A Snapshot of SL Educators

In May 2008, the New Media Consortium (NMC) asked individuals on the Second Life Educators (SLED) discussion list to complete a survey about their experiences in the virtual world Second Life (SL). In 2007, 207 educators completed the survey; in 2008, the number increased to 358 - 64% of these respondents are affiliated with the NMC. The highlights from the 2008 survey are as follows:

1. Educators are no longer merely exploring SL; instead, they are using this virtual world for teaching and learning purposes.
2. The contact lists of these educators is growing.
3. The 2008 respondents are more experienced in SL. Interestingly, a large proportion of the educators in SL are between the age of 36 and 55; few play console video games or engage in massively multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPGs). These individuals are watching less television as well.
   
4. Educators want to learn how to create in SL - scripting, machinima, building things, etc.
5. The majority of educators do not create an avatar that resembles their physical self.
6. More than half of the respondents have more than one avatar.
7. Positive experiences reported by the educators included meeting people and interactions with others.
8. Griefers continue to be a problem in SL.
9. Top activities these educators reported doing in SL include random wandering, attending events, and meeting new people, just to name a few.

Additional details about the educational activities in SL can be found in the 2008, as well as the 2007 reports.

The Future of Higher Education

Hot off the presses! NMC, along with The Economist and Apple Computer, Inc. just released a white paper on the ways in which technology is shaping the future of higher education. The paper reports on the findings of a survey of almost 300 executives - CIOs and tech leaders both inside and outside education. Twelve interviews were conducted with individuals from this group as well. The results suggest that technology will profoundly change higher education over the next five years. Here are some specifics from the survey data:

• 60% of all respondents expect that professors will teach in more than one medium by 2013
• 60% say that online learning will be a fundamental component of the education experience
• 64% of respondents expect that universities will frequently partner with corporations and other third parties to create new areas of study over the next five years
  

As was the case with the students who participated in the 2008 ECAR study, the respondents of the NMC survey reported that social networking sites (SNSs) were popular tools among those in campus administration. Career services and alumni groups are examples of units that favor the use of SNSs.

Also becoming more popular in higher education throughout the world is online learning. Many of the institutions are making connections with other countries through the formation of foreign location sites. Overall, many of the higher education respondents said that technology has positively impacted their institutions.

While this NMC report is suggesting that we will see more technology in our classrooms over the next five years, the ECAR students stated that they wanted only moderate amounts of technology. In fact, they claimed that face-to-face interactions with their instructors was very important to them. So, who is driving this push toward more technology? Because this report was produced, at least in part, by those with corporate interests (The Economists, Apple Computer, and tech leaders inside/outside academia), one could posit that they have a vested interest in promoting the use of technology and encouraging more partnerships corporations and higher education institutions.

If we as educators blindly accept technology without assessing the actual learning benefits associated with the technology, are we really serving our "tech-savvy" customers? Based on the ECAR study, these customers may say "no." It appears that today's students make a clear distinction between use of technology for personal and academic reasons. While they are enthusiastic technology users in their personal life, they are less enthusiastic about these tools for learning purposes. Perhaps the tech leaders are viewing higher education their their own adult, corporate lens rather than really finding out what the users want.