"Sim Creation and Management for Learning Environments" by Judith Molka-Danielsen and Linn-Cecilie Linneman provides basic information for getting your classes started in Second Life (SL). While I think some of the information is sound advice, much of what I read tonight is already obsolete in many respects, and it is this that I wish to address here.
As I read Molka-Danielsen and Linneman's article, I kept saying to myself "well, that's kind of right, but not really" and herein is where to problem lies. The authors recommend creating training video's and documentation to help make students' transition into this world smoother and easier, and this is something that I have on my to-do list for my own classes. Reading this article, however, made me realize what a futile exercise it might really be. The folks at Linden Labs, the force behind SL, are constantly changing things: it might be a new viewer this week that completely makes your videos obsolete, but there is no telling what it might be next week.
So here is the problem, or the question that I would put to anyone who decides they would like to use SL in their classes: how can we, as instructors, keep up with something that changes so frequently? How much time can we really invest in creating the training material in the first place, much less keeping up with all of the changes that occur? This is one of the cost we have to pay to be on the cutting edge of education, and it is one I am willing to pay. But even I ask myself at times how long I'll be able to keep up with the ever changing world of technology and be effective in what I do?
As I read Molka-Danielsen and Linneman's article, I kept saying to myself "well, that's kind of right, but not really" and herein is where to problem lies. The authors recommend creating training video's and documentation to help make students' transition into this world smoother and easier, and this is something that I have on my to-do list for my own classes. Reading this article, however, made me realize what a futile exercise it might really be. The folks at Linden Labs, the force behind SL, are constantly changing things: it might be a new viewer this week that completely makes your videos obsolete, but there is no telling what it might be next week.
So here is the problem, or the question that I would put to anyone who decides they would like to use SL in their classes: how can we, as instructors, keep up with something that changes so frequently? How much time can we really invest in creating the training material in the first place, much less keeping up with all of the changes that occur? This is one of the cost we have to pay to be on the cutting edge of education, and it is one I am willing to pay. But even I ask myself at times how long I'll be able to keep up with the ever changing world of technology and be effective in what I do?
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