Universities are Adopting Virtual World Learning. Why Aren't Primary Schools?

Educators could build virtual learning hubs like this.

Dana Oshiro of ReadWriteWeb asks a question that's been on our minds for a while now. Universities are making use of virtual worlds as educational tools, so why are public primary schools missingt he boat?

Oshiro points out the divide between the early adoption of virtual worlds in universities and the pushback in public primary schools:

Apart from this recent endorsement by the University of Texas, mainstream educators still don't have the green light to teach in virtual worlds.

Many argue that video teleconferencing and instant messaging have replaced the need for virtual world interaction. However, neither of these offer the same immersive experience.

Pixels and Policy takes a peek at just why the divide between virtual education is so clearly drawn, and why grade schools are missing out on a fantastic opportunity to prepare students for the future of education.

Understanding an Investment in Virtual Education

We've extensively reported on the increasing willingness of universities to adopt wide-ranging virtual education programs, including degrees in virtual worlds.

The University of Texas used $2.5 million in grants to partner with Second Life and construct a virtual learning experience unlike any other. Everything taught through the virtual University of Texas system will be monitored and recorded for effectiveness and so future institutions can make use of the road-tested information.

Why aren't public schools everywhere doing this? It seems primed for inner-city schools where resources are strained and classrooms overflow with bored, disconnected students.

As a Tufts University report shows, kids learn best when they learn in the context of a game - in this case, Second Life and virtual worlds take advantage of this generation's immersion in technology to teach and entertain.

Let's consider the main reason why the technological revolution is absorbing government, business, entertainment, and communication while leaving public schools largely absent.

Bureaucracy

It's everywhere in the public school system, where the average state high school must deal with, in mostly this order:

1. in-house administrators
2. district superintendent
3. local school board
4. city council
5. local Board of Education
6. State Department of Education
7. Federal Department of Education.

At every step are politicians or aspiring politicians, few of them willing to take the career leap of endorsing virtual world technology against the status quo. As someone with experience in local, state, and federal politics, I find it a truism that the status quo means job security.

   With luck, these are tomorrow's tech entrepreneurs

So how do right-minded educators cut through the intractable bureaucracy of education to bring virtual worlds, lower costs, and a Metaverse filled with qualified educators to their students? Charter Schooling!

Charter Schools receive government funding but receive exemptions from the course requirements and bureaucracy of public schools. The only requirement? Show results.

Some ambitious educators are going even further: in Oregon, virtual Charter Schools are now legal. This solves one of the major problems of Charters: too many students applying for too few physical slots. It's lazy policymaking to argue that nothing can be done to bring virtual worlds into public schools, and it gives short shrift to children we claim to be educating that they are denied these fantastic learning tools.

For those committed enough to buck the bureaucracy, the future of education is increasingly virtual.

Comments

[Rosaria Constantine]

I have one computer in my classroom!

[cor]

All our computers at the primairy school neede new video cards/processors for receiving sl propperly.

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1426060969]

Your number of 2.5 mil maybe off by a factor of 10. But still and exciting project and a nice article. This is from a UT news article:
"UT-Austin senior lecturer Leslie Jarmon, Division of Instructional Innovation and Assessment faculty development specialist, received a $250,000 grant to take the initiative off the ground and coordinate a one-year trial.

This was one of $2.5 million in grants awarded by the UT System’s Transforming Undergraduate Education Program, which supports student success, the demand for cost-effective quality learning and the need for different ways of learning with changing technology."

There is a K12 Teacher component of the initiative by the way. TOLC Mountain Campus was centrally established in the same SIM geography to support STEM educator participation by separate sources of funding.
Keith

[S. Weston]

You might also consider that Second Life is for *adults only*. There is the Teen Grid, but that's for 13-18 year olds. For students younger than that, there would have to be a tech team to install and upkeep a private grid and, quite frankly, most schools don't have those kinds of resources in their tech departments (at least we don't in my state).