I posted this for the students of ENG 307; however, I figured some of you might be interested also. I know we haven't spoken about Second Life, but it's pretty popular right now, so I guess it is something we should be aware of.
Hello, All,
I just wanted to take a minute to tell you all about the Second Life lecture last Friday. It was fascinating, and it contained knowledge that may be beneficial for us future educators. The title of this lecture was: The Evolution of the Internet: Using "Virtual Worlds" to Enhance Teaching, Learning, and Scholarly Research.
You may be pleased to know that a video of this lecture will be available, through iTunes U, very shortly.
Bret Ingerman, from Vassar College, started off by talking about virtual worlds. He said that they provide a fundamentally social experience in what has traditionally been a solitary medium.
He then moved to give various examples of different virtual worlds. Some that he mentioned are:
Second Life (obviously), There (a virtual world created by MTV), Entropia Universe, Multiverse, one created by Proton Media, and Club Penguin (a virtual world that is only available to children from ages nine to twelve.
He also brought up Webkinz, a growing fad for children. These look merely like stuffed animals; however, they include a code that can be submitted to access a virtual world (on the Internet). Additionally, the recently purchased stuffed animal will be waiting, in the virtual world, to show it's new owner around.
After Mr. Ingerman introduced his audience to virtual worlds, he then gave an introduction to Second Life (choosing SL because of its recent popularity). Unfortunately, at the beginning of the lecture, the server for SL was down, and it was unavailable. However, he had videos that would more than suffice.
He showed us all how to move around, fly, build, learn, and et cetera. Most of the time was spend at Vassar College's SL island; however, we also visited Ohio University's beautiful campus, Harvard's unique island, and a fascination location called NOAA (which was simply amazing).
After our tour, Mr. Ingerman then made us aware of the concerns with Second Life. He listed three: commercial, adult, and social issue concerns. Yes, SL is commercial; however, as Mr. Ingerman notes, what isn't? He also said something along the lines of: Yes, there are mature themes, but they can all be avoided. And yes, there are social issues, but Second Life should be used only to enhance or augment education, not replace it.
This is only a brief overview of the lecture, so if you have any other questions, let me know. I would be happy to try to answer them for you. Ultimately, though, you should be able to watch it yourself very soon! I'll let you folks know when the video is available through iTunes U. See you in Second Life!
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