Many people have asked why education is growing so quickly in Second Life. The University of Texas state-wide system, for example, purchased sixty SIMs on which to house all their campuses in 2009. Loyalist College’s training program for the Canadian Border Patrol is one of the case studies most written about concerning SL education, and experiments with medical education, safety education, emergency response team coordination and test preparation are only a few of the areas in which educational institutions are exploring the value of Second Life.
There are a number of reasons why this is such a hot area for research and development within the immersive environment of SL. To start off the discussion, let’s list a few.
- Second Life is a “hot medium” – it includes engagement of the three principal sensory modalities used to create a compelling interaction – it is
- Visual,
- Auditory and
- Tactile.
Most people probably don’t realize, until they are fully engaged in the experience of living in SL, that the tactile sensation is so real and complete. In typing, moving the mouse, navigating the avatar all of the body’s motor skills are engaged, and when that navigation is coupled with real-time engagement with other persons, complex emotional and intellectual interactions, and the sights and sounds of the environment, it becomes an extraordinary experience. - Second Life is online and provides global access to learners 24/7/365. Learners and educators can enter the environment at anytime from anywhere to engage the content, practice, socialize with other learners and educators from around the world, and explore other aspects of the Metaverse, including social activities as well as intellectual pursuits such as museums, theatrical performances, and sightseeing.
- Second Life provides a completely flexible mix of facilitated and self-directed instruction. With new features being added to the SL viewer all the time, more and more web-based content can be viewed from within the SL viewer itself, letting the student and educator explore adding content, doing research, and talking with others all without having to open other windows, navigate back and forth, and create confusion.
- SL Voice adds a very meaningful dimension to the learning process, allowing all participants to engage in real-time online conversation in-place, further deepening the learning experience. Combined with the availability of both written and multi-media materials which can be viewed and shared from within the SL Viewer, these communication tools allow a compelling and realistic environment to be created and experienced.
- SL environments are easy to change. Redesigning a classroom in real life, or building a new building, is a daunting task. Doing this in SL is a matter of weeks and little investment in capital. The same holds true for learning projects, in which students and instructors can collaborate to build a structure, engineer an item, or explore a change to a design on a repeated basis without difficulty.
For all these reasons, educational use of Second Life is one of the fastest growing areas for development of the Metaverse. For all levels of education and all subjects, SL offers a unique opportunity to model and engage subjects and for students and educators from around the world to collaborate. We would welcome any comments you might have about your own experiences in education in SL, and thoughts you might have about how this exciting new world can be more widely and effectively explored in the future.
