The article Walk, fly, or Teleport to Learning: Virtual Worlds in the Classroom, by Maureen brown Yoder, really cought my attention. in short, the main idea is to create a virtual worl and a virtual version of yourself, an Avatar. In this virtual worl, students can buy land, interact and even educate themselves and with the help of the teacher. this is awesome. Many people seems to be facinating with the idea of having an alter-ego or a second personality, and with a teaching tool like this it is possible.
I see this as a big opportunity for students to develop their personality without being afraid of the social image at schools. We, as teachers, just have to be careful on what is permitted on this sites. One of the ways to describe this worlds is MUVEs. "According to eMarketer estimates, by 2011, 20 million children will be members of Internet-based multiuser virtual environments (MUVEs)" up from the 8.2 million who are already participating in them today." this numbers are enormous. I can only imagine how great would it be if more and more of this virtual lifes introduce educational challenges.
But there is more, students and teachers are not alone in this. There are other projects like Global Kids and GamePill, who work together to make this possible. as descrived by the author "What's really great about the Global Kids project is that they mix virtual-world technology with real-world challenges, engaging young students in socially responsible efforts that can have a real impact on the world they live in at the same time that they improve their chances for a promising future."
I am not really a big fan of computer games or interactive games, but at the same time, I know and realize how big the gamer's crowd is. I think that if we can attach teaching and interaction between this two, the same way that GamePill and Global Kids intended too, we can provide lerning opportunities in social networking, finacial literacy, developing ones' identity, and lerning about life in general. I would like to try this one of this days, even when I'm not a fan of games, I think that if they are used the right way, we can reach more people than we think.
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I didn't even know you did the same article like me. Wow, great minds think alike. I think you have very many good points about this, but I am still skeptical about it. I know that there are many people interested in these kind of games but I am afraid that this is more of a game than educational tool.
ReplyDeleteAll in all, I think you did a great job in identifying useful ways to use this!
I know, I'm not familiar with virtual reality games, but it supposed to be like a creation of a new person... like a tamagochi (or tamagoshi, i don't know how to spell it)but supper developed..haha but lets think that in order for your character to get a job, he/she has to go to school and do school exercises, it will tesch something. also you can buy land and many other things, liek in real life, teaching you administration and all.. I think
ReplyDeleteAt first glace, i thought this idea may not be valid, however, the idea you mentioned about how this program can help students who are not socially comfortable made me change my mind. I can seed how this program could allow those students who are shy or socially disconnected a chance to interact with fellow class mates. Everyone learns differently, this program sounds great because it is letting students have fun and learn at the same time!
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