Second Life Learning Environment Reflection: Lessons Learned

During the first part of class number five, we looked at several examples of the role-playing exercise from week 4. I was amazed at the creative interpretations for the toxic spill scenario. One group demonstrated how they used a larger prim to encapsulate the prim that represented the toxic spill. Another group designed a fence-like barrier to contain the spill. While I could not see it, based on others’ comments, this group included a dead bird in the spill. Nice touch.

For me, the most effective aspect of SL is the capacity to communicate spontaneously with people globally by alleviating language barriers. Is there any another application that allows individuals who speak different languages to communicate this easily?

Conversely, I inadvertently stumbled into a communication pitfall during this class. Specifically, when using SL it is important to verify that everyone in the class is receiving the communication. After Dr. Kapp lost his internet connection, I was able to contact him by phone. Subsequently, I focused on trying to verbalize his instructions accurately. Unfortunately, I failed to consider that I should have repeated the instructions in the text chat. Therefore, I apologize to anyone who did not have VoIP available during class. Sorry!

However, I learned something from this experience. I realized that it would have taken quite a long time for me to type everything that Dr. Kapp told me into the text chat. If I were teaching a course in this environment, I would create text-based instructions of the primary components of the class that I could copy and paste into the text chat. This would help to maintain the interactive perception of presence by alleviating the time-lag associated with typing. I agree with Yuming’s statement that recording SL class sessions, like we do in Centra and Breeze, would be advantageous.

Additionally, I think, as Dr. Kapp suggested, that combing storytelling with the role-playing archetype could potentially be a dynamic combination. Perhaps machinima projects for future classes in SL may involve student teams recording their portrayals of stories that include problems and solutions. For instance, the SL oil derrick could be affected a hurricane. Hurricane clips from the NOAA site could add to the sense of realism. Team members could also collaborate to create prims that represent containment booms. Exceptionally clever students may even create scripts to animate objects that act as biological digestive agents.

I feel that this moment has been opportune to experience SL for the first time. The existing infrastructure made exploration fascinating. Yet, it is apparent that the full potential of 3D learning environments has yet to be realized. Therefore, SL continues to be a stimulating environment for anyone who recognizes the future potential of this incredible resource.