Looking through the project by Innova JC

The project has a very long title of ‘Enhancing JC students’ critical thinking and writing skills through argumentation, enacted role play in immersive affinity spaces, and reflection’. The report is posted on IJC’s website. Here are some points that I find salient, with my comments:

• Manpower – 3 IJC teachers, 2 NIE lecturers, 2 research associates and 1 3D graphic designer
• Internet access via a 10Mbps private line paid for monthly by IJC
• Mentions ‘relative low cost’ and ‘relative ease’ without saying what they’re comparing with
• A virtual private island was leased by the Learning Sciences Lab at NIE. The lab’s website is inaccessible as I am typing this.
• Teen Second Life was used – According to the Teen Second Life site, ‘only teens between the ages of 13 and 17 are allowed in’
• Participants were from JC2 – According to the Wikipedia article on Teen Second Life, ‘Teen Grid users are transferred to the Main Grid once they turn 18, taking all content and private islands with them’. How did they work around this?
• Activities:
  • Term 1 – 2 classes. Groups of 4 or 5. Discussion of issues. Role-playing. As avatars in SL in 5 scenes, with a problem, complication, tension or conflict regarding which all stakeholders had legitimate concerns or conflicting interests. The decision taken or solution offered by students required them to simultaneously address the concerns of the various stakeholders.
  • Term 2 – Same grouping. Assuming the role of members of a specific interest group in a newly democratic island nation, the groups negotiated among themselves to determine the parameters to impose in the process of embracing globalisation. 1 class conducted the negotiations on SL while the other did so face-to-face
• Materials: information on the learning outcomes, setting/situation, props, list of characters and role cards relevant to each scene
• Discussion on the issues in SL was carried over to a discussion board on the college portal in the first term. Transferred in Term 2 to ‘Voice of Reason’, a software being developed by LSL, which ‘provided more scaffolding’.
• Rationale of using SL: ‘by being in character, they identify more strongly with the character and learn to think, speak, and act on issues from the perspective of that unique persona in the given semiotic domain’
• Cost:
  • S$1500 monthly subscription for the 10mbps line
  • US$980 one time payment for the island (educational institutions)
  • US$150 monthly subscription for the island
  • US$150 for 25 user accounts
  • US$9.95 monthly subscription for the island owner
• Some SL project design considerations were outlined
• Ground rules used were reported
• Interaction was through typed text and gesture scripts – A voice chat function is available in SL now
• Sets, i.e. furnished buildings, were built to help the participants assume their roles
• Chat should be logged to facilitate analysis – It might be easier to use typed chat since voice chat might require transcription or machine playback
• No clear evaluation of how much SL contributed to the learning objectives. Was learning facilitated? Did the students enjoy the experience? Was it really engaging?
• Answers to the 5 research questions were also not presented in an obvious fashion

Multi User Virtual Environments have been used for Primary 5 students before this. See this page, dated 2005.