SDSU-DistanceEd-SL

Yesterday’s LAT published a piece about corporate America’s embrace of Second Life. New World Notes’ Wagner James Au, shared some of the back story. Great journalism, it was and what I love about the blogosphere.I added my 2 cents to his post, as I have been here and there, in the Metaverse- YouTube, Twitter,etc. I’m still refining it.

The LAT article is another tidbit to add to my box-o-examples of using SL in courses at SDSU. For now. Change is always afoot.

We’re just starting to go distance-ed at SDSU. Let’s get our footing in the 2D virtual realm first. Let’s get some experience under our belts with the tools we got already. And more importantly let’s start thinking anew about teaching and learning at a distance. It’s a different paradigm, model and set of theories.

It seems that the corporate world has allowed SL to become “official” meeting places for their globally distributed workforces. And why not. It’s outrageously cheap. It’s a new approach. What it offers (small and large scale social events at cool places with cool activities) are simulations of events. I could be mistaken, but I can’t imagine that IBM hosts Aspen ski weekends for it’s middle management in RL (real life). I could be wrong.

In any event, without making this more important than it is, three conditions come to mind and make this relevant to SDSU, 1) People cannot get together face to face, 2) People value (enjoyment, connection, etc) entering SL to meet with others.  3) It’s an alternative, not the only way of adding social connection to a distance learning endeavor.

Universal Design for Learning and Virtual Environments

UDL or Univeral Design for Learning is a simple concept and echoes Don Norman’s point that well-designed things are self-explanatory. Unfortunately our high-tech world is riddled with far more poorly designed widgets than well designed ones. They often frustrate us or make us feel dumb. Few of us recognize them as such, but instead think there’s something wrong with us. Why would they sell such a stupid thing, we think to ourselves instead of saying What a poorly designed widget.

Consider for a moment, a learning situation which makes a learner frustrated or feel dumb. When we design learning with UDL principles, we’re in effect stating that we’re designing learning that is self-explanatory. Feeling dumb because she can’t find the syllabus in the course management system isn’t the fault of the learner but of the course designer. ENACTs UDL Guidelines

Learning that’s designed well, allows for all learners to succeed.

Applying these UDL guidelines when choosing technologies for teaching and learning is important because technology adds layers of richness and complexity to the learning endeavor and can easily muddle it.

Administration- A CMS such as Blackboard centralizes all course related administration. Over the course of their career, students become familiar with BB’s functions and the CMS becomes a utility. Building a course website is nice, when it’s done by a skilled web designer. Websites must be 503 compliant and should be easy to use. Is the time spent on webdesign better spent with something else?

Representation – Provide multiple examples of core concepts in multiple forms. Connect key ideas using varied methods.While technologies facilitate multiple representations, it’s important to consider their properties and enabling surrounding conditions. For example, 2D representations of content have more fidelity in 2D environments. 2D environments are far more accessible than 3D environments.

Expression – Identify and provide tools and scaffolding to accommodate varied entry points and paths to success. Set out clear end goals. Expression and media are intertwined; it’s important to assign the appropriate media to end goals, and have adequate scaffolding. For example, students may need to learn visual literacy in order to work successfully in a visual medium.

Engagement – Allow for alternative levels of challenge and support, and contexts for performance. Articulate long term goals in obtainable objectives. Engagement is connected clearly to course objectives not to technologies. For example, students shouldn’t spend more time dealing with the technology than accomplishing the goal. Tools facilitate not inhibit learning goals.

Assessment – Provide varied forms of assessment which align with course objectives. Use assessments which measure students’ development (knowledge, skill and emotional) accurately. When choosing technologies, consider the alignment of course objectives>assessment>technologies. Measuring students’ satisfaction with a technology doesn’t indicate they have learned.

Is Second Life an elaborate chatroom?

At its base it more or less is. I’ve gleaned this sentiment from different conversations in the metaverse, mostly blogs and threads, often from people who are long time inhabitants of the web as a social space, as well as some gamers who are derisive of its ungameness.

One comparison is that to MOOs, texted-based synchronous environments, where users built and experienced the space with text-based commands and descriptions, such as “Go through the door labeled hall,”  “You are in an expansive hall lined with flickering sconces . . .” MOOs were more popular with techier types than the average person in the 90s.

Visually based chatrooms, an extension of IRCs, grew in popularity in the later 90s and early 2000s, and environments such as Active Worlds and There, count among them. Both are 3D and are often compared to Second Life.

From the standpoint of education and as an educational technology, SL is little more than an elaborate chatroom for most people. When you deconstruct SL in terms of its affordances as an educational technology that is also situated in an institutional context, it quickly loses value as compared with other educational technologies.

There are other things to do in Second Life besides chat, but let’s try to understand what they are, and how and why they fit into a learning endeavor. As Stephen Downes has pointed out, SL mirrors the real world and as a result affords the same kinds of educational approaches we use in the real world. I’ve observed this too quite early on and as a result have spent little SL time involved with the educational community.

I hope to elaborate on these issues in a way that helps faculty understand this domain and its relevance for teaching and learning.