We can’t have a blog about educational computer games and not talk about Second Life. Second Life has been a huge buzz within the academic community for a couple of years now. What is it you ask? Well, Second Life is a virtual world in which you create and control an avatar. Your avatar can explore the virtual world socializing, learning, communicating with other avatars etc. The possibilities are limited only by the imagination of others contributing to the virtual world. There is currency which allows you to purchase things. You can buy land and create structures and buildings. Many schools have developed a virtual campus mimicking the physical space you see in real life. The U of S even has a virtual campus in Second Life.
Some professors offer entire classes in second life. So instead of physically going to class, you all meet in Second Life where an instructor can teach by lecturing and showing presentations much like a real world environment. Or the instructor can get creative and take the class on field trips or even back in time within the virtual world. There has been great debate over the effectiveness of the Second Life environment. Does the learning curve outweigh the advantages? If the class is meeting in a virtual space just to listen to the instructor lecture and show PowerPoint’s is that any more effective then actually going to class? For a list of pro’s read this encouraging list of How and Why to use Second Life.
I was part of a seminar in Second Life, so I created an avatar, and had a couple weeks of demonstration in it. It wasn’t hard to learn how to do things, but the Second Life world is so big, it’s very easy to get lost. Within the couple weeks I spent in SL I feel I only scratched the surface of things I could do. I can see people spending a whole lot of time in the virtual world just exploring and figuring things out.
I would love to conduct a class in Second Life, but who has the time. It would take a lot of work to set up my own virtual space. I’m pretty sure I could use an already existing space, but I would still need to understand the environment well enough to teach it to my students. If it were going to be an ongoing class offered in SL, then it may be worth it, but otherwise, time is money. Oh yeah, and speaking of money, the cost of a basic account is free, you can create an avatar and explore with this account. The prices of course go up from there. For example a premium account which comes with a small chunk of land costs about $10/month. If you want to buy a larger area and set up a community it can cost from $100 to over $2,000.
Side Note: Your supposed to be 18 years old to play Second Life, but there is a teen version also available.
We have a pretty long history with Second Life, and we've even built a learning and research facility on our property. If you've got an avatar, you can find us at Teaching 6 193, 84, 23. Wander around and you'll get the feel of it. We've held tours, training sessions, classes, and even conducted research on the site. My name in world, by the way, is Slugger Sosa.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if SL will survive in the long run, but the notion of virtual worlds is very significant I think, and we will see more and more sophistication in what is offered online!
Here's a picture of my avatar hovering over our property, if you're interested.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4035/4691894552_9497545f42_m.jpg
Slugger Sosa, that sounds familiar. Did you participate in one of the tutorials one of Dirks grad students gave his class?
ReplyDeleteNope, but you're probably talking about Kirk Kezema, and we actually worked together on the original design of the property, and building some research around it. He may have brought up my name.
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