eLearning stuff

A while back I posted this to the Emerge site

Second Degree burns from Second Life

After the London event I thought I’d better try and confront my scepticism and see what was so engaging about Second Life. So after a quick installation I got about 15 minutes before my (new and expensive) laptop flicks to a very retro 640 * 480 16 colour display, coughs and dies.

So what did I get from my 15 minutes experience? Not a lot. Having spent 12 years working with proper simulation I’ve been spoiled – having these to work with.

Where simulation is all about context, and we can get students using it in 15 minutes. Rather less than the 4 hours needed for Second Life.Two days later and I try again. 15 minutes later and my laptop overheats, burns my hand and dies. But I did learn how to fly. Nearly.

So I don’t get Second Life. It’s touted as a “venue” but are user expectations being met? Personally I hate the idea of any student having to pay for functionality of an application. Living in a rural area connectivity is an issue, and it’s the same for my students – we don’t all have high speed Broadband and if you’re in Cornwall you may never have it. So I don’t have a machine with the right spec to access Second Life, and my university currently blocks access.

Bit of a problem if I want to access the forthcoming “social events will take place in Second Life” (and previous Eduserv events).

Despite having a shiney new laptop I still have problems accessing Second Life….it’s freezes after 30 seconds so I guess I’ll be deprived for some time.

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