Social media as a pedagogical tool:Actual assignments to use

Kanan Sawyer, Meghan Peirce, & Ola Kopacz

Department of Communication StudiesWest Chester University

Exploring media

effects in Second Life

Goals

• To explore the effects of traditional media on users’ creativity in Second Life

• Examine the effect of virtual realities on human communication.

Activity prep

• Watch PBS Digital Nation

• Set up a Second Life account

• Learn SL navigation• Visit a location in SL

Activity questions

• What about the location reflects what people learn from mass media?

• Does SL help bring us together? (Rosedale)

• What is technology doing to us? (Turkle)

Responses: Effects of mass media

• All of the women are thin with a big chest and the men are all fit.

Responses: Effects of mass media

• The landscape (was)perfectly manicured and all the activities people were pursuing were (those) done (by) high classes, like golfing, and skiing.

Responses: Effects of mass media

• Everywhere I go there is music playing, which is what we hear in movies, television shows, and commercials.

Responses: Effects of mass media

• This place reminded me of something you would see in “The Bachelor”.

Responses: Does SL bring us together?

• The online world allowed me to interact with others but its not the interaction that people should be having with one another. (…) How valuable is an interaction with an avatar who is 55 in Texas?

Responses: Does SL bring us together?

• In the end we are still sitting by ourselves in a room on a computer using technology to communicate with others.

Responses: What is technology doing to us?

• Second life provides people a way to go into the worlds that they see on TV or movies.

Responses: What is technology doing to us?

• Were limiting our experiences to a screen and a keyboard.

Responses: What is technology doing to us?

• Second life is a fantastic tool (…) but we still have to recognize what it is lacking. That extremely important aspect is personal face-to-face interaction.

Extensions

• Repeat the activity periodically with different questions

• Explore other SL applications– business– education– science and technology