Virtual Worlds: Second LifeDr. Laura

NicosiaAssistant Professor

English Department

AJ KeltonDirector

CHSS Technology Services Unit

College of Humanities and Social Sciencesat Montclair State University

What do you already know about

Second Life?

Why talk about Second Life?

What is Second Life?

Started in 2003

“Second Life is a 3-D virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents.”

A flexible space for learning and exploration

An opportunity for people to interact in a way that conveys a sense of presence lacking in other media.

Generalized rather than contextual, applicable to almost any discipline.

What is Second Life?

Second life is NOT a game - there are no rules or a fixed goal-oriented purpose.

15-20K sign ups daily - over 10.5 million total

25 - 50K residents on at one time

over $1 million spent daily (real US dollars)

Well over 200 educational institutions

Over 250 “sims” dedicated to education

What is Behind Second Life

a scaleable co-located grid of servers running Linux

Real-time 3D streaming at DSL/Cable modem (or higher)

Rigid body physics simulation, streaming positional audio (distance and direction)

Persistent desktop access - everything resides on the grid

Cross-platform portability

Infinite avatar customization - no two avatars alike

Uploadable textures, audio, Quicktime video can play in-

world.

International Language Support - chat and communicate in

local languages, inc. Asian character sets. European

keyboards supported.

Technical Requirements

•Highest speed connection (no dial up)

•Best Graphics Card (specific)

•Windows 2000 / Mac OS X 10.3.9

•800MHz Pentium III / 1 GHz G4

•512 MB RAM

A Universe of Virtual Worlds

Second Life

Active WorldThere

SL Teen Grid

WhyvilleToontown

Sims OnlineVirtual EarthHome

MetaverseProtospher

eMuse

Coke Studios

Sora CityDreamville

TowerChatTravelerHabbo Hotel

The ManorMokitownCybertown

Virtual Ibiza

Voodoo Chat

Playdo

Worlds.com

MooveThe Palace

A Universe of Virtual Worlds• 22 virtual world platforms listing over 11.8 million

users, and that only includes numbers from 7 of the 22

•18 virtual worlds for Teens and Tweens listing over 52.3 million users from 12 of the 18

•15 virtual worlds for kids listing over 16.7 million users from 9 of the 15

Do the math: 55 virtual platforms w/ 80.8 million users

Show me the money

“We don't see any slowing in the market adoption of virtual worlds technologies and expect investment in the space to continue. In fact the market is growing significantly, with the rate of adoption of virtual worlds increasing as the technology matures and has more to offer both consumers and enterprise customers.”

Christopher Sherman

Executive Director of Virtual Worlds Management

Pedagogical Validity for Teaching with Second

Life

First, we recognize…There is significant media hype focused on the “darker sides” of the in-world experience - violence, sex, drugs and rock & roll

The label of “gaming” poses an image problem for SL insofar as its potential uses in secondary and/or higher education

Without proper directions, goals and objectives, SL is as aimless and as pedagogically bereft of meaning as any other poorly designed or poorly deployed classroom lesson

However, withconstructivist pedagogies

ComprehensionComprehension soars when millennials soars when millennials engage with their avatars and co-journey engage with their avatars and co-journey through the learning environment’s through the learning environment’s unfolding episodes and processes (Dede)unfolding episodes and processes (Dede)

Learning communitiesLearning communities are fostered are fostered

Collaborative knowledge-building Collaborative knowledge-building develops develops and cognitive capital is distributed among and cognitive capital is distributed among groups and individualsgroups and individuals

Meet Students in “Interesting” Places

Immersion yields enhanced Immersion yields enhanced motivationmotivation

Hands-on, constructivist practices pose Hands-on, constructivist practices pose challengeschallenges and peak and peak curiositycuriosity

MMUVEs MMUVEs reach learnersreach learners who do not succeed in who do not succeed in conventional classroom settings, as well as conventional classroom settings, as well as “traditional” learners“traditional” learners

The use of MMUVEs allow for delivery of The use of MMUVEs allow for delivery of sophisticated content in sophisticated content in context context andand application application

http://muve.gse.harvard.edu/rivercityproject/

Dede’s research Dede’s research onon

MMUVEs showsMMUVEs shows

Second Life permits the use of

unconventional educational settings

and hands-on experiences that

would be difficult/impossible in Real Life. Such as…

Dante’s Inferno and Linden Hills

Second Life provides

Guided Inquiry,Guided Inquiry, where experience is where experience is central to learning central to learning

ScaffoldingScaffolding of in-world prior of in-world prior experiences through seeking, experiences through seeking, sieving and synthesizing sieving and synthesizing experiencesexperiences

DecentralizationDecentralization of the class, where of the class, where knowledge is created across a knowledge is created across a community rather than delivered community rather than delivered from an individualfrom an individual

In the process, we… Share and exchangeShare and exchange resources, resources, cultural knowledge, stories and cultural knowledge, stories and experiencesexperiences

Engage in Engage in social explorationsocial exploration using a using a multiplicity of perspectives and points multiplicity of perspectives and points of viewof view

Apply Apply critical thinkingcritical thinking and problem- and problem-solving in context and in processsolving in context and in process

UnlearnUnlearn assumptionsassumptions about about communities and the “Other”communities and the “Other”

Exposure to the

“Other”

But, how do we teach content and skill sets using

Second Life

Second Life:

Cybergogy and

Cyberpraxis

Pedagogical Pedagogical considerations:considerations:

AsynchronousAsynchronous participation and deep participation and deep reflection at each user’s pacereflection at each user’s pace

SynchronousSynchronous virtual exchanges to virtual exchanges to heighten immersion and foster heighten immersion and foster interactionsinteractions

A combination of A combination of mediated,mediated, situated situated learning-environments (teacher learning-environments (teacher established challenges) and established challenges) and free, evolvingfree, evolving situated learning environments (to situated learning environments (to experience virtual exploration)experience virtual exploration)

If you build it,they will come

Construct 3-D Sites

Autonomous Learning

Students visit the always available site

They enter the learning space

Explore and orient themselves

Encounter your assigned tasks

An effective virtual An effective virtual learning environment learning environment

(VLE) may:(VLE) may:SupplementSupplement face-to-face interaction face-to-face interaction

Be used Be used in combinationin combination with other with other multi-media (e.g. videoconferences multi-media (e.g. videoconferences embedded within the SL platform or embedded within the SL platform or concomitant with SL)concomitant with SL)

Be an adjunct to Be an adjunct to BlackboardBlackboard or or another more linear, asynchronous another more linear, asynchronous interactions with discussion groups interactions with discussion groups and blogs and blogs

Hold Meetings In-world

Ultimately, We MustMake the environment part of the learning experience—not an end unto itself

Enable metacognitive reflection on the SL experience

Construct feedback loops and self-renewing frameworks to inform our praxis

Investigate the pedagogical successes and failures of using Second life for our classes and disciplines

Now that we have the site, content

and tasks:Who owns

the material

?

Copyright vs. Creative Commons

Intellectual Property Issues:

•Valid for 70 yrs past the death of the creator

•Grants permissions that are “all-or-nothing” (Public Domain or Creator Ownership)

Copyright

Creative Commons Licensing (CC):

• Offers the option for full permission to modify, copy, and use (with attribution)

• Allows creators to reserve some rights

• Permits varying levels of public use:

• May specify “No derivatives”

• May restrict “commercial” uses

• May require “Share-Alike” uses

Institutions of Higher Ed such as:

•MIT uses OpenCourseWare for all graduate and undergraduate courses (Non-Commercial, NoDeriv, Share-Alike permissions)

•Rice University uses Connexions (Full attributions only)

How do I use CC?• Go the website:

http://www.creativecommons.org

• Answer a few questions

• The site indicates appropriate license for your needs

• Site provides HTML code to add to the online work page

• Code includes logo that links to CC page for use instructions

There are nagging questions…

Question 1:

What is acceptable attribution?

Question 2:

What is the definition of “commercial” use?

Question 3:

Must attribution accompany the image

immediately?

Question 4:

If I use Share-alike item, must my entire project be Share-

alike as well?

How will these rulesbe enforced?

Question 5:

For discipline-specific For discipline-specific uses of SL in the class:uses of SL in the class:

““101 Uses for Second Life 101 Uses for Second Life

in the College Classroom”in the College Classroom”

Dr. Megan S. Conklin—Elon UniversityDr. Megan S. Conklin—Elon Universityhttp://trumpy.cs.elon.edu/metaversehttp://trumpy.cs.elon.edu/metaverse

The CHSS Pilot Project

Recreate What Exists

Walk into a story

Always “On” Content

Traditional Spaces

Create Something New

Engage Your Students

Challenges

Genome Island

The Second Louvre

NOAA

Business

Spaceport Alpha and Delta

Renaissance Island

San Francesco Assisi

InfoIsland

Princeton

The Sistine Chapel Vassar

Vassar Island

The Lost Gardens of Apollo

Abbott’s Aerodrome

?