1.
The Fall and Rise of
Virtual Worlds in
Online Teaching and
Research:
Early Adopters, Geek
Cliques and Cool Innovation
CyComP 2012 - University of Bolton
By Simon Bignell (Avatar Milton Broome)
Centre for Psychological Research, University of Derby, UK

2.
Some Virtual ‘Worlds’

3.
The Emergence of Virtual Worlds
in Higher Education
• The Hype Cycles from Gartner provide a
graphic representation of the maturity and
adoption of technologies and applications.
http://www.gartner.com/

4.
Gartner Hype Cycle for Education, 2009 http://www.gartner.com/

5.
Gartner Hype Cycle for Education, 2009 http://www.gartner.com/

6.
Gartner Hype Cycle for Education, 2011 http://www.gartner.com/

7.
Gartner Hype Cycle for Education, 2011 http://www.gartner.com/

8.
Project webpage: http://previewpsych.org/

9.
‘JISC - Moving into Virtual Worlds -
Emerging Practice in a Digital Age’
• With Aston University Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=2aTvE2OBQHc
• JISC resources feature
commentary and
reflection on
pedagogical
applications of virtual
worlds.
Emerging Practice in a Digital Age JISC VIDEO
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/emergeresource

10.
“We worked as a “...the content
team... this seemed was easy to
much more valuable access and the
than just writing an tasks very
essay of having a enjoyable.”
discussion.”
“I was thinking
more about the
real life
Psychology
because the
avatars
represented real
people with real
psychological
problems.”

11.
Best Practices Document
Best Practices in Virtual Worlds Teaching: A
guide to using problem-based learning in Second
Life
Download available here:
http://previewpsych.org/BPD2.0.pdf

12.
Virtual Neonatal Ward: for a Developmental
Psychology Module at University of Derby
Video of Neonatal Unit (1m16s):
http://youtu.be/sEd9s0toHuk

13.
Educational Visual Storylines –
‘Cartoons’
• Uses a virtual world to
create educational
cartoons for Teaching
and Online Learning.
• Rapidly develop and
deploy to modules.
• Import straight into our
Virtual Learning
platform.

14.
• With Dr Rosemary Horry
(Environmental Sciences, Derby),
funded by the Higher Education
Academy, we used Second Life to
rate people’s pro-environmental
behaviour and attitudes to ‘green’
issues such as recycling, energy use
Example project video (3m20s):
and resources. http://youtu.be/N_0FNyUX1Uo
• Participants reported more pro-environmental behaviour a week
after seeing the videos.

15.
JISC 'Emerging Practice in a Digital
Age: A guide to technology-
enhanced institutional innovation'
• A guide with the emphasis on
emerging practice rather than
emerging technology
Download the document here:
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/programmes/elearning/digiemerge/5_JISC_EmPDA_D

16.
Using problem-based learning
within 3D virtual worlds
– Published book chapter in with
Dr Vanessa Parson (Sunderland
University, Previously at
Aston).
• Parson, V. & Bignell, S. (2011). in
Hinrichs, R and Wankel, C (Eds),
Transforming Virtual World
Learning: Cutting-edge
technologies in higher education,
Vol. 4, pp. 245–265. Emerald
Group Publishing Limited:http://www.amazon.co.uk/Transforming-Learning-Cutting-edge-Technol
Teynampet, India.

17.
Websites and Blogs etc.
Blog www.MiltonBroome.com
Project Website
www.PREVIEWPsych.org
Second Life Web Portal
http://psychology.derby.ac.uk/secondlife/

18.
A Framework for Learning, Support and
Research in Multi-User Virtual Worlds

19.
A Framework for Learning, Support and
Research in Multi-User Virtual Worlds.
• Learning and Teaching
– Sound pedagogy, Blended,
Supplementary.
• Support
– User-oriented, Dynamic, Responsive.
• Research
– Ethics, Methodology, Validity.
• The interaction between these three
factors is critical for success.

20.
A Framework for Learning, Support and
Research in Multi-User Virtual Worlds

21.
A Framework for Learning, Support and
Research in Multi-User Virtual Worlds
• Tools
• Virtual Infrastructure, Avatars, Presenters, Gadgets,
Web Integration, Audio/Visual [Building and Scripting].
• Techniques
• Inductions, Camera, Movement, Inventory,
Communion, (text, voice and video), Appearance,
Groups, Mashups/Blended contents, Overcoming
Resistance, Facilitating Virtually, Dealing with
Disembodiment.
• Technologies
• Bandwidth, GPUs, CPUs, Server-side, Lag(s), Clients,
Firewalls, Peripherals, Updates.

22.
Virtual Campus Flythrough (1m6s):
http://youtu.be/GQnyb87Zj0o
How to visit the University of Derby Second Life Islands:
•Create and avatar: http://tinyurl.com/GETAN-AVATAR
•Install Second Life: http://tinyurl.com/Download-SL
•Teleport to us: http://tinyurl.com/DERBYSECONDLIFE

23.
Simon Bignell
Centre for Psychological Research
University of Derby, UK
s.bignell@derby.ac.uk
+44 (0)1332 593043 (ext: 3043)
www.MiltonBroome.com
www.PREVIEWPsych.org