Second Life a Different Learning Tool

This week was a very interesting week of reading and exploring.   While I was reading and thinking about what I have learned in this class and in my other technology classes to help educators and student in their learning, I remembered Second Life.  I personally thought this program was a bit silly at first.   I started to delve into it a little more and it has so much to offer.  Second Life is a virtual reality program that is web based but also has a small footprint on your computer.  When you sign up you pick your avatar one that best suits you.  This would be fun if you have your class sign up for this as a class project.  There is a way to keep all the content that is viewed rated G so it is safe for the younger student. 

Second Life has hundreds of places to go and things to see.  There are special areas to go for teaching that helps give you some ideas on what to bring to your classroom.  There are worlds that are dedicated to K-12 education.  One site is West Virginia Education (http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/WV%20Education/212/231/28) which was created by the West Virginia Dept. of Education for teachers as a resource to help them educating their students.  In the worlds you can travel from place to place.  You stop to read and learn about different subjects. 

 Beside the education aspect of Second Life there are collaboration tools for you to use.  There are a few groups from UCF on Second Life that you can join.  It has the ability for chat to talk to your peers as well as experts on subjects you may enjoy.  There are even support groups if you have any problems you may need help with.

I am interested in scuba diving and searched on there for my interest in that and they have groups and places to visit that affiliated with that hobby.    There are organizations such as PADI on Second Life to educate people on diving and the oceans.  There are so many different organization that you can connect with and learn from.

Second Life has museums, art galleries, schools and organizations all for you to explore.  You can visit places all over the world.  There are hundreds of places to go.  The only limitation is your imagination.  They have the Museum of Art in San Diego to visit and see the art they have there.

I only touched the surface of Second Life.   It is a bit hard to get around until you get used to it but it is very interesting.  I will go into this program a little more in depth in another blog.  Stay tuned.

bublus.us

www.secondlife.com

 

 

Are we doing the best for our students?

I am not a teacher yet so I am not sure how well I can answer the question:
Dr. Scott McLeod asks:
“Are we doing what is best for our students, or are we doing what is most convenient for us?

I do think that people in general stick with what they know. If they are used to doing a task one way and have been doing it the same way for a while they don't usually change.  I am sure this is no exception for some teachers especially ones who have been teaching for a long time and are comfortable with their curriculum.

I was in a conversation with a teacher I know and they said that once they have their lesson plan set they use the same one time after time.  This seems to be a lazy way to teach out youth.  This isn't the way all teachers are but there are the teachers out there who are like this.  There needs to be a way to have accountability for teachers to keep up with technology and the changing world.  What do you think about teachers who teach this way?

There are more and more schools that are incorporating online classes for high school studies.  According to The Journal.com,  David Nagel states:  "The percentage of high school students taking online courses nearly doubled in a single year. According to the latest data available from Project Tomorrow's annual Speak Up Survey, more than one-quarter (27 percent) of all high school students took at least one class online last year, up from 14 percent the year before. But the numbers could have been higher, according to the researchers." (Nagel, 2010)  This concerns me if students aren't learning how to utilize technology.  This could hinder their ability to reach their potential to learn all they can from this type of environment.  There are some schools that are too rural to offer students some classes but online classes could be the answer for them.  This was new to me because when I was living in NY they didn't offer online classes to High School students but here in Florida they offer it to students.  Shouldn't we give our kids every advantage we can for them to succeed? 


Resources:

Nagel, D (2010), Report: Online Learning Nearly Doubles Among High School Students, The Journal, Retrieved from: http://thejournal.com/articles/2010/06/29/report-online-learning-nearly-doubles-among-high-school-students.aspx