How do we reinvent the landscape of education? We limit ourselves as educators by relying on textbooks and other static technologies. To fully realize the learning power of collaboration and immersive environments educators at all levels can harness the disruptive technology inherent in Second Life (SL). Not only does SL enable a student to experience learning in exotic locales, it also provides a learning medium that is perfectly suited for connectivist pedagogy (Thomas, 2010). With a small investment of resources an interested educator could create a learning space for students throughout the world, thus opening their sphere of influence and developing cross-cultural exchanges.
Though not specifically created for education, SL is a world where individuals can effectively “live” beyond their physical self. Someone who has a disability that limits his or her movement in real life (IRL) can visit places in vivid detail that may otherwise be out of reach; or enable a person with hearing impairment to communicate without the need of an interpreter or any special applications. Artists and designers can create works of art and sell their wares in SL’s virtual economy. One can even have a job in SL and transfer their earnings IRL and make a decent living doing so. In the decade or so that SL has been in existence it has established a new frontier for virtual worlds and helped to create a place for Residents to shape in whatever way they choose (Linden Research, n.d.).
Second Life is not a perfect platform for education and much of its content is tailored towards adult audiences, though a separate “grid” exists for teens. Also, the educator who chooses to use SL has to have a fair amount of technical knowledge and SL is not nearly as stable as it needs to be for daily instructional events. Despite some of the drawbacks, SL is setting the standard for the way instructional design may look in the future and altering the way we think about developing the necessary skills for students to be successful in the Digital Age. SL still has a few years before it is outmoded by a more reliable platform combined with the functionality of realistic 3D technology.
References
Linden Research, Inc. (n.d.). About Linden Lab. Retrieved April 28, 2010 from, http://lindenlab.com/about
Thomas, H. (2010). Learning spaces, learning environments and the dis‘placement’ of learning. British Journal of Educational Technology, 41(3), 502-511. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8535.2009.00974.x.
Shane,
ReplyDeleteSecond Life in Education was my original topic for my Master's thesis until I started really researching applications in high school. Since I have over 18 year old students and under 18 year old students, there is no educational application. There is application for adult learners. I spent a few hours a week on it while researching and was able to participate in classes and tour university presences. Since Second Life was not applicable to my teaching situation, I started looking at virtual worlds created specifically for education. These worlds were safe and let the school set all the rules. Students could engage in science experiments that were impossible or unsafe in the real world. One historical simulation had students investigate what if Hitler had won at Stalingrad. The graphics in the educational world were not nearly as advanced as Second Life, but this could be a real option for schools in the future.
Dave Harms
References
http://www.sunrisevr.com/pdf/SUNRISE_EducationGuide2003.pdf
http://www.sunrisevr.com/pdf/SUNRISE_VirtualRealityInEducationTechEdPowerPoint.pdf