Why should educators bother trying to use virtual worlds like Second Life as a pedagogical tool, when they're a time sink and too immersive to allow efficient multi-tasking? On his blog, academic Veritas Raymaker (IRL Kenneth Lim, an Assistant Professor at Singapore's National Institute of Education) has been studying the power of virtual worlds as an teaching resource, and makes the case that learning only begins after virtual socialization begins: "I would argue that embodiment alone may not necessarily result in deep learning," he writes. "this is why some 3D games with an educational focus may not necessarily result in the enaction of lasting change. The learners (in this case, the players) need deeper emotional investments in the characters, and it is my argument that such investments are made as identities develop over time." Read the rest here. Image from Veritas' Koinup account.
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