Frankly, i wasn't all too impressed with Second Life (SL) when i got my 1st hands on experience at the mxl. What i didn't know is that universities exist in SL! Why go for lectures when we can do it in SL? You can even fly to your virtual lecture venue. Nonetheless, i feel that SL does have its limitations (based on my half an hour hands on session that is).
In order to interact, most of us type. In a class of 40, there might be too many words on the screen. Even if we use a microphone, our message cannot be delivered effectively because there is a lack of body language (or rather natural body language), which accounts for 70% of communication.
In SL, we can see and hear, but cannot we touch and smell. Disaster for chemistry teachers like us? How are we going to show students that an alkali is soapy and ammonia gas is pungent?
Having said that, i'm not trying to say SL is useless for education. I feel that while SL cannot be the primary source of education, it can serve as a complementary tool. For example, we could conduct e-learning using SL. We could also use SL as a tool to bring students to places. Planning a trip to Marina Barrage? Perhaps we can have a marina barrage in SL to let students have a feel of what is the place like before the actual trip. Or we can take students to the effel tower without actually travelling to paris.
That's all for now. I probably have to sign up for SL to appreciate more of its advantages and disadvantages.
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