Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
their teachers confirmed that these issues were of
irritation to most students. However, the teach-
ers also noted,
'
Sure, some students complained
about
Second Life
being buggy, but that is just
an excuse. Most of the students in my class were
unhappy the minute we told them they would be
creating their interactive games in
Second Life
because they had their minds set on creating their
games in Flash
'
.
Nevertheless, the following issues were identi-
fied throughout our trials, which may have also
contributed to the negative attitudes expressed
by some students in relation to their 3D virtual
learning experience:
•
The lack of appropriate on-campus facili-
ties and the limitations of the Second Life
platform, which meant that we were un-
able to effectively deliver content shown
in lecture theatres to our students attending
virtual classes on our University island (for
example we were unable to share applica-
tions running on computers in lecture the-
atres with students attending externally via
Second Life).
The ALTC funded project aims to address
some of these limitations through the design and
development of an open source 3D virtual learn-
ing platform and associated teaching and learn-
ing tools that enable academic staff to develop
learning materials designed to facilitate learner
engagement and experiential learning. However,
it remains to be seen whether the technical, legal
and IP issues as well as the costs associated with
operating within the
Second Life
platform are the
only factors impacting on student reactions. It is
also conceivable that our so called 'digital natives'
are not as ready for these brave new worlds of
learning as we have previously believed. Indeed
it was our experience that the more mature stu-
dents, those Prensky (2001) refers to as
'
digital
immigrants
'
, were the ones who seemed most at
home in
Second Life
. Several authors are also more
critical of the simplistic distinction made between
different generations of learners. Carlson (2005),
for example, argues that 'millenials' are not so
different from previous generations of learners
and questions whether 'educational techniques
should change accordingly'. Kennedy et al (2007)
also caution against making significant changes to
the curriculum to accommodate new generations
of learners. On the basis of the findings of their
survey of first-year undergraduates' use of new
technologies, Kennedy et al assert that 'there is
greater diversity in frequency of use of technol-
ogy than many commentators have suggested' and
further, that the use of Web 2.0 technologies is
much lower than we might expect of the so-called
•
The lack of server stability throughout the
project, which impacted on the ability for
students to complete their in-world assign-
ments on time, and in the case of students
designing the interactive game in Second
Life, the technological problems resulted
in the loss of their work on several occa-
sions when they were unable to save (take
copies) of completed objects and scripts
back into their inventories.
•
The complexity of the interface and re-
quired learning curve, which several stu-
dents reported was a hindrance to their
learning experience.
•
The views of at least a few students, that
the commercial 3D virtual learning plat-
form was inappropriate.
•
The cost associated with uploading work
generated by students outside the 3D virtu-
al environment. While students were pro-
vided with a bank of virtual (Linden) dol-
lars, several felt it inappropriate that they
should be expected to pay to upload work
to complete their assignments.
•
Our inability to show content in-world
that is permissible on campus because we
could not guarantee the security of mate-
rial displayed or hosted on a public server.
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