Benefits of Using Second Life as an Instructional Tool
The introduction of technology to the field of education has occasioned many beneficial outcomes for both students and educators. Second Life, in particular, has afforded teachers a whole new range of possibilities in offering instruction via virtual platforms. One of the benefits of Second Life is that teachers can be able to offer instruction to a global audience that is not limited by physical boundaries or geographical locations.
Another benefit that is closely related to the above is that students who use virtual classrooms for educational purposes can now learn from their safe environments instead of having to attend physical classrooms. Such an arrangement saves time and critical resources for both educators and students.
Third, the sense of immersion that Second Life generates makes it an excellent tool for role-play, content reinforcement and re-enactment. These attributes are critical to any form of educational instruction, and Second Life offers the much-needed platform for educators to reinforce the necessary content to students.
Forth, it is a well-known fact that instructing learners by showing them how to do things as opposed to traditional techniques of instruction brings highly positive results. Fifth, the interactive nature of Second Life not only affords students and teachers an interesting, faster and more effective learning experience, but it also foster an environment where students are able to interact with others for collaborative development.
Sixth, the simulation possibilities inherent in Second Life can provide students with a critical comprehension of what it is like for other people in the real physical world. This attribute prepares the students’ mental and intellectual capacities for future challenges.
Lastly, Second Life affords educators the possibility to prepare immersive self-paced tutorials and assessments, administer them via the virtual space and feed results into an online database for students to view their performances.
Benefits of using Second Life for Professional Development & Networking
In a landscape of technology innovations, one of the benefits that Second Life can afford teachers is the opportunity to collaborate with other instructors in not only developing digital learning resources, but also in designing student-based online activities.
Second Life also benefits an educator’s professional development through providing a framework for skill development as well as knowledge and practice sharing through collaborative work, team scheduling and preparation, development of high order thinking skills and collaborative reflection for knowledge acquisition.
Third, Second Life and other internet-based tools benefit educators to meet the increasingly complex learning needs presented by the rapid convergence of technology in institutions of learning.
Forth, it is evident that teachers can benefit immensely in instructional methodologies through the use of a virtual learning environment such as Second Life. Finally, networking the Second Life Multi-User Virtual Environments (MUVES) not only fosters the educator’s behavioral and cognitive development, but also facilitates a stronger collaboration and exchange of educational content.
Limitations of using Second Life as an Instructional Tool
One of the drawbacks involved in using Second Life as an instructional tool is that underlying technical, operational and content challenges can unconstructively affect student engagement and performance. The capacity for educational institutions to obtain good software and hardware is not always guaranteed.
In this perspective, it is imperative for educators to carefully consider such challenges and demands prior to delivering instruction in Second Life. Second, virtual environments have the capacity to expose students to a steep learning curve. Diverse cultural orientations have also been known to impact negatively on the introduction and adoption of these forms of virtual technologies.
What’s more, it has been noted that some 3D virtual environments serve to enhance student aggression and social isolation, not mentioning that they have the capacity to propel some students into ferocity. Indeed, there exists a real danger of learners becoming exposed to diversions or unsuitable content.
Limitations of using Second Life for Professional Development & Networking
If not used for the intended purposes, Second Life can facilitate social activism among educators at the expense of education. The huge financial cost involved in setting up a Second Life virtual environment has prevented teachers from taking full advantage of the medium for professional development.
Moreover, Second Life offers no guarantee that the content created by educators for professional development will be educationally valuable. In networking via Second Life, educators are faced with a real challenge of criminal activity as well as other ethical problems such as mischievousness, virtual vandalism and griefing.
Comments
Research needs to be carried out on how well Second Life supports distributed learning and its capacity to meet the learning demands of the 21st century. Researchers also need to focus attention to evaluating how institutional structure and management influence the successful design and implementation of virtual environments for educational gain and professional development.
Lastly, educators need to have knowledge about the best practices in 3D virtual environments for instructional as well as for educator professional development and networking.
Perspectives & Experiences
Second Life, in my view, serves a wide range of educational and social networking objectives. From experience, it is indeed true that the highly immersive educational experience created by Second Life serves to deepen a learner’s understanding of real-life issues.
Although complex to master, the virtue environment offers an enriching experience to users in ways that traditional techniques of instruction cannot match. If the social and financial challenges to Second Life are dealt with decisively then we can be sure that the medium represents the next frontier for growth in instructional methodologies and teacher professional development.