Some examples of Second Life used as a learning environment
I've shown you two
snapshots of learning environments in Second Life, and now I'd like to share a
few more examples. The two you have already seen are more or less polar
opposites. The Berkman example illustrates a very formal space with lots of
structure, while the conversation area is more of an environment for informal
learning and for practice.
I've mentioned that
Second Life can be an excellent environment for technical training. One of the challenges
for trainers who deliver content dealing with mechanical and electrical systems
has always been to find a way to simulate these systems. In Second Life you
have access to the Linden Scripting Language and you can import images and
animations from other software applications in order to create simulated
systems. You can view a video of such a simulation on YouTube, at
http://www.youtube.com/selbyevans. Look for the “Technical training” video, which
should be the first vignette on the site and may be the one loaded in the
viewer when you connect to this URL. As the narrator explains, this video is
from a Second Life site that a technical college in Utah owns. The school drives learners to the
Web for the most basic conceptual information and then back in-world for
richer, interactive pieces such as this simulator.
Earlier I showed you a
Second Life lecture hall affiliated with Harvard Law
School. The Berkman Center actually operates an extension
school for law students from all over the world. An important part of a
lawyer's training is in the courtroom. Since having a law student in an actual
courtroom in an actual case is a difficult opportunity to arrange, risky for
the client, and potentially involves a lot of “down time” during recesses, law
schools have traditionally used mock trials and moot courts to simulate the
experience.
Figure 3 shows
a court room “set” on Berkman
Island where law students
can role-play prosecution, defense, witnesses, judge, and jury. (Please pardon
the apparently missing or broken posts in the railing – sometimes not
everything renders properly in screen shots!) Let me repeat: this is role
playing in e-Learning, and the payoff is huge for the law students who take
part.
Figure 3 Court Room, Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law
School
This is what the School
says about the environment shown in Figure 3: “The Extension School
audience experience will be mediated by participation in a 3D virtual
environment called Second Life. Even to many seasoned computer and Internet
users, the idea of a 3D virtual environment may sound more like a thing of science
fiction or a video game. In fact, it is a cutting edge development in teaching
technology. The Second Life environment for Harvard Extension
School participants
permits us to foster a sense of community among students taking the course at a
distance. It provides a rich medium for students to interact directly and
satisfyingly with their instructors and their fellow students. With the aid of
the Second Life environment, the Harvard
Extension School
students will participate in a semester-long small group project in which they will
develop an argument for presentation at a moot court with another group of
students as their adversaries. We will hold the moot court arguments in the Second
Life environment with Harvard
Law School
students acting as judges.”
(http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/cyberone/administration/course-description) (Editor's Note: As of February 23, 2010, this article appears to have been removed from the Web.)
In this example, notice
how the design blends classroom, real-world instruction, group projects, and
Second Life simulation to provide a powerful outcome that is undeliverable in
any other way in an extension course. If you have a requirement similar to this
for sales training, negotiation skills, diversity training, or any other
communication- based skill, Second Life might be all you need.
Another way to
facilitate learning in Second Life is to represent concepts as physical
objects. At the Socrates campus of eLumenata
University, residents can
learn to use the many menus in Second Life by strolling through a virtual tutorial
garden (see Figure 4). Each of the objects that you see on each level of the
upward-spiraling garden is one of the menus. The user can click on the menu to
receive instruction in its use. Users can take these levels in any order they
desire, skipping the levels that address skills they already have.
Figure 4 Tutorial Garden, Socrates Campus, eLumenata University
Two formats that work
well in the real world are somewhere in the middle of the formal-informal
continuum. These are the panel discussion and the colloquium. Not surprisingly,
Second Life supports these formats too. Figure 5 shows an area in the
InterLingua section of Cookie
Island with a design that
residents use for both of these purposes. InterLingua is another area designed
for persons who are learning to speak English and who want an opportunity to
practice. The small red robot visible on the far side of the area is actually a
job aid that helps residents set up and adjust their Voice Chat – another way
to learn. The conversation area in the figure is the site for panel
discussions, colloquia, and other purposes, such as poetry readings, discussions
by authors of novels, and artist presentations. (Cookie also supports a
thriving population of writers and poets from around the world.) There are large
group gatherings here at least once a week.
Figure 5 Town Center, InterLingua Area
Some help getting started
Getting started in
Second Life is very easy. Go to http://www.secondlife.com and download the
client. Install it, connect to the Internet (Web browser not required to be
running), and open Second Life. You will need to complete some registration
details to set up your account.
With your account set up, connect to
Second Life. Your first destination will be a tutorial area, where you learn to
move, communicate, and adjust your appearance. Your first avatar will be your
choice of a generic male or female or a “furry” (you'll see what a furry is when
you get there). Don't worry too much over this, you can change everything
later.
After you have completed as much of
the tutorial as you feel you need, you can start to explore. If you click on
“Map” at the bottom of your Second Life screen, you will be able to enter a
destination name or coordinates and teleport there. You can always come back to
the orientation area later, or you can use the Tutorial
Garden at eLumenata University.
Here are the addresses and coordinates of the places I've mentioned in this
article:
- Berkman Island:
Enter Berkman as the name of the destination and teleport. You can also enter coordinates 123/219/24
and arrive at the same place. Give XPecto's regards to Magnolia Beaumont if you
should meet her.
- eLumenata
University: Enter Socrates as the name
of the destination, or coordinates 130/91/23 if you want to go directly to the
start of the Tutorial
Garden. Avatars labeled
“Instructor” can be very helpful. If you see Xenon Darrow or Contessa Marquez
there, tell them XPecto sends his regards.
- Cookie Island
(InterLingua and ESL area): Enter Cookie as the name of the destination, or
coordinates 26/136/21. If you happen to meet Thinkerer Melville, say hello (he
owns the island), with XPecto's compliments. (Any avatar you see wearing a
“Hobo” tag is a helper for newcomers – if you have any questions, just ask
them. Hobo is another group of volunteers with the mission of assisting
residents to use Second Life to its full potential.)
Conclusion
This has possibly been
an information overload for you, but I hope it will prove helpful as you
explore Second Life. It takes a couple of days of practice to get used to the
in-world experience, and your avatar may be walking into walls, flying into
buildings, or falling off of cliffs for a couple of weeks before you master
movement. I would focus on learning to navigate and to communicate before
trying to build things. Residents are generally very helpful, especially if you
show an interest in what they are doing and introduce yourself. Always ask for
help.
In the next article,
which will appear later this month, I will interview some of the residents who
are making use of Second Life and its potential for learning. In my opinion,
this environment is one that will be around for a long time, and one that you
will be glad you took the time to investigate. In the meantime, I hope to see
you around Second Life. Just look for a gray-haired, balding avatar named
XPecto Tomorrow – you never know where he will turn up, and neither do I.
