Welcome to Second Life

What I knew about Second Life prior to my experience this week was next to nothing. I had heard it discussed on NPR weekend edition, I had the sense that it was an immersive world with a complex set of graphics and 3D environments. In my mind I had lumped it with World of warcraft (which I hear about from my students constantly) and other immersive "games". I am not all that interested in immersive games, so I had never taken any time to pursue information about SL. I went in to this week with skepticism, I can barely keep afloat with my responsibilities in one life, how could I make time even to play at a second?
Well, this week I had an educational experience. I was introduced to Second Life's offbeat, dream like landscape. I encountered a programming environment which is multi-faceted, crammed full of features, almost overwhelming at first glance, but comfortably intuitive for the user. And, most importantly, I learned to fly.
DI's notecard and walk through on Friday evening was insightful and quite useful. The explanation of how SL creates "emotional investment" and "proximity" started to make things seem more reasonable as an approach to an educational environment. My questions: What can we do here that we cannot already do with a skype connection, video conferencing, and other simpler online tools? Well, after an initial experience the answer seems to be a lot. The "virtual" proximity is much different than virtual conference room, less structured, more comfortable, more capability for honest interaction. More authenticity, a word that seemed antithetical under my old mind set. Learning on a flying carpet at 200 meters was pretty cool. While I can see how some users approach the SL world as a game, I was quickly convinced it is not a gamers environment. As a matter of fact, I suspect gamers would be disappointed that there is no "quest" or "goal" other than interaction. Question 2, how do you overcome the skepticism of people like me that a virtual world just does not have the austere environment that an educational experience deserves. Answer, you likely cannot, but the skeptics are really not important if you can get results with a generation of users who are comfortable and most importantly, productive within the immersive world environment. I then realized that the best educational experience I ever had happened on a beach in Costa Rica, not a classroom in Asheville, Boone, or anywhere else.
There are still many hurdles to overcome. As Neil pointed out this is not a true web 2.0 environment. The program is so far out of reach for my current teaching environment that I can not even contemplate it relative to my reality. However, part of this program is understanding where these new media will take us, being prepared, and developing the tools to maximize these environments when the infrastructure is in place. Is this web 3.0? Maybe, it seems very possible.

A quick side note, if you have time to view this video about Alice, please do. Teaching students to program in an environment like Alice will better prepare them to appreciate the complexity of SL, and appreciate the value of the SL experience. Plus, they will get to make things fly!