EDUC 7108 Module 4: The Disruptive Power of Second Life

Second Life, as defined by Wikipedia, is an online virtual world developed by Linden Lab.  Participants in Second Life must create avatars in order to participate in the virtual world.  Second Life functions in real time.  In a YouTube video, Dr. Clayton Christensen explains disruptive technology or innovation.  He states that disruptive technology transforms a product that history was so expensive and complicated to an affordable and more accessible that a much large popular.

Disruptive Innovation Expalined

 

Second Life can displace asynchronous communication, blogs, and wikis.  Thus, it is a disruptive technology, because it can provide participants with real-time collaborative and communication abilities. I believe that telecommunication systems, social networks with skyping abilities, and face time have displaced second life.  Although Second Life is gaining popularity in higher education, I found little research in to support Second Life implementation in K12 education. 

References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (2009).  Emerging and future technology:  Disruptive technologies.  Baltimore, MD:  Author.

Second life.  Wikipedia (2012).  Retrieved October 26, 2012 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Life

Link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDrMAzCHFUU&feature=related

Responded to:

Brenda McKoy and Daniel Oprish



 

EDUC 7108 Module 3 Rhyme of History

  

   Image credit: Marcin Wichary; Source: The Computer History Museum

      Most people appear to be nonchalant in their thinking or usage of a computer, laptop, etc.  In 1822, Charles Babbage purposes the development of the Different Engine.  The Different Engine is the first mechanical computer or automatic computer engine concept.  As generations past, inventors merge the principles of Rhymes of History and reconstruct the embodiment of the computer.  Kevin Kelly, in his “The Next 5,00vDays of the Web” speech, renders the notion of the Web as being one global machine and its implications on the future generations.

While, Thornburg statement of Rhymes of History is "The affect or impact of a new development rekindles something from the distant past..."  In this clip from Kelly's speech, he rekindles the ideology of moving society to the next level of social networking systems.  He provides a realistic image of the Web in the next five thousand days.





Resources:
Computer History Museum.  The Babbage Engine. http://www.computerhistory.org/babbage/