Sunday, April 28, 2013

The Disruptive Power of Second Life


Hedberg & Chang (2007) define disruptive innovations as those that “…eventually take over the existing dominate technology in the market…” even though it is quite a bit differentI believe people build virtual worlds in places like Second Life to hide or mask their identity. It is also an engaging multimedia approach to an activity or way of learning and interacting, as in a class or a way to replace face-to-face communication. By creating a personal avatar, we can become anyone we want to be and take on a persona not our own.

Second Life is not very popular in the field in which I work (K-12 education). I can imagine K-12 teachers implementing this form of multimedia creatively, perhaps to complete a project-based learning unit. Students would have access to a lot of creativity through creating the learning goal in a world, a room, any setting they choose.

I believe Second Life (if introduced to some, re-introduced to others) has the potential to be around for a long time. It could potentially replace Skype or other forms of face-to-face at a distance programs. There is no need to be ‘presentable’, but one’s own thoughts and opinions could still be expressed.

References:

Hedberg, J. G., & Chang, C.-H. (2007). The G-portal digital repository as a potentially disruptive pedagogical innovation. Educational Media International, 44(1), 3–15. Retrieved from the Academic Search Complete database.

Rosedale, P. (2008). Philip Rosedale on Second Life [Video]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/the_inspiration_of_second_life.html.

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