I’m grappling for a suitable metaphor to describe my reflections upon self after reading this article about Second Life and other virtual worlds from The Chronicle of Higher Education. Rip Van Winkle, climbing out from under rocks and Plato’s cave are all candidates. The article provides an interesting overview of some virtual classroom systems and approaches. I found the (mostly faculty) discussions of using virtual worlds in the comments section fascinating as well, and in the comments found a link to an upcoming conference “Virtual Worlds – Best Practices in Education 2010”. (I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that I searched for the physical location of the conference, which of course will be occurring online). There was even something for my financial side: grant awards to develop virtual worlds!
Somehow I managed to fall asleep for 20 years under a rock inside a cave. Better grab coffee.
Interesting that with all this technology we are building classrooms and campus layouts. Ivy covered walls are a hard image to abandon it seems. I am considering using Second LIfe for my project but as a tool not as a classroom.