Puoh Share See's List: Team C_The Court_Misinformation Debate_DGL

• 1) Easy access and low cost. The client is a free download like Firefox or Internet Explorer and people can participate without paying a membership fee. The client is still evolving and the new voice client is in testing by the community so the software may need to be downloaded every few weeks with updates. The software requires a high speed Internet connection, a fast microprocessor, good video/graphics card and 512MB or more RAM, and hard drive space for the many files in the download. The downloads are easy however, Vista seems to work with SL or use Windows XP or a Mac. 

   2) Experienced and dedicated designer/builders. A quick visit to SL showcases the possibilities and the wonders that are still to come. Second Life has "few restrictions and provides broad and flexible content authoring experiences for developers". The quantity of available objects, textures and scripts to reuse is impressive and designers are available to create custom avatars, buildings and products. If you can make a rough sketch, a good builder can create a prototype quickly. With the floor plans and dimensions a builder can replicate your factory or with enough time an entire city can be replicated.  

   3) Tools and venues for communications-driven decision support. The tools include streaming video, voice, PowerPoint, agenda and meeting management tools, chat recorders, and even name tags for avatars. My recent column (DSS News, 7/15/2007) listed some major venues and DecisionSupportWorld.com will have resources related to venues with SLUrl links.

• The benefits of Second Life in education are:

    
   
  • Visit other countries without leaving the classroom
   
  • Learn about other cultures and acquire new skills doing so
   
  • Engage in new forms of communication with others
   
  • Further develop your ‘people skills’
   
  • New ways of solving problems - which you are unable to do so in the ‘real world’.
   
  • Connect with other online communities, forging new links and friendships.
   
  • New opportunities for collaboration/social interaction
   
  • Self-paced learning to suit all learning styles
   
  • Opportunities to create, comment and share content with other users.
   
  • Integrate within a blended learning system

• Kingdon claims that those businesses that effectively use Second Life for collaboration will have a significant competitive advantage thanks to reduced travel costs and improved teamwork.

   

• Unlike a game, Second Life has no defining objective, something that deterred early-stage investors. That said, you could argue that Facebook, LinkedIn, Bebo and MySpace have no objective other than facilitating conversations.

   

  

   

  Investment

   

  Also, when Second Life did secure millions of dollars of venture capital investment it was when financiers realised that it had an eBay-like potential for commerce.

   

  Kingdon says, "There has been a real shift in use by businesses. Initially many businesses saw it as a shop window or a billboard. It was all about the eyeballs. The thinking went: if you have got millions of registered residents it made sense to get your brand in front of those people."

   

  But now businesses are looking to engage, not just display. So Second Life is hosting recruitment fairs and product demonstrations. Companies are even using Second Life for in-world meetings, training sessions and collaboration. There is a major move away from simply "being there" to making that presence a very real and strategic part of the business, according to Kingdon.

• Second Life is also used in education. "Universities can not only hold lectures and seminars 'in-world', they can create fully interactive, immersive environments where students can communicate with tutors and professors and explore virtual learning tools," he says.

   

  In fact, in the last few weeks even movie studios are creating sets in-world to plan scenes and logistics before building on a real-life soundstage, according to Kingdon, which shows just how flexible the Second Life environment can be.

   

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• Here is a list of the various uses that Second Life has been put to:

    

   
  • Product launch 
  • Consultation 
  • Social events 
  • Entertainment 
  • Market research 
  • Concept testing and user feedback 
  • Showcase 
  • Simulation 
  • Education 
  • Media distribution 
  • Training  
  • Community building 
  • E-commerce  
  • Conferencing 
  • News 
  • Charity 
  • Art and it’s promotion 
  • Branding 
  • Cultural exchange 
  • Interactive games 
  • Recruitment 
  • Customer service 
  • Demo prototyping 
  • Social research 
  • V-Learning 
  • Information sharing 
  • Corporate showcase 
  • Fan base support 
  • Website support

• What makes doing business as an avatar in Second Life a good choice?

   
   
  1. You can virtually meet people from anywhere in the world easily and inexpensively
   
  2. Your Avatar can be an extension of yourself and increase personal investment for you and the business community you are addressing
   
  3. VoIP puts you in the same room with those you need to speak with
   
  4. You can share any documents you need to
   
  5. You can work in real time on those shared documents
   
  6. Any 3D product or place can be re-created cost-effectively and to scale for business decision making
   
  7. You save on time and travel expense by just logging in from your computer
   
  8. You can establish a secure environment by restricting access to your location
   
  9. Training and Education done in virtual worlds returns great results
   
  10. Video created in Virtual Worlds (known as Machinima) or cinema done on machine will get your message to the public through regular distribution channels (e.g. YouTube).  In addition, it will be available as video content on your web site, plus be something you can include in your video emails

• So what makes learning in Second Life different? Virtual classrooms can be attended by a global audience, and students can learn from their safe environments, but these are features in every form of distance education. Let’s examine the benefits of the learning opportunities in this virtual world compared with those of traditional education environments and distance learning.
   

   
   
  • The sense of immersion makes it an ideal tool for role play and re-enactment.
   
  • Scavenger hunts create an interactive method for learning vocabulary, for instance. Surely a faster, more effective, and more interesting way than learning by rote.
   
  • Guided tours of replica real world places that students would find difficult or impossible to visit in reality. The Sistine Chapel, or a scaled model of the interior of a Dell computer are just 2 examples of such destinations.
   
  • Albeit via an avatar, learning by doing is highly productive.
   
  • Collaborative development is fostered in Second Life. Educators can join groups and network with others for professional development. Collaboration and exchange is stronger and more immediate than other communication methods such as blogs, forums, or email.
   
  • Simulation possibilities can provide understanding of what it is like for others in the real world, and aid in our preparation.
   
  • Immersive self paced tutorials and quizzes can be carried out in virtual space, and results fed into a database.
   
   

• SL offers numerous conveniences for learners. Students in SL have the ability to interact with instructors and other students in real time as if they were in actual classroom.In fact, SL interaction is more convenient for students than actual classroom because students do not need to travel to the campus to attend lectures.

   

  This interaction encourages learners to engage in online discussions with no reluctance. SL synchronous discussion is a great feature for extroverted students who like to have immediate feedback from peers and instructors (Rudestam & Schoenholtz-Read, 2010). Learners in SL also have the opportunity to re-read the discussion in the chatting section and save it for later review. This attribute is practically useful for introverted students, who tend to review their comments before applying them (Rudestam & Schoenholtz-Read, 2010).

   

  SL educational characteristics are for both formal and informal educational environments. Wentz and Woods had the opportunity to be informal students in SL. They claim that informal learning helps students engage without feeling shy. Wentz and Woods went with their instructor to visit art and science museums, musical concerts and architectural sites (Baker, Wentz & Woods, 2009).

   

  Students can establish informal friendships with other learners and experts with the same interests. Indeed, they can initiate a community of practice where learning becomes a life-long activity.

• Cons:
   
   
   
  • Although technology is popular, not all students are interested in using this type of technology.
   
  • The learning curve, for both instructors and students, must be considered and planned for when using Second Life in the classroom.
   
  • There is a need for access to the appropriate technology anywhere students will be required to access Second Life (classroom, personal computer, dorm computer, computer labs, campus library, etc).
   
  • Because of the "game like" appearance of Second Life some students may not take the work/lesson seriously.
   
  • The instructor cannot always control the environment in public areas of the virtual world.
   
  • Communication can be difficult in Second Life due to the lack of body language and quality of facial expressions.
   
  • Because Second Life is not solely used for Educational Purposes, exposure to the more uncouth aspects of the virtual environment is possible.
   
  • It can be hard for instructors to redirect students if they are off task, or not participating.