Teaching in a Virtual World
Katrin Becker (aka Nirtak Ely)
Michele Jacobsen (aka Michele Helgerud)
K.Becker, D.M.Jacobsen, AmTech 2007
Teaching in a Virtual World
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The Sims Online
Virtual Worlds
(are not games)
Second Life
Active Worlds
Entropia Universe
There
K.Becker, D.M.Jacobsen, AmTech 2007
Red Light Center
Teaching in a Virtual World
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Some Virtual Worlds
support Educational
endeavors
Active Worlds
Second Life
There
K.Becker, D.M.Jacobsen, AmTech 2007
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Welcome to Second Life
• Created in 2003, this VW has
been growing exponentially…
– Dec 06 - 1.5 million participants
– Jan 07 – 3 million
– May 07 – 6 million
As of May 8, 2007
K.Becker, D.M.Jacobsen, AmTech 2007
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Exploring the
ELearning
Frontier
• SL: permits online exploration and a form
of interaction not hitherto possible
K.Becker, D.M.Jacobsen, AmTech 2007
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What does it
Look like?
• Main Grid
– Public &
Private
Islands
– (512 sq.m.)
• Teen Grid
K.Becker, D.M.Jacobsen, AmTech 2007
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What does it
cost?
•
•
•
K.Becker, D.M.Jacobsen, AmTech 2007
Teaching in a Virtual World
Basic account is free
Premium accounts
$9.95/Mo. U.S.
Currency: $1 US ~ 275
L$ (varies)
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Is it Just for
Education?
• Social interaction
• Communication with
friends
• Meetings
• Schizophrenia hospital
• War memorials
• Advertising
• Churches
• Hotel design
• Commerce
• “adult” content
K.Becker, D.M.Jacobsen, AmTech 2007
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RL Businesses in SL
1. BigPond
2. Pontiac
3. IBM
4. Showtime (L Word)
5. ABC TV Australia
6. NetG Training
7. Mercedes-Benz
8. Nissan
9. Mazda
10. Dell
11. MTVN
12. Toyota
13. Sun Microsystems
14. Sears
15. Sony BMG
16. Cisco
17. Adidas Reebok
18. Sony Ericsson
19. PA Consulting
Group
20. Circuit City
21. Reuters
22. Intel
23. AOL
24. American Apparel
25. Starwood Hotels
Source: http://www.personalizemedia.com/index.php/2007/04/28/my-virtual-world-brand-talks-and-comparative-data/
K.Becker, D.M.Jacobsen, AmTech 2007
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The top eight corporate sites in Second Life
Real-world business is booming in the 3-D digital landscape
8. Best Buy Geek Squad
7. H&R Block
6. Cisco Systems Inc.
5. Reuters
4. Dell Inc.
3. Sun Microsystems Inc.
2. Pontiac
1. IBM
Geek Squad Island: a great place to get
free technical support.
The Dell campus
boasts a factory
tour, design-acomputer stations
and a model of
Michael Dell's
college dorm.
John Brandon, ComputerWorld: Networking & Internet – May 2, 2007
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9018238
K.Becker, D.M.Jacobsen, AmTech 2007
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Exploring the
ELearning
Frontier
•
120+ schools and colleges have a presence in SL
(http://simteach.com/wiki/index.php?title=Institutions_and_Organizations_in_SL )
– Research and teaching online
• PLUS:
– National & educational organizations (non-profit), private
educational institutions (for profit), libraries, museums,
K.Becker, D.M.Jacobsen, AmTech 2007
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NMC Campus
<>
K.Becker, D.M.Jacobsen, AmTech 2007
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How can SL change e-learning?
•
•
•
K.Becker, D.M.Jacobsen, AmTech 2007
‘Education is actually growing to become a
very significant part of how SL is used,’ says
John Lester, community and education
manager at Linden Lab, the San Franciscobased company that owns and operates
Second Life, now in its third year.” (Lamb,
2006).
Harvard has its own island for their classes,
and Ball State even has dorms for their
students.
In Winter 2007, the two of us involved
University of Calgary student teachers and
graduate students in some SL learning
experiences and experiments.
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What did we do with our students?
• Preparation and set up
(created goals)
– Grad and student teacher
class
– Two learning goals prior to
F2F
– Installation
• Free exploration (grad)
– Play, then easter egg hunt
• Targeted journey (student
teachers)
Learn how to use SL by using SL
Send us a postcard…
K.Becker, D.M.Jacobsen, AmTech 2007
– Play, then Terra Incognita
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Discussion & Debate
•
Post-class, Online Discussion: a
sample of student observations:
– Adult content & behavior – this is not for
kids
– Lack of dress code, or rules about
_wearing_clothes…
– Need to develop some skill so you know
what you CAN do
– Use needs to be purposeful for learning
– Addictive versus compulsive? Is it
more/less compelling than other media?
Other substances?
– Some feel immune to the pull of video
games, online worlds
– Second life, online world (interactive,
user controlled) is better than Television
(passive, broadcast) medium
K.Becker, D.M.Jacobsen, AmTech 2007
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Themes from
online discussions
•
•
•
•
•
Realize they need to learn more
to understand what SL is good
for…
Security concerns – bad
language, other avatars
approaching you
Question usefulness with
younger audiences
Virtual field trips are incredible
for providing opportunities to visit
remote places
Several had computer problems
at home, slow connections, etc.
but were successful in class
K.Becker, D.M.Jacobsen, AmTech 2007
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Flying is cool!!
• Student teachers liked flying,
visiting museums,
• “It's wild and creepy-weird and
there were moments when it gave
me vertigo. When something gives
me vertigo (and I'm not actually
looking over a cliff) something
about world-view is shifting for me.”
• One of the neatest concepts about
it is that there is a whole world out
there to explore, and students can
go anywhere in a matter of
seconds. And that’s neat!
K.Becker, D.M.Jacobsen, AmTech 2007
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A place to call our own...
• I can see the benefit of creating
your own private land for a
classroom to meet in - a "safe
and caring" environment.
• I guess in this virtual environment
people want to interact, but in
"real life" are we really in the
habit of walking up to complete
strangers and start asking them
questions? Maybe, maybe not.
K.Becker, D.M.Jacobsen, AmTech 2007
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More ideas raised in online
discussion
Identity & behavior
• “people behave differently
when they are in costume”
Communication
discomfort.
K.Becker, D.M.Jacobsen, AmTech 2007
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More ideas raised in online
discussion
Unwelcome interactions
with an avatar with
poor language skills
while trying to get your
orientation stars.
K.Becker, D.M.Jacobsen, AmTech 2007
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More ideas raised in online
discussion
Purposeful
interaction -having a goal in
mind for SL
interaction
Using SL for things
we cannot do in
real life
Exploring “what if”
K.Becker, D.M.Jacobsen, AmTech 2007
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More ideas raised in online
discussion
• Education in
another
dimension
Hare Krishna Community
K.Becker, D.M.Jacobsen, AmTech 2007
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More ideas raised in online
discussion
Going
places we
can’t in
real life.
Like, Amsterdam.
K.Becker, D.M.Jacobsen, AmTech 2007
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More ideas raised in online
discussion
Going
places we
can’t in
real life.
Or space.
http://secondlife.com/community/media.php
K.Becker, D.M.Jacobsen, AmTech 2007
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Storytelling
• I think it would be interesting to
challenge students to create and
develop a character and maintain that
character for some time.
– What would (s)he look like?
– How would character be revealed through
actions or dialogue?
– If each student were to create a potential
story for his/her character, how would it
be complicated through interactions with
other characters who were
simultaneously attempting to play out his
or her own story?
K.Becker, D.M.Jacobsen, AmTech 2007
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Postcards: Identity Shifting
One of the positives of SL is
that you can be someone else,
for example, you get to choose
your character’s appearance so
you can be whoever you want
and introverts may excel in these
situations where they are
relatively anonymous
K.Becker, D.M.Jacobsen, AmTech 2007
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“Some people created Avatars that looked like
themselves, while many of us created something
quite different”
K.Becker, D.M.Jacobsen, AmTech 2007
•
Henry Jenkins talks about the value of a
second life to our first life in his recent
posting http://www.henryjenkins.org/2007/03/my_m
ain_question_to_jenkins.html
•
Very interesting commentary on identity
formation, and bringing what is learning
online into our face-to-face encounters.
Jenkins argues that we learn things about
our first lives via interaction in a second life,
an online life - alternate identity. In a
nutshell, he argues that we cannot escape
reality, even if that is our expressed intent.
•
Quote “Believe me, I look nothing like my
avatar (probably a good thing), and there
are probably many users that change their
appearance all the time to suit their mood or
a whim”
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Student teachers around the campfire
K.Becker, D.M.Jacobsen, AmTech 2007
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Why did we do it?
Harlan Ellison said:
When I reviewed television, people said "If you hate
television so much, how come you've got a television set
in your house?". Stephen King even said "You know,
Harlan's got a big TV.". Yes, that's right. I try to be
courant. I try to know what it is I'm talking about. I am not
like many people who give you an opinion based on
some sort of idiot hearsay or some kind of gut feeling
you cannot validate. When I give an opinion, I do my
best to make sure it is based on information.
[http://harlanellison.com/home.htm]
Like Ellison suggests, even if only to be an authentic and reliable critic
of something, you have to understand and know it.
K.Becker, D.M.Jacobsen, AmTech 2007
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I just don’t get it…
• Some people
just didn't feel
the pull
towards SL
• What’s wrong
with real life?
• How can we
make
education
more
educational?
Source: http://www.getafirstlife.com/
K.Becker, D.M.Jacobsen, AmTech 2007
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“Second Life eats student”
Tuell’s roommate, Teck Nolgy, said Tuell was at his desk in
Geisert Hall and signed into an online classroom when he
vanished in a puff of smoke.
“But it’s harder to do it online. It’s not like we can just
stick missing posters on the Web.”
“He’s out
there floating
in cyberspace
somewhere,”
Second Life remains up and running
despite concerns for student safety.
Associate multimedia professor Ed Lamoureux said
shutting down Second Life poses greater risks.
“We knew this was a potential problem when we set
up the program,” Lamoureux said. “But we really
wanted to get the system set up. One student isn’t
that big of a deal. If we’d lost 17 or 18, that would
have been a major problem.”
Source:
K.Becker, D.M.Jacobsen, AmTech 2007
http://buscout.com/ver5/pulsearticle.php?ID=209&date=2007-03-30
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Second Life Best Practices in Education:
Teaching, Learning, and Research© 2007
International Conference , May 25, In-World
It is OK if you are new to SL or if you can't be there all day. It is ok if you don't yet have students
inworld. And it is OK if you just want to drop in for one or two sessions. Among the long list of talented
keynotes and speakers, we have the awesome and lovely Intellagirl Tully and IBM's Chuck Hamilton.
Even if you are only popping in to see one
session, we would like to know to expect
you (to make sure we have enough chairs
and all). As of right this moment, we are
expecting about 300 people. ISN'T THAT
AWESOME??? But, we want to make sure
we have enough room for YOU!
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE register on the
wiki at
http://slbestpractices2007.wikispaces.com/
If you would like to showcase your work in
some way, you can submit your awesome
ideas via the wiki, as well.
We hope to see you there!
K.Becker, D.M.Jacobsen, AmTech 2007
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Open Forum
• Given what you have
heard about SL, what
are some new ways
we can think about
elearning?
• Are we ready for
prime time?
K.Becker, D.M.Jacobsen, AmTech 2007
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