[staff] Entering into a new world
I hit my year mark working with Global Kids early this month. Time flies by really fast, doesn’t it? I can’t believe that at this time last year I was just starting at GK, entering into my first EVER virtual world, learning more in depth information about service learning and how GK worked in general. All of this being said, I have spent most of my time when working within virtual worlds, in Second Life, due to the fact that the OLP programs I have helped with or participated in were based there. On my own time, I have ventured into virtual worlds such as Small Worlds, Whyville and Habbo Hotel. Recently, I went on a tour of Metaplace, given by my colleague Rik.
I have to say, based on what I knew a year ago, every time I venture into a new virtual world, I am impressed with what I find. What I also find interesting is my own learning curve when looking at virtual worlds. A year ago, I wouldn’t really even have been able to give a good description of what a virtual world is – not saying I would give the most awe-inspiring description now, but I definitely can give a good description and can even give a few examples of what users can do in different worlds. Some worlds are obviously more geared for educational opportunities, while others are more geared towards game aspects. Any world you go into though, there is something to be learned and the experience itself is definitely entertaining. One year later, after starting here at GK, I can say that I have at least learned a lot through our programs run in virtual worlds, and look forward to seeing our programs for this academic year pan out – they should be quite interesting.
To learn more about our programs for this academic year, see the website.
