Educational Uses of SecondLife
From WikEd
Contents |
Descriptions and Background
"Virtual reality is the technology, discourse, and dream in which Second Life rests. Technologically, virtual reality is defined as: a technology that convinces the participant that he or she is actually in another place by substituting the primary sensory input with data received and produced by a computer … The “as-if” quality of virtuality becomes a pragmatic reality when the virtual world becomes a workspace and the user identifies with the virtual body and feels a sense of belonging to a virtual community." (Jones, 2005, p 1).
Second Life is a massively multiplayer online game that allows users to first create their own representation of themselves in the form of an avatar, and then with this avatar go out into the virtual world built by other members of this online community and interact, create, build, and basically do anything they dream of doing. Within this environment one can: gamble at any number of casinos, go shopping at the Home depot for either building supplies or any home furnishings you might ever want (as well as shop for anything else you might desire, including clothing, hair, homes, etc… for your avatar), dance and hang out at any number of different themed bars and clubs (hip hop, ballroom, gothic, etc..), wander around beautifully landscaped gardens, or even design and build anything you might want including a home, hover craft, clothing. Thus, Second Life allows users to completely immerse themselves in an environment of their own design and to interact with any number of other people who are also doing the same.
Technology and education are becoming linked more and more due to the advancements in technology and gaming, and the important contributions they make to learning and education in today’s society. Part of this advancement also takes into consideration the curriculum that needs to be implemented in order to maximize the benefits of these technologies.
Application in classrooms
Serious games are quite literally games that educate, train, and/ or inform (Michael & Chen, 2006), and are often those games that are considered to be “educational”. Yet, I believe that serious games should be fun and have sound content. I think there should be an equal mixing of the two in order to get the best game possible. Michael and Chen mention edutainment (which is the joining of education through entertainment). I think this is ideal in that the serious games need to be fun as well as educational. Michael and Chen further discussed that, “the main argument in favor of instilling fun into serious games is that it helps motivates the players to play (and learn) on their own” (p. 41). I think this is very important, because it is a problem facing traditional teaching today. Many of the traditional teaching styles are not very motivational, and students often find it difficult to remain focused and interested on the teacher and what they are suppose to be learning. Thus if serious games could be fun (yet still educational), the students would be much more motivated to play (learn) through their use.
While most people have used Second Life as a source of entertainment, some have already recognized the educational possibilities that Second Life affords.
"Though all this online frolicking may seem frivolous, the professors' interest in virtual worlds is strictly professional. These cartoonlike environments — called massively multiplayer online games — which can be played from anywhere in the world, have become popular laboratories for scholars to study individual and group behavior or test their entrepreneurial skills." (Foster, 2005, par 5).
A few examples of how Second Life has been used for educational purposes include personal finance education, social issues, marketing, economics, business, and architecture. For example, Wells Fargo designed “Stagecoach Island” to help educate young adults about financial literacy using entertainment as well as educational tools. On Stagecoach Island players are given $30 in imaginary money with which to buy clothes, pay for rides and the like. The idea is to teach the players to save money--they earn 10 percent per day on "deposits"--and to learn new things about money management through a series of quizzes that, when completed, reward players with $5 of new funds (Wells Fargo, 2005). Likewise, students at various universities have used the virtual community of Second Life as a laboratory to study issues regarding marriage, gender identity, social status, and religion, just to name a few.
"Virtually all college students have had experience with games. Games represent active, immersive learning environments where users integrate information to solve a problem. Learning in this manner incorporates discovery, analysis, interpretation, and performance as well as physical and mental activity. An increasing number of colleges and universities are exploring the use of games to enhance learning. The NLII's interest in games and simulations is to gain a fresh view of cognition and learning by looking at games as the intersection of play, pedagogy, and technology." (Antonacci & Modaress, 2005, p. 3).
Overall, I feel Second Life can meet many of the learning needs and strategies set forth so far in this paper, while being fun and motivational. It is important to focus on multiple different ways for students to learn within the Second Life environment in order to maximize not only all of the resources within Second Life, but to effectively reach all students. Second Life facilitates the use of multiple methods that could allow students to not only learn at their own pace, but also learn in a method that is suits their personal learning style. Additionally, Second Life is a fun and very interactive environment.
Within Second Life, students are only limited by their own creativity, because otherwise anything is possible! Hollister (2005) notes that “creativity is a central source of meaning in our lives … [and] when we are involved in it, we feel that we are living more fully than during the rest of life”. Futhermore, Jones (2006) notes that "it is by giving its users tools for creativity that Second Life gives the users’ experience particular meaning and makes the world more interactive and realistic.” It is by engaging its users in the act of creation that Second Life provides opportunities that are not necessarily available in real life” (p 19).
Second Life can be used to help students with disabilities practice independent living skills such as: grocery shopping, navigating a kitchen (using a microwave, stove, etc), meal preparation, managing money (budget/spending), and basic social interaction. Creating a virtual environment for these students to practice poses less risks for these students but can also teach them the consequences that occur from certain decisions.
Evidence of effectiveness
Some of the main advantages of using Second Life for educational purposes include: 1) Students can explore the environment and ask, “what would happen if I did this”? 2) Multiple forms of learning are easily implemented with discussions, video, note-cards, simulations, etc… 3) Students can learn at their own pace. 4) In Second Life things can be simulate and represent that just aren’t possible in a traditional real world classroom or even in real life sometimes. 5) Allow students with varying degrees of social shyness or awkwardness to be able to interact without fear. These advantages, while being slightly unique to the Second Life environment, are none the less parallel to other findings on how games can be educational.
Goldstein, Buckingham, and Brougere (2004), discussed that recent research has illustrated that, “children are far from being the passive victims” of games and online technology (p. 5). Children aren’t just sitting in front of the screen, they are actively engaging in creative, strategic, and higher-order thinking. Linderoth, Lindstrom, and Alexandersson (2004), also note: …with regard to what the usage of computer games enhance, a number of different abilities have been suggested, for instance, media and computer literacy, cognitive skills such as problem solving and spatial awareness, social skills such as the ability to collaborate, and the learning of content in different subjects. (p. 157-158).
Critics and their rationale
There is no predefined recipe of how to go about designing and implementing a curriculum in this type of online gaming environment. Additionally, there is no discussion on what type of skills educators must have to implement these changes or how receptive their school district would be for these things. Thus, while many sources will advocate the advantages and importance of combining education and technology in the form of massive multiplayer games such as Second Life, what I’ve failed to see in the literature is how to go about actually going about obtaining this combination.
What would teachers experiences be and how would they adjust to building a curriculum in an synthetic environment such as Second Life? I feel as though answering this question might help other educators to better understand and face the challenges of combining education and technology, as well as help to promote educational reform.
Curriculum & Educational Issues
Kline (2004) discusses that children have been the pioneers of computer use and are also, “the main beneficiaries of this cultural revolution because computers facilitated active problem solving” (p. 136). Accordingly, the benefits of games are tremendous and actually promote many skills that are vital to learning in all realms, both online and off. Education is one such area that could be revolutionized by games and technology, and their use as learning tools.
“We [educators] want them [the students] to learn how to learn” (Rose & Meyer, 2002, p. 69). I think this is not only a very important statement, but also a very insightful one. In today’s society there is a growing importance and value society places on technology. It is vital for students to discern how to learn new things not only in K12, but throughout their life. Thus, it is not just the learning of new material and skills that is crucial, it is the ability to know how to be able to learn these new things. Even after completing high school and college, it is more than likely with the technological advances made daily in today’s society, one will need additional knowledge and skills to be able to compete and stay up-to-date in this changing world. Unfortunately, there is a huge difference between access to information and access to learning.
Rose and Meyer additionally (2002) discuss that, “As educators, our aim is not simply to make information accessible to students, but to make learning accessible” (p. 73). While information might be available, if students don’t know what to do with the material or how to process it, it will end up being meaningless. Yet, with massively multiplayer online games such as Second Life, it might be possible to train, teach, and educate students of all ages on not only new information, but how to navigate the learning process. While this opens up many new opportunities, there are also additionally considerations that need to be thought out and planned for when deciding to incorporate this type of technology into the classroom.
Kline (2004) discusses the fact that not everything technology and game related is positive and constitutes “learning”, as does Linderoth et al (2004), who discuss that a clear learning goal must be established prior to implementing technology into the classroom. Without objectives that are clear and well defined, the brain is unable to form a clear picture of what needs to be done to achieve this goal. Goals help “students know what they are supposed to do, how to do it, and why it is important. Students who understand the goals of their school work are more likely to stay focused, monitor themselves successfully, and derive satisfaction from their progress” (Rose & Meyer, 2002, p. 88). But, the goal does not have to be met in only one manner, it is important that thegoal is able to be reached by multiple methods.
This illustrates the importance of a well-defined and executed curriculum, especially when incorporating technology into the curriculum. Resnick et al (2005) states that, "Today, with new conceptions of knowledge and competence, pedagogical methods are sought that are more likely to engage students in active interpretation of what they read or explanations of what they observe. Learning research has shown that learners need to manipulate and use the information they are offered and that in so doing, they will construct schematic representations that make sense of domains of knowledge." (p. 83).
I feel that Resnick et al effectively argues that more traditional styles of teaching were based off an idea that all students learn the same way and that intelligence is a one-dimensional characteristic that can be measured in one way (i.e., tests and traditional forms of evaluation). Consequently, now that research has revealed that many of these ideas are not true it does become imperative for new forms of teaching to be implemented in order to increase the effectiveness of students’ learning within an educational setting. Intelligence is multi-faceted and students have different learning styles that are not currently being addressed by traditional teaching.
Furthermore, “The goal of most school-based instruction is not simply to train students to solve a specific class of problems efficiently or to transfer a specific procedure untouched to a new context. We argue instead that the goal of school-based instruction should be to prepare students to adapt and learn in the future” (Schwartz, Martin, & Nasir, 2005, p. 23). This concept is very important and speaks directly towards the utilization of technology and games into the classroom. “Students engaged in educational games and simulations are interpreting, analyzing, discovering, evaluating, acting, and problem solving. This approach to learning is much more consistent with constructivist learning, where knowledge is constructed by the learners as they are actively problem solving in an authentic context, than with traditional instruction.” (Antonacci & Modaress, 2005, p 4)
Constructivism focuses on how through exploration and discovery people are able to learn things on their own. Specifically, the learning goal of constructivism, “are for the learners to develop problem solving and reasoning skills, critical thinking, and self-regulated learning, that is, the ability to engage in independent thought” (Johansson & Gardenfors, 2005, p. 15). From these learning goals, Driscoll (2000) recognized five conditions of learning in the constructivist framework: 1. Embed learning in complex, realistic, and relevant environments 2. Provide for social negotiation (collaboration) 3. Support multiple perspectives and the use of multiple modes of representation. 4. Encourage ownership in learning 5. Nurture self-awareness
These skills are important because they will help the student to ‘learn how to learn’. Yet, it is important to note that there does need to be some level of background information given to students, and ultimately this type of learning works much better when combined with other styles.
“Computer-supported collaborative learning (CSLC) is an umbrella term for various approaches that explore new ways of interaction in the realm of computer-mediated communications. They are not meant to replace face-to-face communications but to facilitate collaboration by enabling common access to documents, chat boards, mind maps and so forth.” (Johansson & Gardenfors, 2005, p 17). Thus, one possible answer would be a combination of constructivist learning with collaboration and some basic level instruction by the teacher. Additionally, another important aspect is that of the fun and enjoyment many people gain from playing these games and taking part in the use of this technology. This enjoyment could help to harness the student’s attention and motivation into an environment where the student is eagerly learning new material and practices previously learned skills.
Gee (2005) discusses how games are so much better for learning than traditional learning strategies used in schools, and is also quick to point out all the ways education systems are not meeting the needs of students. Yet, an important question that Gee as well as many (if not all authors) fail to mention is how do we actually implement all of these suggestions into the real world of education? I think all of his ideas are interesting and have some truth in them, but I’m at a loss of how to implement these into the actual classroom and especially within the world of games and technology. This is where the real problem comes into focus.
Signed “life experiences”, testimonies and stories
I must confess something. Before taking the course Computing and Instruction: Games, Simulations and Virtual Reality, I believed that computers and gaming had led a whole generation down an isolated path of sitting idle inside and engaging in something that was mindless and completely without value. In my mind, these activities sucked the creativity out of people and encouraged people to detach themselves socially from the rest of the world. I pictured the lone “computer geek” sitting by him or herself in a dark airless room for hours a day with no interaction with the world or their surroundings. Where these mental representations came from I’m not quite sure, but it has become crystal clear throughout this semester that I couldn’t be any more wrong. Using Second Life has opened up a completely new world for me and has given me a newfound respect for the uses of computer technology and games, and for those who interact with them. - Kona Taylor
The potentials for Second Life and other MMORPGs in education are huge. But beofre one jumps into Second Life as a teaching tool, investigate what other educators are doing with it. Linden Labs has an educator mailing list that is of much value to newbies in SL. Using Second Life to display a Powerpoint file may be overkill, but consider something more innovative. An arichtecture school is letting students experiment with their own creations. Even the younger audiences should enjoy compelling SL content: consider reenacting short stories or nursery rhymes. The SLED Wiki is a excellent place to start. -- D. Melone
I gained some experience during my undergrad using SecondLife, but I recently found this article online, 'Naughty Auties' battle autism with virtual interaction which really struck my interest. I haven't had the chance to implement it in my classroom yet, but I think it'd be neat to try with some of my students. - J. Grady
I think there can be some positives that come out of online gaming. However this can't happen without some direction or a clear objective. I have had a friend lose an entire summer because he got sucked into the World of Warcraft. There's nothing worse than trying to get together a card game and someone says "I can't my clan is fighting some dragon tonight." Inside the classroom I had to play Everquest and level a character up to level 20 to get an A. There was no real reason given for playing the game. I was absolutely terrible at that game and I wasted hours of my life getting up to level 4 then bouncing back and forth because I couldn't kill a badger with a giant axe and bow and arrow. It made no sense whatsoever. I think the idea was to build teamwork but no one was ever on. So there may be some great attributes to online gaming we have to make sure it's used with a purpose.
MM
While I was weary of using Second Life in class, not ever having used it before, nor knowing the main idea behind it, I was interested to try it and see what it was all about. After giving it a shot, I was a fan. In the real Second Life, it was interesting to see all of the places and people you could visit, interact with, and learn from. This past semester, using the OpenSim version of Second Life, my experiences grew even more positively. This form of the "game" is on a dedicated server, and is basically "barren" virtual land where users can tailor it to their educational needs. One can build educational resources, and use it as a place to meet and interact during class. I think this is a great tool or supplement to the traditional classroom and am excited to see the technology progress. E. Bostrom
References and other links of interest
Antonacci, D. M., & Modaress, N. (2005, December). Second Life: The Educational Possibilities of a Massively Multiplayer Virtual World (MMVW). Kansas Technology Leadership Conference, Topeka, KS. Retrieved May 8, 2006, from University of Kansas, Medical Center Web site: http://www2.kumc.edu/netlearning/SLEDUCAUSESW2005/SLPresentationOutline.htm
Brougere, G., Buckingham, D., & Goldstein, J. (2004). Introduction: Toys, games, and media. In J. Goldstein, D. Buckingham, & G. Brougere (Eds.). Toys, games, & media (pp. XX-XX). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Driscoll, M. P. (2000). Psychology of learning for instruction (2nd ed.). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Foster, A. L. (2005). The avatars of research. Chronicle of Higher Education, 52 (6), A35-A36.
Gee, J. P. (2005). Learning by design: Good video games as learning machines. E–Learning, 2(1), 5-16.
Goldstein, J., Buckingham, D. & Brougere, G. (2004). Toys, games, & media. Wahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Hollister, D. (2005). Creativity Quotes. BellaOnline. Retreived May 8, 2006, from http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art6018.asp
Johansson, P., & Gardenfors, P. (2005). Introduction to cognition, education, and communication technology. (pp. 1-20) In P. Gardenfors & P. Johansson. Cognition, education, and communication technology. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates: Wahwah, NJ.
Jones, D. E. (2005). I, avatar: Constructions of self and place in Second Life and the technological imagination. Retrieved May 8, 2006, from Georgetown University, Gnovis Journal of Communication, Culture and Technology web site: http://gnovis.georgetown.edu/articles/FA05-01-secondlife.pdf
Kline, S. (2004), Learners, Spectators, or Gamers? An Investigation of Digital Play in the Media Saturated Household. In J. Goldstein, D. Buckingham, & G. Brougere (Eds.). Toys, games, & media (pp. XX-XX). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Krotoski, A (2004, September 27). [Weblog] Can't get enough of the virtual learning. Games Blog. Retrieved February 26, 2006, from http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/games/archives/2004/09/27/cant_get_enough_of_the_virtual_learning.html
Linderoth, J., Lindstrom, B., & Alexandersson, M. (2004) Learning with computer games. In J. Goldstein, D. Buckingham, & G. Brougere (Eds.). Toys, games, & media (pp. XX-XX). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Michael, D., & Chen, S. (2006). Serious games: Games that educate, train, and inform. MA: Boston, Thomson Course Technology.
Resnick, L. B., Lesgold, A., & Hall, M. W. (2005). Technology and the new culture of learning: Tools for education professionals. In P. Gardenfors & P. Johansson (Eds.). Cognition, education, and communication technology (pp. 77-107). Wahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Rose, D. H., & Meyer, A. (2002). Teaching every student in the digital age: Universal design for learning. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Schwartz, D. L., Martin, T., & Nasir, N. (2005). Designs for knowledge evolution: Towards a prescriptive theory for integrating first- and second- hand knowledge. In P. Gardenfors & P. Johansson (Eds.). Cognition, education, and communication technology (pp. 21-54). Wahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Wells Fargo (2005). College students learn how to use credit cards wisely by using industry’s first virtual online reality game. Retrieved February 25, 2006, from http://www.cardratings.com/creditcardnews/2005/09/college-students-how-to-use-credit.html
