Paula’s MUVEnation Blog

Wow!  Well the first great thing was flying.  It was a lot of fun to fly through the virtual world although I have to admit that it takes practice to be able to navigate properly.  I started off at Orientation Island and did all the activities which were a good way to learn to do the moves (grab things, clap, wave, etc).    Other than bumping into people constantly, my first trip was uneventful.

My next time in SL was a bit different.  I decided to explore this new world and started going to random places to experience what was out there.  My first mistake was to have my 10 year old son with me (I wanted to show him how cool this world in which I could fly was and to try to gain some cool mommy credit).  Well, first of all, I realized that I need to spend way more time in SL to be able to master the navigation (my 10 yr old could do this in a matter of seconds).  The next learning for me was to make sure you only go to safe places when your child is looking on.  One of the areas in which I landed seemed to be fine until I started running into people.  I didn’t notice, but the chat from other avatars in close proximity to me was showing up on my screen.  Unfortunately, my son did notice and he calmly told me that this was probably not appropriate for him to be reading (the chat was chock full of really, really bad language).  I immediately (well as quickly as I could figure it out) teleported to Education Island and spent the rest of my time looking around.

I am looking forward to spending more time in friendly places and already realize that I will never be able to experience all that SL has to offer so am happy I can focus on the educational aspect of this virtual world. I am also hoping I will get access to SL from my work, which will make access so much easier!

A.  Dear Dean!  You won’t believe what I am researching now – it is the use of virtual worlds for learning.  Now, before you start telling me that you don’t want to teleport or that you think I am crazy, listen up!  This place, Second Life, lets you create your own avatar (you can be anything or anyone) and then you can go to a million different places (anywhere in the world, back in time, into the future – endless possibilities).  Of course, from a learning perspective, it will be key to keep focused on what the learning objectives are, but where the course will take place and what the local will look like is only limited by our imaginations.  Imagine learning about history by virtually visiting the time period you are studying and having the opportunity to work with your classmates in this space to work on projects, build sites, practice speaking.  There are many examples for you to look at – just google second life + your topic of interest.  You will need to create an account, but it is free!  Hope to see you in SL soon!

B. At the risk of being boring, I have to say that virtual worlds (SL in particular) is still very exciting to me.  I discovered SL about a year ago but have not had time or ability to explore it’s uses from a learning perspective.  I think that there are endless possibilities for learning using this tool and I am particularly interested in the use of virtual worlds for language training.

C. I am definitely a pioneer in my organization.  I research new technologies and have been interested and excited about the possibility of using SL in learning for over a year.  I have been trying (unsuccessfully so far) to get access to SL from work but for the time being, have to access from home.  I think that there are a multitude of uses for SL to deliver learning, foster collaboration and help catapult our public sector in the future through use of this technology.