I have been packing all day, but I at least had the forethought to do my reading this morning before I began putting boxes together and stuffing them. However, I am officially exhausted, so hopefully this post will make sense.
I continued with Learning and Teaching in the Virtual World of Second Life, edited by Judith Molka-Danielsen and Mats Deutschmann and one thing that you might want to know is that all but one of these articles are written by international educators, teaching around the world. Today, I read Mats Deutschmann and Dott.ssa Luisa Panichi's article entitled "Instructional Design, Teacher Practice and Learning Autonomy." It surprised me a little that the article was about language learning, but much of what the authors discuss is relevant for any type of class.
Again, tonight's reading validates so much about what I already know about SL and education and things I have had hunches about for a while. Deutschmann and Panichi argue that you, as a teacher, must "be prepared to change your own mind set as an educator--we think it is fair to say that the use of SL also challenged our own preconceived views of what a language class is all about" (28). So once again, it is a balancing act between going in with a pedagogical purpose, and being willing to adjust things as the need arises.
Another issue that arises is the need to allow for socializing in the first couple of class sessions. The authors call this the "Online Socialisation stage, whereby participants familiarize themselves with each other and their learning environment. It is also here that the social culture of the community starts being establishes" (31). Not allowing for this was a major mistake I made in the first classes I taught in SL. I still find that I have difficulty in allowing enough time for this type of interaction, and I truly believe it is necessary to help students become familiar with the SL environment and each other.
As a final comment, I want to leave you with the authors' words. A sentiment that I have been arguing for three years now in individual conversations, at conferences, and in articles. Deutschmann and Panichi believe "that the physical dimension of SL (i.e. that there is movement of a kind) actually brings SL tasks closer to tasks carried out in real classrooms thus restoring the physical and kinesthetic/holistic dimension to learning which is lost in other virtual learning platforms (i.e. in the more conventional video-conferencing tools" (34). When people ask me "why SL for an online writing center and not skype", this is exactly why. SL restores a sense of the physical and knesthetic learning dimension.
I continued with Learning and Teaching in the Virtual World of Second Life, edited by Judith Molka-Danielsen and Mats Deutschmann and one thing that you might want to know is that all but one of these articles are written by international educators, teaching around the world. Today, I read Mats Deutschmann and Dott.ssa Luisa Panichi's article entitled "Instructional Design, Teacher Practice and Learning Autonomy." It surprised me a little that the article was about language learning, but much of what the authors discuss is relevant for any type of class.
Again, tonight's reading validates so much about what I already know about SL and education and things I have had hunches about for a while. Deutschmann and Panichi argue that you, as a teacher, must "be prepared to change your own mind set as an educator--we think it is fair to say that the use of SL also challenged our own preconceived views of what a language class is all about" (28). So once again, it is a balancing act between going in with a pedagogical purpose, and being willing to adjust things as the need arises.
Another issue that arises is the need to allow for socializing in the first couple of class sessions. The authors call this the "Online Socialisation stage, whereby participants familiarize themselves with each other and their learning environment. It is also here that the social culture of the community starts being establishes" (31). Not allowing for this was a major mistake I made in the first classes I taught in SL. I still find that I have difficulty in allowing enough time for this type of interaction, and I truly believe it is necessary to help students become familiar with the SL environment and each other.
As a final comment, I want to leave you with the authors' words. A sentiment that I have been arguing for three years now in individual conversations, at conferences, and in articles. Deutschmann and Panichi believe "that the physical dimension of SL (i.e. that there is movement of a kind) actually brings SL tasks closer to tasks carried out in real classrooms thus restoring the physical and kinesthetic/holistic dimension to learning which is lost in other virtual learning platforms (i.e. in the more conventional video-conferencing tools" (34). When people ask me "why SL for an online writing center and not skype", this is exactly why. SL restores a sense of the physical and knesthetic learning dimension.
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