Week 9

What are the possibilities and limitations of using games, immersive social networking, and virtual worlds in the classroom?  Support your opinions and ideas using the assigned readings, additional research, or classroom experiences.  Your response should be between 500-1000 words.

(Rosen 5, Second Life PDF, Brooks-Young 6, 9)

“It’s a change for all of us who aren’t actors to play [with] masks.  And to think about the masks we wear every day.” – G. Salmon, “The Future for (Second) Life and Learning.” 

            I believe as a whole, when dealing with the idea of digital representation of an individual, whether it is through a character in a game, personal social networking sites, or virtual avatars, the main point of discussion is identity construction.  As far as classroom use, the concept of digital and virtual environments could be a positive tool in student learning.  Chapter 5 in Rewired, discusses the idea of total immersion as when all senses are being used to integrate a multisensory, realistic learning environment.  This type of learning is “Composed of concepts that are all interconnected, based on learning through the senses…The addition of realistic sensory information helps to activate areas of the brain that would be active if the learner were actually engaged in the real-world task that is being simulated.”  Social networks might be critical tools in taking a step closer to the idea of immersion.  This type of environment could also allow more opportunities to  “provide educational curricula, open additional channels of communication—between students, teachers, and parents—engage the students.” Students are already engaged in this type of communication, as they participate in social networks outside of school on their own time.  By merging their lifestyle with classroom structure “A teacher is able to foster a sense of community that is continually shifting, allowing for the development of subgroup relationships within the context of the larger classroom that would be impossible in out school-based educational system.”

            Avatars, Second Life, and New Media Art: The Challenge for Contemporary Art Education, takes the idea of digital and virtual worlds, such as the program Second Life (which is referred to as new media art) and discusses their ability to foster meaning-making in the classroom. “The characteristics of new media art do not simply show the function of technology, but also critique and creatively explore those functions as meaning-making systems within human systems of communication.”  The creation of avatars is regarded not only as a virtual interface, but also as a form of art.  Furthermore, this cultural interface is loaded with human experience and identity. “When examining these avatars, obviously, the identity converted into data information, does not have a real body.  What is behind the visual surface is the question of identity in cyberspace… Cyberspace is not a place without stereotype, but rather may deepen the stereotype…These bodies are unreal and exaggerated and perpetuate particular dominant cultural narratives.  Art educators can develop curricula that explore these issues to help students think about the meanings behind avatar creation to generate a critical, social consciousness.” 

Throughout adolescence, the formation of a student’s identity is fluctuating and slowly becoming defined as they grow older.  New media art can help students grasp this idea of identity construction and lead to “Critical discussions about aesthetics and visual culture relating to identity.  Further, students can consider the reasons for their self-representations in cyberspace.”  New Media art can serve as a “Connection between art education and technology, and, further, art education and current socio-cultural issues.  Exploring ways to bring new media art into art education will enable art education to ‘speak’ in a new language through links with technology to consider and create the future.”

And here is my avatar: