Understanding learning in virtual worlds

x Editors’ Introduction: Understanding Learning in Virtual Worlds conducted via text-based chat and taking place within the virtual world. Their analysis of the successful and unsuccessful strategies, employed by both the researcher and the research subject, when communicating in virtual worlds, also reveal both the barriers and affordances that virtual worlds present. In effect, understanding the communication, and social relationship, between interviewer and interviewee also informs an understanding of how learners learn together, and returns us to the question of how socially constructed knowledge can best be supported within virtual worlds. The second part of the book builds on these fundamentals to establish many of the factors that support learning in virtual worlds. Chapters 3, 4, 5, and 6 touch on two of the three aspects referred to above, those of space and of identity. Chapter 3, Designing for Hybrid Learning Environments in a Science Museum: Interprofessional Conceptualisations of Space, by Alfredo Jornet and Cecilie Flo Jahreie examines how different professional perspectives view space in different ways. Drawing on activity theory, and in this context viewing space as a mediating artefact that is negotiated by the various participants, Alfredo and Cecilie reveal how although our experience of virtual space resembles that of physical space, as Derek contends, it also has a flexibility which enables that meaning to be negotiated and conceptualised, and re-negotiated and re-conceptualised, resulting in virtual worlds being design tool, learning tool and locus for cultural communication in one. In Chap. 4, An Examination of Student Engagement, Knowledge Creation and Expansive Learning in a Virtual World, Brian Burton, Barbara Martin and Jenny Robins examine how students socially construct knowledge within a virtual world, by analysing interactions according to three separate theories of social construction of knowledge: the framework for student engagement, knowledge creation theory and the theory of expansive learning. Not only do they demonstrate the effectiveness of virtual worlds in supporting the social construction of knowledge, this approach also shows that all three theories of learning are applicable in understanding how learning in a virtual world environment can take place. In Chap. 5, The Strength of Cohesive Ties: Discursive Construction of an Online Learning Community, Rebecca Ferguson, Julia Gillen, Anna Peachey and Peter Twining also look at the social construction of knowledge, but in the later stages of its development, when the expression of self and of identity have grown to a point where community ties and an emergent society have appeared. Through an analysis of discourse within Schome (a space that takes aspects of both school and home) Rebecca et al. analyse the learning, and also the affective relationships that bear on communications between learners. In this case, the results of bringing two different communities together, and the communications and miscommunications that occur, can also be understood by applying concepts of community founded on the physical world. Chapter 6, +SPACES: Serious Games for Role-Playing Government Policies, merges the discussion on developing societies in virtual worlds with the role of space in virtual worlds. In their chapter, Bernard Horan and Michael Gardner explore the notion of virtual spaces as authentic simulations, which require both effective recreation of physical space with the recreation of specific roles for people to play in that space, and activities to carry out in those roles. These simulations do www.Atibook.ir Editors’ Introduction: Understanding Learning in Virtual Worlds xi not only include a virtual world, but link this to a variety of social media such as Twitter and Facebook. Unlike many other simulations, +SPACES takes a “glassbox” approach – participants can see the model underlying the simulation – which learners felt was more effective, and they also responded well to the activities being more structured. As with many simulations, the authenticity of the experience needs to be balanced against the need for structure in learning design. The final part of the book looks at applications of virtual worlds to three specific activities. The first of these, in Chap. 7 Avatars, Art and Aspirations: The Creative Potential for Learning in the Virtual World, by Simone Wesner, is using the environment of a virtual world to foster creative approaches. Simone’s students used Second Life to create their own event spaces, as well as to meet, discuss and plan their projects. In her analysis, Simone finds that the models for creativity and learning established in the physical world, such as Weisberg’s CHOICES model, still apply, but also discovers that the role of personalisation of the learner’s avatar, as introduced above, applied to her students; the avatar became the first focus of their creative interest, and on occasion, where their appearance could not be modified, the participants reported a negative impact on their well-being. Rather than re-creating their physical world, as the students’ experience developed they created exhibits that explored the discrepancy between the physical and virtual, in effect the virtual world itself was a springboard for reflection and creativity. Although the pedagogies of the physical world apply to the virtual, ontologically, Simone suggests, it “might encourage a discussion of virtual worlds from within, using a new terminology and accepting virtual worlds as a reality of their own, rather than trying to fit the limited understanding and interpretation of one reality to the virtual world.” In Chap. 8, Second Language Acquisition by Immersive and Collaborative TaskBased Learning in a Virtual World, Margaret de Jong Derrington looks at how theories of language acquisition apply across a range of platforms: the physical world, Skype and OpenSim. There are minor differences in functionality, and virtual worlds afford greater support for anonymity and authentic task-based learning than other environments, but yet again we see that an understanding developed in the physical world of how learners learn, in this case English as a Second Language, applies directly to understanding the acquisition of language in a virtual classroom. The techniques, of role-play, immersion and task-based learning translate exactly. In Chap. 9, Do Virtual Worlds Support Engaging Social Conferencing?, as an appendix to this discussion on learning, Andreas Schmeil, Béatrice Hasler, Anna Peachey, Sara de Freitas and Claus Nehmzow look at the practical implications of conducting a conference within a virtual world. Many of the gains of such activity are self-evident – no travel costs, and the potential with three loci in different timezones to run the conference over a 24 h period. However, replicating a physical world model alone meant that opportunities for networking and mingling, which happen spontaneously in a face-to-face conference, were less prevalent. In the move from physical to virtual, some aspects are easily translated, while others need more support and structure to occur. As the range of these platforms expand, OpenSim, OpenWonderland, Minecraft and massive multiplayer online role-play games such as World of Warcraft will not www.Atibook.ir xii Editors’ Introduction: Understanding Learning in Virtual Worlds only provide new pastures for those experienced in virtual worlds education, but will also draw in educators new to the nature and potential of virtual worlds. It is perhaps therefore even more valuable in periods like this, of transition and development, to take the opportunity to reflect and to review what we have learnt as practitioners and academics about the unique characteristics of these environments. Understanding how virtual worlds can support learners in their education through their special affordances and particular demands is important, but also within this volume the authors demonstrate how what we already know and understand about learning also applies, and that the physical and the virtual are not so different. It is hoped that this collection of reflections and experiences, capturing a snapshot of this ongoing development of understanding of learning in virtual worlds, will prove to be a resource for educators with both long-term familiarity with virtual worlds and those for whom using virtual worlds for education is a completely new endeavour. Mark Childs Anna Peachey References Barrett, S. (2002). Overcoming transactional distance as a barrier to effective communication over the internet. International Educational Journal, 3(4), Educational research conference 2002 special issue, 34–42. Bell, M. (2008). Toward a definition of “virtual worlds”. Journal of Virtual Worlds Research, 1(1), 1–5. Biocca, F. (1997). The Cyborg’s Dilemma: Progressive embodiment in virtual environments. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 3(2), 113–144. Botvinick, M., & Cohen, J. (1998). Rubber hands ‘feel’ touch that eyes see. Nature, 391, 756. Caspi, A., & Blau, I. (2008). Social presence in online discussion groups: Testing three conceptions and their relations to perceived learning. Social Psychology of Education, 11, 323–346. Childs, M. (2011, June 8–9). Enhancing learning, teaching and student success in virtual worlds: Why Rosa keeps dancing, opening keynote at SOLSTICE: Effective practices: Enhancing learning. In Teaching and student success conference, Edge Hill University. Childs, M. (2013). The experience of virtual space. In I. Kuksa & M. Childs (Eds.), Making sense of space. London: Chandos. Childs, M., & Chen, Y.-F. (2011, June 28–30). Roleplaying disaster management in second life. In 11th international DIVERSE conference, Dublin City University. Childs, M., & Kuksa, I. (2009, July 6–8). “Why are we in the floor?” Learning about theatre design in second lifeTM. In Proceedings of the Edulearn 09 international conference on education and new learning technologies (pp. 1134–1145). Barcelona, Spain. Ganesh, S., van Schie, H. T., de Lange, F. P., Thompson, E., & Wigboldus, D. H. J. (2012). How the human brain goes virtual: Distinct cortical regions of the person-processing network are involved in self-identification with virtual agents. Cerebral Cortex, 22(7), 1577–1585. Gonzalez, G., Younger, J., & Lindgren, R. (2011). The payoff of Avatar creation: Investigating the effects on learning and engagement. In Games + learning + society conference, Madison, June 15–17 2011. http://www.glsconference.org/2011/program/event/147 www.Atibook.ir Editors’ Introduction: Understanding Learning in Virtual Worlds xiii Heeter, C. (1995). Communication research on consumer VR. In F. Biocca & M. R. Levy (Eds.), Communication in the age of virtual reality (pp. 191–218). Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Mayes, T., & de Freitas, S. (2004). Review of e-learning frameworks, models and theories: JISC e-learning models desk study. London: JISC. Peachey, A., & Childs, M. (2011). Reinventing ourselves: Contemporary concepts of identity in virtual worlds. London: Springer. Peachey, A., Gillen, J., Livingstone, D., & Smith-Robbins, S. (2010). Researching learning in virtual worlds. London: Springer. Smith, A. D. (2007). The flesh of perception: Merleau-Ponty and Husserl. In T. Baldwin (Ed.), Reading Merleau-Ponty: On phenomenology of perception. Oxon: Routledge. Taylor, T. L. (2002). Living digitally: Embodiment in virtual worlds. In R. Schroeder (Ed.), The social life of Avatars (pp. 40–62). London: Springer. Wilson, M. (2002). Six views of embodied cognition. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 9(4), 625–636. www.Atibook.ir www.Atibook.ir Contents 1 An Alternative (to) Reality ....................................................................... Derek Jones 2 Guidelines for Conducting Text Based Interviews in Virtual Worlds ....................................................................................... Carina Girvan and Timothy Savage 21 Designing for Hybrid Learning Environments in a Science Museum: Inter-professional Conceptualisations of Space .................... Alfredo Jornet and Cecilie Flo Jahreie 41 An Examination of Student Engagement, Knowledge Creation and Expansive Learning in a Virtual World ........................... Brian G. Burton, Barbara Martin, and Jenny Robins 65 The Strength of Cohesive Ties: Discursive Construction of an Online Learning Community ......................................................... Rebecca Ferguson, Julia Gillen, Anna Peachey, and Peter Twining 83 3 4 5 1 6 +SPACES: Serious Games for Role-Playing Government Policies ...... 101 Bernard Horan and Michael Gardner 7 Avatars, Art and Aspirations: The Creative Potential for Learning in the Virtual World ........................................................... 117 Simone Wesner 8 Second Language Acquisition by Immersive and Collaborative Task-Based Learning in a Virtual World ................................................ 135 Margaret de Jong Derrington 9 Do Virtual Worlds Support Engaging Social Conferencing? ................ 165 Andreas Schmeil, Béatrice Hasler, Anna Peachey, Sara de Freitas, and Claus Nehmzow xv www.Atibook.ir