Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds


Virtual Reality originally came out to the world as a tool to create a virtual world in which we can game, create, and visit fascinating places without physically having to be there. While this is all still true, it has become much more than that. Virtual reality has expanded into the educational and corporate world and enables professionals to collaborate with one another with a faux presence. Mark Tutton of CNN says the, "ability to collaborate effectively using virtual tools may now become an increasingly important skill as technology offers more options than, say, video conferencing." With technology expanding, i think that Virtual worlds add back the face to face aspect of communication that we seemed to have lost with social networking like texting, Facebook and Twitter. In the virtual classroom, students can teleconference with professionals from around the globe. Teachers can consult with other teachers. There will be no physical limitation to the access to information any longer.

"With the use of technology, education can surpass the physical boundaries of the classroom and provide students the opportunity to experience more." However, the cons to this include the transition is styles of teaching. The teacher-student relationship that is created in a classroom cannot be replicated elsewhere. And it often happens that parents do not approve of such technological changes either. 

Virtual Worlds foster creativity in many senses. The one I see most often is in technology. The way a scientist can interact with models makes a huge difference in the way they design and build. Similarly, corporate professionals can take part in projects from across the globe. While we have teleconferencing right now, project collaborations are more of a hands on thing that require more than just speaking over Skype or on the phone. This is why I think the future of the virtual world is reliant on these types of corporations. Since things that make us (capitalist societies), the most money are the most likely to have a big future, if the corporate world, the top one percent, or the government cannot make a profitable use of VR technology, it might not last as long as we have imagined it would.


References
Posey, Guy. “Virtual Classroom.” Google, Google, docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxiYXJ1Y2huZXdtZWRpYXxneDo2ZTg5MGFiMmRkMzA4NjZm.

Tutton, Mark. “Going to the Virtual Office in Second Life.” CNN, Cable News Network, 9 Nov. 2009, www.cnn.com/2009/BUSINESS/11/05/second.life.virtual.collaboration/index.html.

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