Second Life allows the user to visit places around the world that they probably could not necessarily be able to visit otherwise. Users are able to create avatars to navigate this virtual world that has been created to imitate many aspects of the real world.
Second life is a great multimodal
world, which gives many options and possibilities. ELA teachers can use Second
Life in so many different ways; all one need is to be creative. A teacher can
use it to show students a topic of a non-fiction book on history. They could
also have students interact online and establish conversations with each other
while online to facilitate learning in a collaborate style. This is a fantastic
multimodal way to get students engaged and working. My only concern would be
privacy issues concerning students and their possible engagement with other
individuals in while on this platform. Parents would probably be concerned
about such thing, a well, especially with my 6th graders. I am
unsure weather the game actually offers some type of protection or screening
for younger players. Perhaps something like this would actually make easy such
worry. Overall nevertheless, this is something I would kike to give a try to.
In my personal experience, I would have to take the time to see how it can be
incorporated into Social Studies classes in the sixth grade.
I too agree that the safety issue is a bit concerning. As a first time user of SL I signed on, created my avatar an immediately noticed that there were other people from the public that were also signed on and accessing the same information as myself. If there were a way to close off certain areas from to public, I believe that would solve a lot of these issues. Parents would have to feel entirely comfortable with this program in order for it to be used world wide in schools.
ReplyDeleteHello Jerry,
ReplyDeleteThe use of SL is such a great addition among the things teachers can do to spice up their lesson plan. However, it's alarming that safety is something that needs to be consider even for an educational tools. Hopefully both parents and teachers do their best to monitor student usage on a regular basis if possible in order to promote a safe learning environment classroom and online
I agree. If the privacy issue can be address, then teachers and students can focus on learning while having fun. :D
ReplyDelete