Second Life Diva
Planning my conference presentation with my colleague Theo/Anthony
Now that I am on the other side of planning delivering presentation on Mlearning at the UNC TLT Conference, it’s time to reflect. I came away from the experience convinced that Second Life has extraordinary potential for collaborative learning and working. For me, it’s appeal as a social milieu was weak, but having gone through the process of preparing a presentation, interacting with colleagues, and making new professional contacts, I’m convinced of its potential for education.
The downside is the rather steep learning curve – particularly for those who may, like me, be somewhat spatially challenged. Will teachers and students have the time to invest in navigating a new world and mastering a whole new set of tools?
Still needing improvement is the search function which intermingles uninteresting commercial, pornographic, and academic content in a frustratingly random way. Shopping also has a way to go to combine the convenience of the online experience with the fun of live shopping. If avatars could be created that more nearly replicated their real-life selves, we could try on clothes and get a sense of how they looked before buying – and we could buy real clothes as well as virtual ones.
But other features are truly exciting – such as videoplayers that allow easy importing of Youtube videos, simulated mobile phones, and a near – instantaneous translation tool for chat. During the presentations, the presence of chat and talk allowed for two non-competing channels of communication, fostering a greater level of exchange than I’ve found at most conferences ,
What was most striking about the experience was the messianic attitude of Second Life natives – the willingness to teach, help , encourage and befriend made the entire experience both pleasurable and educational.
