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Evaluating a Second Life Course Experience

Evaluating a Second Life Course Experience. Faculty: Dr. Lisa Dawley Avatar: Mali Young. Learner: Dr. Alice Bedard-Voorhees Avatar: MustangQuimby Messmer. A Learner Evaluates and the Faculty Responds Presented at AECT, November 2008. Background.

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Evaluating a Second Life Course Experience

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  1. Evaluating a Second Life Course Experience

  2. Faculty: Dr. Lisa Dawley Avatar: Mali Young Learner: Dr. Alice Bedard-Voorhees Avatar: MustangQuimby Messmer A Learner Evaluates and the Faculty Responds Presented at AECT, November 2008

  3. Background • Reasons for offering the course • Reasons for taking the course

  4. Project Background • This is an evaluation of a learner’s experience taking ED 597: Teaching and Learning in Second Life, a semester-long, graduate level course. • Blended, semester-long course: Blackboard, In-World • Final Project: Learner chose to evaluate the course experience with Badrul Khan’s Flexible E-Learning Model.

  5. Khan’s E-Learning Model(Evaluation Model) (Khan, 2008. Used with permission)

  6. Why Khan’s Model Systems model for e-learning that considers how a new offering integrates with various campus or organizational units and services. Unique ethical component. Desire to test the model against a newer e-learning application.

  7. Leader of the effort? Instructional Readiness? Institutional offering or partnership? Financial Readiness? Institutional Services? Institutional Considerations ( Used with Permission)

  8. Institutional Checklist: ED 597 • Online deliveries already being offered • BB orientation offered by campus • Statement of prereqs for SL were in marketing materials • Dept. empowered to create course, and budget for it • Chair/Instructor created policy and advised other units (Dawley, Personal Communication, Dec. 9, 2007) • Registration Facilitated by Department

  9. Management Considerations People, Process, Product are key and are further defined by oversight, design, implementation, and ongoing Updates (Khan, 2005b) What people will do and what skills sets are needed: oversee, make, communicate, facilitate, maintain. P3 (Used with Permission) )

  10. Management Checklist: ED 597 • Oversight: Chair • Design: Chair, additional instructor • Facilitate: Chair, guests, grad assist. • Combined Roles: learners served as designers, project managers, and builders during various course assignments.

  11. Technological Considerations Software Hardware Support Digital Literacy Sharable Objects Policy (Khan, 2005b) (Used with Permission)

  12. Technological Checklist: ED 597 • Blackboard Needs provided by Boise State (Boise, 2004) • SL Technological and pre-requisite skills appear in the syllabus; • Linden Labs provides tech support. • System:http://secondlife.com/corporate/sysreqs.php • http://blog.secondlife.com • Prerequisite skills: • Use of camera controls • Ability to fly, walk, and teleport • Knowledge of communication tools (IM and chat) • Basic building skills (create prims, add textures and content) • Basic inventory management (can find items, wear • clothing, make a note card) • It is recommended that participants have at least 10-20 • hours of prior participation in Second Life before the • course begins (Dawley, Syllabus, 2007b. Used with permission).

  13. Technological Checklist: ED 597 (Page 2) • Permissions allow for sharing digital objects. • Dr. Dawley defined policy.

  14. Pedagogical Considerations • Needs Analysis • Media • Instructional Techniques • Motivation • (Provisions are made for blended deliveries.) • (Khan, 2005b) (Used with Permission)

  15. Pedagogy Checklist: Ed 597 • Needs analysis: Instructor’s prior experience and learner negotiation • Five types of Learning: “Participation, Reflective Action, Teaching, Social Network Participation, Final Synthesis Project” (Dawley, 2007b, Assignments and Grades).

  16. Guest Presenter

  17. Presentation Prior to Teleporting to Simulations & Debrief

  18. Team Presentation

  19. Constructivist Exploration in Literature Alive

  20. ED 597: Pedagogical Checklist • Blackboard provided documents and communications and discussions out-of-world • SL inventory allowed learners to store items and informational notecards pertinent to use right in Second Life • SL inventory permissions allowed learners to share items with class • SL sandbox provided a synchronous area to practice skills, rehearse presentations • BBoard was a more reliable platform, and SLife was not as reliable (ie. voice, general grid).

  21. Ethical Considerations(Community Provisions) • Social and Political Influences • Cultural Diversity • Bias • Geographical Diversity • Learner Diversity • Digital Access • Etiquette • Legal Issues • (Khan, 2005b, p,. 293) (Used with Permission)

  22. ED 597: Ethics Checklist • Geographic diversity (time zones) • Digital Access: Not all could access voice grid • Digital Access: Blocked Downloads of SL • Etiquette: Turning off the mic when not speaking • Legal Issue: Disclaimer about exposure to mature content

  23. Interface Design (Used with Permission) Content Design Navigation User Friendliness ADA (Khan, 2005b)

  24. ED 597: Interface Design Checklist • Uncomplicated, clear content in BB: weekly overviews and assignments • While we used the chat for a hearing-impaired guest, screen readers don’t work in chat • R and D groups are working on access for visually and kinesthetically restricted users. (Sierra, 2007; Foster, 2007)

  25. Resource Support Materials and Services outside of the immediate class experience:technical supportadvisinglibraryobject repositoriestutorials (Used with Permission)

  26. ED 597: Resource Support Checklist

  27. Evaluation Considerations Overall Evaluation: How did it go? Where are there problems? Learning Assessment: How do we know what they know? Course Evaluation: Learner Satisfaction with experience and facilitation Faculty evaluation (Used with Permission)

  28. Overall: Immersive, constructivist activities and interactions with others are the value Grid could be undependable, inaccessible (ADA) Assessment: Rubrics-defined performance; Project based, reflective self-evaluation Faculty Evaluation: Excellent facilitator and communicator; demonstrated flexibility and enthusiasm Satisfaction: Learners self-selected the model and learned “Plan B” thinking; valued interaction and immersion Improvement: Overview of Virtual Worlds ED 597: Evaluation Checklist

  29. Student Comments • “Life changing” • Each platform should be exploited for its strengths • Social networking • “Fantastic learning” • Workload was heavy • “Guidance introduced me to an education community” • “Gained learning confidence”

  30. Conclusions • Value of the Khan Model for future development • Other Observations

  31. References Boise State University (2004). Information for enrolled students. [Online] http://itc.boisestate.edu/orient/orient.htm Dawley, L. (2007a) Persistent learning webinar. Retrieved on December 11, 2007, from http://edtech.acrobat.com/p17101188/ Dawley, L. (2007b). Syllabus for EDTECH 597: Teaching and Learning in Second Life. Boise State University. Boise, Idaho. Foster, A.L. (2007, October 15). Thought-controlled avatars emerge in Second Life. The WiredChronicle. Retrieved on December 11, 2007, from http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/2454/thought-controlled- avatars-emerge-in-second-life Khan, B. (2005a). E-learning quick checklist. Hershey, PA: Information Science Publishing. Khan, B. (2005b). Managing E-Learning Strategies: Design, Delivery, Implementation and Evaluation. Hershey, PA: Information Science Publishing. Khan, B. (2003). The e-learning framework. Retrieved on December 11, 2007, from http://asianvu.com/bookstoread/framework/ Khan, B. (2008). E-Learning Model Graphics. Permissions received October 8, 2008, from McWeadon.com. Linden Research, Inc. (2007). Second Life blog. Retrieved on December 12, 2007, from http://blog.secondlife.com/ Madison Area College Technical College. (2005). Screen readers and blackboard for students. Retrieved on December 10, 2007, from http://matcmadison.edu/trc/blackboard/Accessibility/screenreaders_students.htm Ohio State University. (2007). Ohio university Second Life campus community standards. Retrieved on December 12, 2007, from http://vital.cs.ohiou.edu/vitalwiki/index.php/Ohio_University_Second_Life_Campus_Community_Standards Sierra, M. B. (2007). IBM project: Second life accessible for blind people. Techpin: Daily Tech News. 24 2007. Retrieved on November 13, 2007, from http://www.techpin.com/ibm-project-second-life-accessible-for-blind-people/#comment-1205

  32. Contact Info • avoorhees@coloradomtn.edu • Lisa.dawley@boisestate.edu

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