Meg's review of the first 2 live Second Life sessions

We have now held 2 SL sessions with real students!
We have trialled a number of methodologies/ SL features including:
• A treasure hunt (students seek prims containing “note cards”) which provide information that they then need to discuss
• Recording the group discussions in “chat logger”
• Using SL as the first point of contact for the course information and the Moodle site as the secondary source of information
• Delivering a lecture through SL
• Facilitating group discussions through SL

Treasure hunt for note cards
On reflection we were probably way too ambitious for our first trial session! Oh well, full marks for enthusiasm! As it was we had various technical difficulties and trialling a treasure hunt was too difficult for us at this stage of our competence. However I think the students enjoyed the concept and the one note card that they were able to get produced a great discussion. This was hampered by the fact that my Avatar, Lucille, could not use voice due to technical difficulties.

Recording the group discussions in “chat logger”
The Group chat was logged on the chat logger. I am not sure at this stage, how to use this log of chat and how it could be uploaded to the Moodle site for this course and further used as a learning tool. But it does provide evidence that could b used to verify students’ thoughts and contributions which could be used for Assessment evidence!

Using SL as the first point of contact for the course information and the Moodle site as the secondary source of information
One drawback of Moodle which is pretty important from an educational point of view, is that is looks so boring at first view. (Well, that is my opinion and Jason agrees with me on that!) We discussed using SL as the first point of engaging the students, and using the Moodle site as the site to refer them to, to find a greater level of detail.

So with the trial students we have taken this approach. Checking the Moodle site I can only see 2 students have actually referred to it at the time of writing this, so I am not sure how successful this concept has been. It may be, that these are the only 2 students wanting to gain credit for doing the course.

Delivering a lecture through SL
Lucille delivered the lecture on SL in an informal lecture theatre that Trudy had provided. This was much more controlled and orderly than the previous session, although the students were much more passive, as they would be in a normal stand and deliver lecture. In the real life setting the lecturer can gain feedback from the students during this kind of lecture by watching the body language, eye contact and facial expressions. In SL these visual cues are absent and it feels very one way. I used Ariki’s idea of asking the student to give me a “k” by chat, if they were following me. This gave immediate feedback and I found it very encouraging, other wise it was hard to even know if the students were still at their computers. I also stopped fairly frequently and asked for verbal comments, asking students by their Avatar names what they thought of the various points being made.

It will be interesting to ask the students whether they found the lecture methodology in SL boring or not. I had assumed that because I was delivering the lecture at 6.30 at night that I would not be interrupted by any other work colleagues. However, I was a bit taken aback when a colleague popped into my office to ask me a question, The person concerned quickly realised that I was otherwise occupied but it did throw me a bit and I momentarily lost concentration.

Facilitating group discussions through SL
To do this I used the technique of naming avatars and asking for their opinions or thoughts. It would have been helpful to have a list of the participants at hand and tick every time I asked particular names, I may have favoured some above others unintentionally. This technique also puts people on the spot which is a bit unavoidable. We could introduce a system whereby they can say, Pass and we move to another person.

Recommendations

• Try a pedestrian approach for the first session. There will be technical issues and they will be enough to sort out in the first instance.
• Introduce a system for students to give feedback eg k= OK.
This could be expanded to cover a few other situations, eg r=please repeat etc
I think there are already some short hands such as AFC= Away from computer
This gives immediate feedback without halting the flow of the conversation in voice or the chat.
• For facilitated discussions use names to address questions
• Have a list of the participants at hand and tick every time you address questions of the Avatars, ensures no one is overlooked
• Don’t use a stand a deliver approach ONLY, (15 min is plenty for that) mix it up and get those Avatars moving around, keeps engagement levels up.

Meg (Lucille Lemondrop)