Thanks very much for the clarification and advice.

Marian Thacher <mthacher at otan.us> wrote:          My experience is that you wouldn't want to have your students go to Second Life individually, asynchronously. It's much better to be with at least one or two other people from your class or group, who have the same goals as you, at least initially. You can help each other move around, find things, make things work (like teleporting, voice chat, or gestures). 

If you are wandering around on your own, it can be very interesting, but also strange things can happen that you might not want to spend time explaining in class. Not everyone in SL is there for education.

Marian Thacher
OTAN
www.otan.us

The Technology and Literacy Discussion List <technology at nifl.gov> on Saturday, August 25, 2007 at 3:07 PM -0800 wrote:
Hi Bonnie,

I agree with Marian.  However, you could ask your students (Freshmen  
in college, right?) how many have been on Second Life (SL), and if  
they could suggest good islands/centers where this activity could  
take place -- and also ask them to explain the advantages of their  
choices. I'd be curious to know what they say.

It would also be important to find out is if there were a synchronous  
time each week that everyone could go there.  If not, everything  
would need to be asynchronous, or perhaps split into two or three  
synchronous times a week.  If any of your students are really excited  
about (and comfortable with) SL, they might sign up to lead the  
synchronous sessions or to be mentors for other students who are less  
comfortable or familiar with SL.

I haven't yet found a really good, free newbies guide to SL.  If  
someone knows of one, please e-mail me the URL or post it to this  
list for others who might be interested.

David

David J. Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net


On Aug 24, 2007, at 12:18 PM, Marian Thacher wrote:


> My 2 cents - it would be really fun for students who are already  

> online gamers or used to an avatar environment, and pretty hard for  

> those who are new to it. But I haven't tried it with learners. Has  

> anyone?

>

> Also, I guess you would have to hook up with an organization that  

> has land so you would have a place to meet. Not hard, but takes  

> some looking around. How would others handle this? You definitely  

> don't want to build your own environment!

>

> Marian Thacher

> OTAN

> www.otan.us

>

> The Technology and Literacy Discussion List <technology at nifl.gov>  

> on Friday, August 24, 2007 at 6:24 AM -0800 wrote:

> Our freshman seminar is structuring its class as "Survivor," with  

> tribes, tribal councils, challenges, and the like. We're using a  

> wiki for group collaboration. Would "Second Life" work for that  

> kind of environment?

> Bonnie Odiorne, Ph.D. adjunct professor, director, writing center

> Post University, Waterbury, CT

>

> Marian Thacher <mthacher at otan.us> wrote:

>

>

> Right, Barry, Second Life is like Real Life in that way - you have  

> to figure out your own mission - no small task sometimes!

>

> But if you were meeting your students in a particular area, and  

> giving them an assignment, having a discussion, sending them on a  

> quest or whatever, that would be their learning experience. You  

> would be supplying the mission.

>

> Marian Thacher

> OTAN

>

> The Technology and Literacy Discussion List <technology at nifl.gov>  

> on Wednesday, August 22, 2007 at 5:18 AM -0800 wrote:

> To Barry from another Barry,

>

> I think second life has merit to it, I think it is a lot like the game

> World of Warcraft, AKA WOW. A major difference I have noticed in my

> minimal time on the system is that there is no set purpose for an  

> avatar

> to continue, as an example, in WOW after you decide who you will be,

> what you will wear, etc you are given a mission.  As opposed to Second

> Life where I built my avatar and then essentially walked around, lost.

>

> If you were able to give your students directions to you virtually  

> that

> may work.

>

> Do I have this wrong?  Is a player given a sense of purpose and an  

> idea

> of what they need to do to continue playing?

>

> Barry Burkett,

> Frankfort, KY

>

> -----Original Message-----

> From: technology-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:technology-bounces at nifl.gov]

> On Behalf Of Bakin, Barry

> Sent: Monday, August 13, 2007 6:59 PM

> To: The Technology and Literacy Discussion List

> Subject: [Technology 1211] Re: Prosessional Development Design

> &Developmentfor the 21st Century

>

> I don't know if it's been mentioned in this forum or not but  

> there's an

> interesting discussion taking place at Sylvia Martinez' blog on her

> experiences with using SL as an educator.  It's worth looking at for

> some of the issues that she raises. You can read through her original

> posting as the responses at

> http://blog.genyes.com/index.php/2007/07/21/second-thoughts-on- 

> second-li

> fe/  Again, as David notes, my position is not one of saying one  

> should

> use or not use Second Life but rather what would it take to get to the

> point that educators would want to invest their time to make this

> technology tool practical for the students they work with.   

> Speaking as

> one who is extremely pleased to get something as basic as an email

> message from a student, it would take some doing to expect my students

> to be creating avatars and visiting educational sites on SL on their

> own.  I'm not convinced yet that my time is well-spent on encouraging

> that endeavor.

>

> Barry Bakin

> Pacoima Skills Center

> Division of Adult and Career Education,

> Los Angeles Unified School District

>

> -----Original Message-----

> From: technology-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:technology-bounces at nifl.gov]

> On Behalf Of David J. Rosen

> Sent: Monday, August 13, 2007 11:31 AM

> To: The Technology and Literacy Discussion List

> Subject: [Technology 1210] Re: Prosessional Development Design &

> Developmentfor the 21st Century

>

>

> Hello Mark, and others,

>

> Thanks for your thoughts on the use of Second Life (SL) for adult

> literacy education. I hope you will share some of your group's  

> research

> on "under what conditions and for what purposes 3DVR might be more

> appropriate or effective than other tools/environments for  

> learning" and

> what you see as some of the opportunities and limitations of using

> Second Life. I would like to learn more about what  "we need to  

> advocate

> *for* educators *to* vendors like Linden Labs, so they build in more

> education-appropriate features." What features on SL do you think are

> worthwhile? What other features should we be advocating for?

> ----------------------------------------------------

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>

>

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>

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