Pre-course preparation:

Decision making process

In 2007 Education UK publicised an opportunity to bid for grants to make use of space within Second Life.  This world had been on our agenda as an institution before this but the Education UK process would offer the opportunity to obtain space without the need for institutional funds.  The main reason why Second Life as a space offered us with an opportunity, was in experimenting in the realms of virtual performance in 3D space. In addition it would provide students with an opportunity to showcase their work in a virtual environment.  A bid was put together outlining how we wished to utilise the space and detailing the activity we wished to undertake in the environment.  Unfortunatley the bid was unsuccessful.  However, we were offered space to build and use without Linden dollars.  Therefore there started our virtual world learning process.

The decision making process over the use of the world was guided by individuals who had experience of the use of other forms of virtual performance in spaces such as chatrooms and networked video performance spaces.  The question guiding the intiail process was whether an environment such as Second Life which was designed closely to equivalent 3D game worlds could be used to inspire students to be creative (and engage with more motivation in virtual world performance spaces). 

After obtaining the space questions arose related to how to use the space, how to design the space, how to guide students within the space, how to ensure that all students had access to the virtual world space.  In addition, to this as Second Life evolved through different versions challenges arose related to ensuring that functionality would work through institutional firewalls.  For example, one of the largest issues was ensuring the speech function would work. 

After establishing a space, questions arose at institutional level regarding profile and ethics within the space.  Questions such as Can virtual world people kill themselves in the space?  Can individuals strip naked within the virtual building?  How can we protect individuals privacy as students within the space?  Can anybody listen to lectures and record what is happening within the space.  Some of these questions had inherent risk involved.  The most notable question arose around two years after experimenting in the space when a Freedom of Information request was raised at institutional level regarding the amount of money Universities were spending in virtual world spaces such as Second Life.   

In the first instance, the virtual world space was used in conjunction with a final year group of students in the module Psychology of Internet Behaviour and also in two students, independent study processes.     

Aims/objectives

The major aim was to explore a 3D virtual world in the delivery of space for virtual world performance and virtual world interaction.  This has been explored through delivery of sessions for Theatre and Performance students, Digital Media students and within the context of final year projects.  Our courses have matured in these spaces over the past four to five years.

Funding

Funding is and will remain a substantial issue particularly when there is a desire for presence and a desire to structure and tailor spaces.  Thankfully we had obtained some land initially through the Education UK process.  This gave us a platform from which to experiment.  Coupled with this land was the opportunity to use various different spaces on the Education UK island.  We still run courses within Second Life and have expanded the number of these, however, the courses focus on virtual performance across different spaces that are not University owned. 

The main focus of funding over the past few years has been the support for visiting expertise from a virtual performance expert in guiding students in the tools and techniques to use in creating virtual events within Second Life.  This support has been a substantially positive experience for the students that goes beyond the simple ownership of space.  All the courses run in the space are within UK degree programmes on a non-commercial basis for fee paying students.

Issues that surface in these spaces are in some repects similar to the issues that arise in the physical environment.  Although within virtual worlds you can have a substantial amount of space for experimentation one of the problems that you face is that as a lecturer unless you are delivering a large audience oration, really the most value you can have is with smaller student groups.  Therefore the basics are explained then students are encouraged to explore different places for situated performance practice or in the case of Psychology of Internet Behaviour explore communication within virtual world spaces.

Environment

The environment that students explore is completley open, however, learners are encouraged not to let other individuals know that they are students within the space.  An ethical challenge that arises within the space is the openness of Second Life and the vast array of real world issues that students can encounter within the spaces, everything from Trolls, through Sex to Discrimination.  Virtual world spaces provide anonymous spaces for some individuals to explore and abuse which obviously causes issues with the need for responsible processes.

Learners

Learners were not experiencing the courses in a distance form, all learners were situated in the lecture room whilst the learning was taking place, so there were no issues over identity to resolve.  In those circumstances where students were assessed for their virtual world activities again this was simply controlled through presence.  This obviously can cause its own problems when the learners are distance based.  No other students from other institutions were engaged in the course.

Everytime the courses are run the learners are given training sessions to get the learners up to speed with using the environment.  Initially, there was a feeling that because learners may be used to video games that Second Life shouldn't take too long to learn.  However, the nuances of the interface and the lack of experience of using anything other than a joypad caused challenges in this regard, such that the training needs became more substantial over time.  Students had access to the laboratory spaces outside of the regular scheduled classes and many of them made use of this space to experiment within the environment.  In addition, very few of the learners have used the space before the courses have run.

Logistics-timetabling

In all cases virtual world experiences have been delivered as blended learning experiences running alongside other opportunities over the course of each semester in which they are run.  In some cases these experiences are run as intensive workshops where students over a few days obtain the opportunity to work in an intensive fashion in constructing virtual world experiences.

All sessions have run with student groups of less than 45 students.  When students are in laboratory sessions the largest laboratory groups we can deliver are up to 25 students.

The role of the instructor in these virtual world courses focused initially on demonstrator in terms of introducing students to the space and the types of activity produced within the space leading through to faciltator of student use of the space. 

Course syllabus (didactics)

The engagement in the space has evolved over time with instructors continuing to change practice based on how individual groups experience the courses.  The most notable issues relate to how long learners take to understand how to use the environments.  If learners take longer then there is less time overall to experiement within the spaces and the level of creativity demonstrated can be limited by the student control of their avatar within the environment.  The activites are instructor led at first but then quickly become student controlled explorations. 

In Psychology of Internet Behaviour the activites within the virtual world spaces formed a substantial element of assessment for some individuals within the group.  Not all experimentation was based on Second Life, students were encouraged to explore other spaces and generally only a single group of 4-5 students chose Second Life as the primary focus for their assessment. 

Overall there are limited virtual world resources prepared for these courses.  However, a number of physical resources have been created to control the students initial experiments within the space.

Advertising of the course

The courses have been a compulsory part of degree programmes in the case of Psychology of Internet Behaviour and an option on the Theatre and Performance programme.  The majoirty of students selected this practically oriented module over a less practical other option.  Many students have found value in experimenting in spaces that they would not have considered performing within at the outset of the course.

Dissemination

Dr. Toni Sant and Dr. Maria Chatzichristodoulou have disseminated the evaluation of the above activities across a range of different places from local news through a book chapter to national learning and teaching related publications. 

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