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Roland,
I’d truly like to believe in what you’re saying.
But I don’t.
It really sounds like so much blather. Yet another post saying how marvelous Education is in SL. Yet another claim that it is innovative and wonderful. Yet another rhapsodizing about Pathfinder Linden and all his links.
But…where’s the beef? Can you point to any actual educational program that has some kind of seriously-investigated peer-reviewed study showing the efficacy of online education? Can you show that people really are learning — and learning better — by being “collaborative online”? I’d love to believe it — it may be true — there might be anecdotes — but I remain skeptical because I just don’t see the goods showing up here.
Can you name me an actual university teaching something *other than* Second Life *itself* or “digital arts” — online, for grades, with credit?
Can you show me any “schools without walls,” schools where any of us could enter for continuing education, as you claim? For free, or for Lindens?
Where *are* these new dimensions? What do they consist of?
In other words, it’s no good for a smart, thoughtful, credible journalist like yourself to mouth the platitudes that many others before you have mouthed. I’d like to see the hard evidence.
@Prok
I don’t have peer-reviewed studies, though I think studies have been made about medical education (don’t know whether peer-reviewed or not).
However, I had the pleasure to attend some classes of the Berkman School about Virtual Worlds, and I was impressed. I found the course to be very interesting, I learned quite a few things. It would have been difficult or impossible for me, living and working in Belgium, to attend a Berkman course in the States.
It also depends on what one considers to be education. For me, the Metanomics group is a form of education. I learned stuff attending the weekly gatherings, and also by interacting with the other attendees. The simple fact that once again people from all over the world gather to learn and to socialize is for me very important.
The virtual environment makes it possible to engage with others on a deeper level (compared with blogs or forums for instance).
I also think that the fact one can represent stuff in 3-D can be very interesting, but my main arguments have to do with immersion and the cosmopolitan nature of second life.
These are very personal experiences,not scientific proof of the efficiency of virtual learning. But for me those personal experiences are very convincing. Again: compared to the cost, time and effort of attending courses of the Berkman School or Cornell in the States, it seems extremely efficient to attend those classes in a virtual environment. And believe me, I learned stuff there which I could not learn here in a local university.