Six Barriers to Innovation in MUVE-based teaching

Title slide
LYICT Conference 7th-12th July, Kuala Lumpur
Dr Steven Warburton, King’s College London http://www.liquidlearning.org
controlling Second Life: six barriers to innovation in MUVE-based learning and teaching

the uniqueness of SL what is Second Life? a unique configuration of freedom , creativity , interactivity , identity construction and tangible economy

From the moment you enter the World you'll discover a vast digital continent, teeming with people , entertainment, experiences and opportunity. Once you've explored a bit, perhaps you'll find a perfect parcel of land to build your house or business.
You'll also be surrounded by the Creations of your fellow Residents. Because Residents retain intellectual property rights in their digital creations, they can buy, sell and trade with other Residents.
The Marketplace currently supports millions of US dollars in monthly transactions . This commerce is handled with the inworld unit of trade, the Linden™ dollar, which can be converted to US dollars at several thriving online Linden dollar exchanges.
From ‘What is Second Life’ Official Linden site http://secondlife.com/whatis

the counterpoint: utopian virtualism
“ The hype around digital virtuality over the past decade has been more about myth and less about cyberspace. […] Symptoms of virtualism include exaggerated expectations of anything described as ‘virtual’, and unrealistic expectations that digital technologies will solve social problems”.
Shields, R. (2003) The virtual. Routledge, London.

where can we find innovation in MUVE-based teaching? where can we find creativity in MUVE-based teaching?

six barriers to innovation

1. the technical barrier
machine related
client side: bandwidth, hardware, firewalls
server side: downtime, lag
human related
managing the client interface
developing basic in-world competences such as navigation, creating objects and manipulating ones avatar
developing a 3D visual grammar
standards related
the lack of open standards makes it difficult to integrate other technologies
different users will experience in-world activities or events differently

2. the identity barrier
the fluidity and playfulness inherent in Second Life identity construction can be disconcerting and confusing
building social relations can be problematic and fraught when identities are never fixed
freedom brings with it accountability and managing [digital] reputation becomes an issue of concern

3. the culture barrier
Second Life can be an isolating experience - communities are hard to find and can be demanding to participate in
Second Life has its own set of codes, norms and etiquette and reading these is not straightforward
Second Life can feel destabilising: outside of the ‘safety zone’ - a place of no limits, no boundaries, no restrictions on behaviour

4. the collaboration barrier
collaboration often needs to be scaffolded - it is not a natural skill, rather one that we need to develop
building trust and authenticity are critical factors for successful cooperative activities
enabling effective dialog requires considered use of the available in-world communication tools
minimal in-world social networking tools mean that external social services such as Flickr are often needed enrich the interrelations between avatars

5 . the time barrier
simple things can take a long time: designing, validating and running teaching activities requires time and dedication
issues such as IPR, permissions and access all impact on design and implementation
practice, practice, practice

6. the economic barrier
yes Second Life is free for a basic account, but
anything beyond simply being in-world costs money:
buying land to create teaching spaces
uploading images and textures
purchasing useful in-world tools
employing building and scripting expertise
the lack of open standards locks our investment (both time and economic) inside a single non-transferable setting

seduced by the virtual: the reality of releasing innovation
it is a mistake to be seduced by real-world parallels and assume learning and teaching can be readily transferred to a 3D virtual space
we need to address:
how to best manage identity
digital and cultural literacy
what we mean by collaborative skills
the specific affordances MUVEs such as the link between immersion, emotion and empathy
how best exploit the space
the grounds for particular technological tool choices - appreciate the situated and contextual nature of teaching and learning activities

Liquid Learning ( www. liquidlearning .org ) - personal research blog
MUVEnation ( www. muvenation .org ) - EU funded, 2 years
LLL3D ( www.lll3d.org ) - EU funded, 2 years
OpenHabitat ( www. openhabitat .org ) – JISC funded, 15 months
these projects aim to:
examine good practices for teaching in MUVEs; investigate what works and what does not; discover different learning contexts; develop and test specific learning scenarios
where to find out more Dr Steven Warburton School of Law King's College London

http://warburton.typepad.com	966
http://cw.tc.columbia.edu	60
http://classweb.tc.columbia.edu	36
http://www.openhabitat.org	19
http://artfossett.blogspot.com	17
http://www.slideshare.net	10
http://translate.googleusercontent.com	7
http://elgg.jiscemerge.org.uk	7
http://cte6820.bgsu.wikispaces.net	6
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http://www.warburton.typepad.com	1
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http://ccevlc.ning.com	1
http://66.102.9.104	1
http://1100051926.nvmodules.netvibes.com	1
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http://www.liquidlearning.org	1
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Six Barriers to Innovation in MUVE-based teaching

by Steven Warburton

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