Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
other random people who had responded to the
event listing in-world. We danced in accompani-
ment to the songs, and applauded the composer/
performer as part of our expected role as listeners.
virtual worlds is activity. Whether one is exploring
an unknown area or interacting with unfamiliar
objects, a virtual world is best enjoyed in an active
mode. My general observation of Second Life has
been that it is event-driven; one must have a task
to perform or an event to attend, rather than be
simply “hanging out” at a location. Even if one's
avatar is listening to a live music performance,
the default setting is usually to dance, rather than
stand around or sit still. If one is investing time
in a virtual world, one tends not to expect “sitting
around” as an activity (unless there is an active
discussion occurring).
The assignments should also be explicit, di-
recting the students through the required steps.
While these can be distributed on paper, through a
course management system (such as Blackboard)
or via a course web page, the more detailed they
are, the less confusion students will experience,
and thus they will have more time to focus on the
assignment itself. While this may seem obvious,
sometimes we take it for granted that students will
easily understand our instructions, or will have
the same enthusiasm for exploring a virtual world
as we do, as they simultaneously experience an
uncomfortable learning curve.
As for the fun aspect, again, as instructors
using a virtual world, we are likely to find the
virtual world an enjoyable place to visit, as well
as a pedagogically sound environment, or else we
would not choose to use it for our courses. While
the fun can be infectious (with the assignment
constructed correctly), we need to always keep in
mind that our audience/students do not necessar-
ily share our definition of fun; yet, by engaging
them actively and explicitly, they may be able
to play and have the “required fun.” One of the
students (the Kool Aid Man, mentioned earlier)
spent much of his free time in online multi-player
war games, which he clearly found to be an en-
joyable pastime. Familiar with movement, avatar
transformation and verbal communication (which
included both discussions of strategy and tactics
as well as humorous and sarcastic commentary),
BRIeF ReFLeCTION
In the end, my experience teaching in the MUVE
of Second Life could have been better. Overall, we
were hampered by aging computers that tended
to crash the software on a frequent basis (though
students who migrated to the more updated public
lab had fewer problems, and of course were still
“in class”). For my first time teaching within SL,
I am not sure I was as prepared as I needed to be
to create the most ideal assignments, and did not
deal as well as I should have with the students'
resistance, and at times utter recalcitrance, to
try something new. While most of the students
grasped the basics of navigation, object creation
and in-world interaction, only a few showed
enough interest to visit Second Life much beyond
the time spent there for class and the completion
of assignments. Given my assertion about the
so-called digital natives, I can only speculate
that perhaps an immersive virtual world is an
alien environment for those who merely graze
on technology.
Some Recommendations
for Virtual Teaching
However, I think the advantages outweighed the
problems and, having this first offering of the
course to reflect upon, a second iteration of the
course should go more smoothly. This first time
through has suggested some general guidelines
that I will follow the next time I teach in a virtual
world and, as I think these guidelines are universal,
I offer them here for others' use.
First, I strongly recommend that in-world
activities and assignments be active, directed and
fun. I have observed that a primary ingredient of
Search WWH ::
Custom Search