Living in Two Worlds

Today I gave a presentation on Second Life, with Jessica. I feel the presentation went quite well, and after research and collaboration on the topic we were both able to understand the positives and negatives of using this innovation for ourselves and with students in the classroom.

I believe Second Life is good for teachers in that it can allow us to expand our own creativity and knowledge on particular places in the world and it can also encourage us to interact with other educators from within the virtual world. In regards to Teen Second Life and using this with students, I believe it can be somewhat educational if it is applied in the correct manner and for a sole purpose. Using Second Life with Upper Primary or High School students can encourage them to play, explore, use their imaginations and create and design projects. Within this virtual world, students are able to build and construct new things, visit educational places, such as; theatres, where they can role play, spaceship museums, and university campuses. Students will be given an opportunity to see the places and buildings that they do not have the chance to see in real life. An example of a teacher (Dean Groom) using Second Life with his class can be viewed here. 

I Personally wouldn’t use Second Life with my class, because I am studying Early Childhood Education, and these children are way too young to understand how the program works, and it is simply not age appropriate. I also think that if you do use the Second Life program with your students, safety and privacy may be difficult to control and monitor. I do suggest however, if you are willing to use Second Life with your students that close monitoring must be made, because sometimes inappropriate comments can be made from other users that can not be helped. Parents must be informed also if their child is creating an account. If any one has any suggestions on how they would monitor or control the students while using Second Life, that would great! That means, how would you make sure the students are staying on tasks, not diverting off the topic in this virtual world, and not talking to people they do not know???

My Learning Progress:

Beginning: In the Beginning of researching the wonderful world of Virtuality, I was excited and very interested, because I enjoy stimulation games such as, The Sims. Another reason for this interest, was that I knew it would be a great topic to learn about, seeing as though I knew absolutely nothing already!

During: As I began to gain knowledge and understanding of the program, I was unsure of how it would be educational for students, and I found a lot of difficulty in actually running and exploring the program.

After: By the end of the exploration and the class presentation, I found more purpose for the program and began to identify ways it could be used for teaching and learning in the classroom. I also recognised negatives and positives of the program. I am now more confident in using this program and although I would not use it in my future teaching, I will still continue to use it myself and try and become a more efficient user of Second Life. I also hope I will be able to identify more educational aspects of Second Life in order to help other teachers that wish to use the program with students in Upper Primary and High School.

In conclusion, I would like to thank everyone who came and listened to our presentation. I hope you found it educational and beneficial.

For more information on Second Life, its purpose in education and opinions from other people, Refer to:

1. Jo Kay and Sean Fitzgerald’s Wiki Page, Second Life in Education – EXCELLENT RESOURCE!!!

2. Sue Waters Webpage, Do you use Second Life or other Virtual worlds with your students?

3. Quest Atlantis – A Virtual world designed for 9-15 year olds.

4. Blogs – Lina, Louise, Rachel, Matt, Jess. C, Christina, Kate

5. The Cool Cat Teacher Blog – How Second Life can be used by the visual impaired