Abstract
Virtual worlds such as “Second Life” hold promise for social work education. They may be especially useful for distance/distributed education. Social relationships, groups, organizations and entire communities can be modeled and explored for role playing and laboratory instruction. This article provides an overview of “Second Life,” an example of a well developed virtual world. The CSWE Educational Policies and Accreditation Standards are used to examine possible applications. Benefits such as experiential learning opportunities and problems such as technical mastery are discussed. Virtual worlds can support and may even supplant current approaches for distance education.
Highlights
Twenty percent of masters and fifteen percent of bachelors social work programs are currently delivering or planning to develop online degree programs (Vernon, Vakalahi, Pierce, Pittman-Munke & Adkins, 2009)
As reported by the New Media Consortium “The social aspects of virtual worlds are...useful for educational purposes. These worlds lend themselves to role playing and scenario building, allowing learners to temporarily assume...responsibilities without incurring real-world consequences” (New Media Consortium, 2007, p. 18)
The results are reported back in the inworld class meetings. This sharpens their awareness of how physical presentation affects identity and practice, and offers a source for data on how competent the students have become in understanding presentation of self as a professional social worker
Summary
Twenty percent of masters and fifteen percent of bachelors social work programs are currently delivering or planning to develop online degree programs (Vernon, Vakalahi, Pierce, Pittman-Munke & Adkins, 2009). The results are reported back in the inworld class meetings This sharpens their awareness of how physical presentation affects identity and practice, and offers a source for data on how competent the students have become in understanding presentation of self as a professional social worker. Virtual Ability, has been developed as a dedicated place for people with disabilities where they can learn how to use Second Life for social contact. The following example of a learning activity provides students with the opportunity to apply their understanding of a variety of HBSE theories to avatar behaviors: Have students choose a specific theory, complete associated readings and other research about the theory, and ask students to join and observe a group of interest in Second Life. Students can analyze their inworld experiences from feminist perspectives identifying Second Life supports and barriers to women realizing their full and unique potential
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