Surprisingly, I do not have access to free Wifi in Penn Station. I’m waiting for the 6:31 train to Manhasset, where I’ll be picked up and driven to this morning’s workshop on Podcasting. They also want some explanations and demonstrations of Web 2.0. I wonder if I’ll have an opportunity to demo Second Life. Am I addicted or what?
However, the more I think about it, the more I’m seeing possibilities. The more I think about the little bit of scripted I’ve learned to do, the more it is occurring to me, “That’s how they make that work.” Do you remember (those of you in your 50s) the hover disks on John Quest. I’d like to make one of those. I’d like to make one, and then challenge a bunch of kids to make a better one.
I had dinner last night with Gwen Solomon and her lovely husband Stan. Before we left, I showed her a few things on Second Life, and we gussied up her avatar. She looks awesome now, though we couldn’t do anything with her hair. I know that Linden Labs is in San Francisco, but I can’t figure out whether Second Lifers got their hair style sense from New York City, or if it was the other way around.
Enough of such ramblings. Just killing time waiting for the train, which should leave in fifteen minutes. So I’d better pack back up and find the gate.
I just missed you at penn station this morning. I could have showed you my new Sprint Wireless card for my laptop. I’m pulling down info at speeds of 600-800k with it.
Safe travels…
Jay Bryant
I’m a huge David Warlick fan and have been for years and have been reading about his exploration of Second Life as an educational tool. I have also read a variety of other edubloggers and their support of Second Life. I must admit though, I’m just not seeing it. I did a podcast this week about it and so far my feedback has supported my skeptic impressive of it’s use in a junior high history classroom. Speaking of History – http://www.speakingofhistory.blogspot.com
I know there are lesson plans you can create to use SL in the classroom – a historical museum, creating a battlefield, etc. – but my gut reaction is that it is too “out-there” and would be very difficult to incorporate in an 8th grade classroom without going through a ton of red tape and parent concern – too much to make it worth the trouble.
My most basic question is this: Do we ever reach a point where we can learn to utilize the tools we have available to deeper level. Take blogs and podcasts as an example. There are teachers out there using these tools but we have very limited real constructive use of these tools to increase higher order thinking and really changing the curriculum, mine included. Now we have SL coming along and many teachers are just learning about blogs, podcasts, wikis, etc. A podcaster from Singapore (Voyeurism Blog) has recorded a podcast about this topic as well and I have included a link to his podcast and comments on my blog.
I really don’t mean to be a wet blanket but I think in the realistic situations getting teachers who are currently trying to catch up with simple Web 2.0 tools, the incorporation of SL is just too much to ask.
Eric,
SL is just another tool in the toolbox, in my opinion, but a very unique one. I have teachers getting permission to go on the Teen Grid to investigate its use to support teaching and learning. I am excited about the professional development opportunities available to me and for me to offer to others on the Main Grid.
I currently am putting together a presentation (hopefully to be accepted to a SL Conference in SL on May 25th) called “Guide to SL for K-12 Educators”. I think once teachers see the types of things that are available, as they always do, they will use their creative minds to come up with ways to utilize this one-to-one, one-to-many, and many-to-many environment to support both teaching and learning and their own professional development.
The interactivity and collaborative nature of Second Life cannot be ignored. I, like David, have discovered that building and scripting is yet another exciting part of the environment, but there are plenty of things for teachers to do without becoming experts in those components.
As with any new educational venue, please give it time to develop. Those of us that have jumped right in and those that have been in SL for a while are working as hard as we can to smooth the way for others, as we did (and continue to do) for Web pages, blogs, wikis, podcasts, and all other Web 2.0 applications.
Kathy
Kathy,
Can you share with us a few of the powerful educational ideas of Second Life?
-=Gary
David,
It seems to me that a lot of people are working really really hard, as you said, “However, the more I think about it, the more I’m seeing possibilities.”
Isn’t this a bit of reverse engineering in an educational sense? I sense that a lot of the enthusiasm for Second Life is based on a desire for this new thing to have value.
Again, I’m not opposed to SL. I am however cautious about anything that this many educators get excited by this quickly. Given the discussions we engage in constantly about the difficulty of getting educators to do “this or that,” I’m fascinated by the nature of bandwagons. SL may turn out to be revolutionary…
I meant to say the following in the first sentence of my last post.
It seems to me that a lot of people are working really really hard to be able to say about Second Life things like you wrote, “However, the more I think about it, the more I’m seeing possibilities.”
Gary,
I am not the expert on the use of SL to support student learning, since I have not been a classroom teacher for a long time. However, I am excited about the possibilities of presenting in Second Life, like I do in RL to support professional development for educators. A more diverse group of educators can attend than most RL conferences. In addition, it is very easy to create and script educational support materials to go along with the presentations and for teachers to use in RL. The presentation I am putting together for the Best Practices Conference shows some very innovative creations and places in SL to demonstrate to teachers what is possible as well as demonstrating the presentation tools and techniques in SL.
The engagement of having a group of teachers “really” sitting there, listening, questioning, and contributing to the educational conversation is stimulating. Is it better than RL? No. But is it easier than driving 30 miles to take a bus 90 miles to the airpot to fly somewhere, stay in a hotel, talk for an hour, and come back to a lot of work from being gone for a few days? You bet it is. Is it about as close as one can get to RL? I think so. Does it replace the great friends I have made at conferences all over the world? No way…but many of them are in SL with me and I can catch up with them!
Kathy