Many people enjoy using computer programs in which they can pretend to be something or someone other than themselves. In this blog assignment you will read two brief articles about Second Life. In the first article you will read about use of Second Life in education. Many universities use Second Life as an educational tool, either supplementing real-life classes or sometimes conducting entire distance-learning courses in the virtual Internet world. The second article contains one person’s opinion about the virtual world. Go to the links and read the articles. Write a reflective comment about the articles and about Second Life.
What is your opinion about the use of Second Life? What is good about it? Is there anything that is potentially bad about it? Is it appropriate for use in education? Give an example of how it might be used at our school. Have you ever tried Second Life? If so, what did you do? How did you feel about it?
17 comments:
I have heard about second life before and have planned on starting to play it, but i have never thought of using it in this way. Now that i have heard of it i think it would be a good way of teaching students a different way. it could be used for homework assignments and when haveing group discussions instead of shouting the kids would have to type in their messages. The teachers would not have to deal with people shouting out. In the holidays there could be specified days the teachers would be on and help kids get ready for upcoming school work.
I think that second life would be cool for something like a chat program because you can do more than just chat. But to use it as an escape out of the real world is just too much. Who would want to throw away his real life. In the realo world you only live one time. So why spend your time living in a dead world? - Freddy
On the subject of Second Life, to me it seems to be quite a creepy thing. Many people are wasting their life sitting in front of a computer, doing things that instead of doing them in real life, are doing them on the computer! However there is a good thing about it. Let us say you are a civilian in a war-zone or a female in Saudi. Both of these persons would have humungous restrictions on their daily lives, but now, with Second Life, can roam freely in the internet world and do things they usually cannot do in real life.
But I believe when a person is online on a site like that, a person has to be aware for sex predators and identity thieves (it is a known fact that identity thefts can guess your passwords for various accounts by just chatting with you for five minutes). When Second Life comes to the subject of education, I don’t believe it is an appropriate tool. Many people (I am one of them) cannot focus if the teacher isn’t standing front of them. Also how can a teacher be sure that a student is paying attention or if it’s the student who they’re actually talking to and not someone who has stolen the students’ password? If it was to be used in our school, it could be used for people who are absent to catch up at school through online lectures of some sort.
Although I have never tried second life, these articles have sparked a flame of curiosity.
When I first heard about second life, was in Time Magazine and the article I read about this game made me step away from my original curiosities. However as I sat down and read the articles, the possibilities hit me. And they hurt.
Let me give you a scenario. You missed your first 2 weeks of school and every class, teacher and even student scares you. You are new and about to venture the unknown seas of "high school". That would no longer be an excuse of fear. Since our school could be designed in second life to that ink spot a senior left our school as a present. Kids could just log in chat and meet each other. Teachers wouldn't waste the 1st week of school getting to know each other we could all already be friends because we met in the playground. Well at least the Second Life playground.
Now would you have to say would this be the most useful and needed teaching utensil. No it wouldn't. But a projector isn't the most needed teaching utensil but we still all have one. It would be the same to make teaching a little easier. The occasional re-cap for class in an online class. Spending your detention in front of your screen instead of in the office maybe? We can dream.
I would be making a Second Life account now, but my homework calls and the clock keeps ticking closer to tomorrow.
I've actually never heard of this game or educational tool before so I was pretty interested in what people wrote about it. A good thing about it is that it can give people a new life so to speak. It's also an escape from all the horrible things that happen in the real world. I don't see anything potentially bad about it, even though i don't find it appealing personally. This is because it's like an escape, a sort of hiding place from the real world. I think it's much better to try to face the real world instead of running away from it.
I think that for educational puroposes, this may be a new and maybe even better way of learning. However, it can also seem a bit scary to think that we're doing all this using a computor, which can seem kind of depressing, because sometimes it feels like computors are taking over the world, even though this probably won't happen and I don't have anything agains this program it's something we need to think about. This could be used at our school to teach different subjects that deal with stepping into another world. Like learning about different planets, or another time in earth's history.
I have never tried second life before in my life, and I don't think I will out of my own will.
The first time i have head about the virtual life game, Second Life, was when we saw it in class. Truly it reflects to me that this game is useful to play, having a life from a different prospective of view from life to death. If i had the chance to choose between a normal collage education, and the Second Life, i would choose the second life. It has been proven that having the education you need in a fun way will help you, understand and memorize the subject. Imagine you were training to be a sergeant, using all the book's, reading, and memorizing, or would you choose having a real virtual surgery on a game using the books so you could know what to do? I would choose the Second Life virtual game with the books.
What do you think your life would be like, enjoying your own house paying your own bills each month. For that i would waste my life to get, but the question is, do you have experience selling land to other players? Do you have the experience to get the money you want to start a life in this virtual game? To me i think if you could answer those questions in a positive way, you are ready to hop on to this game when you are 18!
When I read the second article at the very end, it mentioned at the very end at how there is this group of "bombers" that are out to destroy their "enemies" and other parts of this virtual world. So naturally, my opinion of Second Life isn't really all that great. We already have enough of that kind of terrorism going on in the real world, so why would we go onto the virtual world to have that kind of thing happen? It could possibly be good though, that people who might not have the exact life they want, could make one up over the internet.
I think some parts of it might be appropiate for education where as it said in an article, the teacher could show a 3-D model of atoms. We could possibly use this at our school for maybe after school classes, that if a child is missing multiple days of school due to sickness or on school trips, their teachers could meet with them at a specific time.
Becoming obsessed with this game though wouldn't be good, because if a person is only playing this to create the life that they don't have, they should be going out to maybe fix it, not waste away in front of a computer screen.
I have never heard of second life in my life before until last class. Before reading the articles I thought it was cool and all u play a game during class, but then I read these articles and i thought to myself there is absolutely noway I want to play this game.
I honestly don't want to play this game at all because if you think about these articles and what they said. It all adds up that this game is for people who dont have a life. Because who gets married and gets kids in a game. That is really sad. I also thought it was messed up tp have embassies in the game.
So all in all, I would probably hate to be addicted to this game. And when i say hate i mean it as strong as possible.
About every minute, things are getting experimented and people are looking for new ways to make our lives easier, but second life? Why would you be doing all these things on the computer when you can experience it really and personally? I don’t really like that idea in terms for school, because what happened to all the field trips?
If you experience something in reality it's much better than in a dream; which is what I think of second life. It’s a dream to have something that usually takes you hours to get to, be there in a click; like a teacher taking his students to a memorial in a computer rather then a trip in real life. There are some advantages. It's sometimes an effective way to teach; if there's something really hard to visualize, you can show it to students on the second life. Like for example a model of a DNA segment and all of its different parts, and how each DNA segment is different than the other. That’s better than a drawing in a book. Also, this can be used for sports. Not in the sense of how to use your skill! But students can be taught their positions for basketball or a sports game visually on the second life, and how to move into their positions and play their parts.
I have never heard of second life before reading this article. If I tried it, in the beginning I would probably think it's really cool. But it's not really healthy to have students spend a lot of their time in front of a computer screen and taking in all their information like that. I would feel like I have NO LIFE if I had to do that everyday in school. As well, I would be wasting a lot of my time waiting for it to load, since it's not a faster pace then a usual video game.
Personally i haven't heard of second life. By reading these two articles I think it is comforting people too much from the real world. If some people log in to get away from all that stuff that happens to them in real life, instead of spending hours on it they should spend this time trying to figure out other hard things in life not going on a vacation in a virtual world. Well for universities and teaching I believe going 3-d for an assignment is a great way to learn. I think doing this in class is better than doing it at home alone. In class the teacher could talk to us as we use the computer or labtops. We learn more there. I also believe it is a waste of money. Your living in your own world and you create the problems you have. Use the time you spend on second life figuring out how to be more comfortable with yourself. Example someone obese comes to use this so he could see himself as a thin fit person. Instead of living in a dream go work out. Go on a diet, make a dream a reality.
I think second life would be cool to play once in while, to learn about thing 3-d but not living in as a reality. Not working in second life to support yourself. As I said make your dream a reality. I also believe colleges paying a thousand dollars just to buy the campass and people buying land to build a house and where they live in, in cyberspace is a huge waste of money. Use that money for something more useful. It is I believe a smart person making something to rob the people who do not understand it's a dream not real life. Why would you need second life, just make ur life as you want it. I have to admit i will be making an account pretty soon to try thing out, not to make myself a virtual life.
The first article talked about how universities have come to use the program, Second Life, for educational purposes. The literature professor, who is also the writer of the article, explains that the university bought an island in Second Life, in which the class uses to build monuments of the role models and meet each other for educational discussions. The cost of the island is nine hundred fifty dollars and the monthly lease is one hundred fifty dollars. This was deemed expensive for a video game. The universities argue that despite this high cost, it is extremely useful. The article states that class lessons are held near the monuments being studied. In the second article, it talked about how people use this website as a salvation. It is described as a place where you can go, when you are depressed. In Second Life, there are no laws. You are basically free and you can achieve your dreams. People can become millionaires, when in reality they are barely paying their bills. It is a comfortable way of living. But, sadly, people have become addicted to the game. They gave up on true life, but try their best to achieve their goals on Second Life. Moreover, the safety in the game has decreased. People have logged on as bombers, who delete other servers from the system. The world that people thought they can escape to has become a world similar to ours.
In my opinion, Second Life is useful for educational purposes only during holidays. It can give people a chance to attend the class virtually, giving them the choice of waiting and making up the work or actually attending the class. I believe it should only be used by people who are absent from school, but not used by people attending the school. It is easier to attend classes in person because you can take notes, ask questions, and repeat sentences freely. Moreover, most students complain that it is exceedingly slow. Despite the disadvantages, building the monuments will increase your creativity skills and also make the lesson a joy for all students.
Moreover, I would have to say that it is potentially bad to be used as a place to escape to. In other words, it is bad to use the game for fun. Based on experience, after playing the game for a while, you become addicted and play it daily. I have known people who play similar games more than they spend on homework. The game will become a place were these people can escape to. Even though I have not personally played the game, I know people will naturally start achieving all their life time goals in the game, but forget that it is virtual and unreal. They will forget about their goals in reality. I know that, after a period of time, hackers and bombers will fill Second Life. Second Life will become like the real world. One day, after most servers are cancelled and hacked, the game will shut down. What will the addicted players do?
In conclusion, I would have to say that this game is only appropriate for educational purposes. It can increase the creativity and knowledge skills of its players. The draw back is that it can mislead many people and detach them from the real world. Second Life can be an amusing and educational game, but it can also be a game that will ruin a person’s life.
To be honest, I have never heard of the “Second Life” website before reading this article. But after reading what it was and what people use it for, I didn’t really like the idea. I think that for me personally, I learn better if the teacher is talking or showing me a PowerPoint. It makes it harder to understand the teacher while using this program. The “Second Life” website would only make me frustrated. I think that in order to express your feelings you would need to say your opinions instead of type it. Otherwise, it would just be like writing an email or chatting online. Also, in the article one of the students said that the program is slower than a video game. In my opinion that would just waste time during class.
The “Second Life” website could be useful if you’re using it once or twice, but I wouldn’t like it to be a daily activity. I feel like we would only get too attached if we use it for too long. But in my opinion, it would be very useful if we are using it to see and understand 3-D things in chemistry, but other than that I don’t think it is very useful in any other subject in our school. Maybe I feel this way because I have never actually used the website, but until I do, I don’t like the idea one bit!
I have never heard of this game or teaching tool as they call it before I read this article. I was very interested by the idea of it, I mean living in a whole other world would be really cool and you would have plenty of information stuck to your head! This program could take you to different places and different times which could be really helpful for understanding different topics.
What is bad about it is that it's behind the computer; I mean you are behind the screen after all. Besides the teacher would not be able to know if her students are with her or paying attention or doing whatever they want. Besides, in my opinion the people who created this are just people who want to escape life and all its troubles and live in a perfect world. But that of course won't happen even on cyber space because we can’t escape the bad people who easily log in and start to ruin lives of people just as they do it in the real world.
I don't think it's a very good way for educating students who have to ask questions, and hear their classmates’ opinion's I mean typing something on the computer is really easy but this might not be the case in real world. I mean what if they pretend to know but they're actually taking answers from the Internet. I think it's really unhelpful for education. Maybe people who have failed in the real world would go there and be happy for a while so they won't feel as terrible and would have something to make them feel good. I have never been on Second Life but maybe I'll try it one time, just for fun! To explore it and see how it looks like but not more than once!
My point of view about second life is that; it is amusing and a waste of time. It is amusing until everyone wants to interact with each other. For me it would be pleasant to meet new people, but as your friendship starts growing you want to see the person in real life and you want socialize for real not in second life.
As I mentioned above the good part is when you meet new people. There are many more like; if your sick you can study at home in second life, if your really shy to make friends you can go to second life and start that way. In real life if people judge by how you look, you can change that in second life because they don’t no, and they'l be your friends. There are so many more ways in that second life could be good but there are bad ways.
Is there any thing potentially bad in second life? I can only say this, don’t get used to this you will end up in the computer everyday and you won’t go out with real people. You wouldn’t be connected to the world. Your life will be ruined.
Then there is the “second life” education way, for people like me, who are active, this in no way would succeed. To learn you need to be there with a teacher that can see what you are doing, in second life the teacher can’t see you she doesn’t know if you’re paying attention or fooling around. I would take advantage of this and when I get into senior year i'm going to be ashamed of my self. ‘Why didn’t I study and be attentive, why didn’t I get a real teacher to help me.’ Well I guess this second life education could work but only if you were committed to being an obedient student.
In my school I can’t imagine how second life would be used. I don’t know if it would be used as a big socializing world or an educational program. In this school it would be used as a socializing machine. I don’t think anybody can study on a computer without getting distracted by something else.
I never tried second life and if I did I think I will get addicted, so it would be better for me not to try.
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