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Second Life for Teaching and Learning:
Impact of an Emerging
Technology Grant
Tanya Joosten
tjoosten@uwm.edu
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Department of Communication
SL Juice Gyoza

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Session Overview
• Brief demo and explanation of Second Life (You Tu
• What is Second Life?
• Uses of Second Life in the Classroom
• Student Reactions

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What is Second Life?
• Not a Game
• Online, Virtual World, 3-D
• Network through software to a virtual space
• Not just information
• People, Places
• User constructed

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Pedagogical Needs
and Second Life

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Uses of Second Life: Spring 08
• Student can meet with their peers and
instructor to receive and discuss course
content
• Students can participate in a life-like
simulation, role play or case study
• Students can access people, organizations,
and information

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New Uses for Fall 08
• Required Participation and Group Meetings in
Second Life
• 1-on-1 Student Orientations in SL
• Virtual Office Hours in Second Life
• Utilizing New Resources in SL
• Student Presentation in SL

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New for Faculty
• Faculty Development Workshops for Second
Life – almost 40 new faculty
• Development of the UWM sim on Arts and
Letters island
• Repository for Student Orientation Materials,
Sample Syllabi, Activities, etc.
• Second Life Wiki for Faculty

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Evaluating Second Life:
Student Reactions

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Communication Student
Comments
• “I thought the content of the course was very
interesting. I really enjoyed the face that we
incorporated Second Life into the course. I also think
it is very useful to work in virtual teams to complete
a project(despite the fact the it can be a pain:])”
• “I would have liked to see more required
participation within second life. I noticed many
students went in did what they had to fro the first
couple task and then did not sue it again.”

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Health Sciences Student
• Students response after visiting
numerous health resources in SL
• “Overall, I think Second Life provides
endless opportunities to explore and
learn about an infinite number of
subjects.”

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Emerging Technology Grant
• How do virtual worlds, an emerging
technology, impact student learning?
• What are some best practices in using virtual
worlds?

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Obvious Question

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Evaluating Virtual Worlds

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Preliminary Survey Results

Media Richness
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I was able to use rich and varied language in Second Life

Social Presence
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I felt as if I was communicating with a real person
in Second Life

Engagement
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Second Life aroused my imagination

Learning
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Second Life was beneficial to my learning
7.1%, no response

Satisfaction
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Participating in Second Life was a useful experience

Satisfaction
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Second Life was fun and exciting

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Tanya M. Joosten
http://uwmsecondlife.wikispaces.com
tjoosten@uwm.edu
SL: Juice Gyoza
414.229.4319

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Questions?