The interest in virtual worlds such as ‘SecondLife’ continues to grow, and many educators and managers will be wondering whether or not there is a future in using these virtual worlds in their own teaching and learning. Of course, this question won’t be straightforward to answer, but there is increasing evidence of the value of engagement, and also more support and advice available for those who are dipping their toes into the water.

I recommend two recent publications of a very contrasting nature, which may be of help to people who are wondering whether or not ‘SecondLife’ is for them. John Kirriemuir’s excellent quarterly  snapshot on the use of ‘virtual worlds’ in adult education in the UK is part of Eduserv’s Virtual World Watch. This regular update is well worth a read – it gives an overview of current developments in educational uses of virtual worlds in the UK. The focus is largely on Higher Education because that is where the activity mostly is at the moment, and almost all of the reports relate to SecondLife. Interestingly, the last several reports have consistently reported growing activity, and that the activities are becoming progressively more mainstream within institutions.   

A second resource which is well worthy of  attention is Jane Edwards’ podcast. This describes her personal journey from confused ‘newbie’ in SecondLife, through to an inspired advocate, by way of learning Italian. Jane tells it ‘like it is’, and some of her doubts about the whole entreprise may strike a chord with some. However, there is plenty of help and support available, and Jane describes the value of joining groups,and also of approaching people directly, if you know they have an interest in this area. The final message is a ringing ‘Give it a go!’.

Back in February, I posted a blog about the interim Carter report, and its implications for broadband rollout in Wales and the rest of the UK. The final report was published last week, and it has received a mixed reaction. As expected, the report confirms the intention to deliver the universal service broadband commitment at 2 Mbps by 2012.  The questions of course are ‘How?’, and ‘At What Cost?’. Carter starts from the premise that the copper network supplying most houses is good value for money. He’s right: most ageing infrastructures lose value, whereas this system has gained enormous value since the introduction of the Internet. Most users can afford to pay more for this utility, and the proposed 50p a month levy to provide for a ‘Next Generation Fund’ is more than reasonable. However, this raises at least two more issues: ‘Will it be enough?’ and ‘Who will benefit? The stated intention is to benefit the ‘final third’ of homes who currently don’t have broadband (it is rather more than this in Wales), but this is a disparate group, and the reasons for lack of access are manifold. For example, many homes have no landline, and will be dependent on mobile networks for broadband access; these residents may face high charges, or limited connectivity. Delivery of the government’s commitment will require focused  use of the Next Generation Fund, coupled with effective brokerage of the wireless broadband spectrum to enable access for the disconnected. Of course, this still leaves one crucial  question for future UK governments to resolve: ’How affordable will broadband services be for those trapped in poverty?’ 

Leading a workshop is much more fun if you take a small risk every now and then. On my last outing, I asked the participants to give me a question they had recently been researching, or thinking about. The first question was about mindmapping, so we went with that one. I tweeted the question ‘Tell me about some good software for mindmapping”, while I told them about RSS, search engines,  and other ways of retrieving information from the web. Some useful replies started to come in after a minute or two. The first two or three were from people in the room (you can rely on your mates, of course), then there were one or two from colleagues from elsewhere, who happened to be online and feeling obliging. Before the end of the one-hour workshop, there was also a very helpful tweet from a teacher from Virginia, US, whom I now follow as a result. Together with another six replies which came after the end of the workshop, I had a selection of online and offline Mindmapping tools, most of them free, to offer to my participants.

Another story. I have found that there is an error in the database used by Google and Multimap, as well as a number of satnav companies, which means that if you look up my postcode the little red circle appears about two miles away. Fine, except that the people who live over there are getting slightly irked by getting half of my deliveries. I tweeted this problem, and within minutes I had a response from someone who works for Multimap, and the problem was resolved. Now all I need is for Google and TomTom to do the same for me…..

These two stores encapsulate some of the power of Twitter. Firstly, you get wide and instantaneous reach. You get that with Google, of course. But what you also get is the value of personal recommendations, multiplied many times over. And it grows with your community of followers. Worth a try?

The issue of online safety crops up in the media, time and again.  Constantly, we are alerted to the fact that children and other vulnerable people can access pornographic or other inappropriate material. Reports also indicate that online bullying is happening on many of the social networking sites.  We also know that there are people out there who know how to steal credit card details, and even enough information to create entire identities.

All of this is a matter of concern to adult educators. It is not only children who are vulnerable, and adults also have a responsibility to protect themselves and their families. If you are not a parent yourself, the chances are that you teach people who are. Where better for your learners to acquire an improved understanding of e-Safety, than in your classes?

Help is at hand. Earlier this year, the Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS) published a new set of materials on e-Safety on the Excellence Gateway, entitled “Safeguarding FE learners in a digital world“. The pages consist of some sound general advice, supported by some specific case studies. Don’t be put off by the title, these useful web pages are relevant to teachers and managers in ACL and the Third Sector, as well as in Further Education.

The American site ‘The Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use’ is also worth looking at. While it is very schools centred, it has some useful advice backed by some solid research. Some of this will reassure you that for example sexual predation on the Internet is not as rife as some of the newspapers would have us believe.

Closer to home, the excellent Wisekids site is a good source of information in its own right, as well as being a portal to a vast range of other resources. The emphasis is on  ‘positive, innovative and safe Internet use’. More power to their elbow!