Barbara Truman presented on using immersive learning environments like virtual worlds for study abroad orientation. She discussed how they allow for non-threatening experiential learning, social experimentation, role play, and identity exploration to help prepare students culturally. Examples included using a virtual world to orient students to a short-term trip to Nicaragua or allowing international students to collaborate in a virtual case study. Truman suggested immersive environments could enrich orientation by allowing students to grasp foreign cultures through simulated interactions and experiences to better understand social norms and safety abroad.

1. First Stop: Cyberspace
Immersive Learning for
Study Abroad Orientation
Barbara Truman
Director, Course Development
Center for Distributed Learning
UCF Summer Faculty Development Conference, Education and the 21 st-Century Student: Global,
Cultural, and Professional Perspectives, May 3, 2012, International Studies, Concurrent Session

2. My Research Interests
The study of intercultural, appreciative intelligence within
collaborative communities
- Game-based learning
- Virtual, immersive learning
- Metacognition and motivation
- Informal learning
- Cross-generational learning
New Media Consortium’s Horizon Reports

3. --- In Search of Alignment ---
Need for Orientation+ My Experience
• Thoroughly prepare • Frequent interactions with
learners to get most out of international educators
experience
• Immersive learning
• Safety precautions environments, social media
• Awareness to assure • Learning outcomes for
positive cultural response course development
• Full compliance • Greater grant development

4. Question:
When you think of
immersive learning
environments what
characteristics come
to mind?
Dave Elfanbalm aka Botgirl
2012 Virtual Worlds Best Practices
In Education (VWBPE) Presentation
Playing with Identity

5. Immersive Learning Environments
• Non-threatening experiential learning
• Social experimentation
• Venue for practice and rehearsal
• Valuable for role play
• Play and adjust identity
• Reflect upon meaning of “self”
• Sensory triggers for memory
• Can be global via the Internet Gord Holden,
Heritage Christian Online School
• Reasonably affordable British Columbia, Canada, VWBPE 2012
• Data from interactions
• Requires resiliency and cultural ethnorelativism

6. UCF Study Abroad Example:
Faculty-Led, Short Term
Programs
What is needed that immersive
learning can serve?
Advice for deeper orientation:
Need to grasp the culture.
What is polite or rude?
How do you greet people?
Who do you tip?
How do you behave in religious
places or in museums?
How to get around on your own?
How to be safe?
How to avoid breaking the law?

7. Gartner Hype Cycle
http://www.gartner.com/technology/research/hype-cycles/

8. Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL)
Local resource:
• United States DoD
Joint ADL Co-Lab
• UCF Research Park
• Focus on Next
Generation Learner
Dr. Elaine Raybourn
University of New Mexico,
Communications Department
Sandia National Laboratories
http://adlnet.org Adaptive Thinking Research
http://research.adlnet.gov/newsletter/academic/201103.htm

9. International Participation
March 15-17, 2012
http://www.vwbpe.org
http://vwmooc.wordpress.com

10. International Professional
Development (free)
(Right) A.J. Brooks, Monclair State, hosts organizers of
the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education
Conference during a weekly Virtual Worlds Education
Roundtable (VWER) meeting hosted by Bowling Green
State University
(Left) VWBPE Session: Sabine Emad, Professor of Marketing, Geneva
Business School (HEG) and Wade Halvorson, Assistant Professor, University
of Western Australia, author of Virtual Worlds: Marketing Implications and
Applications (2010) present in the amphitheatre below.
Project: 50 university students
from Switzerland and Australia
were brought together virtually in
groups of four to analyze a
marketing case study.

11. Future Institutional Collaborations?
The leading global
network of research
universities
for the 21st century
http://www.universitas21.com
Global emphasis on curriculum and collaboration.
Key goal? Praxis
UCF Invited Presentation November 2011, Vancouver, Canada

12. Example Short Term Study Abroad Trip: Nicaragua
 Action research-service request
◦ Colorado Technical University
◦ InnerCHANGE WORKS (NGO)
◦ Universidad Americana Managua
 320 donated iMac G3s
 Schools Involved
◦ Public Defender Office
 Provide training for in-country technician
Spring 2012
 Teacher training
 Network and database assistance
 Proposed solution establishing sustainable internet cafe
Content courtesy of Dr. Anne Marie Armstrong

13. Example Short Term Study Abroad Trip: Nicaragua
Extreme service required
Applied research
Applied experience valued from
nontraditional students
Ongoing relationship sought
Avoidance of government involvement
Community requests for Internet Cafe Content courtesy of Dr. Anne Marie Armstrong

14. Recent News: Avatars for Peace and Health
April 24, 2012
Digital memory and preservation
Meaning of embodied presence? Photo courtesy of Liz Dorland aka Chimera Cosmos,
Washington University in St. Louis
http://www.betterverse.org/2012/04/address-by-the-dalai-lama-streamed-at-mayo-clinic-in-second-life-april-24.html

15. Question:
How best could we employ
the affordances of
immersive learning to
enrich your study abroad
experiences?
DEMONSTRATION

16. More Free Immersive Learning
Professional Development Events
Federal Consortium of Virtual Worlds
May 16-18, 2012
http://www.ndu.edu/icollege/fcvw/index.htm
Howard Gardner, Stanford University, guest presenter
October Timeframe New Media Faculty Seminar – Fall 2012
International SLanguages Event Gardner Campbell, Virginia Tech
http://www.slanguages.net http://www.netvibes.com/vw-nmfs-f11#NMFS_Home

17. References
Briers, G. E., Shinn, G. C., & Nguyen, A. N. (2010). Through Students’ Eyes: Perceptions and Aspirations of College of Agriculture and Life Science Students Regarding International
Educational Experiences. Journal of International Agricultural and Extension Education, 17(2), 5-20.
Diehl, W. C., & Prins, E. (2008). Unintended outcomes in Second Life: Intercultural literacy and cultural identity in a virtual world. Language. Intercultural Communication Language
and Intercultural Communication, 8(2), 101-118.
Fouts, J. S. (2011). Technology and Innovation Report Using Virtual World Journalism for Health Education. Journal of Healthcare, Science and the Humanities, 1(2), 127-139.
Fowler, S. M., & Pusch, M. D. (2010). Intercultural simulation games: a review (of the United States and beyond. Simulation & Gaming, 41(1), 94-115.
Halfin, J. (2011). How Online Tools Can Be Used to Enrich Study Abroad. University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Retrieved from http://www.internationalyeti.com/documents/Halfen%20-
%20Online%20Tools%20to%20Enrich%20Study%20Abroad.pdf
Himelfarb, S., & Idriss, S. (2011). Exchange 2.0. Washington, DC: U.S. Institute of Peace.
Lane, H. C. (2007). Metacognition and the Development of Intercultural Competence, Retrieved from http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA470403
Mason, H., & Moutahir, M. (August 18-20, 2006). Multidisciplinary Experiential Education in Second Life: A Global Approach. Paper presented at the Second Life Community
Convention, San Francisco.
Moira, B., Cameron, M., & Thomas, L. (2010). Social network activity and social well-being. Paper presented at the
Proceedings of the 28th international conference on Human factors in computing systems, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Murray, K., & Waller, R. (2007). Social networking goes abroad. International Educator, 16(3), 56-59.
Sachau, D., Brasher, N., & Fee, S. (2010). Three Models for Short-Term Study Abroad. Journal of Management Education, 34(5), 645-670. doi: 10.1177/1052562909340880
Seigel, S. E. (2010). Gaining Cultural Intelligence through Second Life Learning Interventions. International Journal of Advanced Corporate Learning, 3(3), 45-50.
Shively, R. L. (2010). From the Virtual World to the Real World: A Model of Pragmatics Instruction for Study Abroad. Foreign Language Annals, 43(1), 105-137. doi: 10.1111/j.1944-
9720.2010.01063.x
Sykes, J. M., Oskoz, A., & Thorne, S. L. (2008). Web 2.0, Synthetic Immersive Environments, and Mobile Resources for Language Education. Calico Journal, Computer Assisted
Language Instruction Consortium, 25(3), 528-546.
Yee, N., Bailenson, J. N., Urbanek, M., Chang, F., & Merget, D. (2007). The unbearable likeness of being digital: The persistence of nonverbal social norms in online virtual
environments. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 10.(1), 115-121. doi:10.1089/cpb.2006.9984
Yeung, C.-m. A., Liccardi, I., Lu, K., Seneviratne, O., & Berners-lee, T. (2009). Decentralization: The future of online social networking. Paper presented at the W3C Workshop on the
Future of Social Networking, Barcelona, Spain.

18. Thank you
Barbara.Truman@ucf.edu
Twitter: barbaratruman
Facebook, LinkedIn: Barbara Truman
Skype and Flickr: Btruwoman
Second Life: Delightful Doowangle
Research Blog:
http://barbaratruman.blogspot.com
Personal Blog: http://barbaratruman.com
http://online.ucf.edu