Educational Aspects of Virtual Worlds. The Application of Second Life

Abstract

The article focuses on three-dimensional virtual environments and their educational functionality, on the example of Second Life. As opposed to some opinions raised in the literature recently, 3D virtual worlds are not passe yet, at least in the educational sector. The authors of the article attempt to support the thesis above and present different aspects of Second Life in educational, scientific, cultural and cognitional applications. To begin with, a logical construction of virtual worlds is given. Then, some infrastructural and navigational characteristics is presented. The next part of the article is devoted to Polish spots in Second Life, which is supported with some statistics and user analysis. Then, some affordances of 3D virtual worlds are discussed with reference to foreign language learning. Some examples are given of informal and occasional language learning as well as formalized an institutionalized language education. The following part is devoted to virtual tourism and popular spots to visit in Second Life. Finally, general opinions on the values and limitations of 3D worlds are compiled, based on the literature.