Blended Learning with Second Life

Blended Learning: SL in the RL classroom Second Life in Singapore's General Paper classrooms Ms Tan Li Wee Liwei Velde

Background • General Paper, a compulsory subject in Singapore’s Junior College education • Requires students to analyse and evaluate issues across disciplines, express informed opinions and a maturity of thought • Students’ limited life experiences • Role playing in SL

Timeline • Planning: October – December 2008 • Cycle 1: March – April 2009 • Cycle 2 to begin in July 2009

Implementation • Issues to be aligned with the lecture • Reading materials to build up students’ knowledge • Pre-writing • Role play in SL, with role cards • 4 avatars in a group • Post- writing

Cycle 1: Family Scene 1 MARS MIGRATION LOTTERY They have done it. Earth is dead! A population ballot has chosen 10% of its global population to be sent to Mars to start human life anew. At the spaceport before blastoff you chat with other Singaporeans who have also been selected. Discussions revolve around the impact on the family unit and your fears for the future.

Shannon You are married to Benny. You are happy that Benny has been selected too. You are pregnant and cannot wait to start a family on Mars. You wonder the impact on those whose family members have not been chosen to be sent to Mars.

Benny You are married to Shannon. You are happy that Shannon has been selected too. You are excited and anxious at the same time due to the imminent arrival of your baby. You wonder how your child will develop while living on Mars their entire life.

Cindy You are single. You have always put your career before romance. You think life may be better on Mars as people would have fewer family commitments which can disrupt work.

Johnny You are divorced. You no longer believe that marriage is essential for a family unit. As not everyone has their family members with them, life in Mars would be better as the family no longer conforms to social norms.

Cycle 1: Family Scene 2 ZERO GRAVITY LOVE The new colony has faced various difficulties settling on Mars. One such problem is the lack of population growth. The government has implemented a baby bonus scheme to boost the fertility rate. Benny and Shannon are meeting Johnny and Cindy for dinner at the 8 star quadrant restaurant. The conversation revolves around updating one another about life on Mars and the impact of the baby bonus scheme.

Shannon You are pregnant and the baby bonus scheme comes as an unexpected surprise. You love children and it seems that it is now possible to have 5 children with Benny (your husband). Of course, with effective parenting.

Benny You are married to Shannon. You are happy with the baby bonus scheme. You are also aware that there is no guarantee in increasing the fertility rate because people have to be prepared to be parents. Effective parenting is important too.

Cindy You are now a high-ranking official on Mars. You are single and annoyed by the measures. Not only do you not benefit from them, you may be indirectly paying for the measures given the huge amount of taxes you are paying annually.

Johnny You do not think you would benefit from the baby bonus scheme as you are certain that you would not be married again.

SLanguages 2009 This presentation was given at SLanguages 2009 The Conference for Language Education in Virtual Worlds slanguages.net

Blended Learning with Second Life

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