Using 3D Virtual Avatars to stimulate Pro-environmental Behaviour through the Curriculum: Engaging...

Simon Bignell (Psychology) & Rosemary Horry (Environmental Sciences)

LTA Conference, UOD Buxton 2013

Using 3D Virtual Avatars to stimulate Pro-

environmental Behaviour through the Curriculum:

Engaging Students on Sustainability in Times of Change.

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The Emergence of Virtual Worlds in Higher Education

• The Hype Cycles from Gartner provide a graphic representation of the maturity and adoption of technologies and applications.

http://www.gartner.com/

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Photo of Virtual Lecture

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Virtual Neonatal Ward: for a Developmental Psychology Module at University of Derby

Video of Neonatal Unit (1m16s): http://youtu.be/sEd9s0toHuk

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Project webpage: http://previewpsych.org/

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“We worked as a team... this seemed much more valuable than just writing an essay or having a discussion.”“I was thinking more about the real life Psychology because the avatars represented real people with real psychological problems.”

“...the content was easy to access and the tasks very enjoyable.”

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Download available here:

http://previewpsych.org/BPD2.0.pdf

Best Practices DocumentBest Practices in Virtual Worlds Teaching: A guide to using problem-based learning in Second Life

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Education for Sustainable Development

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• Two Sustainability / TEL Projects:– With Rosemary Horry (Environmental Sciences) funded by the Higher

Education Academy.– With Zaheer Hussain (Psychology) funded by the Higher Education Academy

Psychology Network.

• Evaluated different methods of embedding ESD in the curriculum.• Used Second Life to rate people’s pro-environmental behaviour and

attitudes to ‘green’ issues such as recycling, energy use and resources.

• Participants reported more pro-environmental behaviour a week after seeing the videos.

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• In the problem-based learning scenarios we used programmed avatar interactions to lead the students to ask the question of ‘what is Sustainability?’

• The scenarios had some concrete examples from a contemporary lifestyle perspective.

• We constructed a series of learning scenarios for staff and students that highlighted the motivational and behavioural factors that impact on sustainability (e.g. resources, recycling and energy efficiency).

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• Scenario 1. Resources: • Small groups of students find out who

has been using the most water in the virtual household and why, by interacting with the avatars and each other.

• Issues such as beliefs and behaviour about showers vs. bathing, washing the car and using the dishwasher were explored along with wider issues of sustainability of resources.

•

Example project video (3m20s):http://youtu.be/N_0FNyUX1Uo

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• Scenario 2. Recycling: Students are tasked to establish what the issues are with one particular member of the family who is refusing to engage in pro-environmental behaviour.

• Issues such as beliefs about recycling paper, card and metal were explored in an attempt to find out why they think recycling is a good idea but nevertheless fail to engage in these activities.

•

Project video (2m26s):http://youtu.be/i4FOB6Yf_HQ

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• Scenario 3. Energy Efficiency: Students worked in teams to answer questions about home energy use (e.g., leaving things on standby), replacing light bulbs with low wattage equivalents, whether using a microwave is better than the oven or the energy consumption of a washing machine at 30°C rather than 40°C.

• These were contrasted with global issues of sustainable development across different contexts as the problem-based scenarios evolved and the students found out more from each of the virtual avatar family members.

Example project video (2m20s): http://youtu.be/EusqbduUejg

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• xxxx

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Educational Visual Storylines – ‘Cartoons’

• Uses a virtual world to create educational cartoons for Teaching and Online Learning.

• Rapidly develop and deploy to modules.

• Import straight into our Virtual Learning platform.

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‘JISC - Moving into Virtual Worlds - Emerging Practice in a Digital Age’

• With Aston University• JISC resources feature

commentary and reflection on pedagogical applications of virtual worlds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aTvE2OBQHc

Emerging Practice in a Digital Age JISC VIDEO http://www.jisc.ac.uk/emergeresource

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How to visit the University of Derby Second Life Islands: 1) Create and avatar: http://tinyurl.com/GETAN-AVATAR2) Install Second Life: http://tinyurl.com/Download-SL 3) Teleport to us: http://tinyurl.com/DERBYSECONDLIFE

Virtual Campus Flythrough (1m6s): http://youtu.be/GQnyb87Zj0o

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Using problem-based learning within 3D virtual worlds

– Published book chapter in with Dr Vanessa Parson (Sunderland University, Previously at Aston).

• Parson, V. & Bignell, S. (2011). in Hinrichs, R and Wankel, C (Eds), Transforming Virtual World Learning: Cutting-edge technologies in higher education, Vol. 4, pp. 245–265. Emerald Group Publishing Limited: Teynampet, India.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Transforming-Learning-Cutting-edge-Technologies-Education/dp/1780520522

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Contact Dr Simon Bignell

Centre for Psychological Research University of Derby, UK

s.bignell@derby.ac.uk+44 (0)1332 593043 (ext: 3043)

www.MiltonBroome.com www.PREVIEWPsych.org

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Second Life Video Playlisthttp://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLX4ftfKp-z4EAKaTUO9ALkvbbjCTYJj0G

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Neonatal Ward Video

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Resources Video

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Recycling Video

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Energy Efficiency Video