Avatars Headed to College

I have often thought about how the college offerings will be changing to more distance education courses in the future. Having experienced several different online formats, I hope that colleges or universities move more in the direction of LEEP courses. Having weekly live contact is extremely valuable and enriches the learning compared to the courses that require the impersonal postings 4 times a week.

This idea of distance learning came to me again today as I was reading the December 07 issue of School Library Journal. On the Tech Knowledge page, Lauren Barack describes a Teen Second Life event that occurred this past October. A Virtual College Fair was held and more than 176 students participated. Booths were manned by representatives from Penn State, the University of Kentucky, San Jose State, and the University of Paisley, Scotland. Some companies were also represented ~ NASA, Amazon.com, and Linden Lab, who are the creators of Teen Second Life. These employers spoke about how skills needed to participate in Second Life would easily transfer into a job in the area of technology.

I believe we will see more of virtual college visits. With colleges increasing the use of social networking sites for promotion, I was interested in seeing if any colleges are using Second Life in their courses. My search yielded some interesting articles. This article from USA Today points out that over 300 colleges are using Second Life in very creative ways. For instance, a professor of literature takes students to sites connected to characters included in their readings. I was surprised by the amount “life” Second Life is receiving at the college level.