Online "virtual worlds" such as Linden Labs' Second Life (http://secondlife.com/) are increasingly gaining attention. Although virtual worlds have existed in some form since the 1970s, they may be unfamiliar to many people. Brett Bixler, lead instructional designer within Education Technology Services (ETS), a unit of Information Technology Services, recently provided an overview of these fascinating environments and their capabilities, and offered his thoughts on why educators should take notice. A virtual world is a computer-based simulated environment in which a participant is represented in a humanoid or other form, called an avatar. The avatar can move through the environment and manipulate objects. The most popular virtual worlds are in 3-D format and involve multiple users whose avatars can interact and communicate with one another. Participants can but do not need to be present at the same time.
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Over the past year and a half, Bixler, along with other ETS staff, have been investigating the educational potential of virtual worlds, their strengths, and their challenges.
One capability of virtual worlds is that you can set up learning environments that would be difficult, dangerous, or impossible in the real world, for example, a volatile lab experiment, a deep-sea expedition, or a walk-through of ancient architecture. Bixler said the strength of virtual worlds is that they couple the ability to move through an environment and manipulate objects with social interaction. "Most virtual worlds are built around the idea that you're not in there by yourself. You're discussing things. You're doing things together, whether it's skydiving or building, and you're communicating back and forth," he said.
Another strength of online virtual worlds, pointed out Bixler, is that they eliminate barriers of distance among participants, because an individual can log in from anywhere in the world with an Internet connection. Interaction can be asynchronous, so that members of a group or class do not necessarily need to be "present" at the same time.
The ETS team investigating virtual worlds has chosen to focus on Second Life in particular. Bixler said, "We're looking at that one because it's free to get into and has a huge groundswell of educators that are already investigating it and using it." Virtual worlds could be used in courses from many academic disciplines, according to Bixler. He mentioned business (in Second Life members can buy, sell, and trade), architecture, and archaeology as just a few of the possibilities, but explained that making use of a virtual world "is really good for any kind of educational endeavor where there is a need for people to actually experience and manipulate objects in an environment." Second Life users can build objects and buildings from scratch, as well.
Anyone can go to Second Life at http://secondlife.com/, register, download the client software, and create an avatar for free. The client runs on the Windows, Macintosh, and Linux platforms. You do have to pay a monthly fee to buy "land" within the Second Life world. However, said Bixler, "if you're an educator, for the duration of your class, you can request a small amount of land. You'll own it for the period of the course, and you can lock that land down so that no one other than your students can get into it."
For instructors who are new to Second Life, but who would like to explore its potential for teaching and learning, Bixler gave this advice: "They should download Second Life, get a free account, and go in. When you first log in, you are taken to a place called Orientation Island, that walks you through how to do things. Spend an hour or two in there and you've got the basics down."
The ETS Virtual Worlds Web site at http://ets.tlt.psu.edu/virtualworlds/, which includes a blog, is a useful source of information on how virtual worlds are being used in education and the research being conducted. Bixler suggested that instructors "read some of the postings and links, and get a better feel for what's possible and what other people are doing. I think that's when the ideas will start coming to them."
Even if an instructor does not plan to incorporate the use of virtual worlds in teaching, Bixler said, "I think people need to understand that this is happening. Even if they don't ever intend to do anything with it, I think it's worth spending an hour or two in Second Life." He explained that an increasing number of educators are exploring and researching the uses of virtual worlds. Bixler said, "About a year from now, some of these initial projects are going to come to fruition and there will be a lot of data recorded. So now is the time to at least understand what it is and realize for yourself what the potentials and the drawbacks are of this type of environment for education."
Penn State faculty interested in integrating the use of virtual worlds, specifically Second Life, into courses are invited to submit a proposal to ETS as part of the department's Faculty Engagement Initiative. For details and to access the online application form, visit http://engage.tlt.psu.edu/. E-mail any questions to facultyengagement@psu.edu. Faculty whose proposals are accepted will receive up to forty hours of support and $4,000 for equipment and other expenses.
