Hundreds of leading universities and school systems around the world use Second Life as a vibrant part of their educational programs. Linden Lab works enthusiastically with education organizations to familiarize them with the benefits of virtual worlds, connect them with educational peers active in Second Life, and showcase their inworld projects and communities.
http://secondlifegrid.net/slfe/education-use-virtual-world
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I have actually visited a few schools in Second Life myself. I think it is actually a brilliant idea to use SL as a tool to gain a better perspective of the schools. I also met someone in SL and asked about the purpose of the schools, because i didn't think any one can study in there. They told me that the reason the schools were created in SL was to gain popularity and different views of it. But i still think it is a great learning experience for the schools through SL.
ReplyDeleteI just read an interesting article about medical students using Second Life for training: http://discovermagazine.com/2009/jul-aug/15-can-medical-students-learn-to-save-real-lives-in-second-life. This seems like a great use of Second Life for students to get experience without endangering any lives. It also allows for students and medical professionals from around the world to communicate and share new techniques. Using Second Life for education will only help society understand virtual worlds can be used for something more than entertainment. Exploring new avenues of learning allows people to grow in an environment that is best suited for them. It will be interesting to see what the future holds for Second Life and other virtual worlds as connections speeds and hardware catch up with the technology.
ReplyDeleteI came across this important point when doing research for our Second Life project. According to Peter J. Ludlow, professor of philosophy at the University of Toronto, “virtual campuses lack imagination because they duplicate real institutions”. Mr. Ludlow has also taught in Second Life classrooms and believes the effort was unsuccessful because “avatars don’t communicate as richly as people do”. He can read body language in the real-world classroom. He can identify and react to students who are tired or look quizzical indicating they may not understand. I think he makes a valid point and that Second Life is well-suited as a teaching / learning tool when used as part, not all, of the experience.
ReplyDeleteThese online games and communities have never been my thing. I know we have to make an attempt to learn SL for this class, but I can't imagine checking out these educational systems on second life. Personally, if people would much rather have an online education, I can understand that - we are all in one for this class - but to have to "pretend" to be this fake avatar for an education sounds a little pathetic to me. Granted, maybe I'm missing out on a big piece of the puzzle, but I just don't find it to be as rewarding as a real life experience.
ReplyDeleteWhile doing my research for our Second Life project I decided to take a look at Penn State’s virtual campus in Second Life. Since I was not familiar with the actual campus, thus could not tell if they looked similar, I did find it very intriguing.
ReplyDeleteWhile doing my research I read about the online campus of Penn State and saw that they use their virtual campus to hold open house, group events and information sessions. Some colleges are using it to hold classes and even graduation ceremonies.
I think that the impact of the internet and sites such as Second Life can have a great impact on education especially for colleges. It allows perspective students to visit virtual campuses to get information about colleges that they might be interested in attending. Also many classes such as this one have moved to being online. The use of virtual campuses could increase the number of classes and the number of students. Students from all over the world could be enrolled in one particular class.
While I do not mind online classes I personally do not think that using Second Life for class would be a good option for me. I found the site confusing and difficult to maneuver.
~Angela (A Bag of Tricks)