CNN has a great article today about schools that use Second Life for educational purposes:
Growing number of educators explore ‘Second Life’ online
The most important quote is this one, from Rebecca Nesson, who teaches a class that is offered online through Harvard and uses Second Life:
“Students interact with each other and there’s a regular sense of classroom interaction. It feels like a college campus”
So there is a growing number of people that are using Second Life for virtual online education. Think of it this way. I was in Second Life once for a conference on a product called Sloodle. I’ll have to blog on Sloodle later. I was chatting with someone else in there. I could see his avatar, and could tell a lot about his personality by the way he was typing. Then he mentioned that he was actually in London at that time. So, there I was – having an online conversation, for free with someone in London. And there are companies out there that are working on audio integration tools for Second Life. I guess Holodecks are coming soon, huh?
(I know I emailed you this, but I figure your readers might be interested…)
This past weekend, I was on Info Island (in SL) and noticed a group of new buildings that had been added. (If you haven’t been to Info Island for a few weeks, you’ll be surprised at how much it’s grown recently.) I noticed several “cookie-cutter” two-story buildings with “coming soon” signs in front of them for universities. I logged back in today and jotted down the universities:
– University of Southern Florida
– Claremont College
– University of Montevallo
– UNC Greensboro
– Georgia Institute of Technology
– Johnson & Wales University
Looks like we’re about to see an explosion of educational sims in SL.
Yeah… ummm…. my entire readership of 3 people? 🙂 2 of which never comment on anything?
Well, I’m counting on your blog(s) and mine having a dramatic increase in readership in the next decade or so. 😛 And these people will most definitely read through the archives.
(tsk! tsk! So little faith, my fellow blogger!)
Yeah – I guess I also could get off my duff and actually promote this thing….