Virtual education in Second Life

With the start of a new school year comes new articles and journal issues about education. In the past few months, there have been new entries to add to the virtual worlds bibliography.

The first entry is an article by Kemp and Haycock (2008) that examines the potential of SL to extend the physical classroom. These authors begin by reiterating the notion that educators are attempting to create more learner-centered, participatory, constructivist learning spaces. Virtual worlds, the authors argue, enable students to explore, interact with new people, experience different cultures, and engage in collaborative activities. Thus, environments such as SL are attractive to many educators. One interesting fact is that the top three role playing virtual worlds in terms of popularity and use are World of Warcraft, Lineage, and Runescape; the most popular worlds for educational initiatives are Active Worlds, NeverWinter Nights, and Second Life (p. 91).

In summer 2007, the San Jose State University SLIS program conducted a graduate course in SL with no f2f component. Fourteen students participated in this course - 79% female, 60% part-time students, 32 years of age (on average). While 93% of the students agreed that playing computer games is fun, they complainted about unpleasant encounters with residents unaffiliated with the university. Yet, the authors claim that the "SLIS campus itself was basically free of outside disturbances" (p. 95). While Kemp and Haycock view their SL campus as a safe haven, the students viewed it differently.

Also, the Kemp and his colleague note that SL is not particularly well-suited for reflection and deep learning. They encourage the use of a course management system such as Blackboard, which is used at SJSU, to supplement the SL curriculum. As Sir John Daniel (2007), President and CEO of the Commonwealth of Learning, noted in a debate with Dr. Robert Kozma, "there is no magic medium and never will be. Each technology has its strengths" (n.p.).

Young people and IT

Last week, Pew released a report about the pervasiveness of video games in the lives of today's young people - Teens, Video Games, and Civics. An earlier Pew report, one that concentrated on the gaming activities of college students, suggeted that the percentages were high: 70% of college students played digital games at least once; 65% were regular players. The latest numbers suggest that playing video games is a part of everyday life for almost all young people in America.

Here are some of the current numbers:

• 99% of boys and 94% of girls play video games
• Younger boys are the most enthusiastic players; older girls are the least enthusiastic about these activities
• Gaming is a social activity - 65% of gaming teens play with other people who are physically in the same room
• Teens play video games with people they know
• Parents are more likely to monitor the game playing activities of boys and younger children
• 49% of teen players have seen "people being hateful, sexist, or racist" during their game play activities

This morning I read a piece by Linda Jackson and her group (2008) on the new digital divide and the role race and gender play in IT use. The researchers surveyed 515 children (172 African Americans; 343 Caucasian Americans) whose average age was 12 about their IT use. These researchers found the following:

• African American males were the least intense users
• African American females were the most intense users (often surpassing the male Caucasian Americans)
• African American females were more likely than Caucasian Americans to text message friends via cell phone
• Children whose parents had higher income and education levels had been using IT longer
• Children who had been using IT longer had higher grades in school; children who played video games more had lower grades in school

While African American males were less enthusiastic about IT in general, they were avid video game players. In fact, their game play levels were as high as the Caucasian American males. Thus, one of the recommendations the authors make is to utilize the African American males' game playing activities to increase their interest in IT.

This reminds me of an chapter by Kurt Squire (2008) that explored the possibility of using Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (GTA: SA) for educational purposes. In that study, Squire interviewed Caucasian and African American teens who were avid GTA: SA players. Based on his experiences with teens, Squire argues that "games could be an excellent bridging mechanism for disengaged students, particularly adolescent boys, many of whom are labeled ADHD and cause many problems at school" (p. 184).

The state of online learning?

From The Chronicle of Higher Education: The Wired Campus:

U of Illinois President Wants to Make Online Campus Independent
http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/index.php?id=3346

AP also has a story about the Global Campus program
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hEGprGRlX4JKED-wB8PMD6ZdrUEAD93DKVQ09

I'm shocked. President White expected existing faculty to add more to their plate by developing online courses and programs. This in addition to their current workload that includes teaching f2f courses, conducting research, writing grants and publications, performing service obligations, creating high-profile start-up companies, etc... Hard to believe the faculty wouldn't immediately jump on board with the online course idea, especially when it probably doesn't count much in the P & T process.

Virtual World Resources

Here are a few new articles, pre-pubs, journal issues related to virtual worlds...

1. How Videogames Blind Us with Science (Wired)
2. Scientific Habits of Mind in Virtual Worlds (pre-pub - Journal of Science Education & Technology)
3. Finding the Real-world Value in Virtual Worlds: Issues and Challenges (Cutter Consortium - free but registration at the site is required)
   

Recent Pew Reports

On Monday night, two students and I were discussing the Pew readings for the week available here and here. One topic we discussed was calling landline phones to conduct surveys. Pew Research Center for the People & the Press has posted a short piece on the difference between cell phones and landlines in survey research. Because there is the possibility of bias when using landlines in survey research, Pew will be including cell phone samples in their election polls.

Another report that Pew launched yesterday (9/24/08) takes a look at networked workers, the technologies they use, and the impact those devices have on the lives of today's workers. For anyone who uses technology in their jobs, the results will not be surprising. Here's just a selected few from the report:

• 53% of American adults who say they're currently employed, 62% qualify as networked workers (Pew definition)
• Networked workers are more likely to own a cell phone, a desktop computer, a laptop, and a PDA.
• 80% of the respondents said the technology makes their lives easier
• 46% said that the technology increases the demands to work more hours
• 49% said the technology increases job-related stress
• 49% said that the technology makes it more difficult to "disconnect" from work and on weekends
  

Talkin' about my generation

I've been preparing for a very brief talk on digital natives and generational learning that will take place on Monday night (9/29). Prior to class, the students have been asked to take an "Are you a digital natives?" type of quiz. I found three that will work, but none of them really rocked my world. Maybe it's because I fit into the label categories (e.g., Boomer, Gen X, Millennials, etc.) in terms of age but not in terms of technological interest or capabilities. Depending on the quiz, I was labeled a Boomer and even a Millennial. I am neither.

One of the better quizzes I stumbled upon was created by Penelope Trunk. The quiz is based on data Trunk collected from an interview with Margaret Weigel who has worked at MIT and Harvard on digital media engagement. While Margaret has taken a hiatus from her blog postings, an earlier post does refer to an interesting report titled, Information Behaviour of the Researcher of the Future, that attempts to debunk the digital native "myth." This is a British Library/JISC study that reviews the literature (86 papers) to determine "whether today's tech-savvy young people are really different from earlier generations.

Some interesting tid-bits from the report:

• There is a lack of literature comparing age groups. (Shock! Seems to be the story with a lot of research these days.)
• Children have been using the web for homework since the late 1990s.
• Downloading music is not a new interesting. Young people have been engaging in these recreational activities since the 1990s. Moreover, concerns about illegal downloading (at least in England) have been present since the early 1980s.
  
• Young people using natural language queries to find information pre-dates the web.
• No change in recent years in the way young people evaluate information. It's been a problem for 10-15 years.
  
• Young people have difficulty navigating electronic library resources; thus, they prefer Google, because it's easier to use.
  
• None of the literature has examined students who do not have/use the tech gadgits.
• Young people are reading!
• Students want convient, easy ways to complete assignments; exploring isn't the focus. "Power browsing and viewing are the norm for all" (p. 19).
  
• No evidence that young people are better multitaskers than others.

For those interested in generational labels, p. 29 has an interesting list.

Where did the summer go?

So much for thinking I would have time to blog during the summer. Thanks, in part, to helping Dr. Curt Bonk with his Web 2.0 and Participatory E-learning course this semester, I'm finding a plethora of interesting resources. Some are related to my qualifying paper/dissertation work, some are not.

Hope to be posting more about these tchotchkes in the coming days, weeks, and months.