Alex Week 1 - Literature Review

Using Second Life for Educational Purposes: An Evaluation of a New Workshop

Kyle M. Wright Wilhelmina C. Savenye

Research Aim

This study looks into the evaluation and effectiveness of a workshop developed for undergraduate college students to learn the basics of virtual world Second Life in an educational setting.

Research Methods

Research group: 

The research involved 22 participants (11 females and 9 males) from a US university. The participants were comprised of students who were receiving partial credit for the study and teachers who were interested in the study.

Measurement:

1: The participants were required to complete a survey before the workshop started. The survey included some questions about the participant themselves and four attitude questions. The questions were to be answered on a slider scale ranging from 1 to 5 with 1 being strongly agree and 5 being strongly disagree.

2: After the workshop participants completed a post-survey which was similar to the pre-survey

3: At the end of the workshop participants completed post-test activities to determine participants’ achievement.

4: Participants were asked to answer several open-ended questions.

Research results

Participants successfully completed 55%, 80% and 90% of the activities specified in Objective 1, 2 and 3 respectively.

1.       Navigate to the Second Life Louvre, Harvard University, The United States White House, and Open University, save their location in your favourites.

2.       Find three strangers and meet them in Second Life. You can search for people or find people in the virtual environment. Make at least 3 connections. 

3.       Friendship each of the participants and the instructor in the workshop

In regard to the pre-survey and post survey the research reported significant increases in attitude towards second life across all questions.

          

However, while attitude towards second life improved across all the questions the open-ended questions still showed some concerns about the limitations of second life. In regards to classroom management one participant stated “it would be hard to watch over all the students to see if they were doing what they should be on Second Life”. A shared concern across all participants was keeping focus and keeping students on task. Although the participants expressed interest in using SL again 10 participants expressed doubts. One participant quoted, “not much, because I think it is better to be active and learn in real life”.

19 of the 20 participants agreed or strongly agreed that they felt comfortable using second life with 9 of the 20 stating that they would use second life as “virtual tours” across places not accessible by regular means.

Conclusion:

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an instructional workshop designed to teach how to use Second Life in an educational setting. The majority of students able to adequately navigate second life’s features in relation to searching, communicating and using its educational features.

Reference list

Wright, M.K., Savenye, W.C (2011). Using Second Life for Educational Purposes: An Evaluation of a New Workshop. Arizona State University, Arizona