JISC

Are virtual worlds are changing how we learn? What do we have to do as teachers and facilitators to take advantage of what the environment has to offer? Are approaches to scalable virtual world learning waiting for new technologies or tested pedagogies?

The technologies are developing, but the tools are quite well developed already. Tutors and learners now need to take hold of these and use them to develop models to support interactions. It was pointed out that a lot of people currently do not have the resources, but it was felt that this problem would drop away over time, and should not be a factor in trying to understand what virtual worlds can do for us. These are environments, not systems or prescriptive services, so different models will emerge for different disciplines. There is potential for cross disciplinary engagement, at present this is being done informally among early adopters. David White observed that there is an emerging culture where the general philosophy is one of sharing and co-operation, and recommended exploring in-world and tracking down resources of interest which can often be obtained freely.

Specific examples of creating the effective environments to support learning and teaching are available in the new JISC report Serious Virtual Worlds. The full report is available at http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/publications/seriousvirtualworldsreport.aspx

What can be done to share content and resources across the educational community to reduce the overheads in using immersive virtual worlds effectively? It was noted that the culture of sharing was not as strong in HE as in FE, and it was wondered whether the potential offered by virtual worlds would encourage sharing. There seems to be an ‘important’ and ‘valid’ need for people to learn for themselves rather than take what someone else has done.

What roles can virtual worlds play in learning and teaching?

Virtual worlds offer the potential to make learning in a formal context more like learning in real life - rich, varied and collaborative. What approach should practitioners take, where should they look for resources to help them get started? One delegate gave a detailed description of some activities he has conducted with his students and the suggested gains. However, another delagate argued that these could all be achieved using social software. But it is also true that virtual worlds can integrate social software facilities as well as other functionalities and can work as a super smart videoconferencing tool.

What is the effect of virtual worlds on identity and role? Do the issues differ from other forms of online communication and collaboration? What implications are there for young and other vulnerable people. Is there a reason to tread with caution?

One delegate expressed the view that the jump to virtual worlds is potentially useful, but not, at the moment, a fundamental transformation. Another raised the point that if we are going to use these worlds without excluding learners we have to have a clear educational purpose and we have to risk assess appropriately. The risks associated with Second Life were compared with those involved in exploring a large city. It is early days for these technologies and we need more information about how they affect users. They have tremendous educational potential but with that they also bring considerable risk and it is our responsibility to ensure that this is minimised.

In-world, online and real world status was also discussed in some detail. Are virtual world societies truly egalitarian? There is no solid wall between the real world and virtual world. One participant expressed the view that a persistent identity is maintained and required if you want to build a set of relationships.

Are virtual worlds a sustainable educational technology yet?

We have seen very effective use in ‘serious gaming’ and specialist training, but development costs are huge. Also, do we understand what works and what doesn’t and for whom? Different virtual world environments offer different potential. Second Life is clunky, but it is possible to start using with low initial investment. We have a long way to go before it’s used on a large scale in education. Could we ‘enforce’ the use of such environments? Currently, the different virtual worlds available offer different types of research opportunities, and allow us and our learners to experiment and innovate. One participant felt that at present the place of SL is ‘experimental’ rather than innovative. It allows us to learn things that may help us to use virtual worlds more effectively in the future. At present, hardware capabilities and organisational policies are also an issue. There was a plea from one delegate with several years experience of Second Life and other digital games not to 'enforce' the MUVE in education. He stressed that interesting work is being done in terms of exploration of the space and its potential but we are still very much in the early stages. There are numerous questions yet to be answered (for example issues about dependence on commercial organisations such as Linden Lab, IPR, learner engagement, etc.) so we should explore important questions, experiment and conduct further research before "policy takes hold of this and kills it - another good idea consigned to the dustbin of failed educational experiments".

David White agreed. "Unless the course is build around a virtual world and the students apply on that basis this stuff can only be 'additional'. The easiest way to bring virtual worlds in to begin with is as a predominantly social space."