Second Life: What do we do with it
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This document discusses Second Life and its potential uses for teaching and learning. It begins by asking the reader about their current understanding and use of Second Life. It then provides a brief overview of what Second Life is - an online 3D virtual world created by its users. The document outlines some potential pedagogical uses for Second Life, such as simulations, role plays and virtual field trips. It also discusses best practices for using Second Life and evaluating its impact on student engagement, satisfaction and learning. Resources are provided and the reader is invited to contact the author with any additional questions.
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Second Life: What do we do with it
- 1. Second Life: What do we do with it? Tanya Joosten, tjoosten@uwm.edu Interim Associate Director Learning Technology Center University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
- 2. Juice Gyoza
- 5. Who are you? Are you teaching using Second Life already? In which discipline do you teach? Are you supporting teachers in using SL? Are you still waiting to be convinced to use it? Are you still trying to figure out what Second Life is?
- 6. 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
- 7. What is Second Life?
- 8. What is Second Life? 8
- 9. UWM & Second Life in 5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7g6i3_OhFI
- 10. Why use Second Life?
- 11. What is Second Life?
- 12. Increase characteristics for success
- 13. Top 4 Considerations Lean Rich Didactic Experiential Private Public Recall Performance
- 14. Simulations Role Plays Field Work Showcase Experiential Content Didactic Rich Lean Pedagogical Task -- Medium Richness
- 15. Pedagogical Activities for SL
- 16. When do we use??
- 17. Desire2Learn
- 18. Purpose: When do we use??
- 19. Pedagogical Activities for SL
- 20. Example: Virtual field trip 20 Presentation Author, 2006
- 23. Showcases of use
- 24. Second Life Workshop Part 1 Basic Functions Interacting w/People Groups Communicating Navigating Flying Teleporting to other places
- 25. Second Life Workshop Part 2 Advanced skills: Inventory Finding and building objects Sending landmarks, objects, Appearance Rich media Best practices
- 26. Best practices For you or the faculty you support
- 29. Plan for meaningful and rich activities
- 31. Find a support network
- 34. Model for evaluating virtual worlds
- 35. Engagement
- 36. Media Capacity
- 37. Satisfaction
- 38. Learning
- 39. Student Comments “I really enjoyed the fact 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. “Overall, I think Second Life provides endless opportunities to explore and learn about an infinite number of subjects.”
- 40. Resources UWM Student Orientation Materials, Pantherfile Repository of Student Orientation docs: https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/groups/sa/ltc/SecondLife Video Tutorials: http://adminstaff.vassar.edu/sttaylor/SL-Tutorials/ Finding Events: http://sl.nmc.org/wiki/SLED_Calender Sign up for the Second Life Educators (SLED) List: https://lists.secondlife.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/educators Find Colleagues and Course Information, search SLED archives: http://tinyurl.com/y234ht Find objects (for free or a fee): http://www.xstreetsl.com/ Search” Virtual Ability” island in SL for a good orientation to Second Life.
- 41. Questions? Tanya Joosten http://uwmsecondlife.wikispaces.com http://professorjoosten.blogspot.com http://tinyurl.com/UWMSecondLife tjoosten@uwm.edu SL: Juice Gyoza 414.229.4319
Editor's Notes
- I have used Second Life in two different courses that I teach at UWM, so I hope my first hand experiences in implementing SL will be informative. As Sue mentioned yesterday, we have moved UWM to a new island, U Wisconsin Milwaukee island. If you search Milwaukee and Communication you will find a current showcase of student presentations from F08 and SP09. In addition to using SL, I also support other faculty in their use. So, I have some information to share about faculty development and best practices in regard to using SL. Our Faculty Development Workshops for Second Life have trained over 70 new faculty since December 2008 to date. Also, I am the project manager, so I have some results for our evaluation of SL to share with you that support UWM’s decision to continue our commitment to SL.
- I will refer to an array of resources and so forth. We have a web repository where you can find this information. So, if I mention something, it is probably on this wiki.
- The 2007 Horizon Report, developed by the New Media Consortium and EDUCAUSE, reported the virtual worlds, such as Second Life, are an emerging technology that will impact higher education within two to three years. Many universities, such as Harvard University, Northern Illinois University, Montclair State, Vassar College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and others, are already investigating the impact of Second Life on teaching and learning and exploring the possibilities of Second Life. I became a member of Second Life only 4 years ago in the summer of 2006. Like Shannon and many others, I was stuck in a pond for a month – lost my hair for several month – and so forth. The potential is what keeps you going. I spent a good year and a half conceptualizing how to best implement second life and became a user to better understand the technology and its potential. I presented a theory paper in fall 2007 on the media characteristics of Second Life and a potential survey instrument to evaluate it’s impact at the National Communication Association conference. The images on the screen are from popular news media during one week in November of 2007. The popularity was and still is obvious.Thanks to a UW System Emerging Technology grant, UWM, including myself, Sue Stalewksi, and other instructors implemented Second Life to better understand that potential. Second Life Wiki for Facultyhttp://uwmsecondlife.wikispaces.com
- Second Life and the Learning Management ComparisonSecond Life and the Web ComparisonSecond Life is a platform that students and faculty access through a software download. The software provides access to a virtual space through a network where people can connect with other people. The virtual platform consists of virtual places, islands and sims, where students congregate, share, communicate, and perform. These islands and sims can have virtual locations, such as classrooms, meeting rooms, lecture halls, auditoriums, amphitheaters, galleries, exhibit halls, theaters, labs, medical facilities, and outdoor spots. Students enter the world as avatars, or digital representations of themselves, which are customizable to represent the students own identity. The potential for transforming learning from a didactic process utilizing a lean medium into a stimulating, thought-provoking, and media rich setting is great. Virtual worlds, such as Second Life, have the potential to engage and motivate students by providing an alternative platform for learning where they can construct knowledge through observation, discourse, construction, and interaction. Virtual worlds are noted for their ability to engage students through their 3D environments. They also provide a stage for students to share their work products through an immersive, synchronous medium. ‘
- Not a Game, but can provide a platform to create oneOnline, Virtual World, 3-DNetwork through software to a virtual space Instead of going to a URL you visit a SLURLIslands and Sims – similar to Web site and pagesUser constructedNot just informationPeople, PlacesSecond Life and the Learning Management ComparisonSecond Life and the Web ComparisonSecond Life is a platform that students and faculty access through a software download. The software provides access to a virtual space through a network where people can connect with other people. The virtual platform consists of virtual places, islands and sims, where students congregate, share, communicate, and perform. These islands and sims can have virtual locations, such as classrooms, meeting rooms, lecture halls, auditoriums, amphitheaters, galleries, exhibit halls, theaters, labs, medical facilities, and outdoor spots. Students enter the world as avatars, or digital representations of themselves, which are customizable to represent the students own identity. The potential for transforming learning from a didactic process utilizing a lean medium into a stimulating, thought-provoking, and media rich setting is great. Virtual worlds, such as Second Life, have the potential to engage and motivate students by providing an alternative platform for learning where they can construct knowledge through observation, discourse, construction, and interaction. Virtual worlds are noted for their ability to engage students through their 3D environments. They also provide a stage for students to share their work products through an immersive, synchronous medium. ‘
- For example, one student visited the attended a celebration for the Alliance Library System (ALS) and the American Library Association (ALA) two year anniversary for having a presence in Second Life (SL), which resulted in the development of Information Island. They were also celebrating National Library Week. There were speeches, fireworks, and a DJ.
- Media Richness discusses the amount of cues available needed to accomplish a taskSocial presence discusses the amount of cues available to convey a presence, feeling as you are communicating with a real human beingSocial Presence (immediacy and intimacy)
- Landis and B???Daft and Lengel
- 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
- Administrative – grades, group creation, drop box - privateRecall assessment, prior knowledge assessment, assessing understandings, didactic knowledge assessment, focus on cognitive – quizzingAnytime, AnywhereLowest technology solution
- 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
- Create a Collaborative Activities for SLa) Students completing SL activities in a group creates peer networks allowing students to troubleshoot technical issues with their peersb) The group projects in SL can facilitate a more experiential learning activity than individual projects sometimesc) Our data tells us that students like completing group activities as well; they make students feel more connected to their peers
- Don’t use second life for didactic and lean medium tasks like content delivery. Use Second Life for pedagogical tasks that require a rich medium that provides a virtual environment, networks, people, places, etc.Because the learning curve and orientation for Second Life is greater than other educational technologies, make sure the learning activity is equally as meaningful. Make sure the students are spending a decent amount of time in Second Life over a period of time and performing a learning activity that takes advantage of the environmentStudents can present their work to the publicStudents can access people, organizations, and informationStudents can participate in a life-like simulation, role play or case study
- 1.) Why are they using Second Life? How will it be beneficial to them?e.g., orient your students to Second Life using You Tube videos and popular media articlese.g., explain what SL offers them, networks, access, communication tools, virtual environment to build and present2.) Introduce hardware and software requirements early (e.g., in the syllabus)3.) Get students started in Second Life earlier than later giving them time to get oriented to what it is.e.g., Assign a “Scavenger Hunt” for students in SL where they can create an avatar, change their appearance, update their profile, send a friendship offer, visit SLURLS and specific locations in SL of interest, post a screen shot of themselves sin SLSample Orientation Activitieshttps://pantherfile.uwm.edu/groups/sa/ltc/SecondLife
- 6) Find Your Own NetworksWork with another colleague on your campus, in your system, or in your disciplineStory -- We almost paid tens of thousands of dollars for someone to build us an island that we didn’t realize we could do ourselves until we met a colleague at another UW school with information on obtaining objectsAttend education talks in SL to find colleagues to share tips and receive answers to your questions (e.g., Educators roundtable, see schedule at: Finding Events: http://sl.nmc.org/wiki/SLED_Calender At UWM now, we have a Second Life users group and support each other…we also have a wiki with web resources for our faculty.
- DOCUMENT YOUR WORKKeep public blogs and wikis with your work to help out others develop activities and implement Second Lifeb) Administer a survey to your students to see whether or not SL is achieving your needs and students feel that it is impacting their learning. Share these results!!
- Black box phenomenon – We have an input, virtual worlds, and we want to know whether it impacts student learning. However, the more important question is how does virtual worlds impact the learning process.