Volume 30, no.17, January 19th, 2011
The article titled "High Schoolers Attend College In 'Second Life'" is about students at Kinston High School in North Carolina who attend virtual college classes. Yet another program created because of budget cuts. The High School can no longer afford to send their college bound students to the college campus to take classes or see what college classes are like. So, their idea is to allow High schoolers a chance to get online and have a virtual class through East Carolina University. Most of the students really enjoy the opportunity to see what college is like withoug actually having to go on campus yet. It may be that some of the students live to far away right now or they just dont have the funds to go take a class on campus. Either way this program that is correlated with the students high school schedule allows them to have a similar experiencew. The students in the past have felt like they are detached from the University through distance learning, so this program named "Second life" connects the student with avatars (other students) and a professor. The online classes are sometimes in the format of a game which tends to really draw the interest of these teenagers.
I thing this is an interesting idea and I can see how we are being pushed toward this sort of instruction because of budget cuts. I do not although think that it can replace the actual visiting and attending a college class. That is a unique experience that can not be mimiced. I do although think that the "Second Life" program would be a good economical way to take and participate in an actual class. This program would save trips to campus and time out of the school day. For this I would give it a thumbs up, otherwise it gets a thumbsdown for me. Obviously, if I thought an online education was better than I wouldn't be attending a traditional on campus Master's program.
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