Presentation from 'Future Technology' strand at the CDE’s Research and Innovation in Distance Education and eLearning conference, held at Senate House London on 1 November 2013. Conducted by Dr Clare Sansom (Birkbeck College, University of London).

1. Teaching in Virtual Worlds:
A 2013 Snapshot
Clare Sansom
Department of Biological Sciences,
Birkbeck, University of London
Fellow of the Centre for Distance
Education

2. What is a virtual world?

An immersive online environment or
alternate reality

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People move and interact in-world as player
characters or avatars
Generally richly 3D graphics based
Technology based on or derived from
games such as World of Warcraft
But now often used for serious purposes,
particularly education

3. The most popular (and populated) world:
Second Life

Launched in 2003 by California-based Linden Labs
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A fully commercial Internet company
Basic use is free
Offers educational discounts (but these vary)
“Millions” of user accounts; currently about 50-60,000
avatars active online at any time

4. Gartner’s Hype Cycle

5. 2007: Peak of Inflated Expectations?

Gartner estimates “by the end of 2011, 80 percent of
active Internet users will have a ’second life’ [that is, will
be active in virtual worlds] but not necessarily in Second
Life”.

2007: ~330M Internet users

2011: >> 250M virtual world users - ???

The journal Nature hosts lectures and discussions in
Second Life

John Kirriemuir of Virtual World Watch publishes first of
10 snapshots of virtual world use in UK higher education

And Birkbeck College dips its toe in the water…

6. Birkbeck’s Experience
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Piloted Web 2.0 technologies to facilitate
learning in a distance learning MSc course
Included meetings of a “focus group” of
past and present students in Second Life
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Mixed experiences
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Hoped to try interacting with 3D molecular
models
Some very positive: particularly one exstudent with Asperger’s syndrome
Some “couldn’t see the point”
Many unable to access due to technical issues
Steep learning curve for staff and
students

7. 2011-12: Trough of Disillusionment?
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User numbers vastly down on Gartner’s
expectations
Linden Labs removes many of Second
Life’s academic discounts
John Kirriemuir notes “some diminution”
in VW use by UK academics in his 10th
(and last) snapshot
Birkbeck has abandoned the experiment
But the technology still has important
educational advocates
… Or plateau of productivity???

8. The 2013 Snapshot

Eight in-depth interviews with
academics with extensive
experience of virtual world use in
academia
 All
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but one UK based
Shorter interviews with academics
who choose not to use the system
A short literature survey

9. The Interview Questions
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Which virtual worlds have you used for teaching
and/or research?
What is your institution’s official position? Has it
changed recently?
What successful case studies are there (particularly
in teaching)? Any unsuccessful ones?
Which teaching scenarios or pedagogical approaches
are supported most effectively by virtual worlds?
What are the main challenges to virtual world
adoption in HE?
What are the main competitors to this technology?
How do you see virtual worlds being used in
education in 5 years time?

10. Which virtual worlds are used?

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All participants had used (or tried)
Second Life
Some have used…
 Open
Sim: a wholly open source
Second Life equivalent
 Wonderland (a little)
 Unity 3D: a virtual world “engine” for
creating closed virtual environments

Used for specific “game” scenarios

11. A Taxonomy for Virtual Worlds
Fewer participants
Unity 3D “scenarios”
Narrative driven
Open ended
Second Life
More participants

12. Institutional “Buy-In”
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A very mixed picture
A few very keen – e.g. University of
Edinburgh
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Some still interested but less involved
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The Virtual University of Edinburgh
Parallel graduation ceremonies held in Second
Life
The Open University
Some have no interest, with involved
academics “very much on a limb”

The University of Greenwich

13. The Virtual University of Edinburgh

14. Successful Case Studies I
“Real Life” scenarios that are difficult in real life

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Managing major
incidents
Accident
investigation and
“triage”
Court based
scenarios for law
students
“you can’t replicate the sense of immersion that Second Life
offers the students even with role play”.

15. Successful Case Studies II
Learning and Practising Methodology
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Procedural learning

Preparation for field or practical work

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Enabling students to make the best use of their time in field or
lab
Learning how to operate intricate and expensive equipment
Virtual Genetics Lab., University of Leicester

16. Successful Case Studies III
Exploring Digital Identity
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Image © Andromeda Media Group
More “open ended”
scenarios work well in
psychology and social
science disciplines if
the aim is to explore
the students’ own
perception of their inworld identity
These rely on student
understanding more
than the other case
studies

17. And what doesn’t work?

Virtual “chalk and talk” – replacing
lectures for students at a distance
 Immersion
doesn’t add value beyond
more accessible technologies

Unplanned open-ended “activities”
 “I
just went into Second Life and
wandered around, I didn’t know what
to do there” (Disappointed student)

Most explorations of molecular
structure
 Perhaps
a surprising addition

18. So… what’s wrong with molecular
structure?

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Steep learning curve for creating “interactive”
molecules
Graphics programs offering more complex
rendering are far simpler to learn and use
Immersion fails to “add value”
Games can sometimes work well
Protein structures viewed in…
Second Life
Standard molecular graphics

19. Pedagogy in Virtual Worlds
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Mark Childs (Coventry) identified four pedagogical
approaches
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Most successful case studies fit into the cognitive
or social constructivist categories
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Associative (transmitting information)
Cognitive (problem solving)
Social constructivist (forming ideas by discussion)
Connectivist (emerging from interaction between
people)
Using well defined contexts or situations
Game-based scenarios offer benefits over both
more restricted and more open-ended approaches

20. Challenges to Virtual Worlds

Financial

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Steep increase in “building” charges for
educational establishments
 Led to many institutions disinvesting
 Now partially reversed
Across-the-board funding difficulties led to refocus on “core” activities
Institutional
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Overall scepticism, particularly from key senior
staff
Poor digital literacy

21. 
Technological
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Technology difficult for educators to learn to
use well
Students unable to access due to firewalls or
inadequate kit
Software still “clunky”: early adopters
expected it to improve more quickly
Students!

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Some like the approach, others hate it…
All (or almost all) prefer mobile technology for
learning

22. Competitors to Virtual Worlds
And perhaps most of all…

23. The strongest competitor is mobile
Almost all students prefer to use their smartphones for…
almost everything

24. … And the Future?
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“change will be evolutionary rather than
revolutionary”
“virtual worlds will settle down in their niche, with
appropriate applications that work well”
“more blended learning, combining the real and
the virtual… augmented technology”
“A complete virtual city… Linden Labs is working
on this, but it will take much more than 5 years”
“Broadband speeds will eventually become fast
enough for virtual worlds to go mainstream”
“A virtual world that runs on a smartphone will be
very popular, but it will be very difficult to write
one without using Java”

25. Some Conclusions
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Virtual worlds, recently over-hyped as
educational tools, are settling down into a
“plateau of productivity”
This will involve
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Task- and game-based scenarios
Closely linked to situations that students and
professionals will meet in “real life”
Learning through collaboration
Appropriate design is crucial
Students with disabilities can find them
particularly helpful
Mobile, virtual reality based learning is an
aspiration worth aiming for

26. Acknowledgements
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Jean-Claude Bradley, Drexel University, USA
David Burden, Daden Ltd.
Mark Childs, Coventry University
Sara de Freitas and colleagues, Serious Games
Institute, Coventry
Liz Falconer, University of the West of England,
director of MA in Education in Virtual Worlds
Jim Gritton, University of Greenwich
Shailey Minocha, Open University
Austin Tate, Virtual University of Edinburgh