Really Engaging Accounting: Second Life ™ as a Learning Platform

1. Really Engaging Accounting: Second Life™ as a Learning Platform Dr. Steven Hornik / Robins Hermano Kenneth Dixon School of Accounting University of Central Florida

2. Accounting and Second Life? • 1st Year accounting course requires mastery of: • Language • What the heck is a debit or credit or for goodness sake discount on bonds payable? • Often times what little understanding exists is wrong • Credit / Debit Cards • Your credit balance in the bank • Application of language while you learn • Imagine being shipped to Spain with just an English to Spanish Dictionary • And told you would be starting your new customer service job as soon as you arrived • It’s hard, and well its....

3. Second Life™ Research Setting 3-D Multi-User Virtual Environment (MUVE) Created by Linden Labs Is Not a game There are no inherent goals or outcomes Social Virtual World Your presence is represented by an Avatar how you communicate and interact with other avatars and objects All Content of the Virtual World is created by Residents who retain IP rights to their creations Has a working Economy based on the Linden Dollar Current exchange rate ~$250L to $1 Robins Hermano

4. Second Life™ Statistics 14,445,712 Registered Users – July 22nd 2008 1,181,521 have logged on in last 60 days Median Concurrency 51,406

5. The Problem • Shhh, Accounting can be Boring • Accounting can be Difficult • Boring + Difficult = Lack of Motivation • Lack of Motivation • High student withdrawal • Low student grades

6. A Solution • Create Student Engagement! • Engagement Can Lead To: • Increased time on task • The development of deep learning

7. But What is Engagement • We all Say, Isn’t Second Life™ Engaging? • Are we talking about the whole virtual world • The sim or sims our students work on • The content we’ve built for them • The course we’ve designed • These can all be engaging • We need to define what it is that may Engage our students

8. Some definitions • Engage the Student • “the amount of physical and psychological energy that the student devotes to the academic experience” (Astin, 1984) • the degree to which students value their learning activity (McInnis, James, & Hartley, 2000) • Study Definition • Concentration • Interest • Enjoyment Antecedents to Flow (Csikszentmihalyi , 1990)

9. Social Presence • “the degree of salience of the other person in the interaction and the consequent salience of the interpersonal relationships’’ (Short, Williams and Christie, 1976) • Telecommunications • In Virtual Worlds • Feelings of Immersion • Connection with students and content • Shared Social Learning Space • “Being There”

10. A Model Environmental Believability Social Presence Sense of Being There Student Engagement Connections with Students and Content

11. One More Factor • Student Epistemological Beliefs • How students think they learn • Technology is sometimes incongruent • Technology can have adverse consequences

12. Prior Accounting Studies • Few studies have examined Accounting students and Engagement • Hall, Ramsay, and Raven (2004) • found that changes in the course environment can lead to changes in the learning approaches taken by students • Carnaghan and Webb (2007) • found that by using group response systems (classroom clickers) students felt more engaged and actively participated more in class

13. Traditional Course (Student perspective): Learn Accounting Equation Intangible Can’t touch it, Can’t manipulate it, Can’t play with it ... Text based, Repetitive exercises, Similar to Math Class, Little Context Learn Vocabulary (Debits / Credits) Apply Vocabulary to Equation T-Accounts Second Life™ Course: Interactive Accounting Equation Tangible Can touch it, talk to it, receive feedback from it, PLAY with it Repetition can be fun? Context found within Virtual World Economy Business real and simulated Learn Vocabulary Game based quizzes, virtual prizes Apply Vocabulary Interactive T-Account You can become a debit or credit! ALL in a Collaborative SOCIAL Environment Encouraging Engagement Changing Course Environment

14. Engagement • Social Learning and Play • Playing with an Equation might lead to more time on task • Traditional time on task is as little as possible • Objects can “talk back” providing feedback throughout the process • Traditional feedback is after the fact or right vs. wrong • You can become a transaction! • You can run a business • You can...

15. Hypotheses • H1: Engaged students performance outcomes (Exam Scores) will exceed those of disengaged students. • H2: Engagement will lead to increased time on task. • H3: Spatial presence and environmental validity are necessary conditions for student engagement in 3-D virtual environments. • H4: Students who feel adverse effects from the use of Second Life™ will have lower performance outcomes (Exam Scores) then students who do not experience these reactions.

16. Research Setting • 1st Year Financial Accounting • Required Course • Spring 2008 • 194 students • Hybrid Course • Reduced Seat Time • Lectures were online (via Camtasia Studio) • Class time (once a week) devoted to working problems • Four Exams and One Cumulative Final • Four Second Life homework assignments • Three Accounting Equation • One T-Account

17. Research Treatment • Really Engaging Accounting • University of Central Florida plot in Second Life • Leased from New Media Consortium • Learning Tools • 3-D Accounting Equation • 3 Required HW assignments • 3-D T-account • 1 Required HW assignment • 3 Lecture Viewing Areas • Group Accessible White Board • Various Communication Tools

18. 3-D Accounting Equation • The model allowed students to visualize • how a debit or credit would increase or decrease the different account types • the impact that increase or decrease would have on the accounting equation • As students interacted with the model • they received feedback from the model (in the form of text chat) • what a particular debit or credit transaction was doing • whether or not a particular transaction was balanced.

20. Assignments

21. Interactive T-Account • Students become game pieces • Enables students to practice their understanding of the concept of normal account balances • Feedback is provided • Correct responses • Incorrect responses • Wrong side Correct type • Wrong type, Correct side • Wrong side, Wrong type

25. T-Account Data

26. Participants • 110 Students • 60 Male • 50 Female • Age 23.9 • 95% had Second Life™ installed • > 70% expert or advanced computer and Internet skills • 43% expert or advanced gaming • 15% gaming novices

27. ITC-Sense of Presence • Platform agnostic • 40 question, 5 point Likert scale • Four Factors • Spatial Presence • Chronbach alpha = .944 • Engagement • Chronbach alpha = .935 • Ecological Validity • Chronbach alpha = .867 • Adverse Effects • Chronbach alpha = .852

28. ITC-SOPI Factors • Spatial Presence (Social presence) • I had a sense of being in the scenes displayed • I felt I was visiting the places displayed in the environment • I felt that the characters and/or objects could almost touch me • Engagement • I felt involved in Second Life™ • I enjoyed myself • My experience was intense • Ecological Validity • The content seemed believable to me • The displayed environment seemed natural • I had a strong sense that the characters and objects were solid • Adverse Effects • I felt dizzy • I felt nauseous • I had a headache • I had eyestrain

29. Results

30. Hypothesis 1 • Mean of exam scores of Engaged vs. Disengaged

31. Hypothesis 1 – Partially Supported t df Sig. (1 tailed) Mean Difference Exam 1 1.35 108 .09* 3.160 Exam 2 .394 103 .347 1.179 Exam 3 1.608 103 .055** 5.018 Exam 4 1.403 98 .082* 3.040 Final Exam .525 96 .215 3.138

32. Hypothesis 2 • T-Account Assignment • Work with the t-account model until you get 15 correct answers in 5 minutes • Descriptive Statistics

33. Hypothesis 2 - Supported

34. Second Life™ Tools can enableStudent Engagement • Not all students were Engaged • How does Social Presence and Ecological Validity influence Student Engagement?

35. Regression ModelH3 Partially Supported Source Type III df Mean Square F Sig. Corrected Model 73.185* 96 .762 4.239 .003 Intercept 70.821 1 70.821 393.797 .000 Spatial Presence 10.711 28 .383 2.127 .076 Ecological Validity 3.501 15 .233 1.298 .322 Adverse Effects 3.141 16 .196 1.091 .443 Gender .190 1 .190 1.058 .322 Spatial x Gender 3.470 18 .193 1.072 .458 Error 2.338 13 .180 Total 931.473 110 Corrected Total 75.523 109 * R squared = .969, (Adjusted R squared = .740)

36. Hypothesis 4 • Mean of Exam scores for Adversely reactions vs. Favorable Reactions Adverse Effect N Mean Std. Deviation Exam 1: Adverse Reaction 18 72.2 3.04 Exam 1: Favorable Reaction 92 79.2 1.24 Exam 2: Adverse Reaction 16 60.8 3.46 Exam 2: Favorable Reaction 89 73.3 1.56 Exam 3: Adverse Reaction 15 64.8 3.61 Exam 3: Favorable Reaction 90 73.7 1.70 Exam 4: Adverse Reaction 15 63.3 3.41 Exam 4: Favorable Reaction 85 72.7 1.65 Final: Adverse Reaction 15 90.8 4.27 Final: Favorable Reaction 83 105.0 2.13

37. Hypothesis 4 - Supported t df Sig. (1 tailed) Mean Difference Exam 1 -2.286 108 .012*** -7.11 Exam 2 -3.159 103 .001*** -12.53 Exam 3 -2.029 103 .023*** -8.96 Exam 4 -2.219 98 .015*** -9.30 Final Exam -2.666 96 .005*** -14.20

38. Summary • Second Life™ is a tool that can create Engaging Environments • Engaging Environments can lead to more time on task and greater student performance • Social Presence may predict Student Engagement • Adverse Effects nullify benefits and result in lower student performance

39. Conclusion • Many have begun to explore this new learning platform and I believe many can see how different it is from other technological innovations that have preceded it. But in the end, while learning delivery may change, we as learners have not. • We still require a social environment where we can meet and discuss and learn with others. We still require a level of engagement with the content in order to perform well. It seems that Second Life™ has the capability to deliver these fundamental components to learning.

40. Follow my Journey http://mydebitcredit.com 6/3/2014 CTLA Anaheim August 2008 40

41. Questions? http://www.slideshare.net/shornik/second-life-a-learning-platform