Frequently made mistakes

1) Transferring the physical classroom into a virtual world

One major mistake that often occurs, is that teachers have too few ideas how a virtual world can be used.

Consquently they tranfer their real classroom into the virtual world - but not only the "inventory" (blackboards, etc.) but also the activities. This often results in uninspired frontal teaching and usage of blackboards.

How to address:

Become aware of the affordances of virtual environements

Join teacher's groups, read blogs, .... to get ideas what can be done

2) Technology issues

Most classes that fail, fail because of technology issues.

Most of them can be solved by careful upfront preparation (see WP2: framework for good practices)

How to address:

Don't trust technology; always have a fallback strategy;

take enough time for student's onboarding

3) Classroom management

Be aware that classroom management is at the same time easier and more difficult.

Simple questions like "How can I get everybodys attention" become really hard - and must be solved differently in a virtual environment (e.g. send an IM to everybody).

At the other hand side: Difficult things like "How can I make everybody contribute at the same time?" become very easy in a virtual environment (e.g. by using chat -> ask a question and tell students to give their answer in local chat)

Be aware, that you do not know anything about your student's current experience: Did they hear you? What do they see at the moment? Did their computer crash? Therefore teach your students from the very first session onwards to be responsive (e.g. via chat or via avatar movement).

Gratefully use the "gifts", that you are given: e.g. use the local chat for retrospective analysis of the session.

How to address:

Put on student's shoes and join a class in Second Life.

Learn from the teacher's mistakes :-)

4) Preparation

A session in a virtual environment needs as much preparation as a "real life"-session.

How to address:

Make sure you don't have technology problems.

Make sure you are online in time incase students's need help.

Make sure you have checked out the places that you want to visit.