Evidence-based posting #4

Evidence-based posting #4: Virtual Worlds for Kids!

As an elementary school teacher I am often introduced to things by my students that I am not familiar with. Webkinz and Club Penguin are two of these things. Webkinz and Club Penguin are two virtual world sites that my students have been talking about for months. In light of the discussions our class has had about the validity and role of Second Life in education, I thought this would be a good topic.During our last few minutes in computer lab today I had a few students come and share with me how Webkinz and Club Penguin work. Both these sites involve creating characters that are then able to function in a virtual world setting. The Webkinz involves purchasing a stuffed animal from Hallmark to obtain a code to use, while Club Penguin requires registration to create a penguin character. On Club Penguin there are different levels of registration; parent permission is required to become an actual member of the site. Both sites allow interaction between characters; Club Penguin allows actual dialogue between characters where Webkinz only allows the use of pre-written text. (My students were quick to inform me that this helps stop people from saying mean things.) I asked about ten of the students how often they visited these sites and for how long they usually visit. On average it seemed that most went about three times a week for about an hour each time. They also shared the activities they can do with their characters such as attend parties, go shopping, and play games.In previous sessions of Second Life we have discussed how it could be used with students and if it had a place in education. After talking with my students today and seeing what could be considered primary versions of Second Life, I think virtual worlds will have a place in education in the near future. Again, how it can be used and the safety issues must be considered, but if a group of fourth graders are already using virtual worlds during their free time, I’m sure teachers will be able to find a way to incorporate them into their instruction in the future. I thought it was very interesting that kids can only “talk” in Webkinz using predetermined phrases – this kind of feature can be helpful in monitoring what the students are actually saying. Club Penguin also has its own safety features for this kind of thing too- one of my students was actually banned from Club Penguin for a day for typing in a curse word.There are a lot of things that would need to happen for students at my elementary school to be able to use virtual worlds at school but after talking to my students I feel that it is something that can happen.
http://www.clubpenguin.com
http://www.webkinz.com