Journal #9
Web 2.0 Virtual Worlds
Virtual tools that enable students to explore and experience places and things that they wouldn't be able to do in a regular classroom is something that I find incredibly exciting. The ability to travel to distant lands and feel the surroundings from the comfort of your own classroom desk would be a very useful tool in class lesson planning. But which virtual world is the right tool? From reading some discussions in Web 2.0, it seems that one world, Second Life, is the popular way to go. In this world , similar to the Sims, a user creates an Avatar (person), and begins to meander through this second life. In it, the user is able to create just about anything that they can imagine. The problem that I see with this virtual world is that it is geared more towards upper grade students in High School. You can explore, but you are merely going through and meeting people and living a life through a computer. One of the comments I read talked about a tool called VRML that is a bit more education friendly. VRML allows the user to build 3D models of different topics. For example, in the blog, the user talked about building a 3D model of an eye that allowed students to travel into the eye, get right next to it, turn around in it, and look back at it. The problem though was that he taught the lesson on the eye, and created the model. So for each lesson plan topic, a new 3d model would need to be built. The other hindrance is that unless you are a genius, or at least a intermediate level programmer, the language used in the building of 3D models might be a bit over your head. It is a great tool, and there are instructions on how to use it, but learning to do so is something that won't be very easy to do. I think that is why Second Life is more popular, it's not that difficult to create a character and roam in a pre-made virtual world. So VRML would be the obvious choice for a virtual education tool, as long as the lessons start off on an elementary school level and progress with experience on the use of the tool.
3 comments:
Hi Sergio -
Well I will say that virtual worlds are a little over my head...I still do not have a handle on what benefit they serve in an educational setting. For personal use - I can (kinda) see why games such as The Sims might be popular -- however, I still think that kids (and adults, too) should take a walk outside and create their own real adventure...However, in the future, I am sure this is a technology that can be effectively used in the classroom...we will keep waiting for the genius to create it...
At first I thought you were heading in the direction of virtual field trips, and did not expect this! It does sound cool and lends itself to creative thinking. What subject does this mesh most easily with?
Very interesting; I will have to read more to answer my own questions.
Thanks for sharing.
The ability to explore and experience the world from a virtual aspect has a great many pluses. I like your observations about Second Life. But I also like your fair comments on the limitations of some of these environments. Second Life is really geared to older students, and I am not sure that there is anything like it geared to a younger audience, so its use is limited. I would have to consider carefully, before using a virtual world in a classroom. I would like to see more development in the area of application to learning environments, before I venture further into this application. Thank you for the fair comments on Web 2.0 Virtual World.
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