Okay… after my earlier post about using Second Life in education, I have taken some time to explore the world a little and have come across some additional resources that may be helpful to everyone else out there who is curious about how this game is being used by some educators.
Wesley Fryer gave us a link to the Second Life Education Wiki — but I found the wiki not very helpful in my attempts to conceptualize the use of this tool in the classroom. (Clarification: Wesley’s post was very interesting — I just found the wiki to be problematic.)
So… I did some searching and found the following:
A Second Education – a blog on information and communication technology in Second Life.
Better Worlds – a software company specializing in custom software development using cutting edge technologies with a focus on building general educational learning lab modules that take place in networked, immersive Virtual Worlds, also known as Virtual Reality. They have immersed themselves into Second Life at the Better Worlds Center in SL.
Second Life Library 2.0 — a blog about “in world” events at an “in world” library. Interesting.
Living a Second Life — a news article about how one educator is using Second Life in her English classes at Ball State.
Worlds Within Worlds — a blog entry about how younger students are learning about business and economics in Teen Second Life. Here’s where I start to grasp a concept for using this in K-12 education — even without the teacher present in the virtual world (which would be difficult with the Second Life/Teen Second Life age restrictions).
Future Tag — a wiki page that has some information about educational activities “in world”.
How to Learn About Second Life Before Learning Second Life – a very short primer/blog entry written during SxSW (Austin, Tx.) that summarizes some of the ideas/issues about Second Life (general — not education specific).
Second Life Grad Student Colony – a very descriptive wiki page (part of the Second Life Education Wiki mentioned above) that gives good detail on how a group of graduate students have used Second Life.
Second Life History Wiki — not specifically education-related, but does give you more background information on the history of Second Life.
I’m not sure where I’m going with all of this. I’m very curious about it and starting to spend more time “in world” than I ever intended to! I’m beginning to see the potential, but I would still like to see more/read more examples of educators using Teen Second Life — possibly in some sort of problem-based or project-based learning scenario — and in a way that is authentic and relevant… and not just for the sake of using the new technology/new game.
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The only real alternative in eduation in the 21st century is to do away with the classroom altogether. It makes me despair that people have this wonderful tool in SecondLife and the first thing they try to do with it is to replicate the mistakes in first life. Classrooms are poor ways to teach anything, with people remembering just 5% of the things which they have been taught/told.
Looking for real *first hand* experiences is the way to educate people so that they remember what they have learned. If you doubt me, look at the success of home education and alternative schools such as the Sudbury Valley Schools.
If you build a classroom instead of an interactive experience in SL, you are wasting something potentially fantastic on something mundane
Fiona,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this topic. I visited your post on this issue and I’d like to refer readers of this blog to yours at secondlifeinsiders.com.
I also feel, as you do, that simply recreating traditional “classrooms” in Second Life is waste of the resource — and pointless. Which is why I posted on this topic and started exploring the concept myself.
I am very intrigued with educators who engage their students in much more authentic ways “in world”. One example would be having students participate in the economy by creating, selling, and buying goods and land.
Hands-on, experiential learning is much more effective than the traditional teacher-centered classroom — and Second Life has great potential for being more than just a “hook” for keeping students interested in traditional curriculum content.
If you have examples of other educators who are creating more innovatice learning experiences in Second Life, please share them with us.
Thanks,
Stephanie
THANK YOU! You have gently stoked the flickering fire in my belly to start pruning and replenishing that slop-covered haze of bits I’ve been passing off as a Wiki page. The Simteach wiki for Second Life education is a rambling mess – and needs more texture and realism. Cheers!