Second Life: The Educational Possibilities of a Massively Multiplayer Virtual World (MMVW)
David
M. Antonacci and Nellie Modaress
EDUCAUSE Southwest Regional Conference, February 16, 2005
(Austin, Texas)
EDUCAUSE Western
Regional Conference, April 26, 2005 (San Francisco, California)
Kansas Technology Leadership Conference, December 7,
2005 (Topeka, Kansas)
1.
Welcome and Introductions
Welcome to our presentation today. I’m Dave Antonacci,
and I work at the University of Kansas Medical Center where I’m the Educational
Technology Liaison for our School of Allied Health and School of Nursing.
I'm also a student at the University of Missouri-Columbia, working on my doctorate
in educational technology. My co-presenter is Nellie Modaress. Nellie also
works at the KU Medical Center as an Educational Technology Liason for the
School of Medicine where she works with faculty to integrate learning technologies
into their classroom and online courses.
Today we are looking at the educational possibilities
of Massively Multiplayer Virtual Worlds (MMVW). We’ll look specifically at
Second Life, a MMVW created by each user and simultaneously played by hundreds
of people around the world. We’ll start by briefly examining educational games
in general, and then we’ll focus on Second Life, explaining and demonstrating
some of its technical capabilities and how it can be used for teaching and
learning.
Our goals are to increase your awareness of current
developments in computer games and simulations and to help you begin
considering the educational possibilities of these emerging technologies, But
most importantly, we want to encourage you explore virtual worlds, like Second
Life, so you will be prepared to teach with this technology as it continues to
mature.
2.
Emerging Technologies for Learning
The EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) is focused on
learning transformation within higher education through the strategic use
of information technology. The ELI has identified games and simulations as
an emerging key theme affecting teaching and learning.
"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 ELI'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." (http://www.educause.edu/Games/1008)
3.
Constructivist Learning
As the ELI statement highlights, you cannot be passive
in a game or simulation. 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.
And, we will use a constructivist perspective as we examine the educational
possibilities of virtual worlds.
|
|
Constructivist |
Traditional |
|
Knowledge |
Constructed,
emergent, situated in action or experience, distributed |
Transmitted,
external to knower, objective, stable, fixed, decontextualized |
|
Reality |
Product
of mind |
External
to the knower |
|
Meaning |
Reflects
perceptions and understanding of experiences |
Reflects
external world |
|
Symbols |
Tools
for constructing reality |
Represents
world |
|
Learning |
Knowledge
construction, interpreting world, constructing meaning, ill-structured, authentic-experiential,
articulation-refection, process-oriented |
Knowledge
transmission, reflecting what teacher knows, well-structured,
abstract-symbolic, encoding-retention-retrieval, product-oriented |
|
Instruction |
Reflecting
multiple perspectives, increasing complexity, diversity, bottom-up,
inductive, apprenticeship, modeling, coaching, exploration, learner-generated |
Simplify
knowledge, abstract rules, basics first, top-down, deductive, application of
symbols (rules, principles), lecturing, tutoring, instructor derived and
controlled, individual, competitive |
From: Jonassen, D. H., Peck, K. L., & Wilson, B.
G. (1999). Learning with Technology: A
Constructivist Perspective. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill.
4.
Highly Social Experiences
In constructivist learning, collaboration is
important, as knowledge is socially constructed. One common misconception of
gaming is a lone player, secluded in front of his or her computer. This is not
the reality with modern computer games. Most games have a community of players
who interact socially to discuss strategies, share experiences, and provide
encouragement via websites, discussion boards, blogs, and wikis. Involvement in
these gaming communities, sometimes called meta-gaming,
can greatly improve a player’s game performance and enjoyment.
Multiplayer games provide additional social
experience within the game itself. In multiplayer games, several people can
play the game at the same time using networking and Internet technologies. You
can play the game with others, against others, or both. With massively
multiplayer games, hundreds or even thousands of people can be playing at the
same time.
This significantly changes the nature of a computer
game. You are no longer playing in an a
priori world, constrained and biased by the game developer. The actions of
other people make the game open-ended and add complexity and unpredictability.
Several massively multiplayer games have evolved to
provide even more user interaction and influence. In Second Life, users can
create their own world. They can create complex objects, such as a house or
motorcycle, by combining simpler objects, such as a cube or sphere—called
primitives or prims. Additionally, objects can be programmed for action using a
scripting language, with more than 200 commands. In Second Life, the door on
your house can open when you touch it, and you can sit on and race the
motorcycle you designed and built.
Second Life goes beyond a game, where players make
moves and receive outcomes. It is a virtual world, created by and inhabited by
its users.
5.
Demonstration of Changing Avatar Appearance
Given that background, let’s turn our attention to
Second Life. In many virtual games, your avatar is your physical representation
in the game world. And, your avatar can be customized to look as you would like
him, her, or it to look.
Video demonstrating avatar's change of appearance
(This demonstration shows how the physical attributes
of an avatar, such as hair length or color, can be changed. Also, it shows how
the avatar’s clothing can be customized with clothing created by the user or
purchased from other users.)
While attending an event in Second Life, I noticed
all the other avatars at the event had black skin and since then I have met
very few black avatars. In a world where we can be anyone and do just about
anything, I think it's interesting that some kind of racial segregation or
separation exists. What might I learn by being Black in my Second Life? By
being a woman in my Second Life?
Despite the open possibilities virtual worlds
provide, we still remain constrained by our own real-life experiences and
expectations. I've kept a reflective journal as I've played Second Life, and
I've learned many things about my real-life by reflecting on my Second Life
experiences. I've found that some things are just different enough in Second
Life that I notice them, though they remained hidden to me in real life. You
and your students may have similar insights while reflecting on their virtual
experiences.
6.
Demonstration of Movement
Your avatar can move around in Second Life. You can
walk using the keyboard arrow keys: forward, backward, left, and right. You also
can fly, which is faster than walking. And, to quickly get to distant
locations, events, and people, you can directly teleport, just like on Star
Trek.
Video demonstrating how you can walk, turn, and fly
What might your students with physical disabilities
do in Second Life, which would be difficult or impossible for them to do in
real life? What would they learn about themselves and others if they could
interact in a world where no one looked down on them because they were in a
wheelchair and no one assumed they were mentally handicapped because they had
physical challenges?
7.
Visioning Mechanism
Although we could continue to show you many
interesting technical capabilities of Second Life, we are primarily interested
in teaching and learning using these virtual worlds. To assist you with this,
we developed a framework for organizing these possibilities, which you can use
to identify learning activities in your content area and connect those
activities to potential applications of virtual worlds.
Basically, both Second Life and real life consist of
people and objects, and these two things can interact in three possible
combinations: person-person, person-object, and object-object. A lot of what we
teach can be categorized into these combinations.
8.
Person-Person Interaction Demonstration: Patient Exam
Role-Play
For example, doctors, nurses, and other medical
professionals often interact with patients, and students in these professions
need practice applying patient-encounter strategies. Role-playing is a common
learning activity for this.
To demonstrate how Second Life can be used for role playing, we’ve created our own Second Life medical clinic. Although this demonstration could be used in a number of ways, such as to illustrate effective strategies, we will be presenting it as a role-play scenario, where each student takes the part of the doctor, nurse, patient, or patient spouse. With this approach, students can see patient encounters from different perspectives, which would be difficult or impossible to do in real life. After the role play, students would discuss and reflect on their experience and its application to future patient encounters. Let’s watch…
Video demonstrating role-playing capabilities
(In this demonstration, please note the use of chat
for communication, animations for gestures, medical clothing and equipment
for a realistic setting, and wound texture applied to the patient’s leg. Also,
note that the actors during this demonstration were located in England, Holland,
Seattle, and Kansas City, but they were all virtually present in the clinic
exam room.)
In addition to medical education, many other fields
require person-person interaction and would have similar educational
applications for Second Life. In your field, do you teach students how to
interact with other people? Would your students learn anything if they
designed, built, and inhabited a medieval village?
9.
Person-Object Demonstration: Making a Park
People also learn how to interact with objects, which
includes designing and building objects. We teach people how to operate a piece
of equipment or use an instrument. We teach people how to build homes, make jewelry,
and create sculpture. Second Life can provide a virtual world where your
students can apply concepts and principles, providing a realistic problem
context.
In this demonstration, our student is given the
problem of designing and building a park on donated land. To solve this
problem, she must apply course content from her urban planning class. After
creating her park, she can describe what she did and explain her reasoning
behind her decisions. The instructor and other students can walk through her
park, evaluating it and offering suggestions for improvements.
Video demonstrating building skills
(In this demonstration, our student creates a sidewalk
from a thin rectangular prim with a concrete or brick texture. Then, adds
a bench, tree, and flowers from her inventory. Finally, she sits on the bench.)
Does anyone here teach courses where your students
design and build things, such as engineering, architecture, interior design,
fashion, art, etc? If so, you might be able to use a virtual world to present a
problem scenario and then have your students create their virtual solutions.
Additionally, Second Life has an internal economy,
which may provide an opportunity for your business students to run a real
business, selling products or services to real people, not to a hard-coded
computer simulation. Several radio stations exist in Second Life as well,
possibly offering real radio broadcasting and programming experience to your
students.
10.
Object-Object Demonstration: Orbiting Satellite
People learn how objects interact with other objects.
For example, we teach students how mountains are formed when two tectonic
plates collide, how hazardous chemicals get into our water supply, and how a
car is built in an assembly line.
You can use Second Life to illustrate and explain
physical and procedural processes. By creating objects and scripting them to
interact with each other, you can simulate many processes. You also could have
your students interact with your simulated process, changing variables and
observing the results, to better understand the relationships among the
objects. Or better yet, have your students use Second Life to create the
simulation themselves.
Video demonstrating satellite orbiting
(In this
demonstration, note how satellite orbiting can be demonstrated and explained.
With a more complex simulation, the velocity of the satellite projectile could
be changed, so the satellite crashes into the planet or escapes from its gravitational
field. Also, note how lighting in Second Life provides us with an opportunity
to better understand lunar phases.)
While virtual worlds have many possibilities for
teaching and learning, these possibilities can be organized into three activities
often taught in our courses: person-person, person-object, and object-object
interactions. Once you identify a course topic falling into one of these
interaction combinations, you may have a topic which could be taught using a
virtual world.
11.
Audience Ideas
We hope we’ve given you some ideas about teaching and
learning using MMVW, such as Second Life. But, we’re also interested in your
ideas as well. What are your thoughts on this? Is there anything in your field that
you think could be taught in a virtual world?
12.
Getting Started
If you’re interested in Second Life, you can get a free
membership from their website at www.secondlife.com. If you want to own land,
you’ll pay a monthly fee starting at $9.95.
Please list “Pietro Maracas” or “Sophia Gilman” as
your referring source. You’ll have at least one friend in Second Life, and
we’ll split the referral bonus with you.
13.
Potential
Barriers
We also want you to be aware of several barriers to
using Second Life. First, it has fairly high-end hardware and connectivity
requirements, especially for an appropriate graphics card. Some aspects of
Second Life, such as building and scripting, have steep learning curves, which
reduce class time for learning course material.
Student encounters with other Second Life users can
be problematic. Some student groups have upset other users by not fully
disclosing the purpose of their visit and not obtaining consent from the other users
before using information from their visit. Also, because Second Life is an
adult-only world, some areas have mature content and activities, which might be
offensive to some students.
Linden Labs, the company behind Second Life, has a
program called Campus Life, which provides some assistance to faculty wanting
to teach courses using Second Life. This can include free student accounts and
land for building.
14.
Closing
Thank you for your time. We hope we have met our
goals for this presentation: to increase your awareness of current developments
in computer games and simulations and to help you begin considering the
educational possibilities of these emerging technologies.
Again, we want to encourage you explore massively
multiplayer virtual worlds, like Second Life, so you will be prepared to teach
with this technology as it continues to mature. We look forward to meeting some
of you again in your Second Life.