Learning in Virtual Worlds

Hello Followers!

For my blog entry, I chose to review the section regarding virtual worlds. I chose this section because it was something that I was not already familiar with. I must say that after navigating through this section and learning more about it, I was very intrigued and was left with many thoughts.

I learned that their are many aspects of the virtual world that actually do teach life skills that students and adults alike can benefit from. A virtual world teaches an individual to be part of a community and to collaborate with the community that they are a part of. I believe that collaborating within a community is a crucial life skill that people should learn as early as possible. I believe that it can afford an individual success both as a student and when they enter the work force. Virtual worlds also teach other life skills such as problem-solving, risk taking, and persistence; all of which are important and crucial in being successful both in the virtual world and the real world.

The reason why a virtual world is so effective in teaching skills like these is because of the fact that it is nearly impossible to find a kid that doesn't want to play socially or be included. Once kids are able to find this sense of belonging they engage and excel; they want to teach, mentor, lead and build as members of these communities. This fact is so intriguing to me because I am a true believer of being an independent thinker and learner. Unfortunately, I also believe that this is something that we aren't finding is apparent in many schools and classrooms. Many students go to school, do what they are told, regurgitate the information that they are expected to know, and really don't retain all that much. In a virtual world, one is expected to learn individually but to build upon what they learn within a community. This dynamic SHOULD be what we find in schools and is perhaps the most effective way for people to learn.

From what I reviewed in this section I find myself torn. I believe that the virtual world offers students a learning experience that is both modern and crucial. There is a good possibility that students can learn from a virtual world just as well, if not better, than they can learn from a textbook because it is certainly a 21st Century tactic being used on 21st Century learners. What leaves me torn is the difficulty of integrating the virtual world into the real world. A point that was brought up in this section is the basis for this concern. Virtual learning is based almost completely on community and collaboration. Many schools consider collaborative learning to be cheating or an ineffective teaching method because students are tested independently. For this reason, I can see schools being resistant to the integration and I think that this is unfortunate! I really do see it being a great learning tool if integrated and used correctly! Let me know what all of you think!

-Meaghan