Of Student Teachers and Avatars: Working Towards an Effective Model for Geographically Distributed Learning Communities of Pre-Service Educators Using Virtual Worlds.

With greater distribution of learning communities through the expanding use of online and distance learning, researchers emphasize focus on the effective use of specific technologies on student preference and achievement. One such technology drawing significant interest in scholarly and practical circles is the use of Multi-User Virtual Environments (MUVE), with the more common environment being Second Life, a product of Linden Labs, This research project, having gone through a pilot stage and under current implementation, addresses preference and effectiveness through a mixed-method research endeavor, examining forming communities using Second Life’s environment for small group discussions and large group seminar presentations for pre-service student teachers in a teacher education program. Methods of data collection and analysis include survey comparative analysis (using Keller’s Instructional Materials Motivation Survey and Rovai’s Community Survey Instrument), observation, semi-structured interview and comparative analysis of achievement on a content-based assessment

Fostering science teachers' design for inquiry-based learning by using a serious game

There is wide consensus internationally amongst scientific communities that Inquiry-Based Learning can be employed to foster acquisition of clearly defined, 'certain' knowledge such as the conceptual foundations of a scientific discipline. Alternatively, it can be used to engage students with uncertainty, multiple perspectives and contestation through exploration of scientific problems. In order to enact inquiry-based learning effectively, science teachers need to be aware of how to design inquiry-based learning activities and the most effective ways of facilitating inquiry-based learning in the classroom. This paper, presents Sim AULA, a serious game for helping science teachers to create engaging activities for involving students in inquiry-based quests. The paper proposes a cyclical model comprising seven inquiry steps or phases and translates these steps into practical inquiry-based activities performed in the serious game. Sim AULA's overarching architecture is presented in the context of the in-game inquiry-based learning activities, which will be implemented and evaluated in a number of schools across Europe

An analysis of second life in foreign language learning and teaching: exploring its potential

XVIII Jornades de Foment de la Investigació de la Facultat de Ciències Humanes i Socials (Any 2013)The use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in language learning and teaching has greatly increased in the last decade. Among the different technological tools used in the learning process, virtual worlds have gained popularity among educators and students (e.g. Warburton, 2009; Wang & Burton, 2012; Zhang, 2012; Duncan et al., 2012). This article explores the different possibilities the virtual world Second Life (SL) offers in the language learning process. SL is an online virtual world where residents all over the globe can interact through their avatars by which they can collaborate and learn in an experimental way. This paper offers a theoretical approach about the potential of SL in foreign language education. Firstly, it explores the use of this platform in education, explaining its origins, evolution and current changes. Secondly, it will focus on the advantages and disadvantages of the use of this virtual world for learning languages, paying special attention to the different learning environments, the students’ motivation, and the educational activities amongst others. This paper will conclude with a section of pedagogical implications in which an activity will be proposed to show the different implications of SL in a foreign language classroom. Students will have to work on four different activities that will be based on one of the main four language skills that are established by the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR): writing, speaking, listening and reading. After explaining the activity, special attention will be paid to the strengths and weaknesses of this specific task

Virtual Worlds - in Elementary School & College Classrooms

This paper presents case studies of an elementary school class and a graduate college course designed to provide students with the opportunity to explore the use of virtual worlds—primarily Minecraft and Second Life—for teaching and learning. Based on the findings, implications for the design of virtual world classes are provided

Evaluating user experience in joint activities between schools and museums in virtual worlds

This version of the article has been accepted for publication, after peer review (when applicable) and is subject to Springer Nature’s AM terms of use, but is not the Version of Record and does not reflect post-acceptance improvements, or any corrections. The Version of Record is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-014-0367-y[Abstract] The use of virtual worlds in the school is an extraordinary tool to engage the children in the process of e-learning. Although one can find many examples that describe the use of such a technology in teaching regular educational contents, very few examples replicate other classical outdoor educational activities such as a visit to a museum, including the remote interaction with the docents of the visited institution. In this work, the results of a study of the user experience of three groups of children within a flexible virtual space that connects schools and museums are described and evaluated. This integrated educational space not only includes the exploration of exhibition areas but also the telepresence talks on the part of museum personnel, simulations, educational work in the form of virtual quests, all within a multi-user virtual environment based on OpenSim and simultaneously accessible from the different institutions involved in the experiment. The results obtained could serve as a starting point for a future implementation of this platform for connecting educational institutions and museums across an entire city.This version of the article has been accepted for publication, after peer review (when applicable) and is subject to Springer Nature’s AM terms of use, but is not the Version of Record and does not reflect post-acceptance improvements, or any corrections. The Version of Record is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-014-0367-

Exploring a learning ecology: teenagers' literacy practices in a Teen Second Life project - Schome Park:Paper presented as part of a symposium: Researching the Literacy Practices of Children and Young People in Virtual Worlds

This paper examines the literacy practices of teenagers in a Teen Second Life project, the Schome Park programme, with the specific aim of investigating connections students explicitly made between their learning in the virtual world project, and their experiences of schooling. Digital literacies, as all literacy practices, can usefully be approached through an ecological perspective (Barton, 2007). The notion of ecology provides a metaphor to assist us in thinking about "how the activity – literacy in this case – is part of the environment and at the same time influences and is influenced by the environment" (Barton, 2007, p. 29). This connects well with Barbara Rogoff's (1997) proposal that learning can be regarded as transformations in the patterns of participation in joint activity. Thus, taking a sociocultural approach to the teenagers' interactions expressed through their literacy practices in a combination of communicative domains, each with their own affordances, we are enabled to consider evidence of connections the students themselves choose to make with their experiences of schooling. The methodology for this paper combines 2 modes of analysis: corpus linguistics and discourse analysis. Corpus linguistics techniques include comparisons of word frequencies, the identification and analysis of keywords and examinations of collocates and concordances. Exemplar texts are then selected for more fine-grained discourse analysis in order to further investigate texts evidencing complex relationships between learning in the virtual world project and in school, as expressed by the teenagers. The data for this study are constituted by records of activities logged in two domains: A. Logs of synchronous 'chat' and instant messaging while inworld. B. Discussions posted on the community's forum. The corpus linguistics investigation was revelatory of a complex web of discourses concerning schooling and learning in Schome Park. One dichotomy was particularly powerful, contrasting the environments in terms of what the virtual worlds environment in terms of affordances contrasted against the perceived affordances of schools: including new curriculum topics, opportunities for leadership, empowerment in a community through the sharing of expertise and so on. However, close analysis also shows the manifold and varied ways in which students drew on knowledge and experience gained in schools when tackling various problems 'inworld'. Finally, there are many interesting traces of ways in which students spontaneously reported taking learning back from the virtual worlds project into their school learning lives. This paper and the experiences of the project more generally assist in meeting Barron's (2006) suggestion that reaching understandings of how learning takes place across settings, and of the possible synergies involved and obstacles, may be useful to educators especially if they are interested in finding ways to supplement or extend school-based opportunities. Furthermore, the paper demonstrates strengths and limitations of corpus and discourse analytic approaches to digital projects that generate vast data records

Action-based Learning Assessment Method (ALAM) in Virtual Training Environments

Specialised and high priced simulators for surgical training, chemical labs, and flight training can provide real-world simulation in a safe and risk-free environment, but they are not accessible for the broader community due to costs for technology and availability of experts. Thus, training scenarios shifted to virtual worlds providing access for everyone interested in acquiring skills and knowledge at educational or professional institutions. Even in this context, we still expect a detailed formative feedback as would have been provided by a human trainer during the face to face process. Whilst the literature is focusing on goal-oriented assessment, it neglects the performed actions. In this paper, we present the Action-based Learning Assessment Method (ALAM) that analyses the action-sequences of the learners according to reference solutions by experts and automated formative feedback

Experimental study on consumer-technology supported authentic immersion in virtual worlds for education and vocational training

Despite significant and rapid technology improvements, educators have frequently failed to make use of the new opportunities to create more authentic learning scenarios. Virtual worlds offer an attractive proposition to create 3D representations of real business environments to provide an authentic learning activity for higher education students to take part in. However, the controls and displays are still clunky and unnatural, reducing the opportunity for students to immerse themselves in the event and focus on experiential learning. To overcome this challenge we examine the role of using a headset display that allows the user to change perspective with a flick of the head, improving their ability to ‘feel’ part of the environment, and thus increase their immersion in the activities that they are engaged in through more realistic control and improved perspective in the virtual environment. A series of experiments are conducted comparing the technology to established technologies and the level of control exerted by the learner (e.g., they either ‘control’ or they ‘passively observe’ as someone else controls). These experiments provide evidence that consumer-technology can improve immersion and equip educators with an affordable instrument to present classes that learners ‘take more seriously’