Second Life on the spot (after going deep into it)

Undoubtedly, nowadays virtual worlds offer extensive possibilities for Education and thorough reports have been released on the rationale for the use of platforms like Second Life.

Needless to say, I've found myself amazed at all these alternatives, especially when you come across eduactional projects like this one, along with these words:

'Second Life presents us with an amazing opportunity to think in entirely new ways about teaching and learning'

In addition to that, reports by important American professionals in Education insist on the marvel of seeing students immersed in this platform , in contrast to traditional learning methods which have become, according to their phrases, obsolete and irreleveant

So, I did my own research - really humble but effective for first conclusions-and this is what I got :




This video clip is the continuation of several months analysis of the platform and it has shown me that Second Life does hold lots of potential in the teaching / learning environments. However, as the saying goes, it is not all roses, and there are , from my perspective, two major disadvantages:

The hardware requirement: This is crucial for successful outcomes. Computer crashes get on your nerves and so do slow - or delayed - responses when operating the program. The system requirements are really high, sometimes I feel the minimum claimed at the official site is not enough.

Then, the time needed for exploration and understanding all the stuff the platform boasts : It IS a never ending story (as life goes I guess....)
I remember one of the residents I met while exploring. When asked for hints on SL (just to save some time ) she replied this : "As in real life, you learn to "live" Second Life by living" - "Bah"- I thought- , "away with her, she probably doesn't want to help or simply is too busy doing some other things (as most of the time happens)and simply doesn't like being interrupted. " But it was not like that. She was absolutely right. You learn about Second Life being there and experiencing things by yourself. The problem is: In our real world of instant everything, you generally don't have a second time for Second Life.

Well, but I've felt it. There's a lot more to do / investigate / learn etc. Let's see what the future brings.