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what this talk will not be
a survey of education projects in virtual worlds -- for that try:
the sled listhttps://lists.secondlife.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/educators
the slrl listhttp://list.academ-x.com/
listinfo.cgi/slrl-academ-x.com
or try google
instead, will try to look at categories of education use
and how virtual worlds and education interact
since already meta
as we would expect
given the previously discussed lack of a magic circle
beating crap out of each other OK
beating crap out of each other frowned on
which we all understand now
so we would expect some other educational forms as well...
education and commerce
commercial education
(ie “training”)
exploring new media
even trying to educate congress!
even trying to educate congress!
(where much of the testimony was about virtual worlds applications to education)
so, rather than a general survey, let’s explore the classes of use
(and maybe try to relate back to education theory as well)
which is, admittedly, a bit like
since this is what you do
so, once again, remember
not only that...
IANAL
not only that...
IANAL
not only that...
(I Am Not A Lawyer)
IANACSOET
but that...
IANACSOET
but that...
(I Am Not A Cognitive Scientist Or Education Theorist)
however, what I am going to talk about has been strongly influenced by these folks
first, keep in mind the idea of“learning by doing”
whether we call it that
(Lev Vygotsky)
or situated learning
(or lpp, for that matter)
or performance before competence
there is a long history that we learn best
bydoing
not by skill and drill
we want to see how to learn
why to learn
with different motivations
with different goals
and then be able to practice
with feedback and assessment
of many different types
maximizing the opportunities for situated learning looks a lot like
innovation
who are we allowing to try?
recall the innovation limitations
capital
stigma of failure
regulatory/legal challenges
these all exist when trying to enable situated learning
and all can be addressed more easily in virtual worlds
capital
stigma
regulatory
students and teachers want opportunities
and will leverage technology in unexpected ways
situated learning is just one aspect
of good learning practice enabled by virtual worlds
returning to lave and wenger
communities of practice
virtual worlds allow connections
at a distance
around virtually anything we can imagine
graduate students
or software development
fashion
architecture
history
not just long tail, but long tail communities (of practice)
and communities given a broader language for signaling and
preserving what makes them a community
and if you have broader communities...
from all over the world
virtual worlds can enable heterogeneous learning
easier than real world
to connect distant locations
to cross pollinate communities
and generations
of course, deep questions about transfer
and need for more research like Dmitri’s
but yet another advantage is that we can study behavior
within these worlds
if we remember privacy
there are myriad opportunities
and different approaches
to how we learn about learning
but there is a final category of education I’d like to cover
what uses of virtual worlds should be part of education
but aren’t
specifically
entrepreneurship
cross disciplinary teamwork
not to hit too close to home, but consider how APOC works now
take an amazing group
bombard them with classes
and make them create a community
a pretty amazing program, imho
(and one that leverages lppand heterogeneity very well!)
but how would we do it in a virtual world?
you’d start with a mix of skills
then production would begin
ideas would change
competition would evolve
teams would start anew
all the while learning on the go
making mistakes
and starting over
how many communities could this group create in a year?
I bet the answer is more than 1
and many professions know this
what can real world education learn from this lesson?
that when given low risk opportunities to try, people will
often working incredibly hard
and learning along the way
how would we do that in the real world?
a bit of housekeeping...
So, we’re almost done
april 22ndfuture of virtual worlds
stop talking now
