Virtual education in Second Life

With the start of a new school year comes new articles and journal issues about education. In the past few months, there have been new entries to add to the virtual worlds bibliography.

The first entry is an article by Kemp and Haycock (2008) that examines the potential of SL to extend the physical classroom. These authors begin by reiterating the notion that educators are attempting to create more learner-centered, participatory, constructivist learning spaces. Virtual worlds, the authors argue, enable students to explore, interact with new people, experience different cultures, and engage in collaborative activities. Thus, environments such as SL are attractive to many educators. One interesting fact is that the top three role playing virtual worlds in terms of popularity and use are World of Warcraft, Lineage, and Runescape; the most popular worlds for educational initiatives are Active Worlds, NeverWinter Nights, and Second Life (p. 91).

In summer 2007, the San Jose State University SLIS program conducted a graduate course in SL with no f2f component. Fourteen students participated in this course - 79% female, 60% part-time students, 32 years of age (on average). While 93% of the students agreed that playing computer games is fun, they complainted about unpleasant encounters with residents unaffiliated with the university. Yet, the authors claim that the "SLIS campus itself was basically free of outside disturbances" (p. 95). While Kemp and Haycock view their SL campus as a safe haven, the students viewed it differently.

Also, the Kemp and his colleague note that SL is not particularly well-suited for reflection and deep learning. They encourage the use of a course management system such as Blackboard, which is used at SJSU, to supplement the SL curriculum. As Sir John Daniel (2007), President and CEO of the Commonwealth of Learning, noted in a debate with Dr. Robert Kozma, "there is no magic medium and never will be. Each technology has its strengths" (n.p.).