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Another Second Life

GUEST BOOK (Please drop in to leave a comment):


The Second Life GUEST BOOK?





Sponsoring and using this page




USER NAME: Boz Budan (external link)


An interesting presentation. The Rocket Ring - Intl's Spaceflight Museum


The Rocket Ring from YouTube.com (external link)




Why another...Second Life?

Second Life provides a unique and flexible environment for educators interested in distance learning, computer-supported cooperative work, simulation, new media studies, and corporate training.


What does this all mean?


As more individuals turn to interactive media for entertainment, television and film audiences are dwindling.
In 1999, “total videogame software and hardware sales in the U.S. reached $8.9 billion, versus $7.3 billion for movie box-office receipts” (Poole, 2000, p. 6). Clearly, videogames are here to stay.

Challenges for educators

Today’s educators face new challenges not experienced by teachers in the past. They are dealing with students who are part of the ‘Net Generation’(Oblinger, 2003), brought up in a 3-D world of virtual communication, visual complexity and online identities. They want and expect more engaging, empowering and interactive learning experiences in their student life than most schools or universities are able to give them. Prensky (2001) writes of the differences between ‘Digital Natives’, the generation that grew up with video games and computers, and ‘Digital Immigrants’, people who have started using computers as adults. The digital natives are used to instant gratification, hyperlinked information, and the need for rapid reflexes, and yet they are being taught by digital immigrants, who are used to learning from books and communicating by phone. People who want to teach digital natives need to figure out how they think and adjust their methods to communicate at their level.

Education Projects in Second Life

The following is a list of Second Users in education settings



Simulation Game Used for Disaster Training



This article "Games Tackle Disaster Training" was very encouraging to any of us who know that disasters do occur.

DISASTER TRAINING (external link)



Play Games, be better students?



LOS ANGELES — The conventional wisdom about the video-game industry is that it's all about entertainment. But a group of 350 game designers, educators and government officials think that games can be used as a tool to teach critical thinking, and in the process, improve American education.

PLAY GAMES? (external link)



Educators Turn to Games for Help



AUSTIN, Texas — Video games have come under tremendous political pressure in recent years because of an increase in violent and sexual content. But schools soon may be using the technology that powers those games to help teach America's children.

GAMES (external link)



Programs for Educators



Community Support

Pathfinder Linden's primary focus at Linden Lab is the use of Second Life for educational, academic and "serious" applications. If you have any general questions, please contact him directly either inworld or at . You can also learn more about his background and role at Linden Lab by visiting Pathfinder's Homepage.







How I plan to use Second Life


My original idea has changed...now I would like to explore the idea of planning a course in a virtual environment for my graphic design students to explore. I would also like to look at the dimensions of virtual worlds as well and how these worlds can be used for teaching and learning, especially with non native English speakers.


Why I plan to use Second Life


The challenge of new technologies and sleepless nights wondering if I can complete this complex task!



Conferences



A group of volunteers is developing educator-focused activities as part of the Second Life Community Convention (SLCC) set for August, 2006 in San Francisco. See their workspace under construction.







New Article on virtual worlds and gaming - Oct 2006. Using Second Life as example
http://www.ics.heacademy.ac.uk/italics/vol5iss3/hobbsbrowngordon.pdf (external link)


URinvited2

Anyone can reorganise and contribute to this page. It is released under the default knowledgeGarden Copyright license which you can access by clicking COPYRIGHT on the left menu.



References


Skills for Life in Second Life by Lewis Pike, Selby College

MMORPG studies group bibliography on Citeulike

SimTeach.com has a large set references on virtual reality and immersive environments in education
Constance Steinkuehler's dissertation on learning in MMOs

MMOGs: A Research Framework for Military Training & Education

Frequently Updated list of links to Second Life education resources on Del.icio.us

Serious Games Summit 2006 Keynote: Philip Rosedale - "You Can (Not) Be Serious"

Second Life: The Educational Possibilities of a Massively Multiplayer Virtual World

If You Virtually Build It, They Will Virtually Check It Out - New York Times, Aug 8 2005

Real Virtuality in your Second Life and beyond - Great summary by Giulio Prisco on Second Life and how it is evolving!

Introducing Your RL Students to Second Life Cheryl Carter, Pepperdine University

Oblinger, D. (2003) Boomers, Gen-Xers, and Millennials: Understanding the 'New Students,' EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 38, no. 4 (July/August 2003), pp. 37–47, Retrieved on 6.10.06 from http://www.educause.edu/apps/er/erm03/erm034.asp. (external link)

Prensky, M, (2001) Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. On the Horizon (NCB University Press, Vol. 9 No. 5, October 2001) Retrieved on 6.10.06 from http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives (external link),%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf
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Contributors to this page: janicebreenwhite24 points  , foster39 points  , jillybean2181 points  and bluez .
Page last modified on Saturday 18 of October, 2008 15:36:46 EST by janicebreenwhite24 points .
The content on this page is licensed under the terms of the knowledgeGarden copyright.

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