Second Life - a Virtual World Experience

Second Life is what appears to be a collection of fantasies created by people around the world. The introduction article says there are no manufactured conflicts and no set objectives to the scenes in Second Life. So, it is what you make it, or what you experience as you move around in the virtual world. The experience is totally open ended. The users of the program, called residents, create or build everything. Changes can be made at any time to any part of the virtual world. When you log in, the world you were in before you left could have been destroyed or changed many times. The cost of building things in this virtual world range from just a few Lindens to thousands of Lindens. You can change the look of your avatar and participate in all kinds of activities, your imagination is your only limit – as per the writers of the article.
I have been experiencing Second Life now quite a bit and still am not able to maneuver very well in the scenes. It is a totally different experience than what you expect from a game. I am not a gamer, but I guess I am not a virtual world participant either. I do not see introducing this to any classroom, and certainly not for students to experience individually. I believe the visual content is not regulated enough and not age appropriate for young or high school children. Under strict supervision I could see a short video presentation of a few minutes showing students how it could be used to do research. Using a virtual world may provide a variety of research platforms for testing that would not involve the use of animals or testing on humans. I will continue to experience Second Life as the semester progresses and see if my opinion changes.

My Top Ed-tech Picks

 These are my picks that I felt were the most useful and creative.

 
DimensionU (Tabula Digita)
DimensionU is a video game-based learning resource for K-12 students. In DimensionU, students can access 3D multiplayer educational video games that help them hone their math and literacy skills, connect with friends, and compete and collaborate while learning.

“We had a campus where lower-level students hung out at a nearby park before school started each day. Most days the police had to be called, and some [students] were carted off in handcuffs,” said Hedwig Pettinger, coordinator of middle school technology for the Garland Independent School District in Texas. “Several of our teachers opened a computer lab and invited these students in to play [DimensionU]. Since these students didn’t have access to this type of program at home, a few decided to try it. Word spread quickly. They went from a handful of students to 30, to 60, to 90 … with additional students waiting in line for a seat. Yes—they were playing a video game. But, they couldn’t win unless they did the math correctly. It was a winning combination!”





WatchKnowLearn
Developed by Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger, WatchKnowLearn is a free online collection of educational videos for students ages 3 to 18. The site includes more than 20,000 videos across 3,000 categories on subjects such as math, science, and history. It also features software, developed by Sanger, that allows wiki-style collaboration among users. “Think of it as YouTube meets Wikipedia, filtering out everything but high-quality educational videos,” Sanger said.

Stacey Allen uses the site in teaching first grade for the DeSoto County Schools in Mississippi. “There are endless videos that were, until now, unavailable for me to use in my classroom, because our school system blocked their use,” she said. “WatchKnowLearn not only approves them, but filters them to make sure they are appropriate for my students and indexes them so that I can find what I need. Above all, I can contribute to the site myself. I can help give suggestions for videos … and I can even edit the index to make it more teacher-friendly. I love this resource.”