V-Learning: How Gaming and Avatars are Engaging Online Students
I found this study done by a group of three quite interesting. Their whole study focused around avatars in virtual environments and how gamers, and in reflection students, become highly engaged when they have an avatar that they can change to show their moods as well as personality they want. This attachment to their avatars is what causes them to want to learn as they are feeling more a part of what is trying to be taught to them. It also shows that students do desire the social interaction between one another as they use their avatars. I was quite captivated in reading this whole case study and it did click for me and my action research project.
This is one article I had to add in here as something to definitely look at if and when Second Life does start getting used more frequently in classes here at Full Sail. The author of this article goes and talks about a supposed university that was banned from Second Life for a second time due to it not enforcing a code of conduct for its students who use Second Life. Woodbury University was one of the first colleges to use Second Life in some of their college courses, however, they were banned when a few of their students decided to see just how much they could do in Second Life without regards to other residents in the virtual world. A few of them ended up causing a lot of griefing around the virtual world, either by causing sims to completely crash or just to harass other residents to the point of them leaving Second Life completely. This is a very real concern that I feel needs to be addressed if Full Sail does start to utilize virtual worlds as a teaching tool.
This was a wonderful literature review on how a college or any education facility could go about implementing Second Life into their curriculum. The author of this study gave me much to think about to add to this existing formula as well as show just how cost effective it will be to have Second Life integrated in the online curriculum at Full Sail. I would highly recommend this reading to anyone who is interested in Second Life and what benefits it can bestow upon education.
The author of this article talks about how virtual worlds are constantly on the rise in popularity despite what critics claim as a passing fad. The author points out that virtual worlds are pulling in a lot of money, while places like Facebook and Twitter have not quite found a way to truly make money. The author also points out that the popularity is mainly due to people getting attached to their avatars, which they can create to be a virtual representation of them or whatever they want to be. I find that it makes sense, many people do not want to be themselves online, they want to either re-invent themselves or create an ideal fantasy version of themselves. This allows people to be more engaged when they have an avatar to interact with others.
Very interesting! I especially appreciated the articles dealing with Second Life. Your mention of avatars that can express mood made sense, too. It is amazing how people (including me) behave as though what is happening to their avatar is really happening to them. I think schools and universities have to be very engaged when using SL as a learning platform.
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