Second Life: A Support Group for "Academic Crisis of the Week"

This activity has been abandoned for the time being.  I found that learning to use the tool was much too time consuming

for the parameters of this course, considering the needs of my own learning and then bringing other learners on board.

However, I had a valuable learning experience in the process of the attempt.

 

Why did I select the tool? I selected Second Life because I was intrigued with its being "edgy", so to speak.  I like to probe the frontier a little,

and I saw this as an opportunity.

 

How will it support the learning objectives?  I realized that Second Life really did not meet learning objectives I had established for the target learners.

 

Experience: Bethany met with me in Second Life to tutor me.  Another day Miley and Bethany both met with me there.  Each time we met for at least an hour.  At the end of the hour, both times, I did not feel confident enough in my skills to walk anyone else through it.  I met with a professor who uses Second Life and demonstrated some fascinating possibilities.  I invited two people who both had trouble of some kind getting an account. 

 

Love it, hate it?  I would say I have a love-hate relationship at this juncture.  I am impressed with the possibilities while perplexed why anyone would go to the trouble to use it for education, when there are such MUCH easier ways to accomplish the same things.  I am not convinced that the social networking that most give as a reason to use the tool is better achieved there than elsewhere.  The avatar/virtual world still feels strange to me, not comfortable.

 

 

I remain interested and will keep an open ear, eye and mind tuned to developments in the use of Second Life in Education. 

Judy Harmon

 

Back to Collaboration Activity Ideas

 

Second Life: A Support Group for Academic Crisis of the Week, is an idea that was formed when varying

circumstances coincided in the context of my work as an academic advisor for first time freshmen.

 

The father of a student called to tell me his daughter needed to see me weekly with her academic

crisis of the week. I realized she was not the only one and began a campaign to support students

in their acadmic crisis periods, perhaps in group format.

 

The next day I attended the third workshop I had ever been to about Second Life,

immediately had a phone conversation with a colleague about second life, and within a few days,

had re-introduced myself to second life and met up with my colleague there.  Maybe I could host a support

group for students on Second Life. 

 

The learning curve here is huge.  I find that if I am not on the cutting edge, I may as well not even

be in the arena.  Here I go, outside the comfort zone again...if Julia approves.

 

Watch for details.

 

March 31, 2008

After three weeks of trying to figure out how to pull off the Second Life thing, I am not much further along.  Indeed,

I think I am stuck.  I just don't know what to do next. 

 

I am discouraged by my experiences thus far.  I seem to have lost a lot of the motivation that kept me going when things

were difficult. 

 

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