Second Life gained considerable publicity in the years 2008 and 2009 and created a flurry of activities in-world by many organizations and institutes, and even inspired a television crime drama episode that, in part, was shot in Second Life. Education was not far behind and the exploration of Second Life for use in learning and teaching started and is now being used in facilitation. Harvard Law School, Ohio University and Saint Leo University are amongst many universities now using Second Life to facilitate learning.
This qualitative perceptual-based study attempts to understand and build a ‘big picture’ of the intricate types and processes of learning and teaching in Second Life. Second Life offers unique affordances and opportunities that make it a tool worth researching.
Qualitative data was gathered from educators who had used Second Life in education and perceptual data was also collected from Second Life residents that endeavoured to elicit what aspects of Second Life they had found useful and would consider beneficial in education. The TPACK 2.0 framework proposed by the researcher emerged from the literature reviewed and in part from data coding process, and is used in analysis of the data collected.
The research finding outlines that Second Life offers a unique factor to learning and teaching. This uniqueness is something that one is not able to elicit from any other method or technology before. The ‘one-degree less’ reality in the virtual world when compared to real life creates a number of opportunities not available in education before. This difference SL vs RL (Second Life vs Real Life) provides pedagogical affordances that educators are endeavouring to harness in using Second Life in many different ways. Second Life thus offers a platform to educators and learners alike that promotes social, collaborative, active, experiential, affective and creative learning opportunities
