Education? Pushing the Limits

As I read the articles for this week I was struck by a few thoughts...

Empathy Islands sort of lost me for a bit. The idea of traveling through the Yukon during the gold rush is one thing, actually being there, in the freezing, starving, feeding horsemeat to dogs so that you all might survive, eating the dogs that don't make it, is quite another. I believe that empathizing with people suffering as they travel great distances is difficult to do as you sit in your cushy chair, eating a snack, and clicking the teleport button. I see the idea of having empathy inducing islands as a good one, yet, not in the way described. I envision something better done, more artistic to be thought provoking, rather like the arrangement of exhibits at the Holocoust Museum in D.C.. One of the msot powerful displays is one in which you walk down astairway which appears to be in a house in the 1930s Europe. The walls are plastered in photos of individuals, like family portraits (only thousands of them). It is not until you've passed that you discover that those were the family photos from an entire village which was destroyed during the war. Not a single one of those people had survived. That is more powerful that a recreation of the Yukon which people can explore. While much can be learned by those types of set-ups, I feel it is not empathy inspiring in the same sense.

The second article examines the use of SL in a highschool setting. While it's interesting to see someone explore the possibilities of use, I found the attitude very similar to what we've read before. It's almost as if the author is saying, "No, really, we CAN use VW in education - I swear, just give me time and I'll figure out a really neat way to do it!" While I know I've taken license, it appears that much conversation has been devoted to finding ways to use VW and VE in education of children. Why is it such a hard fit? Why must it be debated over and over if it is such an easy thing to see. My thought as I read was that it isn't easy to see how SL or VE can be used in education.
A few examples include - encouraging pro-social behavior. They base the idea that TV shows exhibiting pro-social behavior tend to have an effect on children in that they encourage pro-social behavior. The suggestion is made that the prosocial aspects of a VE will help encourage prosocial behavior in delinquents. This is a nice thought, but honestly, as much as these media forms can encourage prosocial behavior, by the time a child is labeled a delinquent, the problem is not that they don't see that type of behavior, but rather a rejection of that type of behavior. Playing in a VE will not change the social behavior of troubled children/teens.
There is also a suggestion that students whould be given weapons/armors/equipment for good preformance in education activities. While this is a seemingly good idea, my parental side had a knee jerk reaction. "What? Good grades aren't reward enough????" Then I took a deep breath and considered that for some kids, it's not. My husband was one of those people - he was literally an F and D student, who on his 18th birthday scored a perfect score on the GED. It wasn't that he didn't get the material, it's that he couln't have cared less about it.
A final thought was the idea of 3D design and graphics education. This I think is a wonderful way in which SL can be used educationally. Even as training for classical artwork - the ability to manipulate prims in anyway you see fit will certainly allow more understanding of how shapes can be molded and fit together.
The author also notes that Bender (2005) insists that students feel more comfortable in a VE. This I will believe (in fact the Avatar's as Masks group is banking on this) and I do believe this aspect of VW has possibilities which have not been explored.

I think so much time has been sp0ent on shouting rmo the rooftops that VE can do so much that there has been a lack of encouraged practice. It will take the groundwork to convince educators of the bennifits, but not a constant shouting and offerring of suggestions that send educational eyeballs skyward in the roll of the century.

SL CEO - His thoughts....

This came out this morning and my Father sent it to me. Check it out.

One-On-One With Second Life Creator Philip Rosedale

By Mitch Wagner InformationWeek March 18, 2008 02:15 PM

Is there a second act for Second Life? That's the challenge that will be faced by Linden Lab's new CEO. Philip Rosedale, the company's founder, stepped aside as CEO in a surprise announcement on Friday, and said the company is beginning a search for a replacement.
Rosedale said he will focus day to day on the technology and strategy of Second Life, and leave running the company to the new CEO. The changed role was "100% my idea," he said. We talked with Rosedale in a telephone interview this week...

...He said the virtual worlds industry as a whole is in its infancy, and cautioned against attaching too much significance to fluctuations that are basically random noise. Virtual worlds will be hundreds of times more popular than Second Life is today, Rosedale said.
Everybody Will Be In-World

Read the entire article here.