Still unsure about Second Life -- the virtual world -- as a tool for helping your business do better? Besides virtual meetings, the platform is also conducive to training.
FastCompany Magazine makes the point in their latest article, The Second LIfe of Second Life and their earlier piece, Why You Should Have Your Next Meeting in Second Life where they interview Second Life creator Phillip Rosedale. IN addition to FastCompany Magazine, the Association community, Chief Learning Officer Magazine, and even the Journal of Accountancy think so.
The latest feature story in Associations Now magazine titled, Meetings Remix: Time to Rethink the Ususal Format by Jeffrey Waddle mentions our efforts in Second Life to do real traininhg using the benefits of this exciting virtual world and social networking features.
A Second Life for Training is the title of the article that appeared in the July, 2008 edition of Chief Learning Officer magazine. CLO associate Editor Lindsay Edmonds Wicker sums it up very well,
"Second Life may have started out as a playground for techies, but it has become a well-known virtual world where people play, do business and learn. As a result, more organizations are making the transition to virtual and ultimately finding an engaging, cost-effective training platform."
She goes on to feature our (Maryland Association of CPAs) efforts in Second Life as a training venue.
Alexandra DeFelice, Associate Editor of Accounting Technology Magazine described it as, "leap(ing) into the next generation" in an article titled, Tom Hood - Virtual CPA in their August edition.
Ryan Sharrow covered our two (2) "mixed reality" events at the Maryland Business & Accounting Expo in his article, Second Life Opens Virtual CPA Worlds in the July 4, 2008 edition of the Baltimore Business Journal.
This is in addition to the Journal of Accountancy feature article in June, 2008, titled, Accounting for Second Life. Turns out we were the "buzz" at the AICPA Tech Conference this year mentioned by several speakers according to WebCPA editor Bill Carlino. Bill talked about the trend of "virtualization" and talked about our virtual CPA Island. He also said that virtualization is one of the technology trends that should be "in process" for CPAs and firms.
We think this medium has a lot of potential for training and engaging the current and next generation of learners (and it is fun too!). Just take a look at some of our recent events:
Virtual Workshop Examines XBRL
CPAs in Second Life Explore XBRL
Intuit & Linden Labs Sessions at the MDBIZEXPO
CPA Island Hosts Session with AACSB (the Association to Advance College Schools of Business)
Demo & Discussion with Towson University
CFO Rising Conference with CFO magazine
I am very glad to see Second Life getting a fair shake in looking at the training potential of this fun and exciting medium. Check out the video of the session at this link.
So what do you think, can you do "real" training in a virtual world?
