The resources
FOLLOW THIS LINK TO RETURN TO DISCUSSION FORUM TWO
- Browse through the sites listed below. Select one and take notes examining how this program, if implemented in an instructional setting, could facilitate deep literary understanding within a learner centered environment.
1. Second Life: [1]
Although this program is geared towards adults, SecondLife is finding a haven within University settings and might become a viable option for the professional development of teachers. This virtual world in which users have the ability to create a "virtual presence" will allow people to connect, attend seminars and meetings, or collaborate on projects when distance is an obstacle.
2. Teen Second Life: [2]
Teen SecondLife is a virtual world that allows a user, or teenager, to explore private and public spaces once they have created a login account and avatar. Virtual presence has enabled and collaborative projects with schools, nonprofit organizations, and individuals who would otherwise be oceans apart.
3. ThoughtCrime: [3]
Students explore the roles of Orwell's characters and have the opportunity to experience the suspicion and distrust that is emphasized in the text. Students assume the roles of Party Members, ThoughtPolice, or the Brotherhood, in a synchronous discussion moderated by the teacher, using the language within the text (i.e. proletariat, Big Brother, newspeak). In the case documented by Rozema, the game ended when the Thoughtpolice tracked down most of the Brotherhood. Students found natural connections between playing fiction and reading fiction--students often asked if they could view they Two Minute Hate video (as mentioned in 1984) or rectify a document as the protagonist did. (85 Rozema)
4. enCore Portal: [4]
This portal provides access to enCore's virtual literary worlds in which students can explore (synchronously) the characters, events and worlds of places as players. Such examples are the etheral landscape of A Midsummer Night's Dream, the deserted island from Lord of the Flies, and the African villiage from Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart.
5. San Jose University: [5]
The School of Library Science at San Jose State University plans to implement virtual public and private spaces through secondlife.com. Students, teachers, researchers and the public will be able to access meeting rooms, offices, auditoriums, as virtual, communicating "players".