The Story of My “Second Life”

Those of us who have been in Second Life for a while will likely nod our heads in agreement with much of Kathy’s October 26th post on her Second Life-specific Lighthouse Learning blog. (Kathy is well known to many educators by way of the Kathy Schrock’s Guide for Educators).

In it, she presents a couple of hypotheses about K-12 (U.S.) educator traffic in SL, particularly involving people new to the virtual world. (I love how she positively engages the community in dialog, BTW.)

So here’s the deal: Kathy would like to see more K-12 oriented professional development in SL, and more new faces, guided by those of us who are somewhat experienced . Kathy recognizes the value of a helping hand – after receiving some assistance herself in-world, she brought MANY people into SL. Initially, she was a driving force behind The Center for Advanced Virtual Education, an outgrowth of a vision by three people – Ferdi Serim (SL: Hodjazz Edmann), Ryan Bretag (SL: Existential Paine), and me. Today, Kathy now has a virtual empire of her own, driving her own K-12 SL initiative within her own district. (N.B.: Although Ryan has not been very active in SL much these days (click here to find out why), Ferdi, Kathy, I and many others continue to press on, convinced of the value of this M.U.V.E., particularly in K-12 education.)

The truth is, however, that right now, while SL is VERY easy to get involved with at the single-user level, it’s not that easy to get something going on a larger scale, perhaps involving a classroom, school or district. So while educators flock to SL and immediately marvel at the social connections and impacts, that enthusiasm often dies down when the (virtual) reality hits, and teachers start asking, “okay, how do I actually get started using Second Life with my students?” Like, say, for example, the way we have at my school with our Teen Second Life after-school club?

Kathy’s first challenge, which I wholeheartedly support, involves finding and bringing one new educator each month into SL, providing them with personal support and encouragement. This will bring people into the conversation, to be sure. I’ve offered my help to Kim Cofino and Vicky Davis, two people I happen to know that have some interest in Second Life and are relatively new. If either of them is up to it, I’ll do what I can. If they’re not, I’ll find some other folks! :)

Kathy’s second challenge, which I also wholeheartedly support, involves creating and delivering at least one real-time PD session in SL every two months, and to enter the information about the event here. The point is to extend the conversation and help each other even further. I’m game for this too, and perhaps can set something up to talk about our TSL club or another topic.

Irrational exuberance aside, Second Life is an environment with enormous potential, but one that requires substantial investment of time, effort and possibly money to use with students. Sibley Verbeck (CEO, Electric Sheep) and Claudia Linden have drawn the analogy between SL and the Internet in the early 90s. Remember trying to explain the internet to people back then, telling them why it was going to be big? I do. It’s much the same with M.U.V.E.s today, either Second Life or some platform-to-be-named later. It’s gonna be big. Do you want to get in now, or wait? The choice is yours.

See you in-world,

-kj-