Professor Merryman

Factors to think about when teaching in Second Life

These are some of the questions going through my mind right now.

• Do your students like using computers?
• Do they have a computer at home that can access SL and run without a lot of lag or crashing?
• Do they have a USB headset?
• If you are teaching English, are they at least intermediate level speakers?
• Are your students motivated to use technology to learn?
• Are they bothered by troubleshooting computer problems?
•  Would learning in Second Life benefit them more than traditional means of learning the material?
• Have they ever played a video game on their computer?
• Are they skilled at using applications such as Word, Excel and basic sound recording?
• What will you do to compensate for frustration in your students?
• Will your grading represent their efforts well?
• How will you provide assessments and feedback?
• Would using Second Life enhance their main objective in the class or would it detract from the course objective?