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
Kristen,
ReplyDeleteI have never used Second Life, so please pardon my ignorance. I am trying to understand the concept of how this is different as opposed to visiting the San Diego Museum of Art website and doing a virtual tour. Is it an organized itinerary from place to place that connects learning concepts? I understand there are also communities within Second Life of groups of like interests. I look forward to another post to help me understand more about Second Life.
San Diego Museum is only one place you can visit on Second Life. There are many other places to investigate on Second Life. You can go to the website but Second Life gives you a different perspective. It is just another tool that you can use.
DeleteKristen said: "I personally thought this program was a bit silly at first...This would be fun if you have your class sign up for this as a class project...It is a bit hard to get around until you get used to it but it is very interesting".
ReplyDeleteI have never heard of this site before until reading your post. I decided to sign up and check it out for myself. After logging in, I can understand why you thought it was silly at first because I got the same impression. I only had a short amount of time to check out the features and settings. I went into a music and the WV Education destination. Surprisingly, I liked the interactive aspect of the site by using the arrows to move the avatar and sitting in the chair by the computer. Based on what I've seen so far, it does seem to be an engaging tool for students. In addition to using this for a class project, it could be used as a workshop during computer time. Since figuring things out on the site is quite challenging, it could be a good problem solving tool for students. Ultimately, I realized that there's a lot more to this site which will take some time to figure out as you've stated. You have definitely peaked my interest in how this can be integrated in a classroom. Therefore, I too will continue to visit the site in search for more educational tools.
I love the idea as using the site for a problem solving tool. It is challenging to get around. I just started playing with it again. I remember when I was first checking it out I wanted to see if they had anything that I was interested in as a hobby. That is when I saw PADI. They had lots of interesting facts and some educational classes. I also found a few places to learn first aid and CPR so there are a few things that have some interest for educational purposes. It just takes time to navigate and find.
DeleteI have never used Second Life myself and have always been interested in checking it out. Is it user friendly? It just seems like since there is so much to do in a program like that, it would be difficult to use depending on what you want to do. What do you teach and do you think this would be most suitable for your class? Is everything that can be visited in real life also in Second Life as well? I obviously have a lot of questions about it so I look forward to reading your other blogs about it.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it is particularly user friendly. It does take a little while to get around. There is so much to see that you may want to start with one are and learn to get around there. Second life is made up from different people starting their own sites. There are museums to store fronts. I have only touched the surface on this program.
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