[16:28] Rome: hey, wht are w do’n?[16:30] Jenny: Virtual Team Building in Second Life[16:32] Giuseppe Vielle: lol[16:32] Jenny: with Professor Mirliss and Professor Trotta[16:33] Rome: im good

Presentation Outline:

• Introduction to the course

• Decision to use a virtual world (Second Life)

• Student Introduction and Orientation

• The Design

• Challenges

• Results

• Conclusion

Course: Industrial and Organizational Psychology

• Students have limited real-work experience • Find ways to try to engage students• Bring real world experiences to the classroom via technology.

This content is so dry and

boring!

Virtual Team Building• Section in the course

• Highly valuable skill – has unique challenges

• Students have no previous experience

• Simulation – virtual environment?

Identified Goals and Objectives

• Experience the process of working in a team to achieve a collective goal (e.g. Principles of Teamwork)

• Develop skills in working with team mates in a virtual space; this includes ways to communicate using tools that allow for both visual cues and text

• Reflect on interpersonal processes that occurred in while working in a virtual team (e.g. communication, conflict, cohesion, team roles and formation).

The Technology …• Free to students

• Easy to support, no additional hardware

• Run on university issued laptops

• Ability to craft a custom simulation

• Needed an environment that encouraged collaboration and active participation

Second Life – a virtual world• International

• Multi-user

• Owned and built by residents

• A space – not a game

• Ability to create and shape simulations

• Offers social tools – Chat, IM

www.secondlife.com

Spring 2006 Pilot• Extra credit assignment for students

Fall 2006• Graded project that is part of curriculum

Spring 2006 Team Activity

Lots of Preparation! Orientation to Second Life - time allotted to

make accounts, obtain basic SL skills, change appearance, SHOP!

The Wiki …

More Preparation…• Provided additional support materials (introductory utube videos, handouts, readings on virtual teams, how-to’s)

The Cover Story:

You work for a public relations firm that already has a presence in

Second Life. A client has requested a piece on the Best People and

Places in Second Life and has identified locations and Second Life

inhabitants that she wants included in the finished product. You will

not be working alone, you will need help. Here is where the virtual

teamwork part comes in. Part of the experience is to identify and

assign key tasks to getting the job done. Among your coworkers are

photographers, writers, editors, graphic artists and project managers.

Preparation ….• Contacted SL residents • Scripted “Gift Giving” box• Created Seton Hall T-shirt• Gathered fun freebies• Constructed note card with landmarks to various locations• SL designer donated outfits

The Design ….• Began with an anchored activity – guest speaker on

virtual team building• Integrated Skype to allow students and speaker to interact

The Design ….• Identified beginning and ending location for

the scavenger hunt

• Second Life names only

• Scaffolding provided throughout including wiki creation

• 3 hour time limit for experience

The Design ….• Held class in computer lab instead of students using laptops• People and places chosen for educational value – 7 tasks• Matched all materials to goals and objectives• Assessment – part of class final grade – 3 parts: activity, collaborative

wiki and survey

The Challenges …• Technology (computer, wiki and account

problems)• Students did not view resources before

activity or prepare• Some students missed the orientation

The Results …• Gathered data from wiki, informal discussion, survey, and

observations

Wiki:• All the wikis were

different in style but only two out of the 4 carried through with the scenario.

• Some were more creative and complete than others

• Grading: students received points for participation in virtual team, creation of wiki, and completion of survey. Co-constructed a behaviorally anchored rating scale.

Informal Discussion:

Students very traditional in their thinking of what a class activity should be like.

• The environment is more like a game than an educational setting.• While Second Life is interesting, it is too open to the public and things can be

detrimental.• People in Second Life are not normal.• Computers have too large a part in our lives.• The environment can not be used for educational purposes successfully. It is too

fake.

But there were some positives …• Students with disabilities appreciated the affordances of the environment.• Avatars added a sense of presence not available in other online environments.• Ability to interact with other students/people outside of the university community.

The Survey:

• Team dynamics and organization

• Avatar creation and identity

• Activity – Benefits and disadvantages to using this environment for team building

• Second Life Environment

Team Dynamics and Organization: • Most teams stayed together - only one team divided up the tasks

• All felt they had enough time although most groups finished up past the experience

• All could identify good team strategies that their team in particular used (i.e. communication, thinking outside the box) and could identify the benefits of working as a team vs. alone

• 2 teams had members who participated in the Second Life exercise but did not contribute to the team in real life (i.e. wiki creation).

• All could identify strategies that they would do differently (divide up tasks. better time management, assign jobs)

Avatar creation and identity

I made her how I wish I looked.

I see no reason in making other people think I am someone I am not.

“She” was like me because she was controlled by me.

Virtual worlds give us the ability to communicate with each other in a more personal level than e-mail or message boards.

It was fun for my classmates and I to go to different worlds, and learn about different people while not in the same room with each other.

It felt like a game.

Activity:

What are the benefits and disadvantages to using this environment for team building?

The use of virtual worlds for education needs to be

carefully planned and the activities need to match the goals and objectives for the

course. Be sure that the virtual world is really adding to the learning experience.

Questions?

Heidi Trotta(aka Heidi TeeCee)trottahe@shu.eduWeb: www.heiditrotta.com

Danielle Mirliss(aka Danielle Damone)mirlisda@shu.edu Web: http://www.mirliss.com/wordpress/