In this final installment of our four-part series on Second Life, Amareal Jewell continues her conversation with Virtual Bacon, an experienced Second Lifer who is the owner and creator of imagiLEARNING island and who works to introduce traditional educators and businesspeople to SL. Here he explains the top-seven hurdles faced by traditional educators as they attempt to grasp some decidedly non-traditional concepts in virtual learning. He also discusses other, general issues with Second Life in education and entertainment.
For those who are just coming into this series, you can find the first three parts archived at the links below.
Amareal Jewell: What do you think will be the future of using virtual worlds in education when one considers all learners, including those with certain disabilities?
Virtual Bacon: I personally believe that virtual world [technology] is the replacement for traditional Web-based delivery and traditional Web-based education. As the technology continues to improve, disability issues will be reduced. At the International Game Developers Conference this year I sat in a chair with a small device attached to my head and controlled the characters in a game through my brain waves--no physical control whatsoever. This technology will become integral to virtual worlds. Technology also exists for visual implants to bypass damaged optic tissue and send visual data directly to the brain. That will also become a part of the common technology. As we have already seen with many psychological "disabilities," virtual world technologies will provide opportunities for a "level playing field" simply not possible in the real world.
VB: Not to sound too self-serving, but my favorite places in SL are my islands. They are the home of my creativity, my network of friends who hang out at the Infamous North Beach Tiki Bar, and the focus of my intellectual challenge of reframing education.
Other than my space, I prefer areas that engage my mind and imagination. I find myself drawn back to such places as the recreation of historical Dodge City, where I can put on my western duds, ride a horse around town, and watch the gun fighters do their thing in an environment designed to reflect the appearance and behaviors of the time. I constantly search for areas in which people are creating new gadgets and finding new applications that may have potential for teaching and learning.
More than places, I usually seek people. I am intrigued by the network that I am creating in the virtual world. I have regular conversation with intelligent and creative people from Switzerland, Australia, Japan, Korea, Germany,... Chicago, Portland, Orlando,... and a lady from a farm in the back-wilderness of Northern Canada: You name it. And while a level of anonymity does exist, real relationships are created, based upon the conversations, the collaboration on projects, the "real" things aside from gender, nationality, or real-world culture.
AJ: Do you use SL for entertainment or business as well?
VB: Yes on both counts. One of my computers is logged into SL through most of the day and evening. While I do my real world work, I frequently engage in conversation with friends in SL, just as I have done for years using a telephone. Only the tool has changed. We often gather in late afternoons at the North Beach Tiki Bar for conversation, surfing, dancing, as we might at a local bar, if we were in the same real-world city. Only here it is a group from 11 nations, some joining in the afternoon, some in the morning and some in the wee hours. One of my islands is the home for the international surfing championships [that were held June 30, 2007].
AJ: I believe many educators would just give up on SL, if they experienced the frustrations getting started, as I did. What tips do you have for traditional educators?
1. The Wilderness v. at Home
The most common experience of traditional educators when entering the virtual world is frustration, as they watch others go actively wandering the environment while they stand still, trying to figure out how to even move. The controls of SL are those of most immersive digital games and, therefore, familiar to gamers but fully foreign to non-gamers. This difficulty in basic movement increases the perception that the traditional educator is out of their element and in for some serious trouble.
Add to the technical challenge the fact that you are most likely standing there staring at a giant, pink, and fuzzy, fire-breathing and winged creature, and the feeling of "Huh?" increases. Traditional visitors have entered a world technically and socially different from the one they familiar with, and only a sense of curiosity and humor can help them survive.
2. Expert v. Self Learner
Once a traditional visitor learns how to use the chat feature, the first phrase spoken there is "How do I?..." Traditional educators immediately seek an expert mentor, someone who can point the way and explain things. The digital learner has already run off down the hill to see what is on the other side, running into trees, rocks, rivers, other people--anything in their way. While one visitor seeks direction, the other simply creates it. The game player has practiced that behavior in similar environments for years.
1. The Wilderness v. at Home
The most common experience of traditional educators when entering the virtual world is frustration, as they watch others go actively wandering the environment while they stand still, trying to figure out how to even move. The controls of SL are those of most immersive digital games and, therefore, familiar to gamers but fully foreign to non-gamers. This difficulty in basic movement increases the perception that the traditional educator is out of their element and in for some serious trouble.
Add to the technical challenge the fact that you are most likely standing there staring at a giant, pink, and fuzzy, fire-breathing and winged creature, and the feeling of "Huh?" increases. Traditional visitors have entered a world technically and socially different from the one they familiar with, and only a sense of curiosity and humor can help them survive.
2. Expert v. Self Learner
Once a traditional visitor learns how to use the chat feature, the first phrase spoken there is "How do I?..." Traditional educators immediately seek an expert mentor, someone who can point the way and explain things. The digital learner has already run off down the hill to see what is on the other side, running into trees, rocks, rivers, other people--anything in their way. While one visitor seeks direction, the other simply creates it. The game player has practiced that behavior in similar environments for years.
While there are always exceptions to every rule, and there is a certain amount of generalization involved in any such list of issues, these particular issues come from two years of interactivity with more than 3,000 traditional educators entering the virtual environment of Second Life. I believe these key differences represent the different mindsets that are revealed each day in classroom conflicts over cell phone use, laptop use, class attendance, participation in traditional discussion, and hundreds of similar issues.
This is the primary reason I believe Second Life offers such value to education in the 21st Century. By becoming immersed in this digital environment, traditional educators may gain some meaningful understanding of not just the new culture, but of their digital learners themselves. The result may be a reduction in the beliefs that game-based learners are somehow lesser learners, and that their digital culture actually brings profoundly meaningful new tools into a meaningful new learning space.
Just think of all the money we‘ll save by not buying that fancy paint for the classroom walls that blocks cell phone signals from coming into the classroom. Yes, there, my dear reader, is the digital divide.
There you go ... a lot of work yet to do, but it sure is fun!
AJ: What a case for Second Life and learning in a virtual world. Thank you, Virtual Bacon. This is Amareal Jewell signing off ... for now.
Proposals for articles, news tips, ideas for topics, and questions and comments about this publication should be submitted to David Nagel, executive editor, at dnagel@1105media.com.
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