Don't know where to start - except to say that I am incredibly disappointed, unnerved, and overwhelmed by this app. I kept looking into this 'Thing' over a three day period thinking it would somehow become fabulous. It didn't.
Starting with overwhelmed - soooo many commands. Yes there are drop down menus with icons - but there are still tons of options. It would require loads of time to get to a point where I was somewhat smooth in operating my poor avatar. My students would literally cognitively teleport into their avatars and it would be difficult to retrieve them (remember, I work with Autistic and Asperger's students...)
Unnerved - I know this sounds dorky, but when I saw other avatars approaching, I got creeped out, as if they were actually in my living room. One time, when I was in virtual China, somebody came running across the barren plain and I was worried they might want to talk to me so I flew away. Yep, dork. My students would also freak out at 'strangers' approaching. There is too much here that is not 'concrete' for my students to comprehend. They are still working on the subtleties of the real world, no sense in confusing the issue with virtual worlds (beyond the Wii and XBox games they are already hooked into....)
Disappointed - the graphics are really not all that great yet. My movements are still not fluid and the software loads slower than my little 'DeNayNay Yuhara' can walk. Also found that the destinations were not 'all that' and that there appeared to be many destinations that were just not for me. It may make me sound like a jerk, but I laughed at the 'weekly therapy group on interpersonal relationships'. Ya THINK you might just step away from your computer and maybe go to the grocery store and simply say hi to real people? I know, I know, harsh.
As an experiment I took my avatar to a place I'm familiar with, London. I found myself/DeNayNay listening to streaming radio from London, and it was about 4a.m. so the city was dark, which was impressive that the simulator followed the time zones. However, since it was dark, I couldn't tell how realistic the perimeter of Hyde Park was so I left my poor DeNayNay in London, standing on some street corner in Kensington. I will check on her later, in daylight hours, London time, to see the sights.
As for my middle school students - I honestly don't think I will promote this quite yet. Okay, not at all this year. The applications seem to be for an older student and the subject matter/involvement levels don't seem to justify the academic investment. Sorry.
i am sorry it was a disappointing experience for you. There are many facets to Second Life (and other educational virtual worlds) that would be appropriate experiences for your middle school students.
ReplyDeleteWe will look over this particular activity and see if we can reform it to be more beneficial!
I hope that you will give virtual worlds presented in a different way anotehr chance. I have seen very successful encounters, but I too am a very amateur "user"!