The Metaverse Journal has a post up about the differences between the Generation X’ers and Millennial’s in virtual worlds:
This article delves into a subject that I’ve been talking about since starting the PacRimX project. The students of today do not like free form environments like Second Life unless they are given very specific tasks to perform. If you take a group in and ask them to build a building you will likely come back in an hour with them standing around chatting with no construction having taken place. Occasionally you will get a student that grabs on and masters building and this is the student that will end up helping with the project. Left to their own devices, these students will scratch their heads and wonder what they are doing there. The teachers can’t figure it out, because to them Second Life is a blank canvas full of potential for creating and learning. How could two groups so close in age be so different?
This article delves into this and lays out the differences between these two groups and what educators need to do if they are going to teach in this environment:
“The educator who uses Second Life as a learning tool will be teaching an additional subject – how to play in a freeform way. The concept and practice of freeform or open-ended play was easier for Generation X, in a way – we were rebelling against another world entirely. Difference and imagination was embraced. It was like a little Renaissance. Even though our schooling focused somewhat on directed study, by university age we had hopefully been weaned off it – by the system. The Millennial Generation, however, needs now to be taught to play this way. They need to be drawn out of their risk-averse shells gently – they need to be led, not pushed. They are not bold.”
Jump to the full article for all the details.
