This morning, Bertie, sent me a pointer to this article. It reminded me of a draft post I've had for over a month. I was attempting to summarize a three-way dialogue about Second Life from three brilliant thinkers with differing views about the value of SL.
Henry Jenkins
http://www.henryjenkins.org/2007/01/a_second_look_at_second_life.html#more
Clay Shirky
http://many.corante.com/archives/2007/01/29/second_life_games_and_virtual_worlds.php
Beth Coleman
http://www.projectgoodluck.com/blog/
I've been meaning to come back and give these a closer read to see what new ideas emerged and how it different from the thinking/writing back in December. This post stayed in draft mode.
There was yet a second post today about 3d web. Stephen Downes points me to a post from the brilliant Vicky Davis: The Frontier of 3D Education. She gives the context of 3d Web, the standards, describes the drawbacks to second life for education and provides some examples of the possibilities, including videos from YouTube for those whose computers can't handle the Second Life client. I like that Vicky, even though she is a skeptic, took the time to explore the platform indepth. As she notes, experience is the real teacher. So, her critiques and her description of the possibilities is authentic.
Her summary:
3D is coming, and we can't even handle 2.0
Change is accelerating. Meanwhile, many educators haven't even come to grips with the social web, Web 2.0. We also must remember that there is no such thing as second hand learning -- second life learning is first person learning.
Likewise 3D learning is real learning.
If second life is not there yet, we as educators need to join in the discussions, consortiums, and groups that are figuring out what needs to happen. So, although I'm not taking a class into second life yet, I am spending a couple of hours a month participating in second life exploration, discussions, and learning.
Also, we need to advocate the work being done by researchers and let people know what we think could be! We need to encourage the development of easy to use, safe, classroom environments that can be controlled by the teacher but also allow students to enter 3D virtual environments. If we do not develop alternatives to second life, we will have to use second life. If we do not advocate for effective classroom measures in second life, we will have to take it as it is. Linden Labs (the developers of second life) will quite literally control our future.
Meanwhile, encourage educators to understand change and become a part. Help them to see that the very future of the children they teach is dependent upon their ability to change, adapt, and understand such new environments and to operate in them safely. Our children have an unknown future that will be full of change. Are you preparing them for that?
I am not an expert on the 3D web, but I know enough to believe that this is indeed the next evolution of the Web.
How it will look and what it will be will largely be determined by the pioneers and visionaries who are moving into the new frontier: the 3D web.
This is a demonstration of technology stewarship at its finest - the right balance between skepticism and evangelism. It is not black and white speaking. Her opinions are based on real experience.
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