Dr. Glen Gatin's Presentation

One of the things that Dr. Gatin talked about today was Google Docs. I have never used Google Docs but I've heard that it is pretty neat. It allows two people to work on the same document. One person could edit the document and the other person could make the changes. Google Docs is a tool that I could use as a teacher. Provided that my students have access to it at home, two students could work collaboratively on a project without ever really having to get together in person.

For me, the idea of the multi user virtual environment "Second Life" is still a little bit difficult to wrap my head around! I do see how it could be cool to incorporate Second Life into the classroom though. Many students from around the world have created Avatars in Second Life. Second Life could be used as a way of connecting the student in my classroom to those all over the world. It seems that Second Life could be kind of like an educational community. Another benefit of Second Life is that it creates a way for students to create their own learning activities and experiences. Teachers could have their students create activities for one another to do. Second Life has the benefit for teachers of being able to participate in professional development in this virtual world, and being able to connect with teachers from all over the world. Hopefully there are many teachers out there in this virtual world who use Second Life in their teaching, that a new comer such as myself could get ideas from as to exactly how they use it in their classes. Second Life provides the chance for educators to interact with students in a new and very unique way!