Posts tagged research
Current Research Directions
Aug 13th
My current research direction is this . . .
I’m considering a multi-case study of 4-5 institutions at varying stages of implementing Second Life; the study of each institution will be conducted concurrently over a six month period. The purpose of the study will be to explore three questions:
- What is the current state of institutional engagement of Second Life? To what extent are institutions facilitating the use of Second Life? How might institutional integration of Second Life be accomplished more efficiently, particularly in light of existing literature regarding models for the diffusion of learning technologies?
- Do current practices by institutions in the process of integrating educational technologies (Second Life, in this instance) confirm the RIPPLES model described by Surry et al (2005)? Is adoption more successful and widespread within institutions engaging all elements of that model? Do successful instances of technology integration further clarify the RIPPLES model by suggesting specific procedures or systematic approaches to the diffusion and integration of new learning technologies?
- Are there elements of the innovation-decision process that may be further clarified by conducting (a) a qualitative study, (b) over a period of time, (c) nearer to the initial point of adoption (Meyer, 2004; Rogers, 2003)? Those three design study elements address weaknesses within the diffusion of innovation research literature identified by both Meyer and Rogers.
Meyer, G. (2004). Diffusion Methodology: Time to Innovate? Journal of Health Communication, 9(1), 59-69.
Rogers, E.M. (2003). Diffusion of Innovations. New York: Free Press.
Surry, D.W., Ensminger, D.C., & Haab, M. (2005). A model for integrating instructional technology into higher education (Electronic Version). British Journal of Educational Technology, 36(2), 327-329.
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Loading ...An Invitation to Participate. Survey: Engagement of Second Life by Educational Institutions
Jun 26th
All educational professionals currently using Second Life are invited to participate in a survey: Engagement of Second Life by Educational Institutions. The purpose of the survey is to identify and describe the extent to which educational organizations are engaging Second Life at an institutional level.
An increasing number of educators, at all levels of the industry, are using Second Life for instructional purposes, and a tremendous number of institutions reportedly are engaging Second Life. However, no information exists describing the nature and extent of institutional engagement. To what extent are institutions, in which educators are using Second Life, engaging the technology at an organizational level as indicated by: development or revision of policies and guidelines; engagement strategic, organizational planning; commitment of financial and personnel resources; establishment of quality standards; implementation of student and faculty support and training programs, and deployment of an institutional Second Life Campus.
If you have any questions regarding the survey, please contact Chris Duke at chris (at) muveforward (dot) com or via Second Life as Topher Zwiers.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Survey: Institutional Engagement of Second Life
May 11th
I suggested in March that I want to research the extent to which institutions - rather than individual faculty – are engaging Second Life. At this point, the first draft of a survey to measure that engagement is 95% complete. When it’s complete, I’d like to test the survey with a few willing, interested faculty before releasing it to the real life education community in Second Life. If you would be willing or interested to help in that regard, please post a comment to this entry.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Institutional Engagement with and Implementation of Second Life?
Mar 23rd
New Goal.
To what extent are institutions engaging Second Life? Certainly, there are colleges and universities represented in SL, but by whom is that SL presence being developed: early adopters only, pilot projects, isolated departmental projects, or institutional strategic planning? How much funding is being allocated to support SL projects, and is that soft or hard funding? How many faculty involved? Has the institution committed any part of any instructional support personnel’s time to SL projects (instructional designers, media developers)? How many faculty and support personnel are involved?
I work with faculty in a community college district across three campus locations to integrate all types of technology into all types of learning spaces. The questions I need to answer focus on the institution rather than discipline specific applications of SL. So, while I enjoy, as an instructional technologist and adjunct faculty, I’m going to make a concerted effort to address the more administratively and institutionally centered issues and questions regarding the implementation of SL in educational spaces – in addition to the discipline specific ideas and learning opportunities I’ve been writing about.
How is my institution engaging SL? Currently, we have a small number of faculty that are cautiously exploring and learning in SL. We’re evaluating how to move forward coherently. Given our learner and faculty demographic, I’m encouraging implementation through systematic support of early adopters. Essentially, I think we’ll best be served by identifying and organizing our early adopters, providing instructional and media design support, strategically planning and budgeting for in-world instruction, supporting faculty research and conference presentations, and proactively and organizationally addressing infrastructure issues. In short, I believe our primary concern is (and should be) another, although more literal this time around, “land grab” at the distance learning landscape that resulted in the “teach now; plan, administer, manage and evaluate later” approach that so many institutions had to, ended up or are still taking with regard to web-based instruction.
I plan to continue discussing how we’re approaching SL as an institution as much as possible, and I want to briefly mention three current projects I have related to institutional implementation of SL. First – and the reason for the research reports graphic above – I am developing and will be conducting research to explore many of the questions I noted regarding how institutions are approaching the implementation of SL; when the time arrives, I’d appreciate any help with encouraging SL’s RL education community to participate in that research. Second, I’ve been asked to introduce a local group of faculty and staff to Second Life; that presentation will occur in late April. And, I’ll be synthesizing both of those efforts for a forum presentation I hope to deliver at the League of Innovations’s CIT Conference this November in Nashville; I submitted that proposal this afternoon.
I appreciate you taking the time to read, and I’ll enjoy any comments, suggestions and collaboration!
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative in SL via NMC
Mar 20th
Anyone else trying to recover from Spring Break? ;-)
Trying to keep track of learning and conference opportunities regarding Second Life or MUVE’s in general is difficult. One such opportunity coming up this next week is the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative Spring 2007 Focus Session activity in Raleigh, NC. The session, Immersive Learning Environments: New Paths to Interaction and Engagement, will occur March 27-28.
Fortunately, there will be several sessions from the event streamed into SL for those of us unable to physically attend the event. NMC Campus will be providing virtual access to Richard Van Eyk’s presentation Generation G and the 21st Century (schedule and slurl available via link) on March 27th; from the NMC Wiki:
The growing use of games in learning may signal a new pedagogical approach to educating the millennial generation. We’ll examine the theory behind the effectiveness of games; what the past can teach us about if, how, and when to implement digital game-based learning; and what this will mean for schools.
NMC will also be streaming a number of sessions on the 28th including:
- Cyberinfrastructure-enabled Learning Environments for Gen-Z
- Collaboration, Immersive experience and Interaction – The Innovation Cycle
- Virtual Learning Environments in 3D
- Immersion and Engagement in a Virtual Classroom: Using Second Life for Higher Education
- The Bar May Not Be As High As You Expect: Considerations in Implementing an Immersive Learning Environment
Full details are available via the NMC Wiki for the event. I’ll be trying to fend off other committments to attend these sessions.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Defining quality integration of SL into learning spaces?
Mar 5th
Early in this blog, I cautioned against what I thought and still believe is poor use of the SL environment for real life educational purposes. In short, replicating existing classroom spaces for avatars to sit and receive a lecture or simply using SL as a platform for delivering messages regarding traditional assignments is, for me, an instructional technologist’s nightmare. Using SL in that manner is using technology for technology’s sake; quite simply, if SL is the coming of Web3.0 and the internet’s future, we need to engage it’s unique capabilities and not use it to simply do things that Web1.0 applications could do or teach via a unidirectional Web1.0 pedagogy.
As an instructional technologist, I believe the key to quality integration of Second Life into learning spaces is:
to develop authentic learning projects that allow learners to engage learning content through interaction with communities and/or creation of content or products in a manner not possible through a physical or standard web-based learning environment.
Thus, my goal for this blog has been to suggest ideas for doing one of those two things. My hope has been and will continue to be that content experts working as faculty or curriculum designers in specific disciplines (music, language, literature, health sciences etc) may take and develop one or more of the ideas that I’ve personally suggested or one of the ideas suggested by others of the SL education community which I’ve chosen to highlight here.
Given that definition of “quality integration of SL into learning spaces,” I would like to highlight a learning experience and project developed by Sarah “Intellagirl” Robbins. Her Rhetorical Spaces project is an absolutely fantastic example of using SL to extend or create an innovative learning experience by exploiting the capabilities of the multi-user virtual environment. Professor Robbins employs both tactics I suggest in the definition above; her students are engaging the SL community and developing SL content/products they could not otherwise create in the physical or standard web environments. In my humble opinion, as an instructional technologist, this is a brilliant application of the SL environment which I believe any student would enjoy immensely.
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