Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Education in Second Life: Explore the Possibilities
Second life (SL), accessible via the internet, is envisioned to be the tool that would be used by the next generation. According to "Exploring Perceptions toward Education in 3-D Virtual Environment: An Introduction to "Second Life"" by Neha Singh and Myong Jae Lee, Collins College of Hospitality Management, California State Polytechnic University-Pomona, CA, USA, Second life is a virtual world developed by Linden Lab, a San Francisco based company founded in 1999 by CEO Philip Rosedale, former chief technology officer of Real Networks. Second Life was launched in June 23, 2009 (Journal of Teaching in Travel and Tourism). "Rosedale was inspired by the depiction of a persistent, ubiquitous mataverse in the 1992 cyperpunk novel 'Snow Crash' and envisioned creating a virtual world where users could "Digitize everything" and collaborate in a 3D environment that would be built by the users themselves (Jennings and Collins).
According to "Second Life creates a new dimension for K12 Learning and collaboration" by Steve Dembo, anyone can log on, download the software, create an avatar, or geographical representation of oneself which the user can change very simply and easily. Moreover, anybody can build a business or home for himself/herself on a parcel of land within the world they choose to live in. In addition, Second Life can be used for different purposes. Many organizations use Second Life to enhance productivity by focusing on internal business uses such as training and simulation. Others engage customers through interviews and recruiting (Virtual Worlds for Educators).
Second life users interact with each other through avatars and through those avatars, organizations such as colleges, universities, libraries, and government entities use Second life as a platform for education. Through this platform, the 21st century community could work with colleagues globally and across different time zones (Journal of Teaching in Travel and Tourism).
Second life has two versions. The first one involves mature adults over 18 years old. The second version involves teens, which is a safe spot for education projects for youth 13 to 18 years old. Unlike the main Second Life which is designed for adults, teen Second Life restricts entry and activities only to educators or those carrying out educational projects there. "Linden Lab makes sure to only allow adults in to the teen Second life once they come clean under a background check and who are educators responsible for an educational project, or who are assisting in developing projects or managing activities on business islands. Educators can create their own islands and bring students to them through their own websites" (Journal of Teaching in Travel and Tourism).
Over 100 virtual regions in Second life are being used for educational purposes covering different types of courses and at least 300 universities over the world teach courses and conduct research in Second Life. Instructors and researchers in Second life prefer this form of learning because it is more personal than traditional distant learning. Likewise, new educational institutions came out and took advantage of the platform to deliver high quality service to a worldwide audience at low cost (Journal of Teaching in Travel and Tourism).
Moreover, Second life challenges social biases since one can interact in an environment where one can change his/her appearance with just a few clicks. For example, "would students react differently to their female teacher if she used a male avatar? Would students react differently if their white teacher changed his race within the virtual world? Would the teacher's behavior change along with the physical characteristics?" (Virtual Worlds for Educators)
Second life can increase the effectiveness and efficiency in training and educating students, while increasing student interest and learning preservation in three ways. The first way second life engages students is through content (cognitive). The second way it engages students is through design (teaching) and finally the third way second life engages students is through interaction (social). Research shows that education increases interaction, as participating online is less intimidating for many people than classrooms. Online classrooms can also facilitate team learning by eliminating many problems associated with mismatched schedules. "Reasons of flexibility, accessibility and quantity are compelling and contributing to the attractiveness of this model of learning" (Journal of teaching in Travel and Tourism).
An example of academic success through Second Life is illustrated by Library media specialist Peggy Sheehy at Ramapo Central School District in Hillburn, N.Y. She used teen second life with Suffern Middle School students to enhance classroom lessons. "For example, after reading the novel of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the students held a mock trial for the character Lennie Small, who accidentally kills another character. Students researched the judicial system at the time (the 1930's) and the characteristics of prison, Sheehy says. In another lesson, as part of an eighth-grade health and wellness unit, the class also explored social issues, mostly related to body image" (Virtual Worlds for Educators).
The number of people online has been rapidly increasing with the development of technology every minute. Before people where online to accomplish a certain task or know about something, it developed into a sort of entertainment, but now it went to a different level. People live online, and there are programs that made the last statement literal but virtual, such as second life. According to Gilly Salmon, a professor of e-learning and learning technology at the University of Leicester, the number of people registering on second life has been dramatically increasing over the past four years with a growing interest in the educational institutions there (Salmon, Gilly). Nancy Jennings and Chris Collins stated, “Presence of 170 educational institutions, including accredited colleges, universities, and schools was identified in Second Life between April 15, 2007 and May 16, 2007”, of these 170 institutions 120 had groups on second life and 71 occupied land in second life, (Collins, Jennings). The fact that these numbers of institutions are interested and are already on Second Life, shows the amount of success SL has been accomplishing so far.
There are different types of educators and not all of them would refer to teaching in virtual reality programs such as Second Life. Collins and Jennings, said that people are different in their level of familiarity with technologies and new ideas according to their social and psychological characteristics, the article continued with classifying the different types of educators, (Collins, Jennings), since second life is not only new for learners it is also new fro educators. “Innovators”, is the first type of educators and these are the individuals with extreme interest and knowledge in technology (Collins, Jennings), so for them a program like second life would be very much tempting. The second type are the “Early Adopters, (visionaries) and those are the teachers who like to discover technologies, to be able to experiment through it new and different instructional methods, (Collins, Jennings), so you may also find these types of educators in institutions on Second Life. Early Adopters started to explore educational institutions, which included “Alliance Library system in Peoria, and Illinois, who established InfoIsland, the first library system in Second Life,” (Collins, Jennings).
“Early Majority” is another type of educators, these are basically the teachers who face problems in their day-to-day teaching and research process and try to refer to implementing technologies as a solution to these problems (Collins, Jennings). In contrast to the previously mentioned types of educators, there are educators, who are not interested in technology as much as the previous three. The “ Late Majority” and they call them “skeptical” and “they are more likely to adopt technology that comes as a complete package and is well established,”(Collins, Jennings). The last type is the “Laggards”, these are the exact opposite of the innovators and the early adopters, and they are very much against the ides of using technology as an educational tool.
Two unique case studies were conducted of two institutions and their virtual spaces, to study and observe “the use of 3D virtual worlds and Second Life in particular in an educational environment, (Collins, Jennings). The first study case is INSEAD, a graduate business school that has two campuses in France and Singapore. INSEAD has a virtual campus on Second Life that functions as a real life campus and has all the facilities. Their island is divided into 3 areas, the school and the library, the research lab, the public space and the beach. (Collins, Jennings). You can actually access the public area just by searching INSEAD on second life and teleporting your self their. In the public area avatars are there giving out note cards that would inform one about INSEAD, it also has links that offers information about the variety of programs offered at INSEAD, (Collins, Jennings).
The second study case was Ohio’s University, is one of the oldest public institutions for higher education, (Collins, Jennings). Ohio’s virtual campus on Second Life is a combination of both spirits the old and the new, it is a place that has both traditions and innovations (Collins, Jennings). The University’s virtual campus contains some elements from or that refer to the real life campus, as one’s avatar goes into the campus there are signs that shows how this campus is of great historical importance, they even replicated the archway that is found in the real campus, (Collins, Jennings). Ohio University on Second Life, has a wide variety of spaces and facilities, that the avatars could teleport them selves from one place to another, following the teleport map of the campus. “This map provides teleports to eight different locations in the virtual space including Stocker Center, Welcome Center, Art and Music Center, Classroom and Meeting Center, Learning Center, Student Center, Featured Game, and a Sandbox,” (Collins, Jennings). The campus provides a reflective virtual campus environment; one that affirms the institution’s spirit, reproduces its physical campus in the virtual world, and actively connects the virtual campus to the physical real world campus, (Collins, Jennings).
Early adopters are continuing to create and add new places to the educational institutions, rather than just having sandboxes and auditoriums, some buildings created new spaces such as libraries, restaurants and visitors centers, (Collins, Jennings). So in that sense the campuses become even closer to the real life campuses, it is not only their for academics it is also a place that also gives a chance for students or avatars from all over the world to get together socialize and share information and experiences.
Education on second life is not just a unique experience because one could have the chance to be educated in schools that exist in another continents, while sitting in their own houses. Early adopters of second life used to replicate classrooms, lecture halls and museums, like the real life ones. However, SL offers a very unique and powerful object creation toolset and a number of courses that encouraged their learners to build their educational spaces, and very interesting results came out, (Salmon, Gilly). In that sense, the learner is given the chance to design a space that he/she would feel most comfortable in and that would most definitely affect their level of interest and perception of the information being offered to them.
Second life could be used as a primary tool for education in a number of different fields, such as history for instance, (Salmon, Gilly). Since Second Life offers its users the opportunity to go see and actually physically feel places that no longer exist or is inaccessible in real life. For instance, if a history student is doing a research about ancient Egypt, SL could actually give him a chance to go see and be a part of ancient Egypt and how it was like back then, through simulations that are very expensive to have in real life. According to Salmon “Students studying archaeology at the University of Leicester have benefited by being able to visit the Saami tents in SL and experience something of the life style and the tribal relationships.” (Salmon, Gilly).
classroom in second life.
Second life would be appealing to many students especially the ones who grew up depending on technology. Students are now becoming more technologically savvy and eventually they would want to be educated in a new advanced way. They would be more interested and attentive in their classes if they are learning through presentations and computers rather than just having a teacher lecturing them for hours. According to the video “growing up online” students just sit in front of their computers all day, even parents now try to communicate with their children through emails because they know they are always online. Obviously such classes would be more appealing to students, ones that they could actually be and work online since this is becoming their life now. That fact makes second life more and more appealing to students. Students are spending a lot of time playing around online rather than being engaged to any beneficial activities. With the introduction of education and second life this has changed. Second life made education more interesting so that students would be online learning, studying, having fun and in the mean time being in a unique experience. All this generation relies on technology more than anything, which makes second life more attractive as an education tool. According to the video “Growing Up Online” many professors think that they have to be interactive with their students through the digital world to reach and cope up with the student’s mentality. Second life made that easier for professors and students. Students will be able to learn in a way that is very closely related to their lifestyles, in the same time professors won’t need to change their way of teaching greatly, they would just need to adapt to the new features being offered to them. That doesn’t mean that all students who do not like to actual schools and learn in the regular methods they’ve been used to, however there is a rapid increase in the coming generation that are growing online.
There are also different types of students as well as professors. The students that engage in second life are most probably the ones who are techno-savvy, busy students, lazy ones and shy students. The motive for any student to rather study or get educated in second life has a reason behind it. Students who are attached to technology always like to explore and know more, want to know more about digital world and do not leave their computers even on vacation definitely will be attracted to such a program that would fit into their lives perfectly. The lifestyle he/she lives will encourage him or her to even try this program. As for busy students who work, travel a lot, or even developed in age and doesn’t have time to go to school will most likely find this program helping them to save time, as well as lazy students who are too lazy to go school and prefer something online. As mentioned in the article of the case for education in virtual worlds “Students enrolled in distance education classes often have very full lives, including day jobs, family commitments, and friends and hobbies” (Nesson and Nesson). Moreover there are many students out there who are shy because of their appearance, style or even interests, which makes them lack self-confidence. A place like second life could make them more comfortable. This part is elaborated more in the rest of the paper.
Distance is one of the motives that attract students to second life. Second life improves the idea of distance learning because of all the facilities it has got that is not offered in any other distant education classes such as the stimulation and having a real life feeling of being a class with an actual professor presenting(Salmon, Gilly). Thus students will probably prefer learning through second life than a random class with in different assignments, notes and with no usage of technological services such as videos for example. Second life does not just give you a feeling that you are in a class where you could be sitting on your computer in your living room in another country, it actually gives you a chance to interact by talking and being heard through your own actual voice. Second life gives the students the freedom to be wherever they want to be, on the beach studying or wherever the student feels comfortable to study in, maybe in a really quite place where no interruption occur. This is actually an admirable thought to study and attend the classes in any place that one prefers; it doesn’t force the student to be on the campus and can’t go anywhere else because they have to attend the class.
The information that the teachers present to students are on presentations, slides and video clips with high-quality developed e-platforms that second life presents us with. (Salmon, Gilly). “Harvard Law and Extension students received academic credit for the course, and members of the public could participate by accessing the course materials, videos, and a mock trial courtroom in the virtual world” (Collins, Jennings). The stimulus classes that are offered in second life is also offered, when any avatar chooses to visit another place this makes the students explore and discover new places as if they are in it for real. (Salmon, Gilly). The stimulation enables the student to learn in a deeper way without even enrolling in a class, for example when visiting countries in second life, you experience the moment and learn about their history and culture without being in an actual class about it. This is known for many scholars as off campus “learning locations” by interacting with other cultures, see geography of other countries and feel the adventure of every new country or place the avatar visits.
Second life also gives the students and teachers more freedom, encourages creativity to design themselves inside and out the way they wish to be. It makes education more desirable, you study whatever you want to study and be whoever you want to be without any family or societal restrictions. The article “The Case for Education in Virtual Worlds” mentioned that students will have no bias comments on looks or any judgments about each other as for their fashion, quality of clothes, standard and so on. Since second life offers any individual the chance to design their whole outer look from what they are wearing, the shape of their body to the color of their eye and accessories. It makes students encouraged to be what they want to be without any peer pressure, in addition to self-expression that the majority of students will find better and easier than real life. People who do not have self-confidence, do not feel good about themselves and are shy to express their feeling or their ideas will feel better on second life because they will create the person/the avatar they way they wish to be. There are many students that do not go to school because of their classmates mocking them; second life would enable the student not to waste their education life because of some biased judgments.
Second Life as a three-dimensional virtual world continues to expand the way it provides information, learning activities, and educational applications. Learning objectives that are being initiated in Second Life brings new approaches to collaboration, interactivity, and cognition that are being developed. These learning-centered islands attract individuals who benefit from interaction with peers and instructors and can access learning objects such as information repositories, simulations, and interactive animations. The main advantages accessible by Second Life are engagement and meaningful interaction with fellow learners, media-rich learning environments with implanted videos, graphics, interactive quizzes, and assessments. Also, there is an engaging environment for simulations, which are basically virtual labs and culturally wide-ranging immersive environments. The immense and rich environment encourages people to act and cooperate with one another, which could conquer a dehumanizing learning management system approach.
Therefore, Second Life is made up of indoor and outdoor venues or environments, many of which are an imitation of the real world. “Second Life islands typically consist of a combination of indoor and outdoor venues or environments, many of which are modeled on the real world,” (Smith Susan). For instance, the University of Delaware’s site is a combination of the genuine and the unbelievable, with a copy of major buildings (library, stadium, art galleries but with a fanciful look at meeting places under the ocean, where the school’s marine biology studies and labs are highlighted. This community-driven experience encourages new residents to be part of it. Also, there are islands that have been built into libraries which bring about opportunities to bring together community forming behaviors and objects that can be used to form knowledge by featuring demonstrations and models. People can get together in the area of virtual subject collections and structure their own associations based on the same interests. Notes can be compared without the fear of spilling drinks or food on them especially on rare collections. They can also try to be like one another and experiment and try different technique. There is also a place for children and youth in the library island where there is a collection of children’s literature, which brings about adventure, play, and discovery. To add, those who go to the library can access information they need, download it, work with it, and share it with others as well and universities as well as associations and public libraries have Second Life islands which contain links and interfaces to their digital collections. Basically, the benefit of Second Life is that it connects the established clients, who are seeking for a reasonable and recognizable library feel, with Internet-age patrons who are interested in easily browsing metadata, comparing recommendations, and bouncing between sections and other activities in a single, easily navigated environment.
Thus, the mixture of library resources, educational experience, and entertainment establishes a new way for both libraries and educational institutions later on to bring together classrooms or web pages to get an information source such as a library, online catalog, or even Google in the same practice. When it comes to laboratories, people can repeat experiments, visit demonstrations more than once, and take part in collective events and lectures such as the Centers for Disease Control has a series of virtual labs which range from HIV/ AIDS awareness to tropical disease information. “The beauty of Second Life is that visitors can repeat experiments, revisit demonstrations, and participate in collective events and lectures,” (Smith Susan). Also, educators now have the ability to teach health topics within a virtual world that allows students to put into practice decision-making skills, identify equipment, analyze test results, and react to realistic circumstances. They can basically try skills such as reading monitors as well as accessing medical information. “Educators have become excited about the idea of having the ability to teach allied health topics within a virtual world,” (Smith Susan).
Furthermore, language learning is another advantage in Second Life where there are a lot of islands dedicated to it. There are language labs that allow participants to have access to learning objects such as quizzes, vocabulary drills, audio comprehension, and live practice. “For example, the Instituto Cervantes includes language labs and allows individuals to have access to learning objects (quizzes, vocabulary drills, audio comprehension, live practice),” (Smith Susan). This encouraged advancement and entrepreneurship. Thus, lectures that are given allows visitors to gather together in the same place to watch a presentation through streaming media or to participate as a one of the residents makes a presentation. This enables them to be access information and interact with learning objects ranging from graphics, videos, and small replications. To include, residents of Second Life are allowed to share interests with one another to intensify their knowledge and expand the information they have. They also have the ability to practice what they gained and to work together with other people who are learning as well. The experience can motivate them because it contains built-in assertion. “Developing communities of purpose and learning communities allows residents with shared interests to deepen their knowledge, to practice what they know, and to share and collaborate with fellow learners,”(Smith Susan). Second Life performance enables users to have time and a distinct or diverse culture.
Moreover, teaching in world is also a familiar academic way in Second Life where faculties rent or buy a space and buy or build models they are going to teach. “To teach a class in the virtual Second Life world referred to as in world, faculty are renting or buying space, buying or building models of the subject they intend to teach, and inviting the class to meet partially or entirely in Second Life. Some professors are encouraging their students to explore Second Life and interview other residents about their experiences. A few students are developing thesis material from specific aspects of the environment,” (Gollub Rachel). The advantages of this is that, the professor can explain and elaborate on points visually and also verbally without putting much effort. Computer-related teaching and learning is offered and they have an opportunity to experiment in a way that was unavailable and rare. Also, other classes that are accessible in Second Life, is Harvard’s ground-breaking class where students of all types have the chance to offer easily available media through which to use the class techniques. The bringing about of people together also provides an online surrounding where broadly geographical people can take pleasure in an experience that is really close to being able to imitate the social aspects of the classroom as well as taking benefit of the environment to create visual demonstrations. “Courses taught in Second Life capitalize on this togetherness and provide an online environment in which widely geographically separated people can enjoy an experience that comes as close as currently possible to replicating the social aspects of the classroom, while taking advantage of the environment to create the visual demonstrations mentioned above,” (Gollub Rachel).
On the whole, this multiplayer practical environment needs users to be responsive to the variety of learning objects that are used. More possibilities would also open up in Second Life by allowing Private Sims to be built by various institutions which can be power-driven by as many servers as the institution requires. They can be connected to public Sims through second life URLs, which would enable them to take advantage of the powerful social nature of second life without linking it to a commercial entity or restricted performance. “The open source server will allow Private Sims to be built by various institutions, and they can be powered by as many servers as the institution requires, allowing much more flexibility in building and population. The private Sims can be easily connected to public Sims via Second Life URLs, taking advantage of the powerful social nature of Second Life without tying it to a commercial entity or restricted performance,” (Gollub Rachel). Also, education varies from architectural design and modeling to health education, to philosophy and religious studies, and many others. Students can learn activities, experiences and environments, and not just become inactive consumers of learning.
Using a three dimensional medium as an educational medium highlighted many challenges; Not only for the technology itself, but also for the human relations as well as the education quality and the academic excellence.
Program technicalities
The first challenge faces this technology is its soft ware system and the technicalities. Second Life program is using a well developed technology which requires the presence of high speed Internet. In addition to the Internet connection, the used PC or Laptop has to be equipped with both a quick microprocessor and a good video/graphics card. The program takes a lot of space due to the volume of its downloaded files which is a great reason of its slow responses and it is freezing. There are also other problems concerning the technicality of the program “lag in resizing objects, a need of spare memory device to cover for the memory crashes, in addition to periodical soft ware updating” (Leanes, 2007, Page 8)”
Time consuming and experience working with the program
Another major challenge facing the users of the program is the program application itself, which is consuming in terms of the time it takes to be downloaded and the time it takes to be fully understood by the users. As for beginners it takes at least four hours to gain the required knowledge to be able to deal with the program features and application. “Second Life is not like anything most users have experienced and there will be resistance to this technology. (Clevett, 2007)”. Based on the organizational learning concept, Second Life user must learn how to use this medium for learning first (Lewis, 2007 Page 23)”.
The original purpose of the program affects its usage in the learning field (Learning Optimization)
The main reason of creating second life was not educational development reason. The program has a lot of diversified applications like shopping and even sex, which creates a distractive atmosphere for the users. “Second Life is a big virtual space and much is happening from shopping to sex, from sunning at the beach to skiing, from dancing under the stars at the Romantic Starlight Ballroom to a live performance at the SL synagogue. (Austin, 2007 page 37)”. Second Life is viewed usually as a game and social network that enjoys diversified and unlimited applications.
Real versus virtual communication
In such social networks virtual communication has replaced its users’ tendency for real world communication. Facial expression and body language are not that developed which affect the communication quality. Although avatars could do things that can not be done in the real world like flying, teleporting and moving objects in the air, there is a limitation in specific
Barriers facing students in such distance learning mediums
Problems that affect students using such platforms are diversified, concerning many sectors like the education service cost, the interaction between them and their professors, students’ services and support facilities, the social isolation, and their lack in experience and training. Unlike the traditional educational environments, students in virtual learning environments develop a lot of insecurities (Knapper, 1988).
Because of the lake of face to face interaction between the teachers and the students results in trouble with students in their self evaluation. The distance between students and professors destroy an essential way of communication between the both of them (Keegan, 1986). Integration between both parties should be carried out in order to help students as it was claimed that students that lack this integration do enjoy the academic complete experience (Keegan, 1986, p. 120)
In such virtual mediums, students lack a lot of supportive services that are usually available in traditional institution such as technical assistance, academic planners and schedulers, and providing tutors. Students are in need to theses kinds of assistance, specially the academic planners to help them complete their courses "student services are a significant part of the budgeted costs of the program." They also believe that “success in attracting, serving, and retaining students will hinge more on excellent student support services than on any technology issues." (Oaks, 1996).
In addition, missing the social life and being a part of school community which is important to a lot of students. This distance reduces the students’ sense of being involved in the institution. Geographical isolation has been identified as one of the major problems for distance students (Meacham and Evans 1989). Not only facing practical problems concerning academic life like gaining the materials and getting books from the library, but also being disconnected from the student life atmosphere which create a deniable sense of belonging to a scholarly community; which results in the raise of insecurity feeling, as most of them lake personal confidence(Wood, 1996).
Another problem or concern should be highlighted, do virtual educational environment pay attention to providing an equal opportunity to those applying to the programs?
Also professor experience difficulties in using such technologies, professor lack the experience to deal with this technology. In addition it is really hard for most of them to change the whole course content to accommodate this technology and meets students’ expectation “Teachers may lack the basic skills or hardware to fully participate in distance education. The advent of computers, telecommunications, and the World Wide Web provides an unprecedented opportunity for faculty and students to learn in a cooperative environment.”
In conclusion, Second Life as a learning medium has great benefits for the learning industry in general. In the age of technology a free of discrimination, borders, time space considered to an ideal atmosphere to gain experience and academic excellence. However, technicality problems, costs, the fear of being socially active, in addition to the lake of belonging sense to a certain educational life, peer interaction, professor feedback are the draw backs of such technology.
In the future the program will overcome those draw backs as the raising need of better quality education. Subscribers’ number is increasing as “on October 2009, just over 16 million accounts were registered, although there are no reliable figures for actual long term consistent usage” (current users matrix on second life) which highlights the fact that the tendency of people to adapt with such technology is increasing. This technology threatening to the real world communication existence will be clarified in the coming years due to the technological development and people dependency on those technologies.