Christy Tucker at Experiencing E-Learning liveblogged from the TCC08 keynote address presented by Dr. Barbara P. McLain, a professor at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa, and Professor Lilliehook in Second Life.
The keynote addressed the question, “Why Do We Need a Second Life?” as it pertains to professional educators. The main point of the presentation was that “change ahead requires vision now.”
Overall, the two professors were effusive in their praise of Second Life’s potential for education. They cited the growth of online education as a precursor to virtual education, and then cited the many reasons that virtual ed. should be a major part of a teacher’s toolkit in the future, including:
- The trend to social networks
- That everyone has the ability to build in SL
- Almost anything can be taught in SL (exemplified by the phrase, “No Subject Left Behind”)
- SL - and virtual worlds in general - are more engaging than the traditional lecture
- “91% of students see the Internet as a place for answers”
The keynote ended with some comments about prickly adminstrators who would need to approve virtual learning programs. The professors concluded that, in order to move ahead a forward-thinking move such as virtual education, “sometimes you have to wait for those administrators to retire.”
Thanks for the link!
Just FYI–I’m an instructional designer, not a professor. My comments are in italics, but everything else is a summary of what Barbara McLain wrote. “The two professors were effusive” is really incorrect on two points–you don’t really know whether I’m effusive or not when I’m simply reporting on someone else’s presentation.
I’m personally not as excited as she is about SL. I see the potential of virtual worlds, but it’s too bleeding edge for my job. I like seeing what’s possible as that vision for the future, but I know I’m at least several years away from being able to apply any of it in my own job.