Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 7. A popular sandbox for practicing building
be able to move between and participate in ac-
tivities on different parcels.
A final recommendation is that when design-
ing activities for student learning, emphasize
those activities that include interactivity, where
students do something and then must assess and
respond to the consequences of their actions.
Such activities include watching and comment-
ing, searching, linking, annotating, constructing,
creating, and elaborating (Grabinger & Dunlap,
2002). Such “interactivity” and the reflectivity
and self-awareness that is generated by it are a
key affordances of learning environments that
support meaningful learning, and building learn-
ing activities that facilitate interactivity is a key
educational affordance of Second Life.
our time in First Life, and the necessity of using
our own bodies to move around, experiment, and
interact will never be removed, no matter how
advanced available technology becomes. How-
ever, as a venue for engaging, active participation
in authentic, social, intellectually-challenging
learning activities, Second Life offers enormous
potential. We look forward to seeing how it's
used, and to hearing from you either in the second
world, or the first.
TO LeARN mORe
By far the best resource for obtaining specific infor-
mation about the use of SL and other virtual worlds
for education is the SimTeach wiki, available at
http://www.simteach.com. The specific page for
use of SL with teens is http://www.simteach.com/
wiki/index.php?title=Second_Life:_Educators_
Working_with_Teens. Linden Labs also offers an
official information page for educators, at http://
secondlifegrid.net/programs/education. See also
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teen_Second_Life.
CONCLUSION
Second Life offers educators a platform for creat-
ing dynamic learning environments that support
meaningful learning in many different subjects. It
will never replace First Life as the primary venue
for education; after all, we humans spend most of
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