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![ Barnes, S. (2012) Socializing the Classroom: Social Networks and
Online Learning. Maryland: Lexington Books.
Bredl, K. and Bösche, W. (2013) Serious Games and Virtual Worlds
in Education, Professional Development, and Healthcare. USA:
Information Science Reference
de Freitas (2009) Serious Virtual Worlds: A scoping study. Bristol:
Joint Information Systems Committee [online]. Available at:
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/publications/seriousvirtua
lworldsv1.pdf (Accessed: 07/05/2013).
Suggate, S. and Reese, E. (2012) Contemporary Debates in
Childhood Education and Development. Oxon: Routledge.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/1101698-130508091129-phpapp02/85/1101698-17-320.jpg)
More Related Content
1101698
- 1. Student Number: 1101698 JamieWilletts
- 2. “A range oftraining and development activities also take place in VW’s, with academic institutions and companies exploring the benefits of an immersive environment in which participants can interact with each other as well as with their instructor, even if they are thousands of miles apart physically.” (Wankel & Kingsley, 2009, p.1) “Virtual worlds have the capacity to engage and activate the learner by means of visualization even where the focus is on simple procedures or on scenario based training.” (Bredl & Bösche, 2013, p.222)
- 3. Identity in virtualworlds is the way in which a person decides to express there selves through their avatar that they are using. “Real life identities can be kept undisclosed and new avatars created and operated by the same individual.” (Wankel & Malleck, 2010, p.10) The person that creates their avatar can be an Immersionist or an Augmentationist.
- 4. • Students mayget distracted when using virtual worlds. • Students may not have the correct equipment required to use virtual worlds or actually know how to use them. • Can affect their learning in a bad way, and seen as a lazy way to learn. • Bullying that occurs, that teachers cannot stop due to not being in the virtual world at all time.
- 5. Students getdistracted easily. Miss parts of the lesson that are important. Can start playing around with their avatars identity rather than listening. “Students seem to view second life as a new playground rather than a traditional classroom. So it is better to project the guest speaker on a screen and have the students sit in traditional classroom seats. Otherwise, they may spend their time running around in second life rather than listening to the lecture.” (Barnes, 2012, p.95)
- 6. • Students maynot have the correct equipment needed. • May not have had use of computers much before. “Once issues of access and interface usability have been resolved, the next significant barrier encompasses the need for user-training in both general and tools or task-specific areas of client use, made especially complicated at a distance due to the instructor’s inability to see what is happening on the students’ screens.” (Wankel & Kingsley, 2009, p.22)
- 7. • Students invirtual worlds when learning have the potential to get harassed, humiliated and other distractions. This can happen 24/7 in virtual worlds and can affect the students learning. “The isolation between cyberbully and victim keeps the bully blissfully unaware of the target’s mental state. Insulated from any consequences or feelings of remorse, the cyberbully keeps attacking.” (Thomas, 2011)
- 8. Using virtualworlds can be seen as a lazy way to learn. Can affect students learning in a bad way. “Research is increasingly showing that too much screen-based technology at an early age can interfere with at least some children’s attentional skills and their ability to acquire literacy skills – and indeed with all children’s capacity to read for pleasure. This should be an argument for radically reducing these technologies in the schooling system (and especially in pre-school settings), and for giving children positive, empowering experiences of their world that are real and relational, rather than “virtual” and machine-generated.” (Suggate & Reese, 2012, p.111)
- 9. The resourcesthat are available, which involve more contribution when learning. Disadvantaged students, with disabilities or dyslexia will have better learning experiences. Students who find it hard to communicate with others due to being shy, or scared of the way people will react.
- 10. • Disabled Studentscan feel equal. “Testimonials from different disabled users attribute the reasons behind this phenomenon to the fact that a virtual world is a place where they can feel equal because their disability doesn’t hold them back from anything like in “real life”.” (Theng, 2011, p.29) • People who are blind will be able to use virtual worlds easier than real life. “People who are blind tend to assume sequential, route-based strategies for moving around the physical world. Virtual worlds provide great opportunity for allowing people who are blind to explore new spaces, reducing their reliance on guides, and aiding development of more proficient spatial maps and strategies.” (Theng, 2011, p.35)
- 11. • Student withhearing disabilities will benefit from learning within virtual worlds. “Consideration is made for people with hearing impairment. When presentations are conducted in voice, they can be simultaneously transcribed into print to aid those with hearing disabilities.” (Theng, 2011, p.35) • Students that have mobility disabilities will also benefit from learning in virtual worlds. “Scientists in Japan have created a small helmet that enables the wearer to animate a 3D avatar in Second Life so it will perform basic movements just through thought impulses.” (Theng, 2011, p.35)
- 12. • Find iteasier to communicate with new people. • Not afraid to voice opinions in the classroom. “Similarly, virtual worlds create a place where people connect and make friends. Students in the virtual class describe their feelings of friendship: I have finally made some friends! One day I was searching around fashion sites and shops they have in SL. I stumbled upon a club. There was only one female avatar there … It was simple conversation such as you would have with a friend if you were just hanging out and chatting. This made me realize that these people aren’t discussing their real lives in SL but their fabricated ones.” (Barnes, 2012, p.23)
- 13. • Students getto contribute more and can feel more in control of what they are doing. “Through their presence as an avatar in the immersive space, the user can readily feel a sense of control within the environments and more easily engage with the experiences as they unfold.” (de Freitas, 2009, p.4) • Can visit locations that replicate a real life location, which may not be possible in real life.
- 14. • Distraction doeshappen quite a lot. • Learning isn’t taken as serious in virtual worlds. • There are more places to visit that wouldn’t be viewed in real life. • People tend to communicate more within virtual worlds than what they actually do in real life, and communicating with new people is easier.
- 15. In the futureI believe that with the advances in technology, virtual worlds such as second life will become easier for people to use and to interact with. Also virtual worlds will be more used across various subjects and used by various age groups to enhance learning abilities. With the help from scientists creating new ways in which disabled users can use virtual worlds, in the future all disabled users will be able to learn easier and interact with all activities that they have to do.
- 16. In conclusion Ibelieve that virtual worlds are a good basis to learn due to the amount of resources that are available but if people have not had training on how to use the virtual worlds then a lot of learning time will be lost. Peoples identity can affect how much learning is actually done, if they get distracted easily then virtual worlds will not be a good place for them to learn. I believe that virtual worlds should be used for education purposes due to students getting more involved in lessons but there should be a balance of virtual world learning and real life learning to suit all types of learners.
- 17. Barnes, S.(2012) Socializing the Classroom: Social Networks and Online Learning. Maryland: Lexington Books. Bredl, K. and Bösche, W. (2013) Serious Games and Virtual Worlds in Education, Professional Development, and Healthcare. USA: Information Science Reference de Freitas (2009) Serious Virtual Worlds: A scoping study. Bristol: Joint Information Systems Committee [online]. Available at: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/publications/seriousvirtua lworldsv1.pdf (Accessed: 07/05/2013). Suggate, S. and Reese, E. (2012) Contemporary Debates in Childhood Education and Development. Oxon: Routledge.
- 18. • Theng, L.(2011) Assistive and Augmentive Communication for the Disabled: Intelligent Technologies for Communication, Learning and Teaching. USA: IGI Global • Thomas, A. (2011) Digital Disciple: Real Christianity in a Virtual World. Nashville: Abingdon Press. • Wankel, C. and Kingsley, J. (2009) Higher Education in Virtual Worlds: Teaching and Learning in Second Life. Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing Limited • Wankel, C. and Malleck, S. (2010) Emerging Ethical Issues of Life in Virtual Worlds. USA: Information Age Publishing, Inc.
Editor's Notes
- #2 My name is Jamie Willetts and my student number is 1101698. My question is about; The contemporary and future influence of identity on virtual world education.
- #3 Purpose of using Virtual Worlds for Education Virtual worlds are a good basis to learn due to the range of activities available , also with people being able to be miles apart and still communicate efficiently through the activities. Wankel and Kingsley state: “A range of training and development activities also take place in VW’s, with academic institutions and companies exploring the benefits of an immersive environment in which participants can interact with each other as well as with their instructor, even if they are thousands of miles apart physically.” This is one of the main purposes of virtual worlds as there are many activities that can be completed and re-completed if not done properly, whereas in real life people may only have the opportunity to have one go at an activity. Bredl and Bosche state: “Virtual worlds have the capacity to engage and activate the learner by means of visualization even where the focus is on simple procedures or on scenario based training.” This is another main purpose of education in virtual worlds as the learner is more engaged in what is going on.
- #4 Identity is what defines individuals, through the way that they look and how they act. Wankel and Malleck state: “Real life identities can be kept undisclosed and new avatars created and operated by the same individual.” This is a good thing for people as they can express their avatar in the way that has nothing to do with their real life identity. There are two types of people when it comes to creating avatars; Immersionists and Augmentationists. Immersionists are when their real life and second life identities do not mix. Augmentationists are when their second life identity is linked to their real life identity.
- #5 Negative Influences Identity has on virtual world learning. There are many negative influences that identity has when it comes to virtual world learning, which include; The students getting distracted, and not focusing on the work that they have to do, leaving them behind with the work. The students not having the correct equipment such as; the Internet at home with the correct bandwith, which will lead to them not being able to take part in lessons due to not being able to access the virtual world. Virtual worlds can also affect students learning in a bad way and can be seen as a lazy way to learn. Students can face bullying through virtual worlds, and because a teacher is not there all of the while, the bullying can be non-stop.
- #6 A persons attention span can affect the way that learning happens in virtual worlds as an individual may get distracted with the other things that they can do in the virtual world which will lead to them missing parts of a lesson. Barnes states: “Students seem to view second life as a new playground rather than a traditional classroom. So it is better to project the guest speaker on a screen and have the students sit in traditional classroom seats. Otherwise, they may spend their time running around in second life rather than listening to the lecture.” (Barnes, 2012, p.95) This is one negative impact of identity on virtual world education has.
- #7 Training required is another negative influence that identity has of learning in virtual worlds. This could be due to the students not having the correct equipment at home to actually access the virtual world, or if they have, not having much use of computers before and therefore not knowing how to access the virtual world. Wankel and Kingsley state: “Once issues of access and interface usability have been resolved, the next significant barrier encompasses the need for user-training in both general and tools or task-specific areas of client use, made especially complicated at a distance due to the instructor’s inability to see what is happening on the students’ screens.” This will mean that the user will miss valuable learning time due to trying to access the virtual world, and because the teaching is not happening face to face the teacher will find it hard to help solve problems.
- #8 Bullying is a major negative point for learning in virtual worlds. Even though bullying happens in real life it isn’t constant and doesn’t happen 24/7. Students when learning in virtual worlds have the potential to get harassed and humiliated. It may start out as a joke but could turn to being more serious bullying. Thomas says about bullying: “The isolation between cyberbully and victim keeps the bully blissfully unaware of the target’s mental state. Insulated from any consequences or feelings of remorse, the cyberbully keeps attacking.” This shows that because learning is taking place in a virtual world, the bully may intend to be having a joke but because they are not aware of how the person insulted is feeling it can carry on and become a regular thing.
- #9 Technology can be a bad thing when it comes to education, due to it being a lazy way to learn, just sitting in front of a computer. Using technology can also affect the students learning in a bad way and affect lessons that don’t use technology and virtual worlds to present a lesson. Suggate and Reese state: “Research is increasingly showing that too much screen-based technology at an early age can interfere with at least some children’s attentional skills and their ability to acquire literacy skills – and indeed with all children’s capacity to read for pleasure. This should be an argument for radically reducing these technologies in the schooling system (and especially in pre-school settings), and for giving children positive, empowering experiences of their world that are real and relational, rather than “virtual” and machine-generated.”
- #10 There are also many positive influences that identity has when it comes to virtual world learning, which include; One of these positive influences are the resources that are available within the virtual worlds, such as the locations that people are able to visit. Another is the ability that disabled students have within virtual worlds, as they will have better learning experiences due to being able to interact in all parts of lessons that they may not get to do in real life. Students that don’t communicate with others due to being shy or scared of how people will react will benefit from virtual worlds as they won’t be judged on their appearance.
- #11 Disabled students will have the opportunity to feel equal within virtual worlds as they won’t be getting judged on the disability that they have. Theng states: “Testimonials from different disabled users attribute the reasons behind this phenomenon to the fact that a virtual world is a place where they can feel equal because their disability doesn’t hold them back from anything like in “real life”.” Which shows that disabled people feel like they can be more involved in learning within virtual worlds as their disability doesn’t hold them back. One disability that will be overcome from learning in virtual worlds is for the people that are blind, due to them being able to learn without the use of guides. Theng says that: “People who are blind tend to assume sequential, route-based strategies for moving around the physical world. Virtual worlds provide great opportunity for allowing people who are blind to explore new spaces, reducing their reliance on guides, and aiding development of more proficient spatial maps and strategies.”
- #12 Students with hearing disabilities will also benefit from learning within virtual worlds as the speakers voice can be turned into text that the student is able to read. Theng says: “Consideration is made for people with hearing impairment. When presentations are conducted in voice, they can be simultaneously transcribed into print to aid those with hearing disabilities.” This will help students as they will be able to contribute to lessons more as they will know what’s going on instead of being in a real life lesson and not being able to hear everything. Students that have mobility disabilities will also benefit from the use of learning in virtual worlds, as they won’t get judged on their disability and will be able to do things that they wouldn’t usually be able to do in real life. Theng states that: “Scientists in Japan have created a small helmet that enables the wearer to animate a 3D avatar in Second Life so it will perform basic movements just through thought impulses.”
- #13 People within virtual worlds will find it easier to communicate with others as they aren’t going to be judged on the way that they look. Students will also find it easier to contribute to lessons and voice their opinions compared to how they would in a real life lesson. Barnes states: “Similarly, virtual worlds create a place where people connect and make friends. Students in the virtual class describe their feelings of friendship: I have finally made some friends! One day I was searching around fashion sites and shops they have in SL. I stumbled upon a club. There was only one female avatar there … It was simple conversation such as you would have with a friend if you were just hanging out and chatting. This made me realize that these people aren’t discussing their real lives in SL but their fabricated ones.” This shows that virtual worlds influence the identity of people in the way that they communicate with others, and is a useful way to get more contribution from students within lessons.
- #14 Learning in virtual worlds will mean that students can contribute more within lessons and can feel in control of what they are actually doing. De Freitas says: “Through their presence as an avatar in the immersive space, the user can readily feel a sense of control within the environments and more easily engage with the experiences as they unfold.” Due to the amount of locations that are available in virtual worlds that replicate real life, when students are learning about something they will be able to visit the location they are learning about, where in real life this is not always possible.
- #15 From my own experience in virtual worlds it does seem to be that during learning activities students seem to get distracted from what can be done in virtual worlds, whether it is changing how their avatar looks or going to explore areas of where they are learning. Also learning isn’t taken as serious as it is in real life settings, with people not making meaningful contributions and having more of a joke with the answers that they give in lessons. But due to there being more places to visit and learn in virtual worlds they are helpful to giving students a different view on the area that they are learning about. Also communication is better in virtual worlds as more people communicate with people that they wouldn’t usually because they aren’t being judged on how they look. This is useful for learning as more ideas of a specific subject area are mentioned from people that wouldn’t contribute in real life lessons.
- #16 In the future I believe that with the advances in technology, virtual worlds such as second life will become easier for people to use and to interact with. Also virtual worlds will be more used across various subjects and used by various age groups to enhance learning abilities. With the help from scientists creating new ways in which disabled users can use virtual worlds, in the future all disabled users will be able to learn easier and interact with all activities that they have to do.
- #17 In conclusion I believe that virtual worlds are a good basis to learn due to the amount of resources that are available but if people have not had training on how to use the virtual worlds then a lot of learning time will be lost. Peoples identity can affect how much learning is actually done, if they get distracted easily then virtual worlds will not be a good place for them to learn. I believe that virtual worlds should be used for education purposes due to students getting more involved in lessons but there should be a balance of virtual world learning and real life learning to suit all types of learners.
- #18 Barnes, S. (2012) Socializing the Classroom: Social Networks and Online Learning. Maryland: Lexington Books. Bredl, K. and Bösche, W. (2013) Serious Games and Virtual Worlds in Education, Professional Development, and Healthcare. USA: Information Science Reference de Freitas (2009) Serious Virtual Worlds: A scoping study. Bristol: Joint Information Systems Committee [online]. Available at: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/publications/seriousvirtualworldsv1.pdf (Accessed: 07/05/2013). Suggate, S. and Reese, E. (2012) Contemporary Debates in Childhood Education and Development. Oxon: Routledge.
- #19 Theng, L. (2011) Assistive and Augmentive Communication for the Disabled: Intelligent Technologies for Communication, Learning and Teaching. USA: IGI Global Thomas, A. (2011) Digital Disciple: Real Christianity in a Virtual World. Nashville: Abingdon Press. Wankel, C. and Kingsley, J. (2009) Higher Education in Virtual Worlds: Teaching and Learning in Second Life. Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing Limited Wankel, C. and Malleck, S. (2010) Emerging Ethical Issues of Life in Virtual Worlds. USA: Information Age Publishing, Inc.