Thing 10 - Virtual Worlds, Second Life

I am not a big “gamer”, nor do I spend hours on my computer “surfing” the net. Therefore, I have trouble with this “Thing.” I have no desire to be a part of Second Life or any other virtual world. I did read a lot of the articles and ideas and still – I think to myself, “Why would I want to do that?” After reading through several other Beachcombers on Library2Play2, I found that the verdict on virtual worlds is about half and half. Some people were pleasantly surprised and enjoyed the idea of creating avatars and getting started. Others were baffled by the idea and still others were downright appalled! I think I am a little with the latter group! I do not think this is appropriate for elementary students at all!

I know there were many articles on the benefits of Second Life and do like the ideas of Colleges and Universities using virtual worlds for prospective students. There were links to several Universities, Museums, and science related resources that looked interesting too. Click here. The other interesting article was the one from Cool Cat Teacher. I liked the idea of using it with high school students to create a virtual world on digital citizenship. I know that there are students who would be all over Virtual Worlds and if I worked at a high school, I would explore deeper.

I do have some concerns with Virtual Worlds. The first being the disconnect from reality. One thing we taught our students in regards to netiquette is that it is easy to be or appear to be anonymous online. When people think they are anonymous, they tend to do things they shouldn’t be doing or behaving in a way that is inappropriate. Second Life opens this up in a huge way and I don’t necessarily think it is emotionally healthy. Another concern is that students could become a little too caught up in their “second life” and forget to live their real life. I think most people have someone they know, who has become obsessed with their “second life” and it caused serious problems in their real life - again, not emotionally healthy. Finally I was a little taken aback when I read the Online Safety section of Second Life. There was a lot of information in there about scams and cons that seem to be a part of Second Life (I know, I know, not unlike real life!) as well as a lot of information in there about reporting abuse and harassment. I was particularly unimpressed with their advice on how to handle verbal abuse – just mute the person. While that may solve the problem for the moment, I wonder why a person would want to spend time on an activity where verbal abuse is such a problem! (This goes back to the whole “anonymity” issue.)

I realize my opinions on virtual worlds are just that – my opinions – and are not the popular opinions, I just can’t see using this with elementary students. There are so many other tools and ideas that let students interact in the real world!