Presentation at Yavapai College's Summer Institute regarding the pedagogy of virtual environments

1. The Future of Education is Virtual
Welcome. Hello. I am Ruth Alsobrook‐Hurich from the
Technology Enhanced Learning Services Department. A
little bit about myself…My educational background is in
Art and Instructional Technology. Because of being an
online student and instructor is the reason I’m presenting
this topic today. I’ve always been interested in ways to
contact others from a distance (besides using the phone).
The first communication tool I used was Skype…way back
at the end of 2004; beginning of 2005! This has
progressed to various other “chat” tools such as Google
Ruth Alsobrook‐Hurich
Instructional Technology Specialist Talk, Windows Messenger, and IMVU. Before moving on,
TELS
it is very important to mention that these applications
are not supported by Yavapai College. At the moment YC
does not intend to utilize these in the near future…This
presentation is to open your eyes to the “virtual” worlds
out there.
What is a virtual world? Yes, I know that Wikipedia IS
NOT a scholastic resource however; I felt the definition
was exactly what I was looking for. A virtual world is
computer based. It usually has internet capabilities.
Some of these worlds are categorized as games. I’m sure
you have heard of Sim City, Halo and Dungeons and
Dragons…What I want to talk to you about are worlds
where you can communicate: in text, with audio, and
have a visual of what is being discussed.
• “A virtual World is a computer‐based How does all of this effect education? These virtual
simulated environment intended for users to
inhabit and interact via avatars” worlds can bring education to places where it has never
(Wikipedia, 2008) been before. My first time hearing of a “virtual”
educational tool was in the Summer of 2007 where I
attended the EduComm conference and sat in session
regarding this topic. The presenter was Dr. Chellappa
Kumar from the New York College of Osteopathic
Medicine of New York Institute of Technology. He spoke
of the Medical field using virtual machines to provide
insight on surgical procedures. The example he spoke of
was a computerized glove the student wore to perform a
cut with the scalpel. The virtual component could notify
the student if the cut was not hard enough or too hard
resulting in the “dummies” death.
1

2. The Future of Education is Virtual
So what benefits are there in education? Can there be
learning objectives, learning styles and learning fun? I
believe that yes; all three can be achieved. We all know
of the different learning styles. With the virtual
environments, the use of kinesthetic, auditory and visual
are in play all together; intertwined. When a person
appears “in world” as their avatar…an example of this
later…They are actually doing. A better way to state this
is that the person is now fully absorbed in their task at
hand. The virtual world around them is very visual. One
• Learning Objectives can look at a nucleus in every direction or hear the roar
• Learning Styles
of a waterfall. This can be very overwhelming at first.
• Learning Fun
When I first started using the Second Life Environment I
was actually experienced visual overload.
What I found to be the best in this learning environment
is that it can be fun. When you are learning the skills
necessary to function “in world”, you often run into
people, or fall off “sims” (these are regions of virtual
worlds…housed on servers…too techie for this
presentation). You can even find places that are of
interest to you. These include, reading, writing, building
and just plain old fashioned fun…like surfing. If time
permits, I’ll take you on a virtual surfing excursion!
When I ventured into these environments, I tried many
worlds: Active Worlds, There, IMVU and many, many
more. I did my best to narrow down this presentation to
• Qwag what I felt were the top three. The reason these were
• Twinity
• Second Life
chosen due to the fact I found the others to more for
social chatting. These three have great potential for
higher education. Those in the field of K‐12 have an
opportunity to influence teens through the Second Life
Teen Grid.
2

3. The Future of Education is Virtual
Qwaq is a functional world to better a team or group
project. An example of its use in education would be to
• quot;A significant advantage for team and group bring a presentation to students and let them critique
members who work remotely from each
otherquot;
and edit this. This is the last environment I checked into.
(Qwaq, 2008) So it is the least known for me.
Twinity is in its Beta format and has a few technical
issued. I believe once it is in full swing, it can provide
some very promising aspects. In this world, I have
• quot;A 3D online world that mashes up the real actually created a place called “YC in PV”. It’s the virtual
with the virtual worldquot;
(Twinity, 2008) equivalent to the Prescott Valley campus…Only, it can
reach further!
The following slides are places in Twinity that I started
working on. In this environment, I have only met one
person…and he was also a Second Life user!
This is the first “apartment” created in Twinity. To the left
is a bathroom, complete with tub, sink and crapper…The
next room on the left is the kitchen with refrigerator,
sink, oven and table ready for tea…The last room on the
left is the bedroom…like anyone sleeps in the virtual
world…Starting on the right is a “living Room with an
attached room.
Here are two other Twinity “apartments”. The upper left
is known as Rah’s Library. The hopes are to place
bookshelves with hyperlinks to eBooks or articles. This
lower one is a “club” hangout. It has no furniture “but”
lots of mirrors and textures on the wall and the ceilings.
This place has a backroom, bathroom and an upstairs
veranda!
3

4. The Future of Education is Virtual
Ahhhh. The infamous YC in PV. This “apartment” has
become the Yavapai College addition. The Website you
see is useable. The viewer can view from this frame or
open to full screen. There is potential of having a “body”
present to assist students with questions or guide them
through Blackboard…
These are other areas of YC in PV. The upper left is a wide
shot of the same room with the website. The lower right
provides access to an area which could be a classroom
setup or lecture hall…
In this Virtual World, I also created a “library”, “store”
and “rental” apartments. I can’t wait for the group to
catch up and launch this world live…
Second life has become just that for me. A second life.
Like I really need more to do in my world! In this
environment, one can place a whole campus…or a
classroom…or an office. There are institutions with
campuses already existing in Second Life: San Diego
Campus, Montclair State University, Texas State
• “Second Life® is a 3‐D virtual world created by University, Princeton University and many, many others.
its Residents”
(SecondLife, 2008) My hopes are to take you in world to a few of these for a
virtual experience.
The following slides are some of the classes I attended in
Second Life to get a feel for how virtual teaching and
learning worked. Some places not shown are discussion
groups on literature, a class on PhotoShop and another
on creating animations and gestures.
4

5. The Future of Education is Virtual
This is a place called the Great Hall where a group known
as, New Citizens Incorporated (NCI), provide workshops
on particular topics. This class was on creating a business
in Second Life and how to explore the possibilities of the
business…Where to find places for your shop, how to
advertise, how to find out if the place is “busy enough”
to sell items…
This is one of the Tui Neo (Technical User interfacing
Neophytes) classes. This particular topic was a six class
course on scripting. The project is to make a door that
will open and close for you and no one else…plus, have
the “object” say things…I hope I can show you my door in
use today!
Another Tui class on building lamps. Note: Instructor’s
shoes…
This class is at a place known as Fermi University. They
did change the group name to this…prior it was the FU
Students…This class is on building a “vendor” to sell your
work. The “object” will house your work, a notecard and
other information while displaying “hover text”…If you
get to see my “office”…This is where I learned how to
build the couch…I also have a little shop here. Not a good
place to have one “but”….
5

6. The Future of Education is Virtual
This place is known as The Stonehenge. For this
particular class, we discussed the topic of “Can Religion
lead to the Truth”…I’ve also had classes here on Positive
Thinking and even a Meditation led by a Wiccan
Priestess…
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_world
• http://secondlife.com/whatis/
• http://www.qwaq.com/solutions/index.php
• http://www.twinity.com/en
6