ILE 08 and ILE 09
Judith GoodIDEAs Lab
University of Sussex
Liz ThackrayOpen University
National Workshop in Learning in Immersive Virtual Worlds
23 October 2008
Overview
• Background• Premise and outline for
research• Practical set up• Research process• Showcase of student work• Relating practice to theory• What next - ILE 09• Discussion/Questions
Background
• Sussex Learning Network elearning conference (May 07) showcased Second Life
• Interactive Learning Environments (ILE) is an established course at Sussex with a practical component
• Collaboration between the course leader and elearning project led to a project using Second Life in ILE 2008 (funded by InQbate’s Creativity Development Fund)
Premise for research
• Second Life is a virtual environment
• Users create all of the content within the environment
• Educators can and do make use of it
• Many times they replicate currently real-life educational practices
Premise for research
• So… can we move beyond this and do something truly innovative?
• More specifically… might students, with no prior experience of delivering traditional teaching, be better placed to think creatively about learning in Second Life?
Outline for research
• As the assessment for the ILE course, have students create learning experiences:– in Second Life – which address real life teaching and
learning situations – which aim to push the boundaries
and lead to innovation and creativity in teaching and learning
Practical Set up - course
• Interactive Learning Environments (ILE) introduces students to technology enhanced learning, including:
• Theories of learning• Games and simulations• Social software for learning• Virtual reality• Augmented and embodied learning• Applications of artificial intelligence to
learning
Introducing students to Second Life • Students familiarised themselves
with SL over Christmas
• Theoretical introduction at 1st course session
• Introductory building class at 2nd course session
Project brief
• Students work in self-selecting project teams
• External clients from the Sussex Learning Network partner institutions identified a topic or issue which is difficult, dangerous, or impossible to teach in real life
• Students design a potential solution/learning experience in Second Life
Course structure – student tasks• Interview with client• Project specification and feedback• Research project and
familiarisation with SL (in parallel)• Create a learning experience in SL• Machinima presentation• Reflective documents
Situations
• Client - Open University• Issue - Helping students
understand systems diagrams:– Students often have a black and
white view of systems– Need to understand there may not
be one definitive answer– Need to understand basic concepts
such as boundaries, stakeholders, etc.
Situations
• Client - Open University• Issue - Training social workers in
mental illness or child abuse assessment skills:– geographical issues around
arranging access to cases– presence of trainee social worker
may impact negatively on case– Difficult to suspend disbelief in real
role-play situations
Situations
• Client - Brighton University• Issue - Helping student nurses to
calculate correct dosage and drip rates (and overcome maths anxiety):– Student nurses may lack maths skills
(and have concomitant anxiety);– Based on prescriptions received,
often need to calculate correct dosages, convert between units, etc.
– Obvious importance of getting it right.
Situations
• Client - Brighton University• Issue - Helping trainee police
officers to conduct drug searches:– Role-play is not realistic– Students know a “drug” has been
planted– It can be embarrassing to search
one’s classmate
Machinima
• Machinima
Relating practice to theory
• Project can be viewed in terms of process and product
• Process:– Process as an example and
extension of problem-based learning
Relating practice to theory
• Process:– Boundary issues:
• Institutional• Curriculum• First and second life roles and
persona• Face to face and distance
delivery modes• Safety and risk-taking
Relating practice to theory
• Product (were learning experiences truly innovative?)– Use of virtual space to:
• situate action• make implicit concepts explicit• make abstract entities tangible• make real-life entitles more
abstract• signify progression through
difficulty levels• signify different types of learning
Relating practice to theory
• Product (were learning experiences truly innovative?)– Role-playing simulations:
• Collaborative• Immersive
– Ludic, playful, engaging elements
– Mixing of real/virtual
Where next – ILE 09
• Focusing on projects across the Sussex campus
• Moving to testing SL learning experiences with real student cohorts
• Raising awareness of Second Life across campus
Discussion/Questions
