Second Life and the challenges it presents

My biggest challenge is yet to come. I thought about some interesting assignments that could make the theory reading more tangible for them.

My first idea: Have the students play Second Life for the entire semester and keep a daily journal on their experiences. What kind of an avatar they choose to create, why, what kind of games they engage in. This would be an extraordinary project for them to do. Quite exciting to say the least.

Technical difficulties:

• Second Life is a very sophisticated program that require a high-end computer with a good video card.
• It has a long learning curve.
• The students may (or will) not have computers.
• University Technology Department will refuse to install it on the STCs.

I figured, for those students who don't have computers, I can assign them another assignment asking them to follow a story from the four online Second Life journals. I will ofcourse give them specific questions.

Sounds great, but it is not going to happen. I will probably assign online readings on Second Life, but I will have to end it there. Such a shame...

I e-mailed one of my professors to see how he handles this problem. After all he teaches this. As I expected I received no reply, as usual. I guess I will have to give up on this idea.