Sheffield April 2010

Virtual worlds in education ... why? www.virtualworldwatch.net Department of Information Studies Sheffield University Paolo Margari http://www.flickr.com/photos/paolomargari/453106211/

“HOW IS THIS LEARNING?” http://www.flickr.com/photos/raftwetjewell/3025176313/

MY EPIPHANY Before: “This looks like a really crap video game. Why is it so popular?” During: “Oh. I can do what I want. And these are real people, making information available.” After: “Ah. It’s people and information, and what you make of it.” Roo Reynolds http://www.flickr.com/photos/rooreynolds/1742418908/

VWW: VIRTUAL WORLD WATCH “Snapshots” of who is using virtual worlds, and how, in UK universities and colleges. Unexpectedly large numbers of downloads. Funded by Eduserv from 2007 to about now. Going self-funded from spring 2010-2011. www.virtualworldwatch.net Roo Reynolds http://www.flickr.com/photos/rooreynolds/493815619/

WHY USE A VIRTUAL WORLD IN EDUCATION?

THE DEATH OF TRAVEL TO LEARN? Quoting Martin Bean, Vice-Chancellor, Open University

John Kirriemuir http://www.flickr.com/photos/silversprite/492471374/

BUILD WHAT YOU NEED... PF Anderson http://www.flickr.com/photos/rosefirerising/456065514/

MIX UP YOUR MEDIA N Speller http://www.flickr.com/photos/spellers/2833505085/

...INCREASINGLY, ANY MEDIA Annabeth Robinson http://www.flickr.com/photos/annamorphic/4382933824/

BLEED IN GEO-STUFF, MAPS DadenMedia http://www.flickr.com/photos/dadenmedia/2984446235/

VIRTUAL WORLD USE BY UK ACADEMICS

CURRENT STATE OF PLAY • 90%+ of UK academics who use VWs use Second Life. • (new) Every UK university has done something in VWs. • Activity in UK colleges much patchier. • Some, but not much, overlap with academic communities who use other technologies e.g. Blackboard, digital games. • Steadily growing research base of materials. • Difficulty in quickly/simply showing benefits of virtual worlds to colleagues, students, noobs underlying problem.

MAIN SUBJECT AREAS OF VW USE Health and medicine. Art and fashion. Nursing training. Legal training. Midwifery. Theatre and drama. Health and safety training. Computer science programming. Physics simulations e.g. wind turbines. Crime scene training. Information science theory. Languages, esp. Spanish.

PHYSICS SGVW Team, University of Ulster http://www.flickr.com/photos/33422226@N04/

MIDWIFERY Kate Boardman http://www.flickr.com/photos/kattanhurnung/4115602444/

MECHANICS AND HISTORY Kate Boardman http://www.flickr.com/photos/kattanhurnung/4398763759/

MICRO LEVEL STUFF Hiro Sheridan http://www.flickr.com/photos/hirosheridan/524368209/

SIMULATION (QUARRY) University of Derby / Institute of Quarrying

ATTITUDE PROBLEMS WITH VIRTUAL WORLDS (OFTEN APPLICABLE TO OTHER TECHNOLOGIES IN EDUCATION)

SECOND LIFE: EMBRACE OR AVOID? “It’s easy to use.” “It’s hard to use.” “There’s loads of free stuff “Bloody expensive to get a in there already.” decent chunk of land.” “There’s lots of other “Academics I know have academics in my subject been scared off it because area using it.” of newspaper stories.” “Been around for many “Every week a VW seems to years, so looks solid.” fold; is Second Life next?”

“IT’S JUST A GAME!” Things wrong with this: 1. It isn’t (what’s the game objective if it is?). You don’t understand what a game is. 2.What’s wrong with games anyway? 3.Some games used in teaching and learning. 4.Psychological limitations: fun is dangerous, not useful? http://www.flickr.com/photos/dunechaser/103300924/

WTF IS GOING ON?!! Bettina Tizzy http://www.flickr.com/photos/bettinatizzy/2308041401/

FINDING ‘STUFF’ IS HARD Millions of people use virtual worlds. There are many virtual worlds. Search facilities range from basic to non-existent. “Stuff” is inconsistently labelled. There is no ‘google’. John Kirriemuir http://www.flickr.com/photos/silversprite/2346333322/

“THERE’S NO-ONE HERE.” UM, SO?

OH NO! SOMETHING BAD! “The Internet is bad.” “If you go online you will immediately encounter sex, nudity, perversion, wherever you go.” “University students must be kept away from it.” (Rather than teach them how to deal with it in all forms of life). Sari Choche http://www.flickr.com/photos/sari-coche/2537936209/

TECH SUPPORT SAY “NO.” http://www.flickr.com/photos/procsilas/378146339/

ACADEMIC SAYS NO “I don’t have the time to learn new stuff.” “What I use works fine for me.” “I’m retiring soon so it’s not worth it.” “It’ll never catch on.” “In my day...” Pelican http://www.flickr.com/photos/pelican/2147350197/

NOW YOUR TURN (IF YOU WANT) Go into Second Life with a purpose. An event, a group meeting, a specific list of locations to explore. Allow an hour (yes, 60 minutes of your life) to edit your avatar and get used to flying around. Try all forms of communication. Trying clicking on interesting stuff to see what happens. Do physical stuff; ride a fairwheel, go skydiving, drop in at a pub, go disco dancing, try on some free costumes.

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Sheffield April 2010

by Virtual World Watch on Apr 17, 2010

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Sheffield April 2010 — Presentation Transcript