My grandmother’s favorite expression was, “Every pot has a cover.” She was usually referring to people and to the people they marry. I feel it is appropriate now as well. It means that everyone has different views and opinions and needs that fit them and not others. Well, I am not a big fan of Second Life. I appreciate it more than I do Twtter, because I can see a useful purpose for it.
With Second Life it allows you to navigate through another world, as yourself or someone else, and see things in a way that you may not be able to before in this life. The possibilities are endless when it come to education. You can create a world such as the wilderness B’nai Yisrael went through 3000 years ago and have them explore all that is there. Let them see the Mishkan. You can have them go into the Beis Hamikdash and see what it is like. Although that would require someone to actually spend all that time and probably money to create those worlds.
You could navigate through different areas such as the inside of a computer and see what parts are inside. You could also go under the sea and swim in awe of all the fish and marine life there.
My problem with Second life was that it was not easy to navigate through. I kept going to far to the right and kept walking into walls (or through them) and into places I did not want to be in. It very well could be that since I am not a regular video game player I am not very good at it and I need more practice. Children today are more familiar and play more of these virtual games.
So I feel the same way about Second Life that I do about Barney – I am not crazy about him, but i see the educational value in the purple dinosaur.
Ed Tech by Moreh Michael 