Virtual environments can provide learners with real life
contexts that help them develop high cognitive skills as stated by cognitive
constructivism which main focus is to provide a learning context that supports
the learning in constructing experience-based knowledge. Imagine this scenario: students learning
fractions in a virtual environment where they can actually not only visualize
but also manipulate blocks using their own hands. If the learning experience is
designed with clear goals and objectives the learners can make the most of this
rewarding experience. However, these virtual environments for educational purposes
have to be regulated by a tutor (teacher, responsible adult) who can take the
responsibility for what may happen in this world. As presented in “Second
Thoughts About Second Life”, a virtual entity (controlled by a real person) may
be exposed to sexual, racist, homophobic, or offensive behavior. Nowadays there’s
no legal regulation in these open virtual environments (i.e. Second Life) where
users’ anonymity can lead to coward acts towards others. Do teachers really
want to take this risk and incorporate this into their practices?
In terms of academic achievement, I don’t think “life online”
has a direct correlation to it. Nor “Facebook”, “Snapchat”, or the popular “PokémonGO”.
The overexposure to each of these technologies is what really has a correlation
to it. Unfortunately, nowadays most people (especially children and teenagers)
think can execute two (sometimes even more) activities at the same time without
losing efficiency or effectiveness. Reading and IMing, posting on Facebook and listening
to your professor, even driving and Snapchatting. In my opinion (as a former
multitasker) the best way to deal with this is to learn how to prioritize your
activities (online/offline).
Hi Cristian, I agree with your opinion. I thought that the technology is a tool to help us make a good life. People should not blame for FaceBook because it is just a tool. It can not have an impact on achievement of the students. Only themselves can do it.
ReplyDeleteHi Cristian, for your opinion about virtual reality, I was wondering, with the fast widespread of virtual reality technology, it's inevitable that it will enventually come into student's routine life. How should teachers and tutors guide students to have a better learning experience in this field? As a instructional designer, how can we make use of our academic strategies to guide or make influences on better virtual reality education?
ReplyDeleteHi Cristian, your thoughts of using communicational technology in the field of education really impressed me a lot. Because I only considered virtual environment as an environment of "playful field" especially for adult to spend some leisure time. I totally agree that with the guidance of adult, students can gain some actual practice by utilizing the virtual environment properly.
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