Island Resources:
An island created by Santa Barbara City College (SBCC), it is similar to a virtual career fair, showcasing several careers in technical industries. The island is very easy to navigate, with a square design, allowing you to follow the path, exploring each field, before coming back to the beginning. There are greeters along every step of the way, which give a brief explanation of each section. After listening to or reading what the greeter has to say, players can teleport to smaller areas, with more in depth information about each of the careers.
Each of the smaller areas contains three greeters, each representing a different career. Beside each greeter will be a display, with tabs that players can click on. Even the background of the game changes in order to reflect each field, so players have a brief sense of what environment they may be working in.
Each display has the following tabs:
- description
- day in the life
- career basics
- education requirements
- videos
- resources
Auto Industry - Parts Specialist, Sales, Mechanic
Hotel Industry - Front Desk Clerk, Event Planner, General Manager
Multimedia Industry - Photographer, Graphics Designer, Multimedia Artist
Horticulture - Agricultural Scientist, Nurseryman, Landscape Architect
Culinary Arts - Executive Chef, Restaurant Owner, Sous Chef
Santa Barbara City College (SBCC):
Founded in 1909, SBCC is a two-year community college located in Santa Barbara, California, USA. Offering degrees in English, Social Sciences, Computer Science, Engineering, Physics, and occupational and technological training, SBCC has over 80 degree programs and 55 certificate programs. It also has an open admissions policy, where any student that is over 18 and has a high school diploma will be admitted. SBCC has small classes, with the average class having 28 students, and excellent teachers. Students have access to tutorials, writing labs, learning skills workshops, and even their own student success coach. SBCC is dedicated to helping their students transfer to universities with four year degree opportunities.
Evaluation of Explore It!
Overall, the island proved to be a fairly good experience, allowing players to get an overall sense of what each career has to offer. The setting of the island is fairly good, with different scenery to reflect different careers. However, the island could be bigger, and more interactive, allowing players to do more within each section. The island is extremely easy to navigate, and the materials easily accessible, one of the best points of this island. The display boards provide players with more knowledge and with links to other resources. The content itself is high quality, although it could be more in depth.
One of the good things about the island was that they provided examples of what people could choose to do within each career, and the educational requirements that students needed. However, it would be better if there were more career options given, as well as more in depth information on what each job does, how they do it, etc. They could also include more real life examples of people who work in that field, what company they work at, and what they do throughout their day.
Personal Response
Being an avatar in a virtual world was an interesting experience. As the player, everything you see or hear is through the avatar's perspective. As an avatar, you can do more things than you can in real life. Everything is conveniently just a mouse click away, all your money, every item you own, all your friends and information. In just one click, you can even travel to completely different places that are miles away. However, at the same time, it is also limiting in that it lacks the smoothness of real life. The movements do not feel or look as smooth as when we are actually moving ourselves, and the senses are limited to seeing and hearing. Without the senses of touch and smell, avatars do not have the same richness in experience that we may feel.
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