How to make the second life experience

In my 8 months or so of life in Second Life I have found that it is what you make it..in my opinion Second Life is truly an active learning evironment in which the student needs to be actively engaged in participating in and creating his/her own experience for learning.  Utimately unlike role play games and TV Second LIfe is not a passive learning environment, the learning environment provides more than one opportunity for the learning to create his/her own experience. 

Using Second Liffe

I have been checking other virtual worlds and still love Second Life. Sure the interface is a challenge, moving around, and all of that ..however for the most part if you transfer what you know about moving around the web, video games, and use of other software much of what you do in second life will be intuitive.

I have been in Metaplace, Hobba and World of Warcraft. I had a 10 day free trial to World of Warcraft...I actually like World of Warcraft and truly if I had more time in my life I would spend more of it in there. Reality is though there is so much stuff going on in my life I don' t have time for another life there!

New virtual worlds will start up, eventually these worlds will fold into others and create larger worlds...we are on the precipice of a revolution in the use of virtual worlds...as those who give the use of virtual words a voice and a vision have credibility we will see the use increase.


The virtual world company that will be at the forefront? The one that recognizes that they have the potential to make the world flat, that this is a 24/7 worlds, and that users rock this world all the time..downtime and maintenance issues will occur..how can those fixes be put into place to respect the needs of all users?

I still envision a world that meets the needs of all users. Provides for global meetings .... music...and respect for all ...

Science math and education in second life

I have been bad about blogging! But a lot of time lately has been spent on touring and learning more about the application of Second LIfe in math and science. These are difficult areas for me to wrap my mind around because academically these are not strong areas for me. Given that I do believe that these are areas that hold a great deal of potential for Second Life as a learning environment.

I was just reading a post in Boing Boing http://www.boingboing.net/2008/05/13/scientific-research.html about the application of Second Life in sciences. Particularly physics and neurology ...interesting.

Second LIfe has also offered the opportunity for recreating ecosystems and the resulting consequences of activities on earth which can damage the ecosystem. This lab application of Second Life is delivered at a fraction of the cost to develop in world versus real world.

The math applications are definitely in world. One can create art using fractals and building things in world. IN building of course one can apply math through the use of measurements, etc.

Of course there are computer and software application in world as well.

Finally there is the art and opportunities to learn about other cultures. As I was traveling in world the other day looking at the showcase I realized there were several new Japanese and Asian sims I toured some of these and here again it is evident how much a student can learn abou these cultures in world.

The times they are "achanging.." http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/05/18/death.online/index.html?iref=t2test_techmon