Left to my own indulgences and a few extra hours on the weekend, my activities of choice would be reading a good book, knitting, a walk in the woods with my husband or a visit with a friend. Today, I took my first trip into a Virtual World. I have NEVER been remotely interested in spending any time creating new worlds on the computer. I have such little time in the real world. However, I took a leap and gave it a try. I wanted to see how virtual worlds such as Second Life could be used in schools.
More than once, I had to be patient with my learning curve and my oldish desktop computer. It took me a bit to navigate around and I stayed in the tutorial area. I felt like a toddler just learning to walk. Fortunately I could fly instead.
On this initial virtual voyage, I learned it would take quite a bit of time for me to be proficient. If I worked with older students I would not need to be proficient, as they could be the teachers and I their student. Since I work with younger students, I also checked out some virtual worlds for children. Has anyone has used them in their classrooms or with their own children?
Congrats on exploring the virtual world. I think its important that at some point we as teachers step back and let the students teach us. They are learning stuff at the same time and also it proves the point that as teachers its not about teaching the students the software and technology but rather the objectives as we read about in Chapter 7.
ReplyDeleteWhat is Second Life? and how would it be able to be used in the classroom? I probably should know this and I probably read it in one of the articles but where did you hear of Second Life?
I too am interested in the educational benefits of something like second life. I admire your ability to take the plunge into an area that you had little prior knowledge.
ReplyDeleteSecond Life I learned about just prior to taking this course watching one of my guilty pleasure court shows. Someone was suing their niece for money they gave her to use on Second Life. I was intrigued by it and just went to visit it. I didn't do much though because I have never really been much of a virtual world kind of person.
ReplyDeleteAfter doing some reading for this course though I too wonder if there is any virtual world type programming or software available to the younger grades that could be used for educational purposes. We do several service projects at our school to raise money to buy livestock for people in 3rd world countries. Wouldn't it be great if we could find some virtual way to show kids how livestock to these families and villages in a virtual sense helps them? To see how their lives transform and flourish. What would happen if the animals weren't there? I don't think my little ones understand why animals matter to these people. I think if I could show them in a virtual sense they would understand more.
I like the idea of the older students being the teacher and showing you how to use it. This would be a great way to begin showing students that they really know something and then progress to having them "teach" more things.
ReplyDeleteI do not know of anyone who has used something like this in their classroom but would love to hear from someone who has.
Interesting! Do a quick Google search and you will find a number of virtual worlds for kids...like Webkinz, Whyville, and many more. See what they have to offer.
ReplyDeleteDeb, this is one of those areas that more and more people (and teachers) may be using in the future for all sorts of educational applications.
ReplyDeleteGood for you for checking it out.