The Art Institute Online Opens Second Life Campus
Jul 8th, 2007
The Art Institute Online recently opened a second life campus where students can take a business course in this virtual world. A Fox 11 article reports:
"Second Life allows The Art Institute Online students and faculty to create avatars — or cartoon-like characters — that interact with one another and are controlled via keyboard and mouse. The course will be primarily asynchronous and students will have the opportunity to communicate in an environment that lends itself to socialization.
The course will involve both constructivism (learning by doing) and simulation-based learning. By providing real-world objects, structures, and scenarios, student 'players' will be able to apply knowledge of business processes and techniques associated with the real world to this virtual environment."
As more colleges choose to open Second Life campuses, I am growing increasingly skeptical. Learning in a cartoon virtual world sounds like it might be fun. But, I'm not sure that this is the best way for students to acquire knowledge and develop skills. Certainly online content creators should take advantage of student-driven "web 2.0" resources. But, is video game style learning the best solution? To read more on this story see: The Art Institute Online Launches in Second Life.
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