Tonight's post will be short. Why? Because the reading is just not that engaging. I read Lindy McKeown's "Action Learning in a Virtual World," and I was not overly impressed. Maybe the first issue is that I'm not overly involved in Action Learning, or maybe it's that I'm tired of authors making statements that they provide absolutely no evidence for..... not even anecdotal. Perhaps it is because the statements they are making are not directly related to their topic, but why make the statements?
For example (and this will be a long one), McKeown comments that "embodied as an avatar in a virtual world, people get a sense of physical presence. They feel like they are there in the virtual place as opposed to sitting at their computers at their current location. When they meet the other avatars in their group, they get a sense of social presence. They feel like the others are there with them. There is enough willing suspension of disbelief to allow people to have a strong sense of being with the other people allowing them to interact as they would if they were in close physical proximity" (94). The problem here is not that I'm arguing or disagreeing with these statements, but give me one shred of evidence that you have at least witnessed this. I would believe you. For instance, if I made some of these statements, I would back it up with the fact that one night in a class I taught in SL, I asked the students to discuss a topic in their groups via text chat. This did not require the students to do anything other than begin a group chat. Instead, they used their embodied avatars to seek out and move to their other group members so that all of the avies could be grouped together as they had their discussion. I did not tell them to move, they did this because it is what we would naturally do in RL.
So I am getting tired of reading, repeatedly, claims that I wholeheartedly agree with, but of which they provide to substantial proof. If you are making the claims, it must be because you have either witnessed it or read about it. Either way, show me the proof. Nuff said!!!
For example (and this will be a long one), McKeown comments that "embodied as an avatar in a virtual world, people get a sense of physical presence. They feel like they are there in the virtual place as opposed to sitting at their computers at their current location. When they meet the other avatars in their group, they get a sense of social presence. They feel like the others are there with them. There is enough willing suspension of disbelief to allow people to have a strong sense of being with the other people allowing them to interact as they would if they were in close physical proximity" (94). The problem here is not that I'm arguing or disagreeing with these statements, but give me one shred of evidence that you have at least witnessed this. I would believe you. For instance, if I made some of these statements, I would back it up with the fact that one night in a class I taught in SL, I asked the students to discuss a topic in their groups via text chat. This did not require the students to do anything other than begin a group chat. Instead, they used their embodied avatars to seek out and move to their other group members so that all of the avies could be grouped together as they had their discussion. I did not tell them to move, they did this because it is what we would naturally do in RL.
So I am getting tired of reading, repeatedly, claims that I wholeheartedly agree with, but of which they provide to substantial proof. If you are making the claims, it must be because you have either witnessed it or read about it. Either way, show me the proof. Nuff said!!!
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