Adventures in research and teaching in Second Life®

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    Adventures in research and teaching in Second Life® - Presentation Transcript

    1. Susan Toth-Cohen, Ph.D., OTR/L (SL – Zsuzsa Tomsen ) Jefferson College of Health Professions, Philadelphia, PA Adventures in Research and Teaching at the Jefferson Occupational Therapy Center in Second Life® Professional and Scholarly Publishing, Association of American Publishers, Washington, DC, February 4, 2009
    2. Basic Questions
      • What exactly are virtual worlds?
      • How did they come about?
      • Is Second Life the only one?
      • What are academic researchers and educators doing there?
    3. Virtual Worlds: Offspring of gaming & virtual reality (Siva, 2008)
      • A synchronous, persistent network of people, represented as avatars, facilitated by networked computers. (Bell, 2008, p. 2)
      • Many virtual worlds exist, for people of all ages, which may be used for many purposes
      Virtual Reality Gaming
    4. http://www.virtualworldsreview.com/info/categories.shtml
    5. Characteristics of Virtual Worlds 1. Shared Space : many users can participate at once. 2. Graphical User Interface : depicts space visually 3. Immediacy : interaction takes place in real time. 4. Interactivity : users create or alter content. 5. Persistence : continues to exist regardless of whether individual users are logged in. 6. Socialization/Community : allows and encourages in-world social groups http://www.virtualworldsreview.com/info/whatis.shtml Play2 Train
    6. Unique Features of Virtual World Education
      • Deliver information and reach new audiences in a cost-effective manner
      • Collaborate with other disciplines and institutions to develop projects
      • Meet needs of learners accustomed to virtual environments
    7. T he Jefferson Occupational Therapy Center in Second Life ®
    8. Current Aims of Project
      • Provide exhibits on health and wellness for residents of the virtual world and conduct ongoing evaluation and improvement of these exhibits
      • Collaborate with health professionals and consumers/residents to create the content and format of the exhibits, and
      • Provide a way that graduate students can learn to deliver health information for consumers that is engaging, accurate, and benefits everyday life.
    9. Exhibits Produced
      • Healthy Aging
      • Adaptation Home
      • Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
      • Backpack Awareness
      • Stroke Awareness
    10. Healthy Aging Exhibit Theme: The “garden” of the brain never ceases being pruned and newly planted. This quote from http:// www.memoryzine.com/neuroplasticity.htm reflects the focus of much research on neuroplasticity.
    11. Adaptation Home Exhibit Displays adaptations for low vision, mobility challenges, and impaired cognitive functioning
    12. Evolution of Second Life ® Focus
      • Bring classes into Second Life ®
      • Structured assignments
      • Content provided through powerpoints, video, & quizzes
      • Collaborative projects & exhibits
        • Program dev. & evaluation
      • Exploration & brainstorming
      • Interactive displays
      • Events
    13. Keys to Success of Project
      • Graduate assistants (paid)
      • Graduate research students (final MS projects)
      • Building and scripting classes
      • Active Collaboration
      • Project focus
      • Regularly scheduled meetings & consistent presence in-world
      • In-world GROUPS!
    14. Program Development Process
      • Faculty-Student Collaborators Team
      Weekly Meetings Meeting schedule varies according to project
    15. Program Evaluation
      • Data Sources:
      • Online Survey – surveymonkey.com
        • Demographics
        • Overall response to all exhibits
        • Specific response to the Healthy Aging exhibit (newly developed)
      • Follow-up Interview
        • Optional with open-ended questions
      • Focus group (new healthy aging exhibit)
      Purpose: To further develop and evaluate the content and format of exhibits and visitor response
    16. Institutional Review Board Application
      • 3 levels of review:
      • Full
      • Expedited
      • Exempt
      • Approved with no revisions or questions
      • Procedures for recruitment and consent were patterned after a study conducted by Texas A&M
      • Participants recruited through education and healthcare groups and event notices
      • Notecard provided for consent
      • 100L honorarium (about 50 ¢)
    17. Results of Program Evaluation
      • 30 survey participants
        • 11 male, 17 female
            • (2 declined to give their gender)
        • 40% >45 years of age
        • 83.34% with some years of college
      • 23 follow-up interviews
        • Voluntary face-to-face virtual chats
        • Open-ended questions with probes if needed
        • Constructive and supportive feedback given
    18. Survey Findings
      • 88.33% strongly agree/agree
        • visual, interactive 3-D displays help them learn better than 2-D websites
      • 80% strongly agree/agree
        • the information will be beneficial in real life
      • 93.33% strongly agree/agree
        • the materials were presented clearly
    19. 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 Backpack Safety Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Healthy Aging Adaptation Home Most Useful Exhibit
    20. Sample Comments: Real Life Applicability
      • I thought the content was immediately applicable and practical…I think it is a great resource for the OT’s in the state.
      • I never realized how hard it is for someone in a wheelchair to do basic tasks like get things out of the cabinet in the kitchen!
      • I am dealing with aging parents at present and found the suggestions very helpful. We are thinking about re-modeling the bathroom, so it it was timely as well.
      • I am in that (older) age group, and knowing that certain things I do…are actually part of a healthy aging lifestyle - and other points - will keep me focused on pro-active strategies.
      • the backpack display really helped me out because I carry a lot of weight in my backpack with all my books.
    21. Discussion of Program Evaluation Results
      • Virtual worlds appear to be a promising new venue for promoting health and wellness
      • Exhibits in the virtual world can have practical, real world applications
      • Participants in program evaluation are partners whose feedback helps improve and expand upon exhibits
    22. Graduate Student Participation
      • Project-based approach provides rich benefits for both graduate students and researchers
      • Virtual environment affords unique opportunity for students to develop, test, and refine ideas for educating consumers about important health topics
      • Collaboration is key for development and review process
    23. Questions about research and teaching in 2 nd Life? Want a full list of references? Email me.

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