So I have been playing with this a bit over the last week and I have two quick thoughts.
1. I am a nerd, yet it is sometimes difficult for me to figure out how to do things like change clothing, make my avatar dance, or whatever things I see others doing in SL.
2. As an educator I am not sure our society is technologicly adept enough to deal with the difficulties of teaching in a virtual classroom like the ones found in SL. Let us not forget that many people have a hard time with distance learning in general, and often it is difficult to teach when you are face-to-face with the student body.
Nathan: I completely agree that the SL environment is complex. As for distance learning–the numbers of distance learners keep growing and tools used in distance environments are both asynchronous and synchronous. Institutions seem to be finding the time and money to develop resources in Second Life. Freedman clearly describes virtual spaces such as Second Life and other virtual world gaming as an important area of digital media to pay attention to.
That all being said, once we get PAST the difficulties getting used to how Second Life works, are there functions of virtual worlds and gaming that could add value to education. Also, as art educators, what are our responsibilities in terms of these worlds?
December 4, 2006 at 7:13 pm
So I have been playing with this a bit over the last week and I have two quick thoughts.
1. I am a nerd, yet it is sometimes difficult for me to figure out how to do things like change clothing, make my avatar dance, or whatever things I see others doing in SL.
2. As an educator I am not sure our society is technologicly adept enough to deal with the difficulties of teaching in a virtual classroom like the ones found in SL. Let us not forget that many people have a hard time with distance learning in general, and often it is difficult to teach when you are face-to-face with the student body.
I look forward to the conversation in class.
NM
December 5, 2006 at 1:03 am
Nathan: I completely agree that the SL environment is complex. As for distance learning–the numbers of distance learners keep growing and tools used in distance environments are both asynchronous and synchronous. Institutions seem to be finding the time and money to develop resources in Second Life. Freedman clearly describes virtual spaces such as Second Life and other virtual world gaming as an important area of digital media to pay attention to.
That all being said, once we get PAST the difficulties getting used to how Second Life works, are there functions of virtual worlds and gaming that could add value to education. Also, as art educators, what are our responsibilities in terms of these worlds?