Project LIVE: Learning in a Virtual Environment

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Project LIVE Learning in a Virtual Environment

• An Exploration of Second Life
• Monroe Community College

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Who are We?

• Jeff Bartkovich Bart Jefferson
• VP, Educational Technology Services, MCC
• Terry Keys Crash Thibaud
• Director of Instructional Technologies, MCC
• Larry Dugan Marcius Dowding
• Coordinator of Learning Environments, FLCC

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Who are you?

• Faculty
• Instructional Technologist
• Administrators
• Librarians
• Others

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Agenda

• Introductions
• Project LIVE Overview
• What has happened
• What we have learned
• Where are we going
• Questions

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How Experienced Are You in SL?

• How many of you have Avatars?
• For how long?
• More than a week?
• More than a month?
• More than 6 months?
• A Year or more?
• Has anyone used SL in a class?
• Does anyone here own land?
• Does your college own land?
• Did anyone attend the Second Life Community
  Convention 2007 ? (check out the proceedings!)

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Project LIVE Overview
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Our Assumption

• Project LIVE assumes unabashedly that it is
  important, appropriate and imperative that SUNY
  enter the virtual world and experiment with its
  potential for academic, instructional, research,
  and operational purposes.

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Project LIVE

• Providing intercampus multi-disciplinary
  conferences to examine the application of virtual
  environments for instructional delivery,
  professional development, and social networking.

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General Goals

• Create a SUNY campus in Second Life as a
  laboratory to explore virtual environments
  technology
• Demonstrate applications of virtual environments
  in various discipline-specific projects
• Discuss the pedagogical implications and
  potential of virtual environments for learning

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General Goals

• Discuss the training implications and potential
  of virtual environments for professional
  development
• Discuss the interactive implications and
  potential of virtual environments for social
  networking
• Discuss the ramifications of virtual environments
  for academic, student and technology support
  services

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Program Objectives

• Sharing best practices and specific application
  related to the use of virtual environments
• Developing and managing avatars
• Exploring the instructional and operational
  values of Second Life as a virtual environment
  beyond the SUNY campus

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Possible Projects

• Conduct and evaluate
• Integration in an online course
• Integration in a hybrid course
• Host an administrative meeting in SL
• Host a professional meeting with non-SUNY campus
  representatives on the campus

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Possible Projects (cont.)

• Conduct and evaluate
• Conduct a career counseling professional meeting
• Host an open campus meeting to evaluate Project
  LIVE activities and discuss next steps
• In the real world, offer webinars to introduce
  the SUNY community to the virtual SUNY campus
• In the real world, offer a training course on
  getting started in second life
• Submit conference presentation proposals based on
  project LIVE to SUNY conferences

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Specific Deliverables Include

• A SUNY virtual campus in Second Life
• The SUNY conference on virtual environments
  proceedings document
• Archived content of presentations at the virtual
  SUNY conference center
• Up to eighty SUNY faculty and staff and students
  with active Second Life avatars
• One page abstracts of observations conducted at
  the virtual SUNY campus concerning how learning
  happens in the virtual environment or results of
  test applications

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Deliverables (cont.)

• After attendance at either of the two
  conferences, participants will be able to
• Use their avatar to interact in the virtual
  environment
• Identify possible instructional, professional
  development or social networking applications for
  the virtual SUNY campus
• Discuss the pedagogical implication of virtual
  environments
• Demonstrate and orient faculty and staff on their
  home campus to Second Life
• Conduct tours in the virtual SUNY campus

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What has happened so far
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What Really Happened

• The May Conference sold out in three days with
  50 participants from 20 SUNY institutions
• Monroe Community College Island purchased
• Plots of land were assigned to every
  participants campus to use for the next 6 months
• Weekly meetings were held throughout the six
  month period
• New participants joined
• We shared, learned, persisted and grew

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Welcome to MCC Island
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MCC Island

• Hosts 20 campuses
• MCC Music Library
• Buffalo State Virtual Fashion Exhibit
• Cortland Castle
• Oneonta Music Theater
• Moraine Valley CC Martin Luther King Exhibit
• World University Exchange

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What we have learned
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Strengths

• Collaboration across campuses
• Perception of "closeness"
• Student/Teacher enthusiasm
• New energy in pedagogy
• Development of new pedagogies
• Constructivism in 3d environments
• Marketing

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Weakness

• Technology barriers
• Griefing
• Learning curve
• Classroom management challenges
• Student perception of game vs. learning
  environment

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Options for Designing an Island

• Recreate your campus (Vassar College)
• Recreate a symbol of your campus
• Donut Model
• Classroom spaces
• Minimalist approach

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Construction/Management

• Learning curve for construction needed for
  differentiation between courses
• Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) critical, even if
  mirror to campus AUP
• Consistency in policy from Linden Labs

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Where are we going now?
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Future Directions

• Escalation project SUNY VRLive
• Student support systems
• Instructional design specialists
• Instructional technology specialist
• Concierge/Docent services
• Special Client for SL education?

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Top 5 Predictions

• In 5 years
• All major learning management systems will
  integrate with a virtual world
• 75 of community colleges will have a virtual
  presence
• Virtual worlds will be an integral component in
  online learning programs
• College business transactions (applying,
  registering, buying books, etc.) will be a
  service offered in-world
• People wont tell you to get a First Life when
  you talk about Second Life it will become just
  another place to go to work or play

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What about League Live?

• Create an avatar
• Join the group Friends of the League
• Visit us at Monroe CC 2
• Cooperate on a League Island
• Sign up today
• send me an e-mail _at_ tkeys_at_monroecc.edu

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Questions!