Overcoming Objections to MUVEs in Education - Teaching through Multi-User Virtual Environments - page 10

impersonal request in writing. The gate keepers
to the Internet can become strong allies in the use
of MUVEs in education and should be cultivated
directly like any other supporter for the project.
Server side barriers to MUVE use are usually
beyond the control of the local user. These issues
include technical problems and maintenance issues
on the host server. Unless the host server is housed
and operated locally, these issues are external.
There are two key approaches to dealing with
them. If there is a routine maintenance plan, users
should take it into account in their planning and
avoid scheduling use of the MUVE during those
times. The other strategy is simply to appropriately
manage expectations. Every experienced MUVE
user knows that sometimes technical problems
happen. Setting realistic expectations that occa-
sionally things will happen that prevent use of a
MUVE and having an alternate plan ready, will
help everyone involved cope.
Another area where managing expectations
is important is in regard MUVEs themselves.
Technologies tend to go through a five phase
hype cycle starting with first awareness and
eventually reaching a settled level of productive
use (Gartner, 2008). Phase two of the hype cycle
involved unrealistic expectations of the technology
fueled by excitement and novelty followed by a
period of disappointment when those unrealistic
expectations are not met. While enthusiasm for
the use of MUVEs in education is both good and
necessary for adoption of the technology, the
more unrealistic the expectations for impact on
education are, the more negative the reaction in
the third phase of the cycle will be. It is incumbent
upon the advocate of using MUVEs in education
to help their audience develop realistic expecta-
tions while cultivating that audience's support.
The person who plans to use a MUVE for
education needs to develop sufficient skill to use
and manage the technology. Just as with any other
educational technology, the user should have a
clear plan for intended use as well as sufficient
mastery to carry out the plan. It should go without

saying that a novice to MUVEs who does not
yet know how to function personally in a virtual
environment is not ready to guide others in us-
ing that environment. A user does not have to be
an expert in every aspect of MUVEs to use one
educationally, but they do have to be sufficiently
comfortable with their own skills to be able to
provide the same kind of guidance to students
in the virtual world that they would expect to
provide in the physical world. Since the goal of
this chapter is to help an innovator get support for
using MUVEs in education, it presupposes that the
reader will not be trying to make such a case until
they feel qualified to do so. That being the case,
the innovator is in the best position to assess their
own readiness. The argument that teachers are not
technically skilled enough to use MUVEs loses
its power when it is the teacher making the case.
When all of the other technical and personal
objections and obstacles have been overcome, the
educator introducing a MUVE into their teach-
ing will have to introduce their students to the
environment. Almost all students have experience
playing computer and video games and MUVEs
are based on the same underlying technology
(ESA, 2008). Therefore the interface and concept
of MUVEs should not be a significant obstacle to
use. Students will need to have time to become
comfortably functional in the MUVE, and the
educator will need to establish ground rules for
communications (White, 2009). Decisions need to
be made about what is acceptable use and behavior.
If the MUVE supports both voice and text chat,
how will it be decided when and which to use?
If avatars have different names than their users,
will it be convention to use the avatar names or
the users' names? In a case where all the users
are physically in the same room, the latter is an
option. These and other issues of conduct and
etiquette need to be explicitly addressed for the
users. Documenting policies and practices in
writing will encourage consistency and provide
a convenient reference document to help make
the case for using MUVEs.