About ITC
Newsletter: Fall 2007
The Play’s the Thing:
Immersive Learning Environments
by Mark SpurlockThe quintessential electronic social networking tool (in that it can allow the most sophisticated level of interaction) is a fully immersive, three-dimensional virtual space. Increased bandwidth and cheap, powerful hardware have made real-time, simultaneous participation in these spaces increasingly realistic through cyber projections of users called avatars. To an observer, the participant appears to be playing a standard video game, but rather than game-generated “props,” the other on-screen avatars represent other users from all over the world.
In education, these virtual spaces are called immersive learning environments or ILEs. One reason education is looking at ILEs is that today’s students are already engaged by computer games. Many such games are enormously complex, yet their participants willingly spend several hours per week learning to play them. Educators hope that by using similar technology and tools they can tap into that willingness and apply it to real-life learning.
Of particular interest to academia and the business world is Linden Labs’ Second Life because of its flexibility and close simulation of the real world. Whereas many virtual spaces are goal-oriented and fantastic because of their game-like structure, Second Life is less about interacting with a computer program and more about interacting with other participants. A major application of Second Life is as a social, collaborative tool because it helps eliminate geographic distance. Moreover, many tasks, concepts, and goals that would be cost prohibitive or have other constraints on demonstrating in real life can be simulated or modeled more easily in Second Life.
On the downside, although Second Life is based on real life, it can be a challenge to learn to navigate and use. The software requires frequent updates to the client, and the server is down for maintenance and upgrades with some regularity.
Interested in applying Second Life in your class? The ITC will be offering a Second Life workshop September 4 and 12.
Resources
Second Life
A list of some Universities that have established “islands” in SL
World of Warcraft
Gartner Says 80 Percent of Active Internet Users
Will Have A “Second Life” in the Virtual World
by the End of 2011