Are CPAs really doing anything in Second Life? Isn't this just a passing fad?
Rocky has been busy over the past three weeks as Second Life is being asked about and featured in plenty of new venues. Just look at these activities and you tell me your answers:
CPAs in Second Life, Social Media (Web 2.0), and the impact of technology on training (CPE) were the major part of the agenda at the Northeast CPE Directors Conference on Feb 8-10. The audience was captivated as we brought two accounting educators to the conference from within the virtual world of Second Life. Dr. Mike Kraten from Suffolk University in Boston and Dr. Steve Hornikfrom University of Central Florida both presented how they are using Second Life for accounting education.
Social Media is here to stay and we all need to embrace it or be passed by. That was the message from Dr. Moira Gunn of NPR's Technation as she delivered the dinner keynote at the PearsonPHASE conference for accounting educators. She talkd a lot about the power of collaboration from tools like wikis (and I would add Second Life).
FASB holds research meetings in Second Life! That's right and they had a decent attendance (15+) at their meeting last week as yours truly, Rocky Maddaloni popped in to see what was going on. See details at the Metanomics website and thanks to Dr. Robert Bloomfieldaka Beyers Sellers in SL. See Edith Orenstein's post over at the FEI Blog, titled Get a (Second) Life.
Dr. Steve Hornik did a demo for accounting educators at the Pearson PHASE conferences in Savannah, GA and San Diego, CA. He showed his virtual classroom, 3-d models used for homework by his students and talked about how he teaches 900+ accounting students per semester using Second Life to enhance their educational experience.
Then I ran into my old pal (from Second LIfe), Jol Maximus. Jol is a French CPA who recently bought an island (in SL) and is developing interactive exhibits to sue for his small business clients. He said the reason he is working in SL is that the 3-D environment works well for showing accounting concepts to small businesses, it is where thought leaders hang out, and gives him great press & public relations. Jol is a local practitioner in France (two person firm).
Don't miss our upcoming CPE Sessions from Second Life, like today's session by Ron Baker (of Verasage) titled, Leading Knowledge Workers - Human Capital, Not Cattle. You will see Ron present from within Second Life from his offices in California to a packed house at our BLI Conference Center on CPA Island. We could never bring in this type of training this easily to our members.
So, what do you think? Is Second Life for REAL?
Resources for CPAs & Second Life:
Technology trends in Accounting Education & CPE - CPAs and the Virtual World of Second Life
Video about our work in Second Life - CPAs in Second Life
Presentation at Pearson-Phase - Keeping Up With Accounting from Globalization to Web 2.0
Journal of Accountancy article - Accounting for Second Life
See our post 2008 Year in Review - CPAs start adopting Second Life for Training
