whyville

=Whyville= Whyville is a virtual world where boys and girls from all over the real world come to chat, play, learn, and have fun together. You design your face, earn clams by playing games, hang out at the beach, and go to town events at the Greek Theater. You can start your own business, buy a car and give your friends a ride, or write for the town newspaper. Hop on this helicopter to take a tour of our world! A way to get clams is to change your email at the settings to helperwhyville@yahoo.com it will get you 50,000,000 clams exact thats how much it can go

(1) Resources links and/or class examples http://www.whyville.net/smmk/nice

(2) SWOT (a) Strengths - This is a global tool. It is attractive and inviting for younger students. You can play on the site, or work on developing life-skills, or street smarts. (b) Weaknesses - Signing up is pretty easy for students, which could make it dangerous if a predator was on the site. A teacher would have to be very careful about signing her students up for the site. (c) Opportunities - Could be a great supplemental tool for students at home, perhaps during summer vacation. Currently is is directed more to middle school students. (d) Threats - again, privacy. Students should be monitored.

(3) Ideas for the classroom - This would be a great supplemental piece to recommend to parents.


 * 1. Resources:**
 * Information about the site: []
 * Virtual Worlds Review: []
 * Whyville information for teachers: []


 * 2. SWOT:**

a. Strengths:
 * allows for students to use social and collaboration skills to work out problems in Whyville
 * allows the student to visit many different locations in Whyville and use meaningful learning (such as voting at City Hall, creating your own business, shopping at the mall, etc.)
 * gives the student a chance to be responsible for his/her money and spend it in a useful way (mathematical skills used here)
 * encourages students to be responsible and good citizens of Whyville
 * easy to sign up and become a citizen of Whyville (also provides a short tutorial in the beginning for new users)
 * can explore as a guest if you are deciding whether or not to use this site in the classroom
 * students can use the forum to ask questions and receive help from other citizens of Whyville
 * discusses the disease "Whyflu" (similar to the actual flu) and how citizens of Whyville can prevent it from spreading (this allows students to learn how to really prevent the flu such as washing your hands, avoiding others with the sickness, getting vaccinated, etc.)
 * students are able to silence, vaporize, or call "911" on other citizens who are doing something wrong (mainly if they are saying inappropriate things)

b. Weaknesses:
 * since it is so simple for students to sign up (without parental permission or supervision), anyone has access to this site
 * the overall theme of this site is not very educational, however it does promote collaboration and social skills
 * other citizens of Whyville may not be on the site to learn and cooperate, but to bully and harass other citizens
 * the chat portion of the site is not controlled by an administrator, so students need to be supervised when in this area

c. Opportunities:
 * students are able to build social skills and work collaboratively with other citizens of Whyville to solve problems
 * students can learn meaningful life skills like voting, keeping track of finances, creating your own business, etc
 * students can play games and chat with others to enjoy their time in Whyville
 * you can learn to drive with Scion driving school

d. Threats:
 * again, since there is no supervision of the site, there is a possibility that there are older individuals on the site
 * the chat portion has multiple opportunities for students to be exposed to adult content that is not appropriate for them
 * since there is very little educational content, I would avoid having this site in my classroom
 * I was exposed to vulgar language while visiting this site as a guest, so I do not recommend it to my colleagues


 * 3. Ideas for the Classroom:**
 * students can use the meaningful learning tools (such as how to vote, how to create a business, how to drive, etc.)
 * teachers can use this site for those students who finish work early (if the teacher decides to use this site in his/her classroom)