Don’t Come to Class Naked: Play and Pedagogy in Second Life
I’ve been working on lots of presentations lately but this one is the most fun. For CCCC I’ll be talking about the value of identity play in SL as a benefit to education. This picture is the first slide of the PowerPoint. A little provocative? Maybe. But very fun. The allusion to “What Not to Wear” (the BBC version) ought to get a few chuckles.
There’s a definite benefit to being a little shocking when giving a presentation. What fun is there in listening to some say things you already know and agree with?
The PowerPoint is now posted here.
March 22nd, 2007 at 5:50 pm
[…] Don’t Come to Class Naked: Play and Pedagogy in Second Life [Second Life Education Research] If nothing else the research papers on Second Life have great titles! (tags: secondlife) […]
March 26th, 2007 at 6:05 pm
I am anxious to see the PP. I couldn’t make your session because of a conflict but I would love to see it
March 27th, 2007 at 7:48 pm
Great PPT!
I labored over my avatar to ‘look professional yet fun’ for my class in SL (I’m an SL Guide for a professor). Seriously…the self reflection on my avatar’s body vs. my physical body can be quite depressing. My avatar looks better than me and even walks better than me (got a walk/run replacer). Amazing what $10US can get you in SL. Geesh! I won’t even get started on ‘breast size of avatar shapes’ when I went shape/skin shopping. A fellow student in my social computing grad class had the same dilemna…here’s a PhD Thesis for you: Effects of Female Avatar Breast Size on Perceived Persona in Virtual Environments. We were both saying, “you know…these breasts are too big” For SL, not really, they were actually on the smaller side of what I’ve seen…for RL, yeah, they’d be way to big and attraction-gaining. Why did I project my RL feelings of too-big-bazongas enter in SL? Kinda crazy. Who should care? It’s SECOND LIFE for gosh sakes! But, I did care.
Anyhoot - we had such trouble phrasing an agreement to the students about ‘proper avatar attire’ and ‘be careful not to choose to remove/detach all of your clothing’. We also have a changing room on the class land.
When does avatar appearance (as in, the almost naked painted skin, verging right of R-rated) become an issue and potentially create a ‘hostile learning environment’ due to ’sexual harassment’ type issues? I recently learned on my university campus there is no dress code. A student could show up to class in a string bikini, though it may disrupt learning and may make some in the class feel uncomfortable (the hostile environment part). The first day of class a professor doesn’t tell students not to show up in string bikinis and banana hammocks! It’s just a “social norm” not to show up in class in that attire, unless you are in the middle of Greek hazing, and even then…
What are the “social norms” for SL avatar attire in an educational setting? Does the instructor have the right to ask students to cover up the unmentionables completely? Or, is *that* a form of sexual harassment? What about offensive t-shirts in SL? The list goes on and on…
I have no answers, only questions.