Rhyme of History-Virtual Worlds
Virtual worlds are rhymes of history in that they predate computers (Wikipedia, 2010). Virtual worlds will rekindle trips to exotic destinations without the cost and time of the journey. The learners being enabled to interact with the virtual world and have the sense of being a part of worlds will give them a realistic view of the content.
When Kevin Kelly gave his lecture on “the next 5000 days of the web”; found at: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/
kevin_kelly_on_the_next_5_000_days_of_the_web.html , it was mentioned how computer technology has moved from embodiment which was computer to computer to restructure which is page to page to what he calls “one machine” which is data to data and the fourth step of transparency which is a virtual computer world where everything known will be on the world wide web or cyberspace.
More and more educators are beginning to see how virtual worlds can be a valuable teaching tool. Educators may want to teach students about the vegetation in different climate zones and the class can take a trip to the different zones without actually leaving the classroom or home. Students could build engines and even perform medical procedures in virtual worlds. Data in cyberspace will be our virtual world of information that we depend on.
Reference
Kelly, K. (2007, December). The next 5,000 days of the Web [Speech]. Speech delivered at the EG 2007 Conference, Los Angeles. Retrieved from; http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/
kevin_kelly_on_the_next_5_000_days_of_the_web.html
Thornburg, D. (2009). Emerging and Future Technology, Rhymes of History; Laureate Education Inc. video
Wikipedia (2010). Virtual Worlds retrieved from; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_world#History
