July 2007 — News
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Second Life: Do You Need One? (Part 2)
Of great significance is the need for research to determine if "the knowledge constructed and integrated in a virtual world [can] be effectively translated and implemented in the real world" (para. 2). Because of a college's "in loco parentis role" (para. 5), he wonders about possible legal ramifications, if their students engage in inappropriate behaviors while using SL. SL does have an abuse reporting system and disciplinary actions for violations of community standards, including warnings and suspensions, which are made public within SL Police Blotter.There are many virtual worlds online; however, those catering exclusively to education appear to be needed. Aaron Walsh agrees that we need spaces that do not have some of the adults-only content found in the current SL. To that end he has a software project called Immersive Education set to involve 250 colleges and SL software, which is now open source (A Virtual World for Education, 2007). He has a concern about "immersive illness," a term he links to the addictive nature of virtual worlds. While it is not yet a major problem, "Nobody knows exactly what impact insanely realistic, media-rich virtual reality will have on society. We're already dealing with early forms of immersive illness, such as addiction, alienation, mental schisms, and more". Walsh predicts "we're in for a very rough ride" (Lamont, 2007, sec: What have been some of the challenges).
Conclusion
Virtual Bacon (Jamison, 2006) provided an interesting commentary about how one might look at SL. In essence, he says to imagine a couple of hundred years ago that you were among those citizens in an English village who wondered what it would be like to set out across the sea and establish a settlement in the New World. They were the risk-takers, the explorers, the ones called foolish and accused of wasting everyone's time and resources with their fantasies. But, they crossed the sea, settled, and continued exploring Westward to create our great nation. Then, take that same thought process and transfer it to the rise of technology use in education. Consider educators' skepticism when the Internet became a viable option for learning in the mid '90s, when online course management systems, like Blackboard, were introduced a couple of years after that, and when interest was peaked for the potential of digital game-based learning--we heard don't waste our time and resources. But, the techies persisted, and some educators became converts. Now there's Second Life. I agree that "[t]oday's digital learners are demanding new approaches to learning," as he states, so it stands to reason that a 3D-virtual world might hold a potential to be useful for learning.
