As the shape of education changes and educators slowly move some of their coursework to virtual worlds, Texas State Technical College’s virtual college in Second Life has announced its first graduate, becoming possibly the first graduate of a certificate program entirely in a virtual space, according to eMediaWire.
Julie Shannon completed the school’s digital media design program, which was offered exclusively in SL. The virtual ceremony included a processional, a pledge of allegiance, the national anthem and the conferring of her degree. The ceremony was also notable as representatives from Linden Lab were on hand.
“This is a significant milestone for education not only because it is the first graduate from an environment of this nature, but due to the fact that this single event represents the validity of virtual world education as a real method for educational delivery,” said Chris Gibson, associate vice president of Educational Technology.
“Thank you again for this once in a (second) life opportunity,” Shannon said in her address.
No word on whether the grad rented a super-stretch Hummer limo or arrived in a steampunk airship.
Wow, so many questions and thoughts come to mind. First I think, there’s no way someone can receive the same 1st person hands on real life experience education in SL. Then, my second thought is: how much of my time in SL could I count as college credit. And, where do i sign up to get my diploma.
(i probably shouldn’t start sentences with ‘and’ and end questions with periods.)
Anyhoo, “graduating from college” yeah, some people like paying an institution tons of money in order to get a degree and a notch on the resume…. other people love the experience of college.
…i’m just wondering if you can truly ever graduate from a university if you’ve never spent 4 years with your real life self on their campus
[…] 6, 2009 by piensl Dusanwriter nos trae la buena noticia de que Julie Shannon tiene el honor de ser la primera persona graduada de […]
Doubledown: I would like to invite you to our virtual campus. Our intent at vTSTC is to move online learning from being a process driven exercise to experience based learning. We believe it is through experience our students will excel in their academic and professional achievements.
So in other words, you are right on track by asking what about the college experience and can it be created in a virtual environment. I will let you be the judge. Feel free to send me an in-world IM for a tour at your convenience. (SL Name: ChrisG Techsan)