 Articles, Ideas, and Innovations in online teaching and learning |
It is not everyday that you experience a rocket blasting off into space while seated in the cockpit. How often can you attend class on a platform that happens to be orbiting the earth? These are daily activities for anyone who visits the International Spaceflight Museum. The view from the platform was breath taking. There I was, looking down at the earth and all I could think about was the absence of guardrails on the platform. Wait, did I mention that this all took place in SecondLife? While nothing like my normal life, my SecondLife is very surreal. In my SecondLife I am a pirate, a Viking, circus performer, crewmember of the Star Trek Enterprise, or just my plain old self. It is amazing what I can do, except none of this is real. Everything I just mentioned exists with a Massive Multiplayer Online game called SecondLife. Participants of Second Life interact in a virtual world where imagination is the only limit. Within SecondLife, people are allowed to build virtually anything from ships, cities, cars, and clothing. During my visit to the International Spaceflight Museum, sponsored by the MoonFront LLC of SecondLife and NASA, I took a tour of Spaceport Alpha at CoLab Island. Currently, they have digitally recreated over 40 rockets used for space exploration. I must say it was amazing to look around and find myself surrounded by so many modern wonders. I also watched a fascinating movie about the living conditions for astronauts in space. When I am not exploring space or flying around in a rocket, I attend class. I am currently enrolled as a group participant in the CyberOne group from Harvard Law School, taught by Professor Nesson. Students of the Harvard Law class are given the option to attend class virtually on the Berkman Island. The virtual class is similar to its real life counterpart. Professor Nesson uses PowerPoint slide shows and lectures to deliver his content. As of right now, I have checked out a few of the public forums on Berkman Island and signed up for the newsletter. The forums provide the opportunity to hear about the future of education. It is also interesting to see what some real life businesses are doing upon their entrance into the realm of SecondLife. Companies like Pontiac, Nissan, Toyota, Adidas, Reebok, IBM, CNET, and Reuters have all staked their virtual claim in SecondLife. All of these businesses view SecondLife as a new and exciting way to market their products. Pontiac has created an island that allows users to view, customize, and even test drive new cars. Adidas has built clothing stores and Reuters has launched a news center in SecondLife. It takes some adjustment to deal with everything that you might possibly see in SecondLife, but I am starting to get the hang of it. People flying through the air, talking robots, and space rides are starting to become almost normal to me now. |
