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As we are talking about Second Life more and more each day in class, I am starting to get a feel for this virtual world thing. Not that I am going to jump right in and join one but every time I google something about it, things pop up like “how to overcome obstacles in Second Life” or “how to cheat and get more money.” Is it really that popular? Are we not “in” on the new trend? I always felt as though I was never completely on top of the game when it came to new trends but I was never completely lost either. I have never even heard of these so called virtual worlds, other than the computer games I used to play as a child.
I came across this article “Are Virtual Worlds Good for the Soul?” It was very touching in the way that this particular virtual world names WoW helped certain students in different aspects of their life. “It [WoW] has proven to be beneficial to the students socially, academically, and therapeutically.” In general, these particular students lack social skills but have made social connections through being involved in this virtual world. Granted these relationships are not deep however the fact they are making relationships with others at all is noteworthy.
Not only has this virtual world proven to help with social skills, but it has aided in academics as well. A student, who has a learning disability, has all of a sudden shown an interest in reading because of the text used in WoW. The teacher has also noticed his emails have gotten much easier to read.
After reading this article, I have a completely different outlook on virtual worlds. Even though most of them are used for pleasure, this particular story was very moving. I am glad that children are finding ways to learn and help with social skills in a fun and effective way!
http://terranova.blogs.com/terra_nova/2006/10/are_virtual_wor.html
I came across this article “Are Virtual Worlds Good for the Soul?” It was very touching in the way that this particular virtual world names WoW helped certain students in different aspects of their life. “It [WoW] has proven to be beneficial to the students socially, academically, and therapeutically.” In general, these particular students lack social skills but have made social connections through being involved in this virtual world. Granted these relationships are not deep however the fact they are making relationships with others at all is noteworthy.
Not only has this virtual world proven to help with social skills, but it has aided in academics as well. A student, who has a learning disability, has all of a sudden shown an interest in reading because of the text used in WoW. The teacher has also noticed his emails have gotten much easier to read.
After reading this article, I have a completely different outlook on virtual worlds. Even though most of them are used for pleasure, this particular story was very moving. I am glad that children are finding ways to learn and help with social skills in a fun and effective way!
http://terranova.blogs.com/terra_nova/2006/10/are_virtual_wor.html
2 comments:
Now this type of virtual world is fine by me! Anything that is positive and beneficial to children is always a plus. I like to see that people aren't being ridiculous in these worlds but more helpful than anything!
I think it is great that people are finding positive ways to apply virtual worlds to life. Sometimes I think it is easy for us to focus on how virtual worlds are an annoyance and an escape for people and we forget that they can be beneficial as well.
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