Mark Karstad, eLearning CoordinatorDubai Women’s College, Higher Colleges of

Technology. United Arab Emiratesmkarstad@gmail.com

2L: Buy Short or Dubai Karas

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Dubai is one of seven emirates in the United Arab Emirates.

Islam is the official religion which goes back some fifteen centuries.

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Culture is a mix of Bedouin (Arabic for ‘apart’) who were/are camel and goat herders, fishermen and pearl divers.

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Most recently, the population is made up of laborers for Dubai’s rapid growth and tourists from all over the world.

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� Two development booms in Dubai: in the 90’s and since 2002. Before that… not much was here!

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� November 22, 2007: Dubai Women’s College, Higher Colleges of Technology, purchased their island.

� January 2008: A virtual campus has been created to provide a ‘safe’ learning environment for students.

What did we learn?

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Women attending DWC have generally lived VERYVERYVERYVERY sheltered lives due to their culture.

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The HCT college system screens web traffic and blocks sites from student access which are deemed as inconsistent with cultural values. ◦ In fact, for all residents in the UAE, the UAE’s telecommunication Ministry blocks inappropriate web sites.

�Second Life is not filtered as it is not html based.

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Despite the Growth, Dubai is still conservative!

� New technologies seen as educational opportunities for extending and enriching student learning.

◦ The ‘risks’ inherent to 2nd Life –> visual material seen as inconsistent with the cultural beliefs of this Islamic nation.

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Filtering web traffic policies presented challenges…

HCT filters web traffic for its 20 000+ users through a single IP

This conflicts with a Linden new-account policy of no more than 25 accounts from a single IP per week.

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Train the Trainer Approach� Six students volunteered -- introduced to:◦ The ‘risks’ inherent to 2nd Life◦ getting an account◦ Navigating in a 3D interface◦ Changing their appearance◦ Search for things◦ Teleporting and moving (mini-map and map)◦ Inventory◦ Taken on a tour to four safe locations -- safe in that they were not adjacent to ‘skin’ images. BBC, Islam on-Line, NOAA and Weather Island.

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� The 6 trainers were given L$ 1000 and asked to find something to purchase and support their purchase with a ‘need/purpose’. then share this with class. Unanimously, they chose to purchase wedding dresses. ☺

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� Although students are covered within the walls of their college, they chose to not cover their avatars.

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� Teacher Quote: “I had two students who wouldn’t participate in SL. This was a very distracting influence for the rest of the class ... Xxxx, said her husband wouldn’t allow her.Xxxx, is very conservative and was not at all comfortable with [Second Life].

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� I took a number of students to visit ‘Islam OnLine’ which contains a model of Mecca.

� During our visit another avatar approached us and said the following:[3:43] xxx xxx: Tell your student to cover herself

[3:44] xxx xxx: even if it is SL this place still represents Mecca

� The student did not argue with the other person and we moved on shortly after.

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� VIE Objective:◦ To introduce DWC students to other students and cultures in non-F2F situations where travel is not possible, and enable interaction. This is intended to expose student to global issues and broaden their global awareness.

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� Background:◦ Female English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students from Dubai Women’s College join other college students from around the globe in international cultural exchanges in Second Life.

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� During one of the VIE, the corresponding institution came dressed, representing their own cultures, so our students dressed accordingly as well.

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� As soon as the event was completed, the students changed.

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� Provide students with support in building objects and setting up businesses on the DWC Island.

� Encouraging students and faculty to explore ideas to extend the use of 2L.

� Partner with an on-campus student-run businesses to create an ‘exchange house.’Students who do not have a credit card will be able to exchange UAE Dirham for Linden $.

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� Using 2L in a conservative Middle East society exposes many social and cultural dichotomies.

� Purchasing our own island permitted us to control access to a region in 2L were we can control who interacts with our students, thus providing a ‘safe learning environment’.

� There needs to be an opt-out option for students.

� 2L proved itself to be a VERY effective medium for exposing our students to other cultures and moving them a little further along the way to becoming global citizens.

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� Dubai Women’s College, Higher Colleges of Technology:

Search under ‘Places’ for DWCDWCDWCDWC.

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slanguages.net

SLanguages 2008

This presentation was given at

SLanguages 2008

TheTheTheThe Conference for Language Education in Virtual Worlds