Virtual Worlds and Social Work Education: Potentials for “Second Life”

Abstract

Virtual worlds such as "Second Life" hold promise for social work education. They may be especially useful for distance/distributed education. Social relationships, groups, organizations and entire communities can be modeled and explored for role playing and laboratory instruction. This article provides an overview of "Second Life," an example of a well developed virtual world. The CSWE Educational Policies and Accreditation Standards are used to examine possible applications. Benefits such as experiential learning opportunities and problems such as technical mastery are discussed. Virtual worlds can support and may even supplant current approaches for distance education.

Use of Second Life in Social Work Education: Virtual World Experiences and Their Effect on Students

“…The compelling graphic nature of virtual worlds coupled with the ability to hold classes, conduct exercises and role plays, and explore client systems offers promising support for online social work education (Vernon, Lewis, & Lynch, 2009). …”

“…Instead of merely presenting text to students, virtual worlds such as Second Life have the ability to provide 3D visual settings that can be extremely engaging (Vernon, Lewis, & Lynch, 2009). Loyalist College uses role-playing activities in Second Life to teach counseling skills by customizing avatars to represent scenarios that students might face during their field placements (Thompson, 2012).…”

“…Pertaining to environment is EPAS 2.1.9, or responding to contexts that shape practice. As Vernon, Lewis, and Lynch (2009) pointed out, "Virtual worlds are new contexts that shape practice" (p. 185).…”

Use of Avatars and a Virtual Community to Increase Cultural Competence

“…One of the few studies available gives an overview of Second Life, an example of a well-developed virtual world (Vernon, Lewis, & Lynch, 2009). The authors used the Council on Social Work Education's Educational Policies and Accreditation Standards to examine applications that might provide experiential learning opportunities and technical mastery.…”

iPolicy: Exploring and Evaluating the use of iPads in a Social Welfare Policy Course

“…Notwithstanding the sentiment towards technology use in social work education, schools, and departments are moving forward with technology in the classroom as well as implementing distance learning courses fully online (Vernon, Vakalahi, Pierce, Pittman-Munke, & Adkins, 2009;Wilke & Vinton, 2006;Wolfson, Marsom, & Magnuson 2005). Examples of using digital technologies in social work education and practice include the use of virtual worlds such as ''Second Life'' (Vernon, Lewis, & Lynch, 2009), and the use of social media like Facebook and Twitter (Kilpelainen, Paykkonen, & Sankala, 2011), electronic advocacy (McNutt & Menon, 2008), as well as the use of Internet-based video (Leukefeld, 2011). Given the lack of research evaluating the iPad specifically and the use of technology in social work education generally, this article seeks to add to the evolving evidence base.…”