TEACHING IN VIRTUAL WORLDS: IDENTITY AND CULTURE

Paper presentation by

Dr. Cynthia Calongne

Institute for Advanced StudiesColorado Technical University

Licensed under aCreative Commons Share Alike

with Attribution License

Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education

March 29, 2009

2

Lyr Loboin her

nature spiritavatar

Avatar Design by Lyr

Cover slide:

Lyr Lobo as a shadow robot

dancing with herself

3

An Educause SAC Story

• The National Science Foundation (NSF) had recently updated their website

• Someone asked if the NSF needed a Second Life site

• Why?

• Persis Trilling noted that Second Life centers on people interacting with each other and the content

• Immersion, interaction & a sense of presence

• Engaging and personal

4

Is this avatar new or experienced? How do we know?

5First day in Second Life for which of these avatars?

6

Crossing boundaries: Eric McLuhan as Pharaoh

7

Your Avatar: Who Are You?

• Subcultures and roles– Teacher– Parent– Scholar– Lover of life– Curious child– Researcher– Comedian– Entertainer– Sage, a wise person

What we know about you

The inner you

8

Who are thesepeople?

Who is the avatar on the far right?

9

Paper Highlights

• People make a virtual world come alive– It is that shared experience and the awareness of others

that makes the content come to life.

• Situated learning, culture and behavior– Anonymity can enhance learning and communication

across cultural boundaries.

• Representation: identity in the classroom– Students and instructors need to recognize one another.

10

This is notyour Mama’s classroom!

Who is the avatar in the center?

11

Slide from TCC 2007 by D. Antonacci and N. ModaresFocus on diversity and situated learning

12

Idealized selfor real self?

October 2006

Heading to Ramapo on the

Teen grid!

13

CS 855 Futuring and Innovation Summer 2008

14

By January 2007,Second Life

had over 2.5 million unique residents

Who is this man?

His avatar looks likea cartoon.

Why do we takehim seriously?

15

Chart Copyright © 2007 by theVirtual Environments Info Grouphttp://www.virtualenvironments.info

In April 2008 - over 100youth-oriented virtual worlds active or in development

In Aug 2008 - it grewto over 150 virtual worlds

In Jan 2009 - over 200virtual worlds

59 have microtransactions57 require subscriptions46 use advertisingFrom Virtual Worlds Management by Show Initiativehttp://www.virtualworldsmanagement.com/2009/youth-01-26-2009.html

16

Choices for your avatar

• Avatar type– Gender– Species– Race– Ideal vs real– Context sensitive

• Nonverbal– Animations & gestures– Sounds

• Appearance– Skin, shape, hair, eyes– Image and style

• Welcoming• Impressive• Intimidating• Thought-provoking• Expressive• Powerful• Super geek• Hip

17

Above:

Who is this avatar?

Wireframe of an avatar

18Lyr Lobo looks better with skin

19

TCC 2007Pre-conference in

Second Life organizers

Who is the dog in the center?

20

Rise of the machines: How do we tell who is real from other objects?

21

Life 2.0 - who is the avatar on the left that helps users with 25 groups stay in touch?

22

Virtual World Culture

• Second Life cultures– Educators– Professionals– Worldwide cultures– Furry– Fantasy (Elves, dragons)– Geeks (tech, sci fi, robots)– Arts, music, literary– Adult– Teen grid

• Ideal self– Imaginative– Creative– Enabled

• Real self– Recognition– Honest– Disabled

23

Kiwi educators and teen grid mentors - dressed as what subculture?

24Which avatar is not real?

25Real avatars, real people - who is on the left?

26

Ready to teach!

Playful and imaginativelearning environments

In the photo above:

What 5 letter word describes this group?

27

What 7 letter worddescribes what these students

are doing whilesitting in the wheelchairs?

A CS 820 Usability andInteraction Class tests

their accessibility projects

28

Who is this avatar?

Bonus question:

Where does Hackwork and integrate

content into Second Life?

29

Who is this little girl?

At the NMC NML2009Thursday Xu

30

Above:

Who is the avatar featured on the right?

Corwin and Lyr in her normal shape

31

Wright State MBA students their 1st day in Second Life

32

A Strategic Thinking class meets with the instructor and Lyr.How many students do you see?

33

We develop Second Worldskills and our identitiesin a virtual world class

Students sharing ideasin social networks

CS 820 Class Fall 2008

34

TEACHING IN VIRTUAL WORLDS: IDENTITY AND CULTURE

Dr. Cynthia CalongneLyr Lobo in Second Life

Twitter Lyrlobo

For more information, visit:

http://ctusoftware.blogspot.comhttp://www.slideshare.net/lyrlobo

Lyr Lobo

CS 820 Usability and Interaction class 2009