Second Life - Day 6

The Final Day!

Today was my final day exploring the 3D virtual learning environment of Second Life! I chose to visit Virtlantis, which is a language learning island, though it isn't limited to just learning English. Let's take a look at what I found.

Virtlantis

 ^^ Here is my initial view upon teleporting here. Everything you need to know about Virtlantis is right in front of you. ^^

 ^^ The schedule for the coming week offers activities in English, Polish, and French. ^^

 ^^ This island was designed to be very inviting. ^^

 ^^ Exploring the island. Here's a building where learners can gather. ^^

 ^^ Inside the building. A little dark, but students could easily meet up here. ^^

 ^^ Another area for people to meet. ^^

 ^^ Yet another meeting area. Each are has a different 'feel' to it, depending on the vibe you want. ^^

 ^^ An aerial view of the island. ^^

^^ Approaching the amphitheater. ^^ 

 ^^ Virtlantis offers music concerts. There's a lot of support here for people who want to organize activities. ^^

^^ My personal favorite hangout location. My avatar took a relaxing break here to reflect on her journey through Second Life. ^^

Final Thoughts

Today's visit was completely different from yesterday's trip to the Holocaust Museum, but I think that's part of the beauty of Second Life. There are plenty of different learning environments to suit different educational needs. Virtlantis seemed pretty similar to EduNation, though it looks like at Virtlantis, anyone can contribute and become a teacher. I could envision students coming here to gather for speaking practice.

The End?

I tended to visit Second Life at odd hours (thank you, time difference), so every place I visited was virtually empty. It made me question the popularity of these places, but they all seem to be well maintained, so my guess is that I just had bad luck meeting other people. I wonder what it would be like to visit these places when they are full of people; it must be a different experience!

This week's project took me to so many different learning environments. I know there's more out there, such as historical versions of real cities, but I think I learned a lot traveling to the various locations this week.

I don't know if I'll use Second Life in the future, but I can definitely say that I am much more comfortable with it, and with 3D VLEs in general. If this is the way that education is going, I am ready for the future.