Madison Middleverse 2nd life

Middleverse de Español in Second Life a Virtual Social Space for Language Acquisi:on by Maria Alessandra Woolson Spanish& Portuguese Department Middlebury College, VT Presented at 2011 NMC Summer Conference Madison Wisconsin June 15-‐18, 2011 © Permission to reproduce if authorship is maintained. All other uses contact author

“I never teach my pupils; I only a;empt to provide the condi<ons in which they can learn” Albert Einstein © Permission to reproduce if authorship is maintained. All other uses contact author

Goals •  ACTFL Na<onal Standards for FL Learning (2000) –  Communica<on, Cultures, Connec<ons, Comparisons, Communi<es (the 5 Cs) •  MLA (2007) –  acquisi<on of translingual and transcultural competence –  approach that addresses mul<ple subject areas –  proﬁciency to engage in linguis<c and metalinguis<c exchanges •  Middlebury College –  language and cultural immersion –  integra<on of a mul<-‐disciplinary curriculum in the target language © Permission to reproduce if authorship is maintained. All other uses contact author

The Project •  Immersive 3-‐D space •  Technology integra<on: browser, images, digitalized text, video, 3-‐D modeling, social networking •  Synchronous Chat and voice chat in Real Time •  Authen<c linguis<c and cultural sengs •  Sensory experiences •  Ini<ally resembles a video game, but bears no speciﬁc goal •  Adop<on of Avatar or human/humanoid virtual ﬁgure and virtual iden<ty of customizable appearance •  Par<cipants or ‘residents’ can crea<vely model objects and contribute to and conceive the virtual space they will use © Permission to reproduce if authorship is maintained. All other uses contact author

Pedagogical Considera:ons •  Pedagogy preceded technological choice and guided spa<al construc<on •  Designed in alignment with Standards •  Followed extensive use of a variety of technologies through curricular content management system to integrate materials and to further student interac<ons prior to class •  Increased interac<ons in target language •  Provides a culturally immersive environment •  Interrogates how students construct knowledge in a learning environment that is being transformed by digital technology © Permission to reproduce if authorship is maintained. All other uses contact author

Why Use Virtual Worlds? Because: •  we face a genera<on that has entered into a passionate rela<onship with digital technology •  we are mee<ng par<cipants ‘where they already are’, immersed in an age of informa<on technology •  digitalized landscapes may already be impac<ng the way we think about knowledge. •  Using technology in educa<on beyond simple consump<on, may poten<ally promote innova<on •  Defamiliarizing our ways of knowing is inspira<onal •  It forces a reconsidera<on of barriers that frac<on informa<on and of how to re-‐integrate learning © Permission to reproduce if authorship is maintained. All other uses contact author

Middleverse de Español •  Input meets ac<ve recipients •  Mul<ple sources in Real Time •  Virtual iden<ty oﬀers: –  par<cipa<on in anonymity –  role-‐play opportuni<es –  spontaneous social interpersonal communica<ons –  Increases self-‐correc<on strategies and nego<a<ons through synchronous conversa<on –  Promotes cri<cal thinking and willingness to take linguis<c risks –  Promotes repair moves, experimen<ng lexically and transfer of grammar and syntac<c complexity form their ﬁrst language –  Authen<c tasks highlights focus on process over product © Permission to reproduce if authorship is maintained. All other uses contact author

Pilot Goals •  Observe features of advancement of speciﬁc educa<onal units •  Evaluate environment poten<al for expanding educa<onal space into social space © Permission to reproduce if authorship is maintained. All other uses contact author

Pilot •  Site modeled afer photographic images from moderns sec<on of San<ago Chile due to design universality of urban environments •  Cohort included of all sec<ons of 3rd semester Spanish •  Students pledged to interact solely in Spanish upon entering the space •  Conceived: –  FL acquisi<on to serve mul<ple disciplines –  Guided ac<vi<es mostly interpersonal –  Display of student’s crea<ve and analy<cal work © Permission to reproduce if authorship is maintained. All other uses contact author

Outcomes •  Promoted dynamic and authen<c interac<ons •  Facilitated collabora<ve work •  Encouraged reassessing the manner in which students par<cipate: –  from recep<ve to produc<ve –  otherwise re<cent to par<cipate face-‐to-‐face •  Lowering of affec<ve filters impacted: –  immediate interac<ons upon arrival to class –  Increased in classroom par<cipa<on –  Increased student-‐centered discussions •  Helped connect materials to other classes and gathered students from different sec<ons into a community of friends © Permission to reproduce if authorship is maintained. All other uses contact author

Other pedagogical considera<ons immediate to student •  Self-‐inquiry into a sense of self and sense of space •  Erasure of distance •  Power of presence and agency •  Expansion of collabora<ve and individual crea<vity •  Addi<onal <me for spoken language prac<ce •  Choice of synchronous and asynchronous ac<vi<es •  Increase social interac<on or allow further isola<on © Permission to reproduce if authorship is maintained. All other uses contact author

Implica<ons to tradi<onal educa<on environments •  Distance educa<on •  Presenta<ons and discussions •  Simula<ons and role-‐play •  Mul<media design •  Disrupts perceived tradi<onal hierarchy of who teaches and who is taught. •  Risk of mechanizing delivery of informa<on © Permission to reproduce if authorship is maintained. All other uses contact author

Poten<al Challenges •  Privacy considera<ons •  How students construct knowledge through virtual representa<on. •  Implica<ons for learning of –  drivers that bring the current genera<on to adopt certain technologies over others –  “too clean” a design that lacks signs of daily use and is visually “cold”: color, shape, unnatural properness •  Students’ percep<on on how they learn vs. how they actually learn •  Interference between marke<ng strategies in design and pedagogical scopes © Permission to reproduce if authorship is maintained. All other uses contact author

Madison Middleverse 2nd life

by Joseph Antonioli on Jul 18, 2011

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