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LTEA conference June 2008 Sheffield © The authors
Introduction to Second Life for Inquiry-Based Learning Lyn Parker andSheila Webber University of Sheffield
LTEA conference June 2008 Sheffield © The authors
Outline• Second Life: introduction• IBL and SL• An inquiry-based
intervention in SL• Feedback from students,
and reflection from course tutors
• Educational possibilities• Questions
LTEA conference June 2008 Sheffield © The authors
LTEA conference June 2008 Sheffield © The authors
Second Life• 3D online virtual world, also known as a MUVE
(multi-user virtual environments) • Most things created by SL residents: SL
fashion designers, architects, bakers, animal makers ….
• Avatars- 3D representation of yourself – free to signup and can live on freebies, but need Linden dollars if want to own land, buy clothes etc.
• Communication is through Chat, Voice and/or Instant Messaging
LTEA conference June 2008 Sheffield © The authors
Practical issues• Time – operates on SL time which is 8 hours behind UK time• Software revisions about every 6 weeks, can cause problems• Need broadband and good computer with right graphics card• At Sheffield there is no access via our “managed
desktop” currently• Learning curve in basics of movement, etiquette &
communication inworld• Some people may have concerns about signing up for avatar
or entering a dangerous space (but possibly more those not used to social software or gaming)
• Max of about 40 avatars per region/island, and 45K on whole grid
• Inclusion issues
LTEA conference June 2008 Sheffield © The authors
Library Services in Second Life
LTEA conference June 2008 Sheffield © The authors
Infolit iSchool • Successful bid to CILASS to fund island for a
year• Island delivered early October; Sheila Webber
has done all the development work, setting up the island and different areas for her students
• Provided us with a library area • Started teaching on 22 October • Also working with Vicky Cormie, librarian at St
Andrews
LTEA conference June 2008 Sheffield © The authors
An Inquiry based intervention in Second Life
LTEA conference June 2008 Sheffield © The authors
LTEA conference June 2008 Sheffield © The authors
Context• Compulsory activity (feeding into assignment) for 1st year
BSc Information Management students in (core) Information Literacy class (21 students)
• Aims for strengthening IBL approach in programme: Help students deepen their engagement with, and
understanding of, Information Management (IM) as an academic discipline
Progress students’ research understanding and skills through levels 1 to 3
• No student had used virtual world before
• Course tutor (Sheila) 2 librarians: in Sheffield (Lyn) & St Andrews (Vickie Cormie)
LTEA conference June 2008 Sheffield © The authors
CILASS - an inquiry frameworkHow this intervention fits in
• Exploring what IBL means in different contexts: in a virtual world
• Experimenting with new ideas and practice SL as learning space
• Learning about ‘what works’ from students’ and tutors’ perspectives: interview/ reflection/ questionnaire
• Sharing ideas, critically examining what we do: like today!
• Carrying out evaluation and research: see above
• Building practice and theory: investigating genuinely new research questions in the Information Management field
LTEA conference June 2008 Sheffield © The authors
Inquiry in SL• In terms of inquiry skills, the Inf104 module overall is:
• developing information literacy• developing skills in data collection and analysis
• Students undertook critical incident interviews with SL residents (a time when they had an information need relating to a SL activity) in SL itself
• Students analysed transcripts in relation to models of RL information behaviour + audited their interview technique; for an assessment (about 40% of a 20 credit module)
• Interviewees were recruited via an email to SL Educators list – good response - international
Supporting activities
• Class activity over 3 weeks – group research/ presentations on whether SL was dangerous (in real life)
• Induction to basics of SL over several weeks (in SL)
• Practice interviewing (in real life & SL)
LTEA conference June 2008 Sheffield © The authors
Tutor reflections on this intervention• Students’ analysis of interview transcripts was
reasonable to excellent• Since was genuinely novel research area
produced some data of genuine research interest: more exciting for tutor and students
• Interviewing was more authentic experience: richer commentaries on interviewing than when was a “Real World Only” exercise
• Preparation for the tasks paid off in terms of achievement and attitude to SL
LTEA conference June 2008 Sheffield © The authors
LTEA conference June 2008 Sheffield © The authors
Tutor reflections on SL and IBL
• SL a learning (and play) space – more like a classroom space than a website
• Novelty of environment may stimulate curiosity• Transmissive approaches even duller in SL than
in Real Life – need activity rather than content and encourages PBL or IBL approaches
• Has to be pedagogic rationale with students or they may see it as just wasting time in SL
• SL experiences can stimulate reflections on RL experience
• Automatic transcripts if using chat – useful for reflection and analysis
LTEA conference June 2008 Sheffield © The authors
Student Feedback
• Some thought it was ok; some could see enhancement and interest
• Technology was major frustration for them
• SL did engage some not engaged by other activities
“I'd like to take this opportunity to say I *really* enjoyed doing the interview task - I'd say it made a great use of the advantages of Second
Life, connecting to people who might be geographically far, far away, and giving a more personal element to the interaction that plain chat would
not have had.” (student email)
LTEA conference June 2008 Sheffield © The authors
LTEA conference June 2008 Sheffield © The authors
My observations• Blank design sheet for library and activities• Replicate campus buildings or open space?• Expectations of our users – preference for
talking to a real person• Communication methods – flag up when
online• Technical expertise or buy products?• Help with searching, security, copyright,
evaluation of information, information literacy
LTEA conference June 2008 Sheffield © The authors
Educational Possibilities of SL• Movement in 3D space. • Machinima - animated filmmaking within a real-time
virtual 3D environment, tactics such as in an emergency response
• Appreciation of space - such as in the reproduction of Roma and the Globe Theatre.
• Interactions in a space - such as managing a hotel. • 3D and scale - such as in the simulation of a heart
murmur or molecules. • Role playing - avatars and interactions with different
groups such as ageing, schizophrenia, patients or customers.
• Virtual psychology and sociology. (Tom Werner, 2008)
Jeremy Kemp’s Hear Murmurhttp://sl.nmc.org/2006/09/25/jeremy-kemp/
LTEA conference June 2008 Sheffield © The authors
Werner continued• Building and design • Clothing design.• 3D exercises and testing.• Constructivist activities.• Role-play scenes from books.• Building of something to illustrate a concept.• Creative arts – writing, photography, music.• Visualisation of data – weather, planes in flight,
Standard and Poor’s 500 index, IBM Wimbledon tennis.
• Rapid prototyping and co-design - NASA CoLab
Sistine Chapel http://slurl.com/secondlife/vassar/165/91/24
LTEA conference June 2008 Sheffield © The authors
Questions?
Contact Details:
Sheila [email protected]
LTEA conference June 2008 Sheffield © The authors
ResourcesAdventures of Sheila Yoshikawa
http://adventuresofyoshikawa.blogspot.com/Kay, J and Fitzgerald, S. (2007) Second Life in Education
http://sleducation.wikispaces.com/ Kemp, J (Ed) (2007) Second Life Education Wiki: SimTeach
http://www.simteach.com/wiki/index.php?title=Second_Life_Education_Wiki
Parker, L. (2008), “More questions than answers: the reflections of Maggie Kohime, a virtual librarian in Second Life”, ALISS Quarterly, Vol. 3 No 2, pp13-17. http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/3624/2/More_questions_than_answers-1.pdf
Parker, L. (2008) Second Life: the 7th face of the library? Program v42(3) Special issue on new technologies (in print)
Second Life Educators List (SLED) https://lists.secondlife.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/educators
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