Second Life is a virtual 3-D social network that offers more than socialization. My approach to this emergent technology is to view it as robust educational tool. This can be view as an extension to our current learning management system that presents educational curriculum in html platform.
Education in Second Life is an experience like to no other. Second Life is robust with advance technology that simulate classrooms, labs, landscapes, and buildings cast in 3-D imaging gives the effect of a real world environment. The mirror image of the real world in Second Life enables participants or residents to immerse themselves in their surroundings. Kevin Harvey, who is assistant director for The Center for the Advancement of Distance Education at the University of Illinois in Chicago, commented (as cited in Girard, 2007) that Second Life is real to the human mind as evidence by electrical neurons eliciting all of our senses and emotions just like real world experience (para 9). In essence, residents in Second Life share similar experience as their human counterparts but are able to participate in events, training, and learning without limitation like costs, mileage, and time. The benefits of the educational learning environment in Second Life are the active engagement and collaboration in both synchronous and asynchronous time. For example, residents in history class can fly to the great pyramids of Egypt to explore in-depth the inner cavities and visually capture the surrounding landscape of the desert from the top of the pyramid. Better yet, residents can dive to the depth of the ocean to discover a whole new world of sea life, which would not be obtainable in a regular online class or traditional classroom environment (Linden Lab, 2011).
References
Girard, N. (2007). The E-Learning Adventure. [Web Article]. TechNewsWorld. Retrieved from http://www.technewsworld.com/story/59988.html
Linden Lab. (2011). Second Life Education: The Virtual Learning Advantage. Linden Research Inc. Retrieved from http://lecs-static-secondlife-com.s3.amazonaws.com/work/SL-Edu-Brochure-010411.pdf
Lynda,
ReplyDeleteI took a similar approach as you :)
Do you think the low cost is the best gain from using SL? I agree with you that emotion can be conveyed through SL, so "real life" interactions can be mimicked.
Thanks,
Erica
Erica and Lynda,
ReplyDeleteVery nice job with your tetrad Lynda. I found this a struggle as I see second Life as a poor imitation of real life. But that is I suppose my bias. I just don't see how the University of Illinois at Chicago can claim that Second Life is real and it stimulates our senses. That is one of the main things that I notice when in Second Life, no smells, no tactile sensations, no tastes, etc. It lacks any of the richness of real world experiences. I have a very difficult time unquestioningly accepting such statements.
Of course it has great possibilities in regard to being able to "travel" places and interact with "people" from all over the world. It also has important implications fro training possibilities. But in many regards it seems diversionary.
Scott
Scott,
ReplyDeleteAhh! Now I see your point! I think the approach Lynda and I took was more temporal -- students are able to access the same experiences as F2F peers. You are right that smell and texture are missing.
On a tangent, I wonder if Smart Textiles could change this so students who wore computerized gloves could access the tactile aspect???
Erica