Strolling Through Second Life

So I did a little bit of strolling around Second Life.  I went to a couple of live concerts, some ok but most were bad.  I searched through a couple of areas geared towards math.  I still have a lot to explore and I am steal looking to sit in a virtual classroom.  I ended my time today in Second life exploring a couple of the locals in welcome area of Second life.  I'll keep you posted as I journey through this virtual world.

OMHSgeometry on top of the tallest building on Welcome Island

 

OMHSgeometry doing a little rock climbing

Educational Gaming

This video puts forth some pretty powerful ideas in term of how video games are very effective motivation tools.  I keep thinking about him talking about how games sometime reward effort and give feedback.  These are two things that I think are very important in the learning effort to keep students motivated.  The most powerful thing that he talked about was that games allow us to take risks that we might not normally take.  Taking risks is a very powerful tool in the learning process.  We often learn more from our mistakes than from our triumphs.  I truly feel that part of the future of education is dependent upon the creation of simulations or games that can model real life situations.  Instead of just having a student answer a question from a math or science textbook we will have the student experience where they would have to use the knowledge or skill in really life.  Instead of just reading about history or about literary great we would have the student interact with the people or live though the historical events.  I think when we can begin learn to harness the power of video games in education, we will begin to see the future of education.

Second Life

I just took a little stroll though the world of Second Life.  This was just second time to visit this virtual world and it appears a lot has changed since the first time I went a few years ago.  For those of you who don't know, Second Life is a virtual world in which you create an avatar to live and interact with other people in.  Think World of Warcraft but without the killing, and level grinding, just the social interactions.  The user interface and graphics seem to be improved and there are a lot more places that you can now go.  I have heard of schools holding classes in second life.  I think this would be great for an online class.  People can interact with each other in a way that email and text alone just cannot match.  This would allow for many of the things that are usually missed out on by taking an online class instead of a traditional class.  I feel that this is something that can have a powerful impact on education especially adult education.  Imagine the power of a Khan Academy set in a virtual and interactive world.  I would like to observe or participate in one of these class sessions to see what people are doing with them.  Hopefully in the coming weeks I will get to and I'll share my finding with you all.