Virtually convinced about 3D virtual teaching and learning
With the publication today of JISC’s new ‘Getting started with Second Life‘ guide and the recent blog post from my colleague Paul (The Meaning of Second Life) I felt that this was finally the time for me to hold my hand up and declare that I am one of the people who has become virtually convinced that there is a place for virtual teaching and learning in virtual 3D environments, like Second Life. I think the thing that has finally convinced me to make my declaration are the points listed below from the new ‘Getting started with Second Life’ guide, that made me chuckle, as I recognised myself when I first entered the virtual world:
… and yet despite feeling like this initially I refused to give up and after reading a range of publications and reports about teaching and learning in a virtual way and being able to have first hand experience of participating in and leading sessions in Second Life (thanks to the help and support of the University of Wales Newport’s School of Health and Social Sciences and my fellow RSC Wales team) I now wish that these tools had been around when I was both a learner and a teacher!
I could continue to share my thoughts about the potential of this tool for isolated or distance learners or for those who find it hard to engage with the ‘real’ world but flourish in this kind of virtual environment … and say this is all despite the potential barriers and issues that there undoubtedly are with an unfamiliar/relatively new tool like this … but I won’t. I will however (in the words of my colleague Paul) encourage those who haven’t tried to ‘give it a go’ and those who have but gave up (maybe because of some of the things listed above) to ‘give it another go’ … and remember that for those organisations who we support you can always call on us for some virtual help!
Tags: Second Life, virtual environments
August 5th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
Sometimes I actually have nostalgic moments when I wish I could remember what it was like to be a newbie and all of Second Life was a big mystery to be explored. After more than 2-1/2 years of constant use I can no longer drum up that “wowee!” feeling I first had, but perhaps that’s why I enjoy helping & tutoring new Residents so much.
Newbies are welcome at the Chateau de Tuite for initial hand-holding and tutoring in a quiet environment, and to have a place to meet up for chatting or gathering together prior to exploring.
I’ve been an active explorer, myself, and some of my adventures are documented on Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/caliburnsusanto/sets/
-CS
August 6th, 2009 at 5:39 am
The concept of virtual evironments such as SecondLife present many amazing possibilities for all manner of uses. Social networking, education, entertainment, advertising, business, etcetera.
The problem thus far has been the realization of this concept, and the approach many individuals and institutions have taken in their attempts to make use of the existing platforms, as well as the attitudes of those developing these platforms. SL and Linden Lab, of course, being the favourite example.
As time goes on we are seeing companies, educators, and individuals overcoming early, clumsy attemts to make heads or tails of this relatively new medium, but still struggling to overcome limits both technical and management related. For instance, only a tiny fraction of SL’s “seven foot tall firemen” actually realize they are so tall, there is nothing within the provided avatar editor to so much as hint at one’s own height. Linden Lab has declined to fix this oversight with the reasoning that SL is a virtual world of fantasy. They miss the obvious point that SL is also a highly visual medium, and the lack of universally recognized scale is an obstacle to visual designers and architects.
Sim owners have few tools at their disposal to manage sim resources, such as the amount of processing power being used by the attachments of visiting avatar. A single avatar can, intentionally or not, bring sim performance to its knees.
Linden Lab may have worked themselves into a corner regarding the Issues of scaling performance and the ability to host more visitors, which are tied to the fundamental infrastructure of SL. The very size of a sim is a hard-coded constant it will be difficult, if not impossible, for the Lindens to break free from.
Providing better tools, and reenvisioning the new user experience are far easier goals. Giving would be content creators and casual users a more complete orientation relating specifically to their current interests within the platform would alleviate many of the misconceptions soany hold against virtual worlds.
Still, we learn from the mistakes of the past, if not Linden Lab then the developer of SL’s future replacement. Technology will also continue to improve, and more will learn how to best use virtual environments just as we came from crude, often poorly thought out websites, to a society with the internet firmly entrenched in our lives.