Education in Second Life

In Second Life, there is a vast array of educational communities. A location I found beneficial in Second Life was EdTech Island, supported by Boise State University. This island’s community is for Teacher Education in Virtual Worlds. There I was able to find video tutorials for self-guided instruction, free educational technology surveys, and an abundance of free tools for teachers to teach in Second Life. The tools consisted of objects such as a script generator, a picture changer, a book creation tutorial, a professor starter kit, and links to different classes. EdTech Island also has different workshops available. I visited the Scripting and Building Workshop. Here, I met other educators looking to educate themselves on Second Life and what it has to offer in the classroom. Most of the people I spoke to were as new to Second Life as I. This Second Life environment created a community of practice in the area of education. I met educators from all over. We all seem to have one thing in common: best practices for students.

Virtual Environments Enable New Models of Learning

This article discusses the ways educators are using Second Life in and as a classroom. It gives plenty of links to education case studies. It even gives information on starting your own Second Life project by meeting other teachers who have already created one. This can be found under the New Educator Pilot Program. Finally, this article gives links to connect with other educators and nonprofits by using Second Life. This can be found under the Plug Into the Education Community in Second Life heading.

Educational Uses of Second Life

This site provides a slide show titled, “Second Life in Education.” It gives screen shots of different lands one can visit while in Second Life. This is a great tool for someone who does not know much about Second Life and what it has to offer.

Real-Life Teaching in a Virtual World

This article, “Real- Life Teaching in a virtual World” was written by Denise Harrison. What is interesting is the fact that the one thriving entity in Second Life is education. It gives information on how educators are using Second Life. One particular way is that Second Life is being used to create universities as a replica of the real ones. These replicas are being used as recruiting tools for students and to donors. Other places in Second Life hosts real classes. This virtual environment allows for a hands-on approach rather than just sitting in a classroom listening to a lecture.

Teachers, college students lead a Second Life

This article by Beth Sussman for USA Today focuses on universities using Second Life for educational purposes. Professors think this is a great way to supplement or teach their university courses. They say that their students are more interactive with the course and with each other. This article also explains how Second Life is useful for group activities or for seeing new places.

I would really like to use Second Life in my classroom. I think a major benefit would be for students to see things (worlds, art, places) that they may never see in real life. I think this is a great tool to supplement classroom readings.