ILE 08 and ILE 09

Judith GoodIDEAs Lab

University of Sussex

Liz ThackrayOpen University

National Workshop in Learning in Immersive Virtual Worlds

23 October 2008

Overview

• Background• Premise and outline for

research• Practical set up• Research process• Showcase of student work• Relating practice to theory• What next - ILE 09• Discussion/Questions

Background

• Sussex Learning Network elearning conference (May 07) showcased Second Life

• Interactive Learning Environments (ILE) is an established course at Sussex with a practical component

• Collaboration between the course leader and elearning project led to a project using Second Life in ILE 2008 (funded by InQbate’s Creativity Development Fund)

Premise for research

• Second Life is a virtual environment

• Users create all of the content within the environment

• Educators can and do make use of it

• Many times they replicate currently real-life educational practices

Premise for research

• So… can we move beyond this and do something truly innovative?

• More specifically… might students, with no prior experience of delivering traditional teaching, be better placed to think creatively about learning in Second Life?

Outline for research

• As the assessment for the ILE course, have students create learning experiences:– in Second Life – which address real life teaching and

learning situations – which aim to push the boundaries

and lead to innovation and creativity in teaching and learning

Practical Set up - course

• Interactive Learning Environments (ILE) introduces students to technology enhanced learning, including:

• Theories of learning• Games and simulations• Social software for learning• Virtual reality• Augmented and embodied learning• Applications of artificial intelligence to

learning

Introducing students to Second Life • Students familiarised themselves

with SL over Christmas

• Theoretical introduction at 1st course session

• Introductory building class at 2nd course session

Project brief

• Students work in self-selecting project teams

• External clients from the Sussex Learning Network partner institutions identified a topic or issue which is difficult, dangerous, or impossible to teach in real life

• Students design a potential solution/learning experience in Second Life

Course structure – student tasks• Interview with client• Project specification and feedback• Research project and

familiarisation with SL (in parallel)• Create a learning experience in SL• Machinima presentation• Reflective documents

Situations

• Client - Open University• Issue - Helping students

understand systems diagrams:– Students often have a black and

white view of systems– Need to understand there may not

be one definitive answer– Need to understand basic concepts

such as boundaries, stakeholders, etc.

Situations

• Client - Open University• Issue - Training social workers in

mental illness or child abuse assessment skills:– geographical issues around

arranging access to cases– presence of trainee social worker

may impact negatively on case– Difficult to suspend disbelief in real

role-play situations

Situations

• Client - Brighton University• Issue - Helping student nurses to

calculate correct dosage and drip rates (and overcome maths anxiety):– Student nurses may lack maths skills

(and have concomitant anxiety);– Based on prescriptions received,

often need to calculate correct dosages, convert between units, etc.

– Obvious importance of getting it right.

Situations

• Client - Brighton University• Issue - Helping trainee police

officers to conduct drug searches:– Role-play is not realistic– Students know a “drug” has been

planted– It can be embarrassing to search

one’s classmate

Machinima

• Machinima

Relating practice to theory

• Project can be viewed in terms of process and product

• Process:– Process as an example and

extension of problem-based learning

Relating practice to theory

• Process:– Boundary issues:

• Institutional• Curriculum• First and second life roles and

persona• Face to face and distance

delivery modes• Safety and risk-taking

Relating practice to theory

• Product (were learning experiences truly innovative?)– Use of virtual space to:

• situate action• make implicit concepts explicit• make abstract entities tangible• make real-life entitles more

abstract• signify progression through

difficulty levels• signify different types of learning

Relating practice to theory

• Product (were learning experiences truly innovative?)– Role-playing simulations:

• Collaborative• Immersive

– Ludic, playful, engaging elements

– Mixing of real/virtual

Where next – ILE 09

• Focusing on projects across the Sussex campus

• Moving to testing SL learning experiences with real student cohorts

• Raising awareness of Second Life across campus

Discussion/Questions