Top Ten Missing Features of Second Life as an Educational Simulation Platform (Via The Blog of Clark Aldrich.) Clark Aldrich, an expert in developing educational simulations, critiques Second Life. He notes some of the advantages the popular virtual world holds for learning, but he finds the system lacking support for educational simulations.
Incidentally, at the Long Beach Tech Forum yesterday I met (and co-presented with) Andreas Ua’Siaghail, President and Chief Creative Officer at Resolve Labs (Formerly 23 YYZ, the folks responsible for the serious game Pax Warrior). Much of Andreas’ perspective reminded me of Clark’s, particularly his emphasis on the game mechanic meshing well with the instructional goals. This is a way in which Second Life, though flexible, may be inappropriate (or less than ideal) for many instructional contexts… not to mention that it’s still far too much work for even most tech savvy teachers.
On the otherhand, at the TechForum, Hall Davidson showed screenshots of himself meeting with David Warlick in Second Life, so some exciting things are undoubtedly happening in that space now, especially on education island… enough to make me want to take the time to poke around in there again. David is writing about SL frequently now, too. As Brian Mull says, it has potential: Second Life – Potential (Via Brian Mull.)