opening keynote

been struggling to write this up as although the speaker was very engaging, the topic of the session - virtual worlds - is one that just leaves me cold. i'm relieved to know (via a combination of talking to people here, tweeting, and e-mail) that i'm not alone in this - so will try to articulate my problem with it (and not get caught up in the but-they-just-look-horrible-and-nerdy gut reaction that i always have).

the speaker began by stating that virtual worlds are naturally occurring online learning environments, and that by harnessing them we can start to engage students with the sorts of debate and problem solving activities that they carry out within these environments. at this point, i was open to being convinced that there was something in this - she showed examples of the strategies that players use within things like world of warcraft, and how they come together to gather, analyse and debate data, but that all they really think they're doing is trying to cheat the game. there was lots of analysis of the processes of scientific enquiry, and about the social networks that people develop - she talked about how virtual worlds act as 'the new golf' - ie, as a culturally significant way of developing and gelling networks. she also talked about how analysis of the discussion forums demonstrate that the vast majority of posts tend to be about social knowledge construction; and compared the sort of mobilisation of neighbour-networks used by the obama campaign (yes, every session yesterday made reference to the election in some way. apparently it's quite significant?). anyway, back to nerdual virtual worlds - these points are very well and good...except...

it seems to me that the sorts of behaviours she was talking about are developed within a very particular forum, with a very particular purpose - it's an unforced leisure pursuit that people do for fun. do those sorts of behaviours really transfer out of the context? are the behaviours mirrored in other interactions, other pursuits in the real world, let alone in education? and if we try to replicate these behaviours and processes with a different aim, will it really achieve the same end - when it stops being something that's done for leisure and becomes something with a very definite purpose and for a specific reason, won't that change the dynamics?

there was a question about whether the sorts of behaviours discussed were representative of all players (inhabitants? i'm not sure what to call people who use/live in virtual worlds?), and also about whether it's the game or the discussion of the game which is the most important element.

hmmm, that doesn't quite sum up everything i wanted to say, but my battery is running low, and i need to go and set up for my session. maybe return to it later - in the meantime, any comments, questions or counter arguments are more than welcome :)