Virtual 3D Teaming An exercise in Second Life

1. Virtual 3D TeamingAn exercise in Second Life Steve Mahaley, Duke CE Robin Teigland, SSE November 2007

2. Purpose • This document presents a pilot seminar in which a virtual 3D teaming exercise was conducted in Second Life on November 12, 2007. • The exercise was developed for use in various masters and executive education programs by • Steve Mahaley, Director of Learning Technology at Duke Corporate Education (www.dukece.com) • Robin Teigland, Associate Professor at the Stockholm School of Economics (SSE) (www.hhs.se) • The exercise is still in the developmental phase, and this was the very first time that it was conducted. • The participants of the 3D exercise were Master of Science students in the Global Entrepreneurial Leadership (GEL) course offered by the Stockholm School of Entrepreneurship (www.sses.se) taught by Dr. Lena Ramfelt.

3. Contents • Virtual 3D teaming exercise participants • Exercise preparation • Delivery of exercise • Debriefing and feedback • Powerpoints used in class to present the exercise

4. Seminar faculty participants • GEL Course Faculty • Dr. Lena Ramfelt, lenar@it.kth.se • Uchenna (Benjanmin) Chinwe, chinweub@yahoo.com • Second Life Teaming Exercise Faculty • Steve Mahaley, Director of Learning Technology at Duke CE, steve.mahaley@dukece.com, more info at http://www.dukece.com/our_people/staff/Mahaley_Steve.htm • Robin Teigland, Associate Professor at the Stockhlm School of Economics, Robin.Teigland@hhs.se, more info at www.knowledgenetworking.org • Staffan Åkerblom, Program Director at IFL at SSE, staffan.akerblom@ifl.se

5. Exercise student participants • The participants were Master of Science students • Enrolled in the Global Entrepreneurial Leadership (GEL) course offered by the Stockholm School of Entrepreneurship (SSES) • Students were from various regions of the world • About 50% European and 50% Asian with a few North Americans • Technology backgrounds • About 30% women • Originally scoped at around 20 but the ‘experiment’ attracted over 50 participants • SSES is a partnership between the following: • The Stockholm School of Economics (SSE), www.sse.edu • The Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), www.kth.se • Karolinska Institute (KI), www.ki.se • The University College of Arts Crafts and Design (Konstfack), www.konstfack.se

6. Contents • Virtual 3D teaming exercise participants • Preparation • Delivery of exercise • Debriefing and feedback • Powerpoints used in class to present the exercise

7. Faculty preparation • Steve and Robin created 21 avatars for the students to use, each with its own look and inventory • A color-coded t-shirt indicating team membership • A set of specific parts for building a bridge • Steve and Robin also prepared the exercise environment • Built 4 teaming stations, including in-world Instructions Notecards for the participants to use • Located 4 people to be in-world coaches / observers to help each team answer questions (Steve, Robin, Lena, and Staffan) • Built a debriefing area in-world complete with seating and a display panel showing the debrief questions • Assigned 1 person (Coca Cooljoke aka Carl Palsson) responsible for taking video and pictures of the event as it unfolded • Prepared a ‘tips’ sheet for printing that the participants could have on-hand during the experience (found on slide 11).

8. Exercise preparation • A Bridge Kit was assembled for each team • Inside these folders was a specific sub-folder containing a limited and unique set of parts for each avatar on the team • This was designed to push the conversation among the team members regarding what resources each person had to contribute

9. Student preparation • Students were invited to participate in this experiment • A non-graded event during one of their regularly scheduled classes • Participants were given the following preparatory assignments: • Download and install Second Life and create an avatar • Explore the Second Life orientation areas and learn how to navigate and communicate • Secure a working headset for voice communication • Read a couple of articles on Second Life and virtual teaming • Research and find an article about Second Life • Click here for the full preparatory instructions

10. Contents • Virtual 3D teaming exercise participants • Exercise preparation • Delivery of exercise • Debriefing and feedback • Powerpoints used in class to present the exercise

11. Delivery of exercise • Given the high number of students interested, we decided to pair up the students • In total, we had 21 avatars operated by pairs of students (therefore, 42 students) while the remaining 14 students stayed in the classroom to observe the exercise on a big screen • After a brief introduction to the exercise in the classroom, the students were sent off in their pairs to find a location in the area with strong network connectivity • The students were also given a printed copy of the tips sheet (covering the basics of SL) and Steve’s email address to contact when they were successfully inworld. Click here for the tip sheet. • Once in place, students contacted Steve, who immediately distributed the account information for the avatars • Students then began appearing in-world and worked to find their teammates and a starting point at one of the teaming stations • Teams worked more and less effectively, some having trouble with voice chat vs. text chat, and a few that just checked out and did not participate

12. Opening the Instructions Canister • Each Team’s Instructions Canister contained an Instructions Notecard • We wanted to capitalize on the ‘adventure’ feeling of this experience by having this somewhat mysterious item for them to open

13. Sample Instructions Notecard

14. Starting the exercise Each team had the same colored t-shirt. The Swedish team had white t-shirts.

15. Building the bridges

16. A completed bridge • Each team member needed to be able to walk from the land to the platform without falling in the water • Note that this team decided to put posts in place to support the bridge • This was actually unnecessary as the parts can ‘float’ – and a good debriefing point related to assessing one’s environment and thinking outside of the box when faced with a challenge

17. Contents • Virtual 3D teaming exercise participants • Exercise preparation • Delivery of exercise • Debriefing and feedback • Powerpoints used in class to present the exercise

18. Debriefing • After all the bridges were nearly complete, we directed the students to the debriefing area in world • This was chaotic and students were too distracting and distracted • Soon it became clear that we should have the students convene in real life back in the classroom for the debrief • During the debrief, students noted a number of positive and negative aspects of the experience based on these questions • Question 1:  Take a minute to reflect on what was challenging about this exercise • What was different about doing this in Second Life as opposed to doing a similar experience in real life? • Question 2:  Tell us about how you organized yourselves • How did you decide who was going to do what?  • How did you come up with your design? • How did you find out who had what parts? • Question 3: Tell us about your individual processes • Did you experience any intense feelings (positive or negative) during the exercise? • When and why?

19. Debriefing session

20. Feedback from students • Largely, the feedback was positive • Participants discovered something about virtual worlds and what can be done in them and about some traps in those worlds that challenge teams • There was some criticism of the setup • We did not have the participants do enough in advance to be proficient with the Second Life technology • We should tighten up the range of options participants had during the event – have them appear with their team members already in place and at the same time, further limit the construction items in their inventories, etc. • Internally, we came up with a laundry list of items to tighten as well • Initial preparation, e.g., get very specific about what teaming behaviors we wish to spotlight and test and provide specific reading material on that in advance • Delivery, e.g., lots of small tweaks to manage the logistical aspects and to perhaps make an in-world debrief work • Follow-up work, e.g., have the participants more accountable for their reflections on the experience

21. Reflection assignment • Students were assigned the task of submitting a reflection piece to the course program website and to interact in a discussion forum • Steve interacted with some of the students in the discussion forum for a period of about 2 weeks post-event • Click here for one of the team assignments • Click here for a summary of the reflection feedback

22. Potential for application • What this environment and teaming exercise are clearly good at highlighting are issues related to the following: • Communication • Text and voice chat offer options, but in both cases the distance can highlight communication that is not clear or plainly absent • Clear communication becomes essential and requires more attention • Team chartering • Clarity around team mission, organization, roles and process are equally important • This is of course tightly linked to communication as without that, the chartering and clarity that could provide will not happen • Trust • This is a somewhat more subtle aspect of the experience, but it is evident that some participants questioned the motives and actions of the ‘strangers’ with whom they were arranged as teams • This environment has the potential to provide shared experience for participants that can build trust before they arrive at a face-to-face event • Innovation and Problem Solving • One rather amusing insight the participants (most of them) arrived at was that the virtual world did not require that their bridges have supporting structures • Pushing and manifesting innovative thinking can be visually evident in this space

23. Thanks!! • We would like to extend a big thank you to Lena Ramfelt and all the GEL participants!! • Also to Staffan Åkerblom and to Carl Palsson for helping out in running the exercise!

24. Contents • Virtual 3D teaming exercise participants • Exercise preparation • Delivery of exercise • Feedback • Powerpoints used in class to present the exercise