Volume: 12 Number: 3/2 Special Issue on Second Life Applications in Distance Education 10 THE USE OF 2 ND LIFE IN LANGUAGE TEACHING

ABSTRACT Approaches and methods are often based on the assumptions that the process of language learning is complex in nature, non linear, and active. Learners are getting more in need of communication with a second/foreign language both inside and outside the classroom while instructions are witnessing a major paradigm shift within language teaching in our century. Virtual worlds have the potential to dramatically change the traditional nature of language teaching through 3D spaces, information and communication technologies, etc… Second Life (SL) Virtual World, as supplementing language instruction, has begun to shape both teachers and learners' interaction with language. Learners are facilitated with 3D spaces in their own reality and environment, allowing them to interpret and apply a variety of experiences and tasks. SL offers rich sources and dimensions, facilitating the changing nature of learning experience

Design and Validation of quality improvement model of virtual learning in Farhangian University (mixed method)

Background and Objective:Higher education administrators are looking for ways to increase the number of courses and disciplines. While university budgets are steadily declining, they are forced to increase their distance learning courses to meet the growing needs of learners during budget constraints and recessions. Because this type of training does not require a classroom and the nees less full-time instructors. Over the past two decades, the issue of quality and excellence in universities and higher education institutions has become one of the most important issues in the field of higher education, and especially in the newly-establisehd Farhangian University. National evaluation systems are designed to evaluate teaching and learning programs in universities; and they have attracted atttention at the international level in higher education research, and interest in improving education, both nationally and internationally has increased. An increasing number of universities in Iran have started virtual education courses. Farhangian University has also provided a good platform for these trainings, but so far it has not been able to institutionalize a proper and comprehensive quality education. Therefore, due to the fact that the quantitative growth of virtual education is progressing, yet no improvement has been made in the quality of education, the researchers have taken a step towards responding to these challenges and filling the gap in research literature of the field. The purpose of this study is to design and validate a quality improvement virtual learning model using a mixed method. Methods: In the quantitative section, 608 students and professors were using stratified random sampling method. In the qualitative section, 18 professors were interviewed. The quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive methods and the grounded theory was used for the analysis of the qualitative data. The data analysis was based on open and pivoted coding. Finally, 14 main categories including quality improvement of virtual education at the University of Farhangian were investigated as strategies, background conditions, intervening conditions and outcomes. Findings: Results suggested that learning-educating activities and human actors had a positive and significant effect on improving quality and deployment strategies. Moreover, deployment strategies exerted a positive and significant impact on quality improvement. Background features also affected deployment strategies and quality improvement in a positive and significant way. The effect of deployment strategies and quality improvement on individual, organizational and transactional outcomes was also significant. Conclusion: Considering the position of Farhangian University in the present models, the fair distribution of knowledge and ignorance of instructors’ character and the positive effect of recruiting distinguished instructors are emphasized in the results section. In causes section, in discussing strategies centralized decision making is referred to; and in strategy section, development of trust making and culture building for virtual learning is referred to that includes using the experiences of other countries. In intervening conditions section, using Web 2 and Web 3, prior knowledge of learners and the combination of face-to-face and virtual education at Farhangian University are mentioned.   ===================================================================================== COPYRIGHTS  ©2019 The author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, as long as the original authors and source are cited. No permission is required from the authors or the publishers.  ====================================================================================

The role of teacher, student and ICT in enhancing student engagement in multiuser virtual environments

This paper reviews the teaching and learning practices and processes that were adopted in a study that incorporated multi-user virtual environments to support General Paper teaching and learning. The paper discusses the roles of the teacher, student and ICT in facilitating engaged learning. As this project is the first of its kind for the subject in Singapore, the paper seeks to highlight strategies that were adopted or could have been adopted to facilitate the enactment of such teacher and student roles as well as ensure effective deployment of ICT to support engaged learning

An Investigation of Special Education Teachers\u27 Perceptions of the Effectiveness of a Systematic 7-Step Virtual Worlds Teacher Training Workshop for Increasing Social Skills

This study describes how a systematic 7-Step Virtual Worlds Teacher Training Workshop promoting inquiry, experiential learning, and sociocultural theory guided the enculturation of 18 special education teachers into three-dimensional virtual worlds. The main purpose was to enable these teachers to make informed decisions about the usability of virtual worlds for students with social skills challenges, such as students with autism. Mixed-methods data analysis and triangulation were based on the analysis of seven instruments. Six of the seven steps of the intervention received high ratings indicating its viability for teachers\u27 professional development opportunitie

Have I become what I beheld? Identity enactments as the hidden Other in a Virtual World

My study explores the enactments of adolescents who took on an avatar depicting a member of a marginalised group or a hidden Other in a three-dimensional virtual environment known as Second Life. I chose to examine people with disabilities as a case of the hidden Other in acknowledgement of extant social realities in the Singapore context where people with disabilities tend to be marginalised. I discover how my able-bodied participants’ enactments reflect various ways in which they identified or did not identify with the hidden Other within their discourse; I analyse the processes by which people are alienated and integrated, I investigate shifts in identification using an identification framework I developed and I trace individual trajectories of group affiliations. I also examine the affordances and limitations of Virtual Worlds for facilitating vicarious living experiences and the role of critical literacy and dramatic techniques in affording agency in identifications. I draw evidence primarily from video recordings of the role-plays within Second Life which I supplement with evidence from semi-structured interviews and various written artefacts. I present my findings largely in the form of case studies to shed light on discursive processes, moves and trajectories in relation to representation, power and affiliations. I evaluate my curricular interventions and analytical approaches and discuss their implications for future research