Saturday, September 19, 2009

Value of Virtual Worlds Learning: A Personal Story/Rant

I have become increasingly convinced that there is a great need for the opportunity for learning via the 3D web. There are plenty of opportunities to give lectures and listen to lectures and interact in ways that were not possibly with just 2D web. My own personal experiences of this past week have made me even more inclined to think that there must be other ways to learn. So what happened this week? Nothing technological or academic. No, this week I spent at least 8 hours driving to get to and from classes (I live in Orlando), and at least 2-3 hours looking for parking places on the UF campus. But what really convinced me that there is a better way is that after taking some dogs for a little ride and hike on Labor day, I managed to make my car a breeding ground for chiggers so by the time I made it to class on Thursday my ankles were on fire with bites! These little critters have made me realize that there are NONE of those same inconveniences in learning, teaching, exploring, and creating via the 3D web. Even this weekend I am preparing for quick trip to Toronto, Canada to explore some new technology for work. What is disheartening is that I realized a few days ago that we are going to fly there and go sit in a conference room and have people come and talk to us. I find all of this to be motivation to quickly build and explore more of the 3D web and hopefully do away with some of the annoying parts of my real world.

An interesting link with some ideas for fully utilizing the function of the 3D web as more than just a place for avatars to come and sit and listen to a 2D, media lecture.

http://learningcircuits.blogspot.com/2008/05/second-life-training.html

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