Virtual Worlds in Education Forum, 13th February

From RSCWMWiki

1 University of Birmingham, 13 February 2008
- 1.1 Presentations from the floor
2 World Cafe Discussions
3 Additional links and resources
4 Event Evaluation
5 Facilitators' contact details
6 Guest Presenter

University of Birmingham, 13 February 2008

This event was attended by representatives from HE, FE, ACL, Offender Learning, Specialist Colleges and Schools.

The event started with lunch kindly provided by the University which gave delegates a chance to get into discussion about virtual worlds. Bob Hunter (UoB) welcomed everyone.

Jane Edwards (RSC West Midlands) introduced her colleagues Shri Footring (RSC Eastern) and Kevin Brace (RSC West Midlands).

Presentations from the floor

Mark Childs

Mark Childs from University of Warwick (Mark Child's e-Portfolio) was invited to start the afternoon off with his experiences in SL. Mark outlined his PhD work in SL in particular he explained some of the thinking behind the Mediated Environments Reference Model as well as his involvement with the Theatron Project.

Alan Wells

Next up was Alan Wells from City College Birmingham. Alan described how he has been using SL in conjunction with Moodle in order to allow his under 18 students to benefit from the virtual world environment. Some of the benefits of such a virtual world like being able to build large scale models of intricate electronic systems were presented.

Steve Beard

Steve Beard

who works for Shropshire County Council’s Education Authority, with secondary schools in the county, spoke about his experiences so far with video conferencing and VLEs and his hopes for using Teen Grid with schools. He has also set up WMNet Island in SL which is a safe place for educators to experiment. There are currently five schools using the island plus other educational organisations from the West Midlands region. He also invited delegates to contact him if they wanted to use the island for their projects and experimentation.

Joff Chafer

Joff Chafer from Coventry University, lectures in Contemporary Performance Practice, Physical theatre, Acting and Movement. Joff is involved in the Theatron Project and took us around the Globe theatre and explained a little about how the actors are going to be moved remotely in a performance of Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

Henry Keil

Second Life from a learner’s perspective was presented by Henry Keil from Harper Adams University College. Henry is a student with University of Edinburgh, studying for an MSc in e-Learning. His group have been using SL for online synchronous activity. Compared to using other synchronous tools (eg Skype) he feels that SL gives a better learning experience. However, there were sometimes technical problems and so the group had to use alternative communication tools.

Andrew Rothery

University of Worcester’s Director of E-Learning and Online Information, Andrew Rothery, talked about the large scale take-up of the VLE and the intention to look into moving into a 3D virtual classroom for its engaging and interactive elements. Andrew also leads the EUNIS E-Learning Task Force and invited the group to join in a collaborative project with his European contacts. He suggested that the educators in the West Midlands could collaborate on a group activity, create some kind of shared resource or area.

The Environmental & Industries Manager from HMPYOI Swinfen Hall, Mark Taylor,

Mark Taylor

shared his ideas with the group about exploiting SL to research the psychology of offenders. He could see that SL has such potential for assessment of behaviour, aiding intervention and using it for role play as well as working with youngsters before they start offending. SL’s ‘building’ environment could also help with vocational subjects taught in prisons. To get offenders to learn something, we need to involve them; SL can help with this.

Denise Doyle

The final presentation from the floor came from Denise Doyle from the University of Wolverhampton. Two perspectives were presented: virtual worlds and teaching and learning and; using Second Life as a creative tool. Denise is studying for her PhD concerning the Poetics of Technology Mediated Forms: The Responsive Interface at the SMARTlab Digital Media Institute in London. The CELT have funded a project in Second Life which has produced Kriti Island a beautiful, stimulating space where her digital media students can experiment with the environment.

GUEST PRESENTATION

visit our website http://www.rsc-eastern.ac.uk

Shri Footring from RSC Eastern has been working in the Teen Grid with the Open University Schome Park Project team. Shri explained the Schome ethos and talked about her experiences. She showed the group a machinima she had created with some of the Schome members (complete with home produced music) and then the group was given a live tour of Schome Park and were introduced to some of the members and invited to ask them questions.

World Cafe Discussions

The delegates then discussed three questions:

1) Barriers Discuss the barriers that you perceive are blocking a wider uptake of a MUVE in education. Include ideas of overcoming these.

2) Inclusion Discuss practical examples of ways a MUVE can assist learners with disabilities and attract "non traditional" learners into education.

3) ICT uptake Should we even be considering the use of a MUVE, when we have witnessed a relatively low uptake of engaging elearning (especially VLEs) and a lack of interactive ICT generally in education?

THE RESPONSES

1. Barriers to take up of MUVE

To MUVE or not to MUVE

Low uptake because of staff (VLE).
Similar problems with VLE and MUVE.
Question of equal access for students (eg technology).
Let's get all issues with VLEs sorted.
Still experimental and there are technology issues.
MUVEs are a useful learning tool in the toolbox.
VLEs are more for teaching.
Safety issues.

1a Barriers to take up of MUVE

Group One

Technology

Computer specification, internet access (time), clusters - would need software installed.

Set-up time

Building, creating can take time and requires a level of skill/familiarity (buy it or be trained).

Costs

Need to buy items if you don't want to build them. Who pays? (Negotiate?)

Accessibility

Dyslexic, visual impairment etc.

Image(perception)

It is like a trivial game. Sleaze! Need to market the positive aspects. Don't worry about students and dodgy sites - they're on the web generally.

Reliability/stability

What if it goes down/disappears etc? Are local installations possible?

Safety/security

People gatecrashing your event (closed island).

Identity

What if students get someone else to log in as them?

Usability

Clunky! Takes time to get used to it.

Access

Need to install software (some people can't do this themselves) Lots of software updates.

Staff Training

Need to get up to speed - some find it more difficult to grasp.

Group Two

Culture

Staff can't visualise what they can do with it/how to apply it. Lack of imagination. They think it is stupid!! Educational world is serious!

Institutional Barriers

Can be difficult to convince people to set things up/do what is necessary etc.

Students

Very few have used it, will they be interested?

Comments

Accessibility isn't necessarily a problem. Doesn't take that long to set up a basic space.

2. INCLUSION

Can't generalise across disabilities.
Mobility - example of people in wheelchairs: some fly, some create own wheelchairs. Can be liberating. Robbie Dingo - filmed in Second Life - dreaming about it.
Can be equalizing. Don't get treated in certain way. Other people don't react to them as disabled. Physical disability - being tired(?). Virtual world more accessible. Deafness - disability 'removed'.
Virtual impairment - rooms with sound. Touching and hearing. Can it enhance? Non-traditional learners fear anxiety. If had bad experience ie do education - out of space which can be threatening.
Cultural inclusion - local laws.
Simon Stevens - nightclub. Cerebral palsys. In real life, couldn't do.
Used on therapy for people in wheelchair. cognitive map of real environment. Recreate real space- can help people's phobias eg flying.
Social Interaction - more forgiving in a virtual environment. Levelling effect. Some skills count more eg texting, skills that wouldn't be recognised in real life. Status from being a geek.

Practical Examples The Question:

Can't generalise. Disability / non-traditional.
Levellers - strips back and brings equality. Other people react differently. Mobility/deafness.
Accessibility - blind or VI. Crazy Talk: can improve emotional states. Can emphasise extremes. Peer support/inclusion. Depends on access. Tension/difficulties. Partially sighted not excluded.
Cultural Inclusion - no racial stereotyping.
Social Anxiety - Social Interaction (danger that it may re-enforce isolation.)
Can teach able-bodied people how to move.
Liberating - mobility.

Examples Cerebral palsy - night club (Simon Stevens) Therapy for people in wheelchairs. Cognitive maps. Mental health - schizophrenia. (Hearing voices). Deal with phobia through recreating real space.

3. ICT UPTAKE Needs consideration:

evolving
increases range of options

Problems:

skills
hardware

Depends on angle:

geared to subject/purpose

Distraction/novelty:

not core - merely add-on (enhancement)
longevity - data migration

Uptake by educators:

don't believe true.

student participation

tied to assessment.

Experiential

can't replace normal teaching tools eg discussion/presentations.

It's New

and e-learning is subject to more scrutiny

Additional links and resources

Community

For the education community in the UK. A mail list to discuss Second Life:

Join Second Life JISC Mail List: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/secondlife.html

Another list (US based) - "for educators interested in or currently using Second Life, and we will be using it to send out information we feel is of interest to educators and academics. This list is also an opportunity for all of you to communicate with each other, to find new colleagues and to share your experiences using Second Life for education. Please feel free to send email to the list if you'd like to connect with other people"

https://lists.secondlife.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/educators

"An update of the July 2007 “snapshot” of UK Higher and Further Education Developments in Second Life"

As part of their range of Second Life activities, the Eduserv Foundation hired John Kirriemuir to do a series of "snapshot" reports, looking at the take-up of SL within the UK Higher and Further Education sector. The update of the first report, containing some new examples of how and where Second Life is being used in UK Higher and Further Education, can be downloaded from the Eduserv Foundation website: http://www.eduserv.org.uk/foundation/sl/uksnapshot092007

Second Life Wikis

SaLamander: a folksonomy of practical and theoretical applications, builds and designs in Multi-User Virtual Environments for the purposes of teaching and learning. The Salamander Project is a collaborative project coordinated by researchers and educator at The Center for Advanced Technology in Education at the University of Oregon. This project is open to K-12, higher education, not-for-profit and corporate organizations - as well as individuals - interested in creating a resource that frames and focuses the need for a Community of Practice surrounding the use of Learning Objects in the Second Life MUVE.

Salamanderwiki

Simteach: http://www.simteach.com/wiki/index.php?title=Second_Life_Education_Wiki

MUVEs in Teaching and Learning : A COLMSCT project in conjunction with iskills to investigate ways of better supporting online learners.

http://conclave.open.ac.uk/muve_teaching_and_learning/index.php/Background

Resources for the day

Table discussions hand out table questions

World cafe methodology http://www.theworldcafe.com/