July 2007 — News
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Second Life: Do You Need One? (Part 2)
Second Life is a 3D digital world, imagined, created, and owned by its residents, which number more than 7 million from over 100 countries at the time of this writing. It has generated excitement for entertainment, business, and education. And the number of colleges and universities, libraries, museums, and organizations exploring its possibilities is growing. In part 1 of this three-part series, I introduced some resources to help you learn about SL, join, and get the basics about navigation and communication. I also alerted you to some frustrations that you might experience getting your feet wet. Hmm ... did it happen to you when you stopped flying?
With such a steep learning curve, why would anyone in education want to use SL when you consider the variability among all learners? SimTeach indicates that SL has potential to increase student engagement, allow rapid prototyping of objects, give students exposure to public relations and marketing, and to provide a setting for experiential learning. SL can be used to replace 'place-based schooling with place-like settings." I can appreciate those possibilities, but at this point, learning in a virtual world, whether it is SL or another, would not be for everyone.
Where's the Learning?
Virtual Bacon, (aka, John Jamison), is the creator and owner of the SL island of imagiLEARNING. Thanks to a colleague, I've been able to contact him personally for an experienced SL resident viewpoint. His professional development module, Digital Immersion for Educators, will help traditional, non-digital educators begin to understand this new environment and overcome any skepticism they might have. You can also read the module without entering SL. I visited his island (Figure 1), hopped in a boat for a guided tour to learn of the educational potential of SL, walked in town, and then flew around, eventually landing in "The Sandbox." There I experimented with building objects, changing their color, size, position, texture, which are the same principles used in building anything in SL. Of course, I right-clicked on my mouse to reveal a pie menu to sit down in the sand and admire my creations, primitive though they were.
Fig. 1
Interactions in SL can occur in various combinations of people and/or objects. Dave Antonacci, Nellie Modaress, and Stephanie Gerald of the University of Kansas illustrated those in their presentation,
