Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

Virtual worlds are a relatively new thing.  In my experience, it can help as well as harm an individual but can also be fun.  It is a different way to make friends across the world with the same interests.  It can also be a great learning tool.  In The Advantages and Disadvantages of the Virtual Classroom and the Role of the Teacher it discusses the way some teachers do not feel comfortable using a virtual world to communicate with their students in contrast to Situated Learning in Virtual Worlds and Immersive Simulations as the different kinds of virtual worlds are used to help students learn about multiple sections of subjects.

The pros of virtual worlds is the efficiency of saving money.  As discussed in  The Advantages and Disadvantages of the Virtual Classroom and the Role of the Teacher, students save money as online courses allows students as well as professors to perform academic duties from anywhere.  Using tools such as email is also good as it allows the student access to the professor at all times.

The cons of a virtual can be meeting strangers as that is the concern of teachers in Situated Learning in Virtual Worlds and Immersive Simulations. Another con would be the sense of ergency professors feel comes along with online courses.  As online courses can not apply to every class as discussed in Advantages and Disadvantages of the Virtual Classroom and the Role of the Teacher where a professor used this method of teaching with a science lab course as it did not work.

The comparison in Virtual worlds and face to face interaction in teaching would be that one is more efficient in terms of teaching. Another factor is that face to fave interaction takes away the fear of strangers.