AndreaCTER

After my failed attempt to find use in a virtual world with Open Wonderland, I turned to an article about the best virtual worlds for kids entitled 10 Best Virtual Worlds for Teens, Tweens, and Kids.  It was in there that I found Secret Builders, which from the description looked like it had the most educational merit so I dove right in.  Basic play is free, exclusive play is $5.95 a month.  Apparently, paying gets you exclusives areas and more coins per activity, but the free portion sure didn’t disappoint.  It will be hard to do this world justice without having the reader just jump in and play, but I will try to highlight the things that appealed to me as a future parent and current teacher.

Overview:

I must say, that I LOVE this world.  When I have young kids, I would encourage them to spend time in here.  It allows them to create, play, and learn all at the same time.  I wish it could have relevance to my area of teaching, but unfortunately it doesn’t.  I would encourage anyone with young kids to have them look at it and play around in here/

What I liked:

While this VW has all the makings of fun and games – kids getting to make an avatar, converse with others, design their house, buy new clothes, furniture, and pets, and actually play games, it’s all mixed in to a completely educational experience.  While you are simply out exploring the world, each space in littered with historical and literary figures.  When you run into them, you can click on them and pull up a bibliography to learn key information about them.  In a few minutes I had run into Lewis Carroll, Jane Austen, Aristotle, and the Beast.  Yes, the figures can be real or fictional characters from prominent literary works as well.  An example of what you see when pulling up their bibliography is shown below.

If you’d like to find other characters and haven’t run into them yet, there’s always a news feed or party to attend that revolves around these figures.  Below is the screen shot to show what news events were being broadcast at the time I was in the world.

When you get into the heart of the game, you can go on quests, which are coin earning missions so that you can afford to buy some of the fun items like new clothes and pets.  The current quest I am on had me searching for Lewis Carroll, so even if I hadn’t been meaning to, I inadvertently learned some facts about him, Alice in Wonderland, and Jaborwocky.  While I was exploring, I also learned a few random facts like how many gallons of water the average person drinks.  There seems to be something educational in every nook and cranny of the game, and it makes looking for these facts fun.

In every area you travel, there is at least one game to play.  So what are the games involved you ask?  Some skill-based, but mostly educational ones!  I was so happy that I could play chess and get rewarded with coins!  The better I play, the more coins I get.  The game also gives you hints and helps you learn how to play.  Below is a screen shot of me getting schooled…

Use in education:

From reading above, I’m sure you can make your own connections about how this can easily be integrated into an educational experience.  While it may not fit perfectly into a specific unit, it would be a great way to have kids explore and find out information about history or literature on their own.  There are also points where you can be a “story builder” and end stories others have begun.  What a neat way to have students experiment with writing!

One of the other items that makes this useful for students is the chat feature.  When you type, it shows up as your character with a little talk bubble so everyone in the same screen can see you and respond.  I found this to be a great way to allow for collaboration when students are going on quests or problem solving something the teacher has assigned.  There is of course a private chat, and many safety rules and regulations to keep children safe.  You can find those on the website, but will not go into detail here.

Secret Builders also makes accommodations for teacher to make it more education friendly.  From what I read, it allows teachers to set up accounts for their students and gives teachers control panels for their students.  In addition to the internal rewards such as coins and prizes, the teacher is also given rewards through this control panel to pass out to students for meeting specific objectives that the teacher sets.  I find it really helpful that Secret Builders allow teachers to do some customization and doesn’t just limit students to earning only what the public world has to offer.  This is a HUGE plus for me, and I almost wish I was an elementary school teacher so that I could try implementing this.

The downside:

Every world has a downside, and the big one for me is that although it says it’s for 5 – 14 year olds, it just isn’t.  Elementary students will love it, and that’s about as far as I can see going with it.  Even when you look at this list of schools using it, there’s a sprinkling of middle schools, but the majority are definitely at elementary level.  If you’re an elementary teacher though, this world is nearly perfect.

The other downsides, if I’m going to fish for them, is that the world can be confusing when getting started.  But then again, what isn’t really?  With a little experience, it’ll become easy for students, and I’m sure they will be motivated to learn it.

I would also worry about the crowding of the worlds.  If you’re intending to use it as a class, I don’t know if you get your own separate sever or not (I’m not very skilled in reading and understanding server talk), but if not, there will be a LOT of other people to deal with.  Below is a screen shot of how many people were on the main screen areas, and it is pretty representative of any time I explored.

Summary:

The free area of this world is very interesting and fun, as well as educational.  The mission of the people who brought it to life was definitely met, and if I was a parent, I would encourage my kids to explore it.  I also think it has merit as an elementary school tool, but unfortunately, it did not fit what I particularly was looking for in a virtual world.  Still, I’m glad I found it and will keep it in mind for future kids!  If you are in elementary education, I would definitely play around in it and consider finding a way to implement it in your classroom.

If you’d like to see more reviews from people who use it as actual  parents, teachers, or students, visit this link.