My Second Life Persona
Before writing this reflection I decided to take Dr. Rosen’s advice and become a Second Lifer to experience a bit of real-life avatar adventure. I had hoped to make it to the Sistine Chapel, having read many wonderful things about this particular ‘island’. However, perhaps I did not give it enough of a chance, as I never experienced that feeling of “social presence” Rosen references. Instead, I felt like I would if I were a stranger at a cocktail party where everyone else is attired in appropriate dress and I were the one in blue jeans. As a rule, I consider myself to be a fairly outgoing person. I have a reputation as being the life of the party, there’s no chance of me ever being mistaken for a shrinking violet! This was not so much the case in Second Life. If anyone came close to approaching me I quickly pushed ‘page up,’ the command for flying and launched into the air lest they attempted to engage me in conversation. I felt akward and out of place in this virtual world.
Rosen and Brooks-Young both present a strong argument for the use of games, immersive social networking, and social worlds in the classroom. There’s no denying that that immersive power afforded via technology can activate realistic sensory information in much the same way as if the learner were engaged in the real life activity. Immersive social networks enable students to access information in a variety of ways and are available 24/7. Learning becomes a personalized experience as students have the ability to access the format best suited to his or her style of learning. (Rewired p. 112.) Students feel less inhibited in a virtual setting and are more likely to communicate. When tied to the curriculum, game playing becomes meaningful and reinforces learning. Again, we encounter the media-hyped risks associated with the use of web 2.0, and again, Brooks-Young advises teachers to use these as learning experiences so that our students will know how to safely conduct themselves online, and how to handle themselves in situations which make them feel uncomfortable.
A virtual field trip to the Louvre has probably been the closest experience to an online game that I have been able to provide for my elementary students. http://www.louvre.fr/llv/musee/visite_virtuelle.jsp?bmLocale=en I provided a little instruction on how to navigate the site and we journeyed across the hall to the computer lab where students explored to their hearts content. The only problem I encountered was when Joey ‘Smith’ zoomed in on a naked breast, so much so that it filled up the entire screen. He then proceeded to share with the boys seated on either side of him. I admonished him to, "please take a more mature attitude", while in the back of my mind, observed that his naked breast fascination was quite appropriate for the average fifth grade boy, and then wondered how many phone calls to the principal it would take before I was banished forever from taking students to the lab. Fortunately the experience resulted in no angry phone calls and I have since learned to educate my students a little more on the subject of nudes in art prior to encountering them.
Though the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act would interfere with my ability to use immersive social networking since none of my students are over the age of 12, I would very much like to use some sort of networking as a voluntary extension of classroom learning. I am able to use edublog, so far I have only experimented with its use, but I think I’m ready to take it to the next level and use it in an interactive way. Edublog does provide a format for uploading podcasts, images, videos, links and more. I would like to see if I can offer it as a way to encourage the participation of some of my more shy students.
I explored a few virtual learning environments geared more towards use with elementary age students, and discovered Whyville, http://b.whyville.net/smmk/top/gatesInfo?topic=about Teachers can register to use this fun site with classes. It appears that the creators of Whyville are serious about online safety, because once you sign up, they DO check to verify that you are actually a teacher. The 554,727 registered citizens of Whyville earn “clams” by playing educational games and users create their own avatars. It was interesting to note that the University of Missouri sponsors the Hot Air Balloon Race game where users are challenged to navigate the altitudes and analyze vector fields to navigate a hot air balloon. ( Say What???) Probably more appropriate for use in the art room was an activity sponsored by the Getty Museum. Though I imagine that this site will be blocked at school, I believe it would certainly provide an immersive type of learning experience for my students and I believe that I am now equipped with the knowledge to make a powerful argument for its use.
Someday perhaps Pia Spearsong and I will journey back to Second Life for that trip to the Sistine Chapel Island. For now though, my real life is occupying the majority of my waking hours.
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