Using Second Life Avatars and Machinima to Introduce Sustainability into the University Curriculum: Evidence from Two Funded Pro-Environmental Behaviour Studies.

Simon Bignell, Ph.D.
(SL: Milton Broome)
(Lecturer in Psychology, University of Derby, UK)
VWBPE Conference, Friday July 26th 2013, 8.05am PDT, Second Life
Using Second Life
Avatars and Machinima
to Introduce
Sustainability into the
University Curriculum

VWBPE Conference, Friday July 26th 2013, 8.05am PDT, Second Life 2 / 31
Higher Education Funding Council
for England (HEFCE)
• In 2009 updated their strategic statement and
action plan – Sustainable Development in HE.
• “Sustainable development principles
must lie at the core of the education
system, such that schools, colleges and
universities become show cases for
sustainable development among the
communities that they serve.”

United Nations (UN)
• 2005-2014 the Decade of Education
for Sustainable Development.
• Goal – to integrate the
principles, values and
practices of sustainable
development into all
aspects of education and
learning.

Higher Education Funding Council
for England (HEFCE)
• All graduates should have knowledge of
sustainable development.
• Many will be leaders in the future.
• Jonathon Porritt (Chancellor of
Keele University, UK).
• “Universities are uniquely placed.”
• “About…Campus, community and
curriculum.”
• “Preparing students for the work of the
world not just the world of work”.

Who is doing what in the UK?
• Keele – embedded, 2011 opened a sustainability
hub with £3.4 million funding.
• Gloucester – embedded, all students experience
it, “Sustainability in their DNA”.
• Bradford - £3.1 million funding, achieving change
through – curricula, volunteering, learning from
corporate practice on campus.
• Plymouth – national and international impact via
the Centre for Sustainable Futures. 4C approach:
curriculum, campus change, community
engagement – culture.

Photo of Virtual Lecture

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

Project webpage: http://previewpsych.org/

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

Best Practices Document
Best Practices in Virtual Worlds Teaching: A guide
to using problem-based learning in Second Life

Education for Sustainable
Development
• Brundtland Commission: ES is
–“…development that meets the needs of
the present without compromising the
ability of future generations to meet their
own needs.”
• Education is the means through which
sustainable development can be achieved.
UNESCO

• Two Sustainability / TEL Projects:
– With Rosemary Horry (Environmental Sciences) funded by the Higher
Education Academy.
– With Zaheer Hussain (Psychology) funded by the Higher Education Academy
Psychology Network.
• Evaluated different methods of embedding ESD in the curriculum.
• Used Second Life to rate people’s pro-environmental behaviour and
attitudes to ‘green’ issues such as recycling, energy use and
resources.
• Participants reported more pro-environmental behaviour a week
after seeing the videos.

• In the problem-based learning scenarios we used programmed
avatar interactions to lead the students to ask the question of ‘what
is Sustainability?’
• The scenarios had some concrete examples from a contemporary
lifestyle perspective.
• We constructed a series of learning scenarios for staff and students
that highlighted the motivational and behavioural factors that
impact on sustainability (e.g. resources, recycling and energy
efficiency).

• Scenario 1. Resources: Small
groups of students find out who has
been using the most water in the
virtual household and why, by
interacting with the avatars and each
other.
• Issues such as beliefs and behaviour
about showers vs. bathing, washing
the car and using the dishwasher were
explored along with wider issues of
sustainability of resources.
•
Example project video (3m20s):
http://youtu.be/N_0FNyUX1Uo

• Scenario 2. Recycling: Students are
tasked to establish what the issues are
with one particular member of the
family who is refusing to engage in pro-
environmental behaviour.
• Issues such as beliefs about recycling
paper, card and metal were explored in
an attempt to find out why they think
recycling is a good idea but
nevertheless fail to engage in these
activities.
Project video (2m26s):
http://youtu.be/i4FOB6Yf_HQ

• Scenario 3. Energy Efficiency:
Students worked in teams to answer
questions about home energy use (e.g.,
leaving things on standby), replacing light
bulbs with low wattage equivalents,
whether using a microwave is better than
the oven or the energy consumption of a
washing machine at 30°C rather than
40°C. Example project video (2m20s):
http://youtu.be/EusqbduUejg

Educational Visual Storylines –
‘Teaching 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.
• Summaries: Not dumbed
down.

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

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

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:
Teynampet, India. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Transforming-Learning-Cutting-edge-
Technologies-Education/dp/1780520522

Contact Dr 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

Using Second Life Avatars and Machinima to Introduce Sustainability into the University Curriculum: Evidence from Two Funded Pro-Environmental Behaviour Studies.

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