Immersive Learning

Sceond Life

On the first attempt, I must admit I gave up - what was the point? But then I reminded myself that I wasn't doing this simply for pleasure, I wanted to learn about things that I had NO KNOWLEDGE of, and so a second attempt was made - who knows, I might even like it!

On joining, selecting a basic avatar, and logging in, the first issue to arise was that the power of my computer is evidently not quite enough. Given to opportunity to modify the avatar, any changes attempted were so long in being executed that I ended by aborting them. This is obviously going to be an issue for any centre/institution deploying this software, though the in-house computers may be of a requisite standard, those at any remove may be not so, which will equal frustration, avoidance, and failure.

Moving around was a little awkward, and problematic - with directives compounding in the system so that the avatar would at times move around quite randomly.

It is obvious that most experiences are tainted by the issue of computer power.

Taking the concept on its own, I ended by thinking that it has tremendous merit. We are visual animals, and the ability to interact in a virtual library - reference interview - being able to view a virtual representation of (at least some of) the collection, to conduct searches - to view exhibitions - especially for those isolated (by time and tide) members, justifies any attempt to include this in any strategies.

Wednesday presented the opportunity to participate in an interactive tutorial conducted by Lyn Hay's alter-ego Lenalotus on the CSU SL island - I wonder that users are restricted to human avatars, why not animals? Too Dr. Moreau-ish perhaps.

Initially I had trouble teleporting to the island, and in the event, wasn't quite sure how it was achieved - which had huge relevance in that having teleported away (successfully) in the tutorial, I couldn't get back, even manually entering the slurl; got there by utilising the world map.

Being able to meet with fellow students was very welcome; DE is an existential existence. There was guidance given for some of the functionalities, zooming in/out on objects, holding them, teleporting, searching for groups and information (incredibly useful - though, with the trouble of re-teleporting, I searched for and found the CSU group, but was unable to utilise this for teleporting. As I'm not sure why this was so, it is hard to pass a concrete judgement on it, suffice to say, that from the perspective of an institution that wants to encourage visitors/users, ease of access is PARAMOUNT).

The benefit of being in a location with others with a shared purpose meant that being able to share perspectives, benefit from their questions &c., added tremendously to the experience.

This want of shared purpose - when I visited other islands - highlighted that for me, such a platform seems to lend itself to directed activities, not merely random socialising. Visiting a library's island for a reference interview, or view resources/exhibitions would, I think, be attractive to the community of interest. That said, no-one at the gym has an avatar, though there are several who are good readers.

I liked SL, but I wonder how successful it will prove to be - especially when there is an issue with requisite computer power, relevant when the most popular devices are not desk-top but hand-held.