I mean, what is that sorcery?
I can actually enroll in a university of my choice and learn whatever I want and whenever I want and in that school I can choose to be whatever (avatar) I wanna be? HELL YEAH. That, is probably the coolest thing I've heard all week! (I really dig this idea)
Ok, for the benefit of others who have yet to watch this video, I present to you Duke University School of Nursing in Second Life:
I mean this is a nursing school man. It provides virtual learning to all the future nursing students. There's labs to do and they are definitely as close as to being real. If the nursing school can do it, we can do it too...Don't you think?
Maybe. Maybe not.
However, I doubt any of our professors will tap on this Second Life to do teaching. Sure there are (super cool) advantages, but I think the disadvantages prevents some profs to go in depth and explore second life.
1) Inconvenient.
The process of signing up and creating avatar will probably take a lot more time than creating and uploading lessons online. Besides the profs have to get about 100 students to sign up for Second Life and some may not be interested in it and may totally skip signing up for it. The prof has to make sure everyone is present and attendance taking may be hard. The prof has to manage his virtual world and his real world.
(and the list will go on and on and on)
2) Reluctant.
With every new technology, some profs might totally give up pursuing what this hype is all about. Some will be skeptical to try and some....won't even bother to try.
(Because they probably think it's just another "game")
3) Help?
Sure there are discussion boards and forums and threads to follow but what happens when the students need the prof there now to ask questions but the prof is not there? This puts the prof in a spot as he cannot oversee the students who do not understand and cannot read the students non verbal cues to check their understanding. It may not benefit the prof in the long run as he cannot check on the progress of his students.
3) Harder grading system, bleahhhh.
How is the prof going to base their grading system on? Attendance on virtual world? Assignments in virtual world?
How how how?
Maybe. Maybe not.
However, I doubt any of our professors will tap on this Second Life to do teaching. Sure there are (super cool) advantages, but I think the disadvantages prevents some profs to go in depth and explore second life.
1) Inconvenient.
The process of signing up and creating avatar will probably take a lot more time than creating and uploading lessons online. Besides the profs have to get about 100 students to sign up for Second Life and some may not be interested in it and may totally skip signing up for it. The prof has to make sure everyone is present and attendance taking may be hard. The prof has to manage his virtual world and his real world.
(and the list will go on and on and on)
2) Reluctant.
With every new technology, some profs might totally give up pursuing what this hype is all about. Some will be skeptical to try and some....won't even bother to try.
(Because they probably think it's just another "game")
3) Help?
Sure there are discussion boards and forums and threads to follow but what happens when the students need the prof there now to ask questions but the prof is not there? This puts the prof in a spot as he cannot oversee the students who do not understand and cannot read the students non verbal cues to check their understanding. It may not benefit the prof in the long run as he cannot check on the progress of his students.
3) Harder grading system, bleahhhh.
How is the prof going to base their grading system on? Attendance on virtual world? Assignments in virtual world?
How how how?
_____________________
I think the furthest professors in SIM will go is webcast lectures. That's what most schools are doing nowadays anyway.
However, in Singapore, the virtual classroom will be set to improve in the coming years. MOE has set up an inititiative to have an online portal for learning for Singapore by 2016. By then, it is hoped that all the students in the school have greater access to resources online, and a quality one at that, no less.
With all this happening, I wonder what is in store for me (or the future generation) in the future.
maybe next time they'll just log on to their laptops (or google glasses by then???) and then they'll be ready for school? Just like this:
Hmmm, not such a bad idea eh.
With all this happening, I wonder what is in store for me (or the future generation) in the future.
maybe next time they'll just log on to their laptops (or google glasses by then???) and then they'll be ready for school? Just like this:
Hmmm, not such a bad idea eh.
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