Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Second Life Does Have Educational Potential



CNN has a great article today about schools that use Second Life for educational purposes:

Growing number of educators explore 'Second Life' online

The most important quote is this one, from Rebecca Nesson, who teaches a class that is offered online through Harvard and uses Second Life:
"Students interact with each other and there's a regular sense of classroom interaction. It feels like a college campus"
So there is a growing number of people that are using Second Life for virtual online education. Think of it this way. I was in Second Life once for a conference on a product called Sloodle. I'll have to blog on Sloodle later. I was chatting with someone else in there. I could see his avatar, and could tell a lot about his personality by the way he was typing. Then he mentioned that he was actually in London at that time. So, there I was - having an online conversation, for free with someone in London. And there are companies out there that are working on audio integration tools for Second Life. I guess Holodecks are coming soon, huh?

4 comments:

u2katrina said...

(I know I emailed you this, but I figure your readers might be interested...)

This past weekend, I was on Info Island (in SL) and noticed a group of new buildings that had been added. (If you haven't been to Info Island for a few weeks, you'll be surprised at how much it's grown recently.) I noticed several "cookie-cutter" two-story buildings with "coming soon" signs in front of them for universities. I logged back in today and jotted down the universities:

- University of Southern Florida
- Claremont College
- University of Montevallo
- UNC Greensboro
- Georgia Institute of Technology
- Johnson & Wales University

Looks like we're about to see an explosion of educational sims in SL.

Matt C. said...

Yeah... ummm.... my entire readership of 3 people? :) 2 of which never comment on anything?

u2katrina said...

Well, I'm counting on your blog(s) and mine having a dramatic increase in readership in the next decade or so. :P And these people will most definitely read through the archives.

(tsk! tsk! So little faith, my fellow blogger!)

Matt C. said...

Yeah - I guess I also could get off my duff and actually promote this thing....