Educators love to appropriate existing technologies for pedagogical purposes. And so we have educational radio programs, TV programs, videogames … and instructional applications in virtual worlds (VWs) such as Second Life and Active Worlds. However, there is an unfortunate lack of control in VW environments, as griefers manifest themselves with online terrorism, and students may potentially wander into explicit adult areas.
What educators really need are VWs they control completely, regulating who has access as well as the pedagogy that is covered. Dr. Greg Jones over at UNT is a pioneer of this idea. Now, the potential for teachers to easily create their own online education worlds is proffered with a new service from VastPark, which bills itself as a “distributed virtual worlds platform.” Essentially, you design your VW using VastPark’s tools, invite users to stroll your virtual realm with their avatars, and achieve your online objectives whether that be making money or teaching students at a distance.
VastPark is in closed beta, but is available by invitation. For those who’ve seen the tools in beta, such as Jason Stoddard over at Centric, the worlds are amazingly detailed, and remarkably easy to work with. I’ve taken a look at CEO Bruce Joy’s video of VastPark’s Creator Tool, and can attest that it looks fantastic. Its feature list is also impressive.
If VastPark can help teachers easily make their own VWs, we may see a surfeit of online worlds dedicated to educational purposes.
December 16, 2007 at 6:39 am |
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