Virtually where? Are 3-D virtual worlds such as Second Life having an impact on learning?

Outline a presentation in and of Second Life but intended to apply to virtual worlds more generally some issues to think about Sloodle SL usage in UK HE and FE the wider MUVE environment concluding remarks

some issues to think about 1. some issues to think about

Orientation can be disorienting high percentage of new users never make it past the SL orientation experience… why? technical issues identity issues coolness issues orientation is confusing NMC Orientation: http://sl.nmc.org/create.php

Technical issues… the SL client may require special ports to be open in your firewall are you or your techies willing to do this? the SL client requires a reasonably high end machine (memory, processor, graphics card) a well spec’d gaming machine will give best results can you (or your students) afford this?

Identity issues… every avatar has a name but in SL it’s not your real life name suspect that some people feel uncomfortable about this it also means that the teacher has to remember 2 names per student

Appearances can be misleading… on the Internet no one knows you’re a dog in SL no one knows you’re a bloke appearance can be changed instantly wings and tails (‘furries’) seem oddly popular!

Embodiment some people (students and staff) simply do not “get it” they do not relate to being “in” a virtual world possibly as many as 90% will feel alienated therefore not safe to build pedagogic activities solely around SL

Coolness issues… don’t assume that SL will necessarily appeal to a young audience demographics indicate otherwise some ad hoc evidence that value of SL more obvious in ‘distance learning’ scenarios than ‘on campus’ July 2007 survey of 501 students aged 16 to 18 from across the UK, commissioned by the JISC http://tinyurl.com/yw8mvx When discussing Second Life, students felt that games and virtual worlds as part of learning could easily become “tragic” – technology being used for its own sake, and used rather childishly. They would need to understand the educational benefits of virtual worlds or games, it is not enough that they are simply ‘new’.

SL is a big “group hug” SL is an open world where all sorts of activities are undertaken mostly good but some bad, e.g. ‘griefing’ this probably won’t impinge on your use of SL for teaching but best to be aware of what is out there

A world divided one consequence of this is that SL is segregated 14-17 year olds live in Teen SL 18s and over live in SL this divide is exclusive if you teach across both age groups then you’ll have to deal with this – e.g. by replicating work

Communication / collaboration multiple modes of in-world communication supported chat IM group IM voice each mode brings with it some issues in terms of usability

Pedagogy SL can be used to deliver lectures, but… most suited to “active” learning styles building coding discussion groups machinima drama production role-play

We’re all familiar with this… ‘traditional’ online learning environment sharing documents and learning objects management and tracking discussion coursework submission assessment

… but not so much with this? multi-user virtual learning environment relatively informal and open-ended non-obvious goals rich social & technical environment collaborative (but difficult to set object permissions correctly)

Sloodle intended as bridge… Second Life as a Moodle client providing better support for in-world learning & teaching Second Life and Moodle as complimentary and integrated learning environments http://www.sloodle.org/

Sloodle tools authentication toolbar chat support blogging glossary drop box quiz tool gestures

SL usage in UK HE and FE 3. SL usage in UK HE and FE

Use of SL in HE the Eduserv Foundation has funded a series of 4 snapshots - undertaken by John Kirriemuir (Silversprite Helsinki) last one due Sept 2008 - if you have something to contribute, please get in touch 80%+ of UK universities have one or more teams of people developing and/or teaching in SL many academics unaware of SL activity in their institution or departments some academics developing, using SL “under the radar”, self-funding works http://tinyurl.com/3ps2f3

Use of SL in FE FE use is much lower but there is some out there, e.g. Bromley College (SL: Clive Pro and Skipper Abel) Myerscough College (RL: Gary Elliot) there appear to be some examples of use in schools but this mostly seems to be in collaboration with a university

Institutional attitudes from the institution: generally good and supportive from technical support: mostly good, isolated problems, e.g. port access, old PCs from peers: mixed… curious through to hostile “ With enthusiasm and imagination by a minority, and with doubt, fear and even derision by the rest…”

What academics want… more funding opportunities (but don’t we all?) more time to develop – SL very time consuming to build in better technical facilities within SL, or a viable alternative environment more efficient “land” management some evidence that people are starting to look seriously at alternative virtual worlds

The wider MUVE environment 4. the wider MUVE environment

Life beyond Second Life SL is one of many virtual worlds there.com, Project Wonderland, Entropia Universe, Active Worlds, OpenCroquet, Metaverse, OpenSIM, HiPiHi, Twinity, … it is not clear that SL is the answer SL client now released as open source software clear demand for server to made OSS also some commitment to this by LL (partly because people are reverse-engineering the server anyway) and working with IBM on OpenSim

Some examples… OpenSIM, HiPiHi, Twinity not the only options but chosen because they are all ‘SL-like’ environments open-ended, multi-user – MUVEs, not games modifiable avatars pseudonymous support for building and scripting in-world currency chat, IM and voice for communication

OpenSim Open source SL-compatible server – i.e. can use standard SL client to access it alpha release full functionality under dev. easy to install (on PCs) in standalone mode can be run in ‘grid’ mode used as the basis for production environments such as CentralGrid http://opensimulator.org/ http://www.centralgrid.com/

Twinity dedicated client closed beta ~4000 members can use RL names currency (Globals) based in Europe real world geographic metaphor slow and somewhat primitive to use http://www.twinity.com/

HiPiHi dedicated client based in China only partial translation of user-interface and documentation into English non-intuitive to use (for those used to SL) but some nice features, e.g. built in support for swimming empty but clearly getting new registrations http://www.hipihi.com/

Conclusions SL remains the ‘education’ market leader by far despite all the negativity around SL it remains the best educational MUVE offering but… competition is coming which is good for everyone (except Linden Lab!) it is probably too early (i.e. expensive) for most educational institutions to experiment with other virtual worlds right now most HE SL activity bottom-up rather than top-down – i.e. not embedded in strategy

Finding out more SLED list – run by Linden Lab, US-centric but is the main forum for learning-related SL issues secondlife@jiscmasil.ac.uk (UK) alliancesecondlife@googlegroups.com (libraries) in-world UK Educators group (open and free to join) lots of Second Life Facebook groups pointers to other resources on the Linden Lab Second Life Grid education page http://secondlifegrid.net/programs/education

Virtually where? Are 3-D virtual worlds such as Second Life having an impact on learning?

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