"We live in a world that is becoming more networked every day, and the internet has grown into an essential medium for communication, socialization, and creative expression. Virtual worlds like Second Life represent the future of human interaction in a globally networked world, and students who have grown up with the Internet naturally swim in these waters."(Rymaszewski, Au, Wallace, Winters, Ondrejka, Batston-Cunningham, 2007, p. 318)
The benefits of using virtual worlds for educational purposes vary (Stevens, 2006), it has been acknowledged that today's learners have different abilities and expectations compared to the learners of just a few years ago (Prensky, 2001). Prensky calls these learners Digital Natives, they are natives of the digital world, a world that can challenge those teachers educated in a less technologically-oriented era as in the more traditional based teacher. However, even though there is still some resistence to change, these changes cannot be disregarded in favor of the more comfortable traditional lesson. It is my opinion that we need to understand how these new technologies enhance learning and that it is necessary to ensure that these new learners' needs are being met. We need to be careful that we do not plan the learning around the technology, but use the technology to enhance the learning and engage the learner.
Second Life (SL) can offer learners the opportunity to collaborate, explore, and interact. Even though in the beginning SL was not specifically designed for educational purposes, its educational benefits have been investigated and tested in the classroom from primary level through to university level, prime example is the MSc Digital Solutions (e-Learning Technology) run by London Metropolitan University. There have been accounts of successful uses of SL which have been published online in Blogs and Wikis and also discussed at conferences. In spite of what sounds like positive feedback to SL's potential as an educational tool, concerns have also been pointed out to which I intend to research further.
Antonacci, D.M., & Modaress, N. (2005). Second Life: The educational possibilities of a massively multiplayer virtual world (MMVW). Paper presented at the Kansas Technology Leadership conference. http://www2.kumc.edu/ir/tlt/SLEDUCAUSESW2005/SLPresentationOutline.htm
accessed 10th November 2010
Arreguin, C. (2007). Reports from the field: Second Life community convention 2007 education track summary http://olpglobalkids.org/pdfs/VirtualWorldsforLearningRoadmap_012008.pdf accessed 10th November 2010.
Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants.
http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf Accessed 10th November 2010
Rymaszewski, M., Au, W.J., Wallace, M., Winters, C., Ondrejka, C., & Batstone-Cunningham, B. (2007). Second Life: The official guide. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley Publishing.
Stevens, V. (2006). Second Life in education and language learning. [Electronic version]. TESL-EJ, 10(3) http://www.tesl-ej.org/ej39/int.html
You've raised some interesting reflections here, Steph.
ReplyDeleteAs a originally non digital native I've found (over the years) that an enthusiasm and immersion in e-learning can overcome some of the drawbacks that come from not growing up with these technologies. I also feel that technology tools should be there to assist what we do in normal face-to-face dialogue encounters.
The links you've provided will help anyone looking for a basis of their research. Also suggest you look at the work of Rupert Wegerif - http://elac.ex.ac.uk/dialogiceducation/page.php?id=123, who is one of the key exponents of a dialogic approach to education.