Virtual World: Real Learning

No passport required: Second Life in higher education

Nowadays, social virtual world being an online ‘’space’’ attracts a growing number of adults and can be integrated into language learning curriculum. Virtual worlds are different from traditional course management systems in terms of 3D graphical setting, use of avatars and the ability to put the learner within the scene.

Virtual world has a lot of benefits for students. They offer an interface that is exciting and appealing to students. As I was searching in the Internet to find out more about Virtual World, I found the best virtual worlds and some articles related to it. I was reading the blogs of some professors who shared their experience about Virtual World. A professor of anthropology confessed that he wished his students to experience another culture and thanks to Second Life because his students experienced other cultures without leaving the classroom.  By virtually travelling to Second life they can experience the same skills needed to navigate a different culture. This virtual world exercise gives students an opportunity to experience community, communication and identity in a way similar to study-abroad programs, but in this case the students' bodies never leave the computer lab (facultyfocus.com)

Students can communicate with people of different nationalities, religions and interests and Second Life gives limitless context and areas for Ss to explore and experiment. They are attracting as they offer a shared social space that is totally created and evolved by its users and which provides a real-time interaction and content.

Based on my first-hand experience of Second Life, I was thinking about the extent Second Life can be meaningfully used for TEFL purposes in Armenia.  Activities like role-plays where students can be assigned different roles, science experiment to learn scientific words, debates, discussion classes through chatting will be effective for students.  However, there are some prerequisites for applying Second Life in EFL classroom. Developing compelling virtual learning environments are not easy to develop and it is going to take a lot of time.  It would be better to use it with adult learners provided with clear instructions and its purpose should be defined and clarified. So private groups should be created and controlled by the teacher. One important point to take into consideration is to ensure that there is a computer and a good internet (high speed) connection which is, alas, a big problem for students in .Armenia. Second Life provides a range of opportunities for groups due to its emphasis on collaboration and connection between users. It opens up a whole range of possibilities which may not have been previously considered that can lead to some very interesting outcomes