Community College Librarian

The Community Colleges in SL group met again to talk about issues with some of our colleagues in IT being none-to-thrilled about our wanting to teach in virtual spaces. After much deliberation (and mutinous grumbling), we finally came to the conclusion that it is not so much that our IT people want to stop us from using SL but that our networks simply cannot handle it. This is not a problem in just a few Colleges. It seems to be everywhere. No matter how much pipe we have, it gets used up. Some IT departments are forced to lock down services like Youtube at peak times just because the network needs to be available with relative speed to what is going on in the classrooms and libraries. (sigh). But there is hope. Technology has a way of catching up and we will be there!

Another challenge discussed was that some IT people do not see the value of virtual worlds in teaching so they just discourage it as much as possible, to anyone that asks about it and will listen. The general feeling of the group is that IT does not drive curriculum. Period. If something is really impossible, then this conclusion should be based upon evidence and should be drawn with the faculty and instructional designers’ input and participation. Gone are the days when technology was this mysterious thing and our IT departments all-powerful. Welcome to 2.0 collaboration!

There were several people who are working directly with their IT departments to make something happen in SL. Very encouraging.