Modeling Reality With Virtual Worlds

     Virtual worlds open the horizon for people to experience something different than their normal lives. People can possibly create essentially alternate realities for themselves to live in, sometimes for fun and sometimes because they actually feel the need to escape from their real lives. Virtual worlds can be used for people to socialize such as they would do with another social networking platform but anonymously. It also gives people the access to create themselves in the vision they might want to be in. Currently virtual worlds are being primarily for recreation but they do have possibilities for use in different avenues such as education.In the paper Situated Learning in Virtual Worlds and Immersive Simulations research by Hew and Cheung suggested that "K-12 students like using VWs because they can fly and move around freely in a 3-D space, meet new people, and experience virtual field trips and simulations. Similarly, adult learners and teachers have reported great enthusiasm when learning in immersive spaces." (Dickey, 2011) There are some pros and cons to this situation though, the pros would be the time and cost effectiveness of using virtual worlds for interactions and the ability to experience famous settings and things created virtually. The cons would be in the lack of real human interaction and accountability. Although virtual worlds are a great supplement to the classroom they shouldn't be substituted for the classroom, especially for younger grades. For kids the interaction between fellow students and teachers are key in building real life etiquette and manners.
     In a virtual world setting a student can do anything as far as the programming allows but in real life there are externalities taken into account in real life situations which kids learn and absorb for use in the future and complete virtual world immersion greatly diminishes this fact. The use of virtual worlds and the internet is a great addition to the classroom as a supplement. It makes the world smaller by extending the reach of students minds and learning capabilities farther. In the paper The Advantages and Disadvantages of the Virtual Classroom and the Role of the Teacher it states "The Internet provides an immediacy and global awareness that has been unavailable to students. Students and teachers are able to have interactions not only in other parts of the country, but also around the world. From this they can learn about the life and issues that impact on other people." (Posey, 13) This is a great way to foster creativity in a student by letting them interact with other students around the world allowing them to learn about each others cultures and difference, along with teaching about tolerance and acceptance of things different from themselves and their experiences. I believe that the future of virtual worlds is slowing and possibly fading to make way for virtual reality where instead of you putting yourself in a virtually rendered version of yourself in an experience, the experience comes to you and you are put into the experience.