Ok, so maybe the title is a "little" misleading, but let me explain before you judge me to harshly. The title of tonight's reading is "Serious Fun and Serious Learning: The Challenge of Second Life" by Dr. Clare Atkins and Mark Caukill. The chapter is a case study based on one undergraduates project to produce a learning activity for first year students in SL.
The chapter outlines the successes and failures that both the student and advisers experienced during this project. The student chose to replicate or demonstrate Internet Protocol Addressing (IPv4). All of this is very interesting and worth anyone's time to read. But this is not where I want to focus.
The authors make some interesting remarks that I think are worth looking at a little closer. The student had participated in a class that used SL prior to proposing his project, and Atkins and Caukill remark that he benefited "in terms of an increasing self-confidence and self-belief which had improved his relationships with other students and had made him uncharacteristically bold in suggesting the project in the first place" (80). My initial remark to this statement was "hmmm, seems a bit far fetched" and I still stand by that. Had they given me examples of how the student's behavior or relationships had changed from prior SL to post SL, then maybe it would seem more reasonable.
Later, the authors state that the student's "creativity showed with the design of his unconventional avatar which seemed to allow him to 'expand' himself in his first life" (82). Again, however, there is no evidence to show how his first life expanded. These are all issues that I am extremely interested in when it comes to using SL. I likewise believe that students can benefit from learning in SL, but my research shows evidence of this through student writing both inworld and out.
A final comment that Atkins and Caukill make is that there was "an additional and unforeseen benefit to the student . . . [in] the improvement in his ability to socialize and communicate with a wide variety of people both in second and real life" (84). They back this up with evidence of how he communicated with people interested in his project in both second and real life and his ability to articulate his project with enthusiasm and confidence. The authors believe that "this contributed to his already growing self-esteem and manifested itself in real life as a much more positive attitude to all his study which was noticed and remarked upon by other staff and students" (84).
I would have liked for the authors to provide more evidence from the case study to substantiate their observations. Or at least more anecdotes as to how they could see the changes. Are all students going to react to learning in this environment in this way? Not hardly. One thing we all need to remember is that every student is different and they all have unique learning needs.
The chapter outlines the successes and failures that both the student and advisers experienced during this project. The student chose to replicate or demonstrate Internet Protocol Addressing (IPv4). All of this is very interesting and worth anyone's time to read. But this is not where I want to focus.
The authors make some interesting remarks that I think are worth looking at a little closer. The student had participated in a class that used SL prior to proposing his project, and Atkins and Caukill remark that he benefited "in terms of an increasing self-confidence and self-belief which had improved his relationships with other students and had made him uncharacteristically bold in suggesting the project in the first place" (80). My initial remark to this statement was "hmmm, seems a bit far fetched" and I still stand by that. Had they given me examples of how the student's behavior or relationships had changed from prior SL to post SL, then maybe it would seem more reasonable.
Later, the authors state that the student's "creativity showed with the design of his unconventional avatar which seemed to allow him to 'expand' himself in his first life" (82). Again, however, there is no evidence to show how his first life expanded. These are all issues that I am extremely interested in when it comes to using SL. I likewise believe that students can benefit from learning in SL, but my research shows evidence of this through student writing both inworld and out.
A final comment that Atkins and Caukill make is that there was "an additional and unforeseen benefit to the student . . . [in] the improvement in his ability to socialize and communicate with a wide variety of people both in second and real life" (84). They back this up with evidence of how he communicated with people interested in his project in both second and real life and his ability to articulate his project with enthusiasm and confidence. The authors believe that "this contributed to his already growing self-esteem and manifested itself in real life as a much more positive attitude to all his study which was noticed and remarked upon by other staff and students" (84).
I would have liked for the authors to provide more evidence from the case study to substantiate their observations. Or at least more anecdotes as to how they could see the changes. Are all students going to react to learning in this environment in this way? Not hardly. One thing we all need to remember is that every student is different and they all have unique learning needs.
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