Virtual Worlds as a Context Suited for Information System
Virtual Worlds are becoming very popular especially in Second Life. The article I chose talks about the advantages of using Second life in information system courses at the University of Hamburg. Second offers a motivating environment for students to learn information skills such as programming, system development, and business process modeling. The students at the university created a business from scratch. The skills they developed during the project are needed for real life experiences. Some of the things that I asked myself was how would the professor's monitors the students progress? Would it be difficult? Could Second life also be an effective piece of technology to use in my math classes, and would my students gain valuable skills for the real world?
Hey Jenifer,
ReplyDeleteReally interesting article.
In the specific scenario in this article (of creating a business from scratch for university students), do you think Second Life had any additional affordances than maybe an online class could have offered? I am trying to think if this specific assignment was just a great idea in itself or if it became an even better assignment and challenge for the students because of the particular platform, Second Life.
One thing I struggle as well as you seem to do is how to incorporate different technologies into my math classroom. A lot of higher math (algebra 2, pre-cal and cal) classes are harder to incorporate technology because it is mechanic problem solving that need to be done with a calculator, paper and pencil (and here I am just considering calculator as a non-tech tool just because I am thinking of the lowest calculative affordances the tool can offer and mostly used for in many math classroom settings).
I really feel that this is an avenue that needs to be explored more. The University I work at has an island that is very underused, as is the TC one. The problems I see is that people want to see that tool as a face-to-face replacement, when it isn't exactly that - it does have it's own special place, in my opinion. In the future, I'd really like to see people using this as a simulator for activities, not a replacement for opening your door and going outside. Good read!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Patrick. I see Second Life as a tool to augment a lesson, rather than serve as a total substitution for the face to face interaction.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the argument you made in class that the effectiveness of the use of Second Life will depend on the educators, and how much they utilize the features available. I admit I haven't spent any time using Second Life, so it is hard to judge how beneficial it could be without spending time exploring its capabilities.
This was definitely interesting to read about... as Patrick and Christine mentioned, i like that the Second Life tool would more so be sought out to use as a tool in order to benefit a lesson instructed not as a way to substitute for real life experiences. Before learning about this tool mores, i very much so feared what the role of the teacher would be, and what would education and institutions look like in the future. I very much believe that face to face interactions and personal educational classrooms are essential for most students to learn successfully, and i was nervous that these virtual worlds for education wold sort of take over their roles in the field. So i am definitely interested to learn more about this idea and see how it will eventually play out!
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