February Forum: Faculty Adoption of Virtual Worlds

[Sue Dass]

Gartner (July, 2011) says VWs are still in the trough of disillusionment. What do you say? Why? What does the research say about faculty adoption?

[Laviece Ward]

 

My Webinar on Engaging students in virtual classes went just fine. I wonder how many faculty in our huge CC system will be moved to work with SL. Here is a picture of me giving the webinar. Does this headphone and mike make me look fat? Hummm....I like my avatar better. But she was busy that day, so I had to drag out the worn out first life body to the college.

The real issue is that we have way to many students and huge loads of classes to spend any time on "frills" like reaching out to students with extra activities in SL

The only reason I have a bit of time, is that my "family" is all grown and I have the support of my Tech Husband who helps me have the best computer equipment at home. If I had to try this stuff on the equipment at my college it would not work out as much of the equipment is too small and too old to run much of anything.

Plus, SL works best when the students are available, which is nights and weekend nights! Sigh!

Laviece

 

[Salwa Khan]

Sabine, are you willing to share the kinds of activities in SL that you have planned for your asynchronous course?  Will you be giving students an orientation session--and if so how do you handle that?  Is it a pre-designed module that students go through, or do you personally conduct the orientation? I'm curious because orientation for students was a big issue in my study.

Sabine Reljic / Willow Shenlin said:

What a great conversation. In March I will start teaching a class that will be strictly online and asynchronous. I have so far more experience with synchronous teaching, but thanks to the permanence of virtual worlds objects I am not too concerned about not being able to leave bread crumbs of knowledge and activities for students that would supplement the institution's traditional LMS. Not to mention that my 3DGameLab experience last summer was essential in learning about asynchronous teaching. I wonder what the research says about synchronous and asynchronous teaching and then in correlation with VWs as platforms for learning.

[Sabine Reljic / Willow Shenlin]

I still need to iron out a few wrinkles with my institution (which has eyes only for its LMS right now) and then it will be my pleasure to share my SL resources and experiences ref. this class.

[Sue Dass]

So glad your webinar went well! Please let us know if anyone was motivated into investigating virtual worlds and why. I think it would help us help others. BTW, nice images of your class! I'm glad you shared. Also, you mentioned 'accessibility' issues as an organizational barrier. Gentle Heron (SL) gave a presentation at the ARVEL CAVE on accessibility issues and recommendations. The hour long session is in the Archives on the Ning under the in-world discussions; it was held about a couple of weeks ago. I found it very interesting and timely for those not aware of these issues.

Laviece Ward said:

 

My Webinar on Engaging students in virtual classes went just fine. I wonder how many faculty in our huge CC system will be moved to work with SL. Here is a picture of me giving the webinar. Does this headphone and mike make me look fat? Hummm....I like my avatar better. But she was busy that day, so I had to drag out the worn out first life body to the college.

The real issue is that we have way to many students and huge loads of classes to spend any time on "frills" like reaching out to students with extra activities in SL

The only reason I have a bit of time, is that my "family" is all grown and I have the support of my Tech Husband who helps me have the best computer equipment at home. If I had to try this stuff on the equipment at my college it would not work out as much of the equipment is too small and too old to run much of anything.

Plus, SL works best when the students are available, which is nights and weekend nights! Sigh!

Laviece

 

[Sue Dass]

The end of the month is almost here and while I had the time, I thought I’d summarize what we’ve said so far on faculty adoption of virtual worlds. I subdivided the comments into four categories:

Advantages to Using a VW: Good for sick and snow days; Makes the learning process fun along the way; Live chats are an effective way to get the most important points across about an assignment; More closely replicates face to face than text-only technologies, hence developing social presence behaviors which results in greater sense of connection; Engages the students in a more personal, vivid manner and gives teacher better rapport with class; Thought: what does research say about synchronous and asynchronous teaching and then in correlation with VWs as platforms for learning?

Personal: Sense of personal relevance; Benefits outweigh the barriers: those who see a genuine benefit are willing to work through technology issues; Beliefs in the "advancement of learning"; Desire to reach students and provide a personal touch to online classes

Technical Issues: Technology integration overall is small, let alone virtual worlds; Learning curve is high

Organizational Issues: Time was a resounding issue; Huge class loads and too many students to spend time on "frills"; Accessibility and “technology” issues; Need training; Need class release time; Funding and salaries decrease as loads increase

 

Are we missing any other points about faculty adoption of virtual worlds? How have others been successful "marketers" for faculty adoption and/or leadership buy-in?

[Larysa Nadolny]

What an interesting conversation! A great group of people to post my request....

I work at a university and currently have an NSF/HP grant to develop science and ethics simulations in the virtual world.  

I already have two islands, but I'm looking to apply for more funding to make a "STEM+" World.  I want to make a world that has a strong community but also appeals to students with gaming elements.

The application is due next week, and I need your feedback!  If you have a minute, please answer these questions:

1. In your opinion, what would get students to stay/come back to a STEM+ World?

2. What type of game-like challenges would you be interested in seeing in this world?

3. Are you interested in piloting this world with students? If yes, name, school, # of students

4. Other feedback?

Thank you very much! 

Larysa Nadolny, West Chester University, USA

[e-mail]

[Sabine Reljic / Willow Shenlin]

Core game elements that experts have identified that engage and attend to learning: Choice, Failure, Progress Bars, Multiple short and long term aims, reward all successful efforts, prompt & meaningful feedback, elements of uncertainty/awards, socialization.

These elements are basically repeated in the TED Talk with Tom Chatfield on the 7 ways to reward the brain.

 

1. Experience bars measuring progress: access to your growth stage> control, power.
   
2. Short and long term aims: breaking the goal into multiple tasks.
3. Reward efforts: mistakes are incomplete learning processes. Don’t stop the learning process by punishing mistakes. Implement a reward schedule.
4. Rapid and frequent feedback: to link action to consequences.
5. Element of uncertainty: neurological gold mine > excitement
6. Windows of enhanced memory: memory and confidence
7. Other people: We are social animals afterall. Peer collaboration leading sophisticated player behaviors.

[Sabine Reljic / Willow Shenlin]

I would also suggest to talk with Dr. Wendy Keeney Kennicutt (SL: Julia Tiraxibar) who's done a fantastic job teaching college level chemistry in SL. She presented for us inworld last year in March (you can find a short abstract of her presentation at the bottom of the page , see discussion #21). Her SL parcel has great interactive objects.

Also, contact the Dream Realization team. They do amazing work in teaching math inworld. Contact either Rebecca or Cooper (http://dreamrealization.ning.com/). Cooper is tweaking some phenomenal interactive portals in SL.

Of course, there are all the work already done with virtual patients and hospital simulations that help teach med students from bedside manners, ethical approaches and hospital management to practice actual medical events such as birthing, etc.

All of those would be great contacts to ask them what works and what did not before you decide to develop the sim on your land.

Good luck. Keep us posted.

[Larysa Nadolny]

Great resources, thank you!

[Connie Ritzman]

This has been a really productive discussion.  Thanks for the thoughts and resources.