Andrea TovarSecond Life, Avatar: AZ Andrew

EDT 598, FALL 2007EDT 598, FALL 2007ASU AT THE WEST CAMPUSASU AT THE WEST CAMPUS

Postcard from Second Life. This is me in Second Life. Visit Orientation Island 82 (130, 138, 23Slurl.com/secondlife/OrientationIsland

FROM REAL LIFE LEARNING LABS TO FROM REAL LIFE LEARNING LABS TO VIRTUAL CLASSROOMS…VIRTUAL CLASSROOMS…

According to this year’s Horizon Report, a collaborative between New Media Consortium and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative, virtual social networking is in real-time and within the boundaries of this year’s top technology adoptions (NMC & ELI, 2007).

In Second Life (SL), 3-dimensional beings [avatars] become virtual representations of digitally active online community members. As a result of this engagement,

members become receptive to experiential e-learning and teaching. Through this paradigm shift in learning

space [a virtual environment], students become emotionally and motivationally drawn into the SL

e-dimension of learning (ECAR, 2007).

Affordance, first defined by James Gibson (1977) links the physical properties of an object to characteristics of a living breathing ‘animal’. More clearly understood is the language initiated b y Kirscher (2002) which connects the educational experience (in this case, SL) to the learner’s skills and aptitude for knowledge progression in virtual view.

Dr. Pamela G. Taylor identified several ‘affordances’ including the reflective, corrective, and social skills necessary to function in virtual. These intelligences serve as digital , edu-experiences for further developing personal and professional habits in our mutual and collective worlds (Art Education, 2007).

“Our [virtual] progress as a nation can be no swifter than our [virtual] progress in education.” John F. Kennedy (1917-1963)

Social networking is the e-living connection that breaths digital democracy into SL for RL engagement. To create and to share is virtually…divine.