Second Life.
My avatar, Oona Bird, floats around Second Life slowly and awkwardly, like young Ibis.
She/me only has one friend, thank you LenaLotus Latte for accepting the friendship.
The lack of grunt makes for a slow and tedious experience. As Helmer (2007) comments, to run Second Life adequately, one requires a computer system at the top end of the domestic computer market. The slowness of my system unfortunately precluded much exploration (and engendered quite a bit of frustration).
In a previous role, working for an international private education provider, Second Life was used for conferences and seminars which gave me a glimmer of the value of Second Life to enable people to come together and learn virtually. In an age when we measure the carbon footprint associated with conference travel, and when connecting globally is necessary to be part of the global economy, this made perfect sense.
The potential for using virtual worlds and gaming in education is phenomenal – to be able to explore micro environments such as a nucleus, or hostile environments such as within a volcano, or to build a human skeleton – are all possible.
The community in which I currently work has a high CALD population, requiring help with English. Second Life language labs could be a great application of the technology – whereby the community could build and map their world and practice their language and literacy skills.
Apprentices from the local TAFE could learn to build a virtual house, cable a local business, or plumb a shopping centre.
The library could have a Second Life site – whereby patrons could browse the shelves, reserve their items, download ebooks and audioooks. Local history could be brought to life with timeline recreations of the local area, podcasts from residents, and meeting areas for enthusiasts to gather and learn from the local history librarian.
Reference
Helmer, J., & Learning Light (2007). Second Life and virtual worlds.
Available from http://www.norfolkelearningforum.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/virtual-worlds_ll_oct_2007.pdf
My avatar, Oona Bird, floats around Second Life slowly and awkwardly, like young Ibis.
She/me only has one friend, thank you LenaLotus Latte for accepting the friendship.
I have a problematic relationship with Second Life – possibly based on the technical limitations of my home computer:
The lack of grunt makes for a slow and tedious experience. As Helmer (2007) comments, to run Second Life adequately, one requires a computer system at the top end of the domestic computer market. The slowness of my system unfortunately precluded much exploration (and engendered quite a bit of frustration).
In a previous role, working for an international private education provider, Second Life was used for conferences and seminars which gave me a glimmer of the value of Second Life to enable people to come together and learn virtually. In an age when we measure the carbon footprint associated with conference travel, and when connecting globally is necessary to be part of the global economy, this made perfect sense.
The potential for using virtual worlds and gaming in education is phenomenal – to be able to explore micro environments such as a nucleus, or hostile environments such as within a volcano, or to build a human skeleton – are all possible.
The community in which I currently work has a high CALD population, requiring help with English. Second Life language labs could be a great application of the technology – whereby the community could build and map their world and practice their language and literacy skills.
Apprentices from the local TAFE could learn to build a virtual house, cable a local business, or plumb a shopping centre.
The library could have a Second Life site – whereby patrons could browse the shelves, reserve their items, download ebooks and audioooks. Local history could be brought to life with timeline recreations of the local area, podcasts from residents, and meeting areas for enthusiasts to gather and learn from the local history librarian.
Reference
Helmer, J., & Learning Light (2007). Second Life and virtual worlds.
Available from http://www.norfolkelearningforum.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/virtual-worlds_ll_oct_2007.pdf
