June
25

Sunday 8:30-3:30
Greg Jones, Scott Warren

What is a 3D Online Learning Environment?

  • 3D multi-user environment
  • collabortive groupware tools (some form of presentation communication)
  • unified communication tools (chat, audio, etc)

These are common for all forms of MMO’s. The difference between any MMO and one used for educational purposes? Learning! (informal or formal)

Other properties of a 3D Online Learning Environment:

  • Instant engagement - space, relationships, presence
  • Interaction, immediacy
  • multi-modal & -media
  • distributed learning (as opposed to distance - all at own console)
  • 3D environment as efficient as video conferencing (because it’s distributed)

History of Online Environments

Text-Based

Graphical MMORPG

Digital Worlds

Driving forces in 3D Online Learning Environment development - use of better computers, wanting to take it farther, solving problems

Affordances of Digital Worlds

Uses

  • simulate real-world problems
    • science labs in 3D space
    • acquire language if given enough exposure and reason to know it
  • blend face-to-face & online experience
    • communication purposes
    • hybrid courses
  • situate activity within narrative
    • use 3D space for students to explore and talk to pedagogical agents - in-world characters that give students information (can simply be the teacher’s avatar, or a non-playable-character)
    • learn story through exploration
    • translate what they learn to real-world
    • not just about one variable, have to experience the whole world
  • scaffold through pedagogical agents
    • students can go to pedagogical agents as many times as they need to. Over time they become independent learners seeking answers on their own.
  • communication
  • learning task gate keeping
    • students cannot move onto next thing until finish last

Media Affordances

“Perceptual properties of the environment that become apparent when perception is approached from an ecological perspective” (Gibson, 1978).

  • don’t have to actively cognitively process each sense
  • get lots of info from just an image, animation, or video
  • be wary of cognitive overload!

Interactivity

  • tools (keyboard, mouse, etc)

Simulations

  • environment changed as directed and experienced by user
  • causes & consequences in a safe environment (promote experimentation and exploration)

Communicative

  • permits users to communicate with peers and/or system
  • Habermas’ (2001) Theory of Communicative Action
    • efficiency of communication makes us most effective learners (most bang for your buck)
  • collaboration, competition, coordination, cooperation

Visual/Spatial

  • want to get own understanding of world, not give a scripted understanding
    • consider images (2D or 3D) as opposed to text - allows students to come up with their own interpretation, rather than you telling them what they are experiencing
  • movement within structure
    • San Jose State created a 3D cell in Second Life — users can walk around and explore
    • can remember better if you experience it
  • stimulus & response
  • efficient organization of information in 2D & 3D spaces
  • Paivio (1986) - dual coding theory
    • audio + video = more effective
    • But! Depends on what kind of learner it is - some learn better from exposure to just one
    • learners focus more on which has more information (a video where most of the important information is in the audio will result in learners only listening, not watching)
    • two most be balanced & learner must rely on both

Interaction with Learning Objects

  • objects within space for immediate feedback
    • interact with objects, NPC’s
  • pedagogical agents
  • environment - dynamic changes to environment based on player interactions
  • peer & instructor interactions in environment
    • but must have other in-system interactions, otherwise learners will use face-to-face communication instead of in-world communication

Motivational

A pure simulation not as effective as an environment with a game-like structure. Learners are most engaged with:

  • video games
  • play
  • accomplishment (economy, items)
  • grade-scale of leveling and improving
  • narrative (mystery, ghost story, etc)
  • feedback from characters (also it is less intimidating to get feedback from an avatar rather than an in-person instructor. Because of this the learner is more likely to try again and go back for approval)
  • Gagné’s 9 Steps of Instruction
  • Hawthorne Effect - “coolness” factor diminishes over time. So, you want to always be adding new stuff and pushing the bar forward to keep students interested and motivated.

Identity

  • role play (Murphy, 1997; Steinkuehler, 2005)
  • self cloak/anonymity

Challenges at the University Level

  • short time to create learning community (a few weeks!)
  • limited contiguity of communicators (how often/frequently can they really be in the system?)
  • limited available participation (midterms, finals, work, family)

Improving Learning

What are you really measuring? Civilization did not necessarily teach history, but rather motivated students to want to learn more about history

Products that “improve learning” - is it the product itself or is it the modifications of the instruction in conjunction with the product that improves the learning?

Science/Inquiry-based Learning

  • Quest Atlantis (Barab et al, 2006, 2007)
  • River City (Dede, 2006)

ADDIE Model for Instructional Design

Analysis

  • appropriate instructional methods for learning goals (do we really want a 3D learning environment?)
  • identifying virtual worlds for learning (not all virtual worlds are created equal)
  • commensurability of learning goals and digital affordances

Design

  • technology professionals versus educational professionals
  • proprietary system intentions and limits (whole system…both tool and school)
  • contributions of the system
  • on and off-task behaviors

Development

  • system intention (does the system really work how you want it to work, or are modifications needed?)
  • technology skill (what are your tech resources for programs and scripting)
  • cost
  • time
  • product testing (test on users)

Implementation

  • student subversion of the system (how you intend students to use the system and how they actually use it are different)
  • teacher subversion of the system (usually due to lack of training)
  • system learning curve
  • multiple learning styles
  • it is not as cool as you think it is
  • school policy and equipment

Evaluation

  • impact of complex worlds (difficult to study individual variables)
  • standardized assessments
  • qualitative assessments

Some Concerns

  • commercial products (hard to motivate companies to help with your needs)
  • user violations and system values
  • kids and virtual worlds
  • harassment impacting identity negatively
  • too much time in virtual world
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