Second Life & Education

There are number of disadvantages when using SL in education. Thus, instructors should weigh the drawbacks against the advantages. Some of the complications are related to students and some related to instructors.

Complication for Students

Some students are not technologically savvy and using SL becomes time consuming for them. Furthermore, SL software has technological requirements, and some students may not have computers that meet these requirements.

Consequentially, SL may not be the optimal educational environment for some students and may cause discomfort. Because most SL learning activities are collaborative, students may face difficulties working with peers.

Cargill-Kipar noticed that misleading communication and exchange of resources, focusing on personal rather than group goals, and ignoring work loads are problems faced by some students at Heriot-Watt University when programming 3D buildings in SL (2009).

Complication for Instructors

Instructors vary in the level of enthusiasm about using new technologies like SL. Indeed, SL requires time, expertise and money to develop an excellent learning environment.

Moreover, instructors can face technological problems during their discussions or lectures that can cause delay on their schedule (Baker, Wentz & Woods, 2009). Baker et al. (2009) discuss some of the problems that instructors may face within SL. They claim that “multiple overlapping conversations can occur simultaneously, which can become confusing”(p. 69). Therefore, instructors should carefully plan their learning environments in SL.