Second Life in Education

On some of the discussion lists I read, there has been talk about the role of the virtual world Second Life in education. There's a wide range of viewpoints about whether it (or the version of Second Life meant for teenagers only) has a role as an educational tool or not. I just came across a blog (thanks to a mention on Classroom 2.0) by an educator (Kevin Jarrett) exploring with second life http://www.storyofmysecondlife.com/ that can certainly be of benefit to those wondering about whether or not to experiment with Second Life. Make sure you check out the video about the educational uses of Second Life that he links to on the page. (It's a youTube video so it will probably be blocked if you're accessing this from a school).

There's also a link to a video made by kids in Second Life that is quite amazing. The video the kids made is at http://youtube.com/watch?v=nK54WRu0jW4 It's also a youTube video so it will probably be blocked but it's worth watching from another location. The subject matter is horrific and moving (one child soldier's experience from abduction to rescue) but even disregarding the topic, it's a positive example of how virtual worlds can be used in education.

I'm not convinced yet that the positives of using Second Life as an educational tool so outweigh the negatives that I'm ready to invest the time and effort needed to implement doing so with my students, but this video certainly adds weight to the positive side of the equation.