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“ Good to use for virtual consultation time.”. Second Life activities for and beyond the technical writing classroom. Dean A. F. Gui, Lan Li, Dora Wong, Gigi Au Yeung The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Contents. English 317 & the original virtual project Focus of this study - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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SECOND LIFE ACTIVITIES FOR AND BEYOND THE TECHNICAL
WRITING CLASSROOM.
“Good to use for virtual consultation
time.”1
Dean A. F. Gui, Lan Li, Dora Wong, Gigi Au Yeung
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Contents2
English 317 & the original virtual projectFocus of this study
Student comments Examples of possible learning opportunities for
English 317 Other English courses Cross-curricular activities
Second Life for the first year studentThe virtual English DepartmentConsiderations and conclusionVirtual show-and-tell?
English 317: English for Technical and Web-Based Writing
Learning Outcomes3
Understanding discourse features of technical documents and online writing and their communicative functions
Building up confidence and competence in human computer interaction
Enhance linguistic and computer literacy Building up problem solving and teamwork
skills
The Virtual Poster Project4
• Joint work with the PolyU Virtual Campus team
• Building up the site in the virtual Exhibition Hall
• Setting up evaluation mechanism in SL
• Orientation by PolyU Virtual Campus Team
• Virtual note card comments, iFeedback, focus group
Goals of Present Study
To show the creative abilities of students from a technical writing course to think beyond the technical writing classroom (Fox, Arena, and Bailenson, 2009)
Showing the quick adaptability of first year university students—many of whom have little to no knowledge of Second Life, and who tend to view virtual worlds simply as another “game” (De Lucia et al, 2009)—in creative thinking and learning (Craft et al, 2007)
Consider the relationships between learning activities and the in-class poster task, and the implications of these activities for a potential virtual English department
5
Comments Relevant to Creative-Learning
Overall student participation
Comments relevant to creative-learning
iFeedback 66 10
Focus Group
29 6
Virtual note cards
47 0
“What suggestions do you have on using Second Life in our learning?”
“Apart from displaying posters, voting and commenting on others’ work, what other ways could use Second Life for the subject E317?”
“For what other types of learning activities do you think SL could be potentially helpful regarding your future university studies and career goals?”
6
Student Comments on Learning Possibilities in Second Life
“What suggestions do you have on using Second Life in our learning?”
“Apart from displaying posters, voting and commenting on others’ work, what other ways could use Second Life for the subject E317?”
“For what other types of learning activities do you think SL could be potentially helpful regarding your future university studies and career goals?”
7Reading/writing
Feedback
Visual media
Inter-dept/institution
Library Teaching
newspaper reading
extra consultation time
showing video/films in a TV/theatre format
college fairs (other unis do it)
an archive of relevant in English 317 information resources
virtual tutorial session
reading e-books/e-articles
online discussion
find fashion information
an archive of resources for all English subjects, where students can give comments and share their own findings and experiences
see how people write
evaluate others' works
meet each other online in RPG way
virtual lectures/seminars
comment on peers' work privately without any pressure or hassle
Learning for the TWBW classroom
newspaper reading reading e-books/e-articles see how people write consultation time online discussion (text and oral) evaluate others' works comment on peers' work privately
without any pressure or hassle showing video/films in a TV/theatre
format an archive of relevant artefacts in
English 317 information resources an archive of resources for all English
subjects, where students can give comments and share their own findings and experiences
virtual tutorial session virtual lectures/seminars/presentations
8
Learning possibilities for other English CoursesEnglish 407: Introduction to Intercultural Communicative Competence
reading e-books/e-articles see how people write consultation time online discussion (text and oral) evaluate others' works comment on peers' work privately
without any pressure or hassle showing video/films in a TV/theatre
format an archive of resources for all English
subjects, where students can give comments and share their own findings and experiences
virtual tutorial session virtual lectures/seminars/presentations
9
Learning Beyond the English Classroom
college fairs (other unis do it) find fashion information meet each other online in RPG way
10
The TWBW Classroom: an archive of resources, where students can share their findings and
experiences
English 317 group user guides
3D, interactive
Communal Constructivism and Knowledge-Building (Girvan & Savage, 2010)
11
Intra-Department Possibilities: showing video/films in a TV/theatre format
English 407 group filmRequires appropriate
permissions
The use of SMoodle, via a navigation panel to broadcast a lecture in Quicktime (De Lucia et al, 2009)
12
Inter-Department Possibilities: college fairs
PolyU Virtual Campus opening / SLActions 2009
Postgraduate Research Symposium 2010: Language and Cultural Studies in the Pearl River Delta
Department fairs for sister schools in the Delta
13
1
2
Student First-Year Acclimation14
Second Life is therefore a potential platform to acclimate first year students to the university environment and to test-drive student-generated creative learning possibilities (Carr et al, 2007)
The Larger Picture15
So what have we done since these studies? Create a virtual English department
Exhibition area Interactive/3D “Van Gough” student work (Ward &
Sonneborn, 2009) Work labs (?)
Information kiosk Drama lab
Stage manipulation Dancing AIs
Meeting and classroom area Moodle available for participating courses Language labs (?)
Considerations & Conclusions16
Student-centered creative learningFirst year acclimationFuture learners learning from
comments/experiences/artefacts of previous learners (communal constructivism and knowledge-building) (Girvan & Savage, 2010)
Better preparation for Second Life might induce more creative learning possibilities from students
Virtual show and tell17
References
De Lucia et al. (2009) “Development and evaluation of a virtual campus on Second Life: The case of SecondDMI.” Computers & Education. 52: 220 – 233.
Carr, Tonny et al. (2007) “Weathering wikis: Net-based learning meets political science in a South African university.” Computers and Composition. 24: 266 – 284.
Craft, A., Cremin, T. Burnard, P. and Chappell, K. 2007. “Teacher stance in creative learning: A study of progression.” Thinking Skills and Creativity. 2: 136 - 147.
Fox Jesse, Arena Dylan and Bailenson Jeremy N. (2009) “Virtual Reality: A survival guide for the social scientist.” Journal of Media Psychology. 21 (3): 95 – 113.
Girvan, Carina and Savage, Timothy. (2010) “Identifying and appropriate pedagogy for virtual worlds: A communal Constructivism case study.” (in press) Computers & Education.
Herold, D.K. 2010. “Mediating Media Studies – Stimulating critical awareness in a virtual environment.” Computers & Education, 54 (3): 791-798.
Ward, Thomas B., and Sonneborn, Marcene S. (2009) “Creative expression in virtual worlds: Imitations, imagination, and individualized collaboration.” Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. 3 (4): 211 – 221.
1. Image courtesy of HK PolyU Media Relases 2. Image courtesy of Yahoo.com Images
18
Thank You
Q & A
19