I barely have time for one life, much less two, but last Friday I tried to help some instructors and administrators maneuver Second Life. For those of you who are not familiar with Second Life, it is a virtual reality world where one can teach, work, dance, paint or just observe subcultures designed to function entirely in cyberspace. I have been trying to find a good use for it in my classroom. As an experiential learning tool, Second Life can offer an online student the added benefit of "meeting" in a classroom setting if needed or to have that heightened level of collaboration and interaction that opponents of Distance Ed. feels is lacking in those cyber-courses. I am not sure that all of the trouble of learning Second Life is worth it for completely online learners (unless they first take a course in Second Life), but I can see the benefit to use the technology in seated or hybrid courses to increase the level of engagement in discussion groups, research and even analysis of literature, culture, and ideologies. But for right now, I am trying to function in my 1st life - well that and my level 70 Priest! Woot! to WoW!
OMG! I am a geek!
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