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5
Mar
There were some URLs posted recently on the Second Life Educator’s mailing list and I found one of them especially good. This article talks about the use of Second Life in a business curriculum and the opportunities there. Here are some excepts from the article at FT.com Financial Times:
“Some business school enthusiasts for the virtual world have taken a little convincing. “My initial reaction was that it was ridiculous,” says Steve Mahaley, director of learning technology at Duke CE. “How could anyone take seriously a cartoon world in which I am driving around an avatar that doesn’t look anything like me?”
However, since early last year, Mr Mahaley – known as Ace Carson in Second Life – has been exploring the educational possibilities of this and other virtual worlds, and says: “Over time, I have come to realise there is much more to it and much more is possible, especially when we start looking at the generation of young managers who have grown up with these kinds of spaces as part of their experience. It behoves us to give it a close look.”
After reading Jim Collins’ “Good to Great” and working in an organization that encourages innovation, one would think that people would be open and excited about learning and exploring new opportunities like Second Life. It seems, however, that even in a culture promoting innovation that at times it’s difficult for people to be willing to take the step to some ‘outside the box’ thinking. I’m not sure if it’s unfamiliarity with the environment, or fear (of failure or success?) that keeps some people from being excited about these things, but it really is important that we at least experiment with new technologies.
“At present, the consensus is that Second Life and other virtual worlds will be complementary to existing teaching methods for some time.
“There is nothing in our activities that we could not do on Second Life,” says Prof Sarvary. “[However], the idea is not to replace faceto-face meetings and classroom experiences but to make sure that we can extend the experience that our regular students are having.“
I think this really sort of ‘wraps-up’ what we’re trying to do for our World Campus students here at Penn State. Students at every other campus have the “on campus” college experience of walking to class, hanging out and meeting other students, and feeling like they have a place where they ‘belong’. Our World Campus students do not have that experience right now, but a virtual environment like Second Life can give that to them. By giving our students a space where they belong, we can provide them with an ‘on campus’ experience, even in a virtual space. That’s value-added learning, and we owe it to them.
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