A University's Presence in Second Life

With much talk and hype about Second Life and the benefits that it can have for creating interactive learning environment, why might begin to wonder where the examples of using Second Life are. For an excellent use case of Second Life, I would refer readers to Dr. Karl Kapp's recent blogs over the summer about a class that he conducted entirely in Second Life (and also integrated some Web 2.0 technologies).

Throughout the summer, he offered excellent tips and trials of conducting the class. For those who think that Dr. Kapp may be over-hyping a game (of for those who see games as a passing fade), you should read his 15 August post. He accurately reflects that 3D metaverses are just tools (with their own pros and cons) that should be included in the "toolbox of instructional designers...they are not the solution to every learning challenge".

It is human nature to gravitate toward the familiar. Unfortunately, Instructional Designers can fall into this trap of reverting back to what they are familiar with. That is why I have been advocating (and will continue to advocate) that anyone serious about analyzing a problem should have expertise in Performance Improvement...Instructional Designers will tend to gravitate toward a training problem just like game designers will tend to gravitate toward pushing a game solution.