I bet if you look hard enough you will even find the flying monkeys. Second Life is a different sort of place. I had been familiar with the concept, as I have done some reading about it. My wife is in advertising sales and she has had Second Life come up in conversations with clients. I read a few articles about how people were making money in Second Life and how people were find their true loves in Second Life.
Second Life is a combination of social networking, role-playing games, fantasy and real world business wrapped up into one slick video game interface. As I set up my avatar (not that hard because I play Wii with my kids) I realized that you could be anyone you want. That is probably the appeal for many people in the real world to have an alter ego that they can create. You can live out your dreams and fantasies in a “relatively” safe environment. I spent a little time trying to get familiar with the functions and the groundwork of the place before we met in class.
I enjoyed the group experience of class and found that having someone with knowledge as our guide was extremely helpful. The struggle at first was trying to figure out who everyone was. There were a lot of people and at first with our second life names we are anonymous. But as soon as I “found” my classmates that I knew, it became more comfortable. Like when you first walk into a new class you look for that familiar face to know that you’re not alone, it is comforting.
As much fun as I had traveling to different sites on our field trip I am trying to figure out how we can use this as an educational tool. I can see that some of the sites are very informative and have a lot of information that is useful but how do I keep the students on task? If they are anything like we were last night they will want to change their appearance and “chat” and wander off. Not unlike a conventional field trip.
Here I am on my magic carpet. I finally figured out how to
fly it!
I guess I am just going to have to spend a little more time there. We had just a small taste of how big Second Life really is. I think the experience is better when you are not alone, the social networking part. There are a lot of places to search and visit and hopefully I will run into some of you there. I will be the tall guy with hair! :-)
See you in cyberspace!
Very informative, Gary! I agree with you, there is so much to learn when it comes to Second Life! Where did you find the flying carpet!? I want to ride it! It sounds awesome! I also agree with you in that I became a lot more comfortable when I figured out who everyone was and that we were able to work together. I also agree with you in that there are many education places that students could visit. I am just afraid who my students may run into or what they may encounter. Also, I loved your flowing hair :-) haha
ReplyDeleteHi Gary!
ReplyDeleteReally interesting reading. If you choose to go back in, let me know. I would be interested in seeing what SL really is.
Kathryn
Yeah, I wanna hear more about the flying carpet, too! :-)
ReplyDeleteWell I had a carpet and a YACHT!!
ReplyDeleteI could drive the yacht too. Where do you park it?
I found the experience more enjoyable going as a group too. I wonder if there a way to tie everyone to an area so they can't wander off. Did you notice that the chat and even the voice chat did that. If you left an area the chat stopped. If I were going to use it more I would want to really look at some tutorials or tour with an experienced user. Thanks for hanging out and going on tour after class.
Gary, Carpet? Ha! Yes, Second Life was a trip! It was a double-trip sitting in the classroom with 4 others trying to figure out what in the world we were doing. Several times I found myself just laughing my ass off! I agree with you that it was vital to have someone who knew what in the world they were doing to sort of guide us through the experience. I think you found more places to visit than I did. I like the idea of field trips; maybe once we get a little more used to navigating around we can be more effective. Great post!
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