exact replication of a real building and show a power point presentation?
Educators need to use Second Life in a non-traditional fashion instead of forcing students to meet synchronously in an asynchronous world and watch a tradition presentation that could be seen on any computer. I haven’t researched all the current uses of Second Life in the classroom, but from what I’ve gathered the trend seems to be to use it in a traditional manner. I’m interested to see if educators continue in this conventional direction or if the vast world of Second Life can convince them to step outside the box.
// posted by Kate @ 1:56 PM 
