Virtual Worlds for the Virtual Future

Second Life
Virtual worlds such as Second Life are great places for students to collaborate, role-play, do simulations, explore other lands, and encounter new social situations as it pertains to Web 2.0. In an online class students often feel isolated from their peers. Even when talking on Skype (unless you utilize the video feature) or chatting with Moodle, it has a somewhat blah feel. However, imagine meeting with your class on the lawn outside of a beautiful building on campus, at the Maya Riviera, or even in outer space! Well, in Second Life you can do those things. It makes an online class feel more like a class. In addition, you can see your classmates and interact with them. You can walk over to them, follow them, stand up, sit down, explore new places, or just chat. You can help each other out and talk and laugh. Second Life is a great Web 2.0 tool that could transform the way we interact, collaborate, and socialize online.

However, Second Life is more than just a social tool. It is a useful educational tool (whether in an online or face-to-face class) that very well could transform education in lead the next version of the web know as Web 3.0 or Web 3D. For example, in a history/social studies class, students could reinact a battle or explore lands where settlers settled and role-play what they think happened. In an English class students could explore the setting of a novel or story and even act it scenes to demonstrate their understanding. For plays, students could practice and perform the play in the virtual world. For science students could explore volcanoes or types of land, clouds, solar system, weather, and even perform experiements or dissect a frog. For a foreign language classroom students could practice speaking the foreign language through real-life scenerios that they would encounter if they were in a target language country. For vocabulary and grammar learning, whether in students' native language or in the target language, students could practice listening, speaking and using the new language. The possibilities are endless. I have tried to create simlations in a f2f classroom but in a virtual world it will seem more real and authentic. In addition, you could take it one step further and have students interact with other students and guest speakers that would make learning really come alive and be more meaningful and more collaborative.

A few advantages of Second Life and other virtual worlds over Skype or some other type of IM or email for example are it is more life-like and more visual. You can see all the participants and interact with them as if you were all there together. You can also give and receive instant feedback in real time. Second Life is most helpful to visual and perhaps even auditory learners if the participants are speaking rather than just typing the conversation. You really feel a sense of extreme interactivity and belonging because you are there in that location with other people who are interacting as they would in their first life.

While I believe that Second Life could help pave the road to Web 3D, there are problems that I foresee. For example, there may be a lot more technical difficulties associated with Second Life than with email. For me, it is more difficult to figure out the functions and operations of Second Life. However, I feel very confident and more proficient with email and instant messaging. Email probably does not appeal to the visual and auditory learners. Email is asynchronous and sometimes you may have to wait a long time for a response. With Second Life where everyone is together, you won't have this problem. Of course you could always have a conference with Skype or Yahoo Messenger by either talking or typing messages but even then the visual aspect is missing.

Some barriers that might prevent an educator from using Second Life are:

1. It may take a long time to learn how to use it.
2. One may not sure how to properly set up an activity and depending on the class if it doesn't go smoothly it will be a disaster and a waste of time.
3. Some students will catch on quickly while others may not understand how to use it and this will waste time and leave them frustrated and they won't learn very much from it.
4. Lack of resources such as computers. Most teachers are lucky to have even one computer in the classroom and it isn't feasible to sign up for the computer lab all the time since other classes use it and some schools have a limit as to how many times you can bring a class to the computer lab. I have had problems where I wanted to sign up my classes for the computer lab and there were a couple of teachers who had signed up for it every single day and the rest of us could not use it.

Virtual worlds can eliminate social and cultural barriers to collaboration because in a virtual world you don't have the us against them problem. Everyone is an equal and even those who are really shy can come out of their shell and be a productive part of the collaboration process. They can hide behind a screen name and avatar and be who they want to be and say what they want to say. It will give some of the quiet kids a time to shine. Also, the kids who are used to always being the smartest in class may find that in an online world they aren't the whiz kid anymore. They may have to work really hard to keep up if it is something unfamiliar to them.

I think virtual worlds such as Second Life will have some impact on education. The biggest problem is teaching educators how to properly utilize these resources. To me, SL is not very intuitive and so there is a HUGE learning curve. Another problem is then teaching students how to use them as well and making sure that they are adhering to the rules and that they are free from inappropriate situations that may arise. Some virtual worlds are not exactly the easiest thing to learn so there is a huge learning curve for both teachers and students. If we can get past that, and have programs that are easier to use and learn and are more intuitive then they may be of more use. Another problem is the lack of funding for many schools. The majority of schools do not have the funding for modern computers with graphics cards. For an online class, you cannot count on students to have computers that will support such graphic-intense programs.

In the future, once it is more commonplace and everyone has the computers and capabilities and knowledge on how to use Second Life, it will prove to be invaluable but not a substitute for the real world. Humans are born as helpless babies needing to be coddled and held. I don't care what anyone says, it is an innate part of human beings. When I work with people, whether in business or social situations, when it is all said and done I prefer to speak to them and meet them face-to-face. There is a lot you can gain from face-to-face interaction, especially when it is a very important matter. Take a job interview or a business meeting. You can talk over the phone, via Skype, or whereever. You might be impressed with what you hear. But then you meet that person and they might sound great but look sloppy or you might get the feeling you can't trust them from their facial expressions or mannerisms. There is no substiute for face-to-face interaction in some instances. While I maintain contact with my family and friends, there is still a great feeling I always have when we spend time together at family get togethers that I can never get online.

I see many possibilities that virtual worlds such as Second Life have in improving education, but there are also many barriers that we need to work through. I think it would be a great way for learning communities to collaborate and learn from each other, but for now I will stick with simpler Web 2.0 applications such as Skype, YouTube, Blogger, Wikis, Ning, etc.

In any case, I will definitely spend more time learning how to use SL and other virtual worlds and learning different methods of how to incorporate it into education. Hopefully in the future SL and other virtual worlds will become more user-friendly and more ubiquitous.