Erik’s Random Babble

http://k12onlineconference.org/?p=164

Needless to say, the first presentation that really caught my eye when browsing through the K12 Online Conference offerings was this “panel” about educational applications of the Second Life virtual environment, presented by Kevin Jarrett and Sylvia Martinez (but featuring contributions from numerous others). Though I am already fairly well versed in the whole Second Life realm, I’ve only ever used it as a bit of escape and fun. This presentation opened my eyes to a lot of the interesting educational projects that have been established within SL, and which I intend to explore in greater depth in the near future.

To summarize, this presentation began with a basic overview of SL, including descriptions of the two parallel (but mutually exclusive) “grids” within this online universe: the Main Grid, which is geared towards adults over the age of 18, and the Teen Grid, which is logically designed to be used by 13 to 18-year-olds. Next, a variety of the aforementioned projects were discussed, which I found to be the most illuminating part of this presentation. A variety of web resources for getting more information about how SL is being used in education are then identified, which also provided a number of appealing leads which I have every intention of follow-up on in the future. The potential pitfalls and areas of concern about SL are discussed, and although many of the issues raised are more prominent in the Main Grid rather than the Teen Grid, it was good to see them mentioned as they are important to remain mindful of when considering the use of SL in an educational setting. The latter part of the presentation covers how to get started, including details about hardware and network requirements.

As I already mentioned, the descriptions of various existing educational projects in SL was what really got me excited. For instance, ISTE has a fairly well-established presence in SL now, and one area in particular that I want to check out is their Emerging Technologies Idea Library which features rooms devoted to each NETS standard. Something called the PacificRim Exchange, a project created to allow exchange students from the US and Japan to get to know one another within the SL environment before going on their actual exchanges, also piqued my curiosity. And the Ramapo Islands Project, created by Peggy Sheehy of Suffern Middle School (linked off of the presentation’s Supporting Links), sounds like a great model for using SL with students. In it, Peggy has had her student participate in things such as virtual literature circles, and even acting out scenes from books, like the trial sequence from ‘Of Mice and Men.’

Really a lot to digest here, as this presentation clocked in at just under 2 hours, and I will no doubt rewatch it and subsequently explore beyond my current locales within the Second Life universe. As for actually bringing this into use with students, I imagine that’s still a ways off — at least for me. However, seeing what’s already out there has definitely expanded my own horizons here.