Use of Virtual Worlds in Education
Long gone are the days of uncomfortable metal desks and lugging heavy backpacks around overloaded with books. Online education is now a major part of today’s school campus. Virtual versions of a campus, otherwise known as a “Virtual Campus,” are continuing to grow in Second Life (SL). News of colleges and universities exploring and adopting virtual world presence are found in the news ever more frequently. Well known Ivy League universities such as Harvard, Princeton and Stanford have all adopted the use of virtual worlds for education and provide successful road-tested examples of SL in higher education. By utilizing emerging technology many students are able to attend lectures via a virtual world platform (without the virtual backpack). While SL seems to be the biggest and best sandbox to virtualize brick and mortar we are intrigued with the possibilities of laying into the sandbox structured, experiential learning – bringing a hands-on serious game construct to learning. Maybe the marriage of the emerging virtual campus with embedded simulations can bring a whole new dimension to “Final Exam!” How cool would it be to attend a virtual university where you could apply what you learned in the virtual classroom to a simulated world with attendant challenges and rewards. Think about it…this really could flip things…a final exam we could all look forward to! Much more to explore here…
