Virtual Worlds

     I have never personally been on a virtual world myself and they have never really interested me.  My husband's little sister was really into webkins and so I saw her playing that a few times.  I personally would much rather spend my time doing other things and I would much rather interact with people in real life than what they call "interacting" in a virtual world.  Friends that I have had that are involved in virtual worlds spend so much time doing that and are so involved in the games that to them it feels like an actual part of life, which I think is weird.  When I get on the internet I am usually doing homework, checking email, or spending my extra time on Facebook and other than keeping in contact with people in the way of Facebook I think virtual worlds are a waste of time.

    They did give some examples in the book that they say are educational virtual worlds that can be used in the classroom and that could be useful if it went along with what you were teaching.  If I was going to try to use a virtual world I would want to go in and really check it out and make sure it is useful for my students.  I am not a big fan of using them in the classroom because I think there are a lot better ways to interact with people and spend time.  I also think by promoting using virtual worlds will cause children to spend even more time outside of class being a part of them and I do not think that is how children need to be spending all afternoon after they get out of school.  I am staying open minded about virtual worlds, but they would really have to go along with what I was teaching for me to use them in my classroom.