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Asks Euan Mackenzie, 3MRT, UK - Learning by Playing – Serious Games in Education
- Taking “learning by doing” literally: Innovative workshop for creating learning games at Online Educa Berlin
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Exploring Archaeology in Second Life
In 2008, a Second Life application called MOOSE (Modelling of Second Life Environment) has been integrated into distance learning courses on archaeology at the University of Leicester. A research team created a Sami tent and Kalasha, the simulation of a village in Northern Pakistan, on the SL space of the university.
“Teaching archaeology requires a lot of knowledge about landscape, religion and rituals to become acquainted with the social structure and practices of a society or a culture”, explains Dr Ming Nie, Research Associate from the Beyond Distance Research Alliance, which is behind MOOSE. “Conventionally, teaching of these topics has been done through written descriptions, diagrammes and 2-D images, largely relying on students’ imagination”, she continues.
More Interaction
Previously, the archaeology distance-learning programme offered no face-to-face contact. Peer interaction between the students was supported by asynchronous discussion forums on the University’s Blackboard Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).
In contrast, in the virtual Sami tent, students are immersed in ritual experiences. They navigate around and get a feel of the layout and division of the tent, where they are able to explore tools, artifacts and social practices. Students enjoy this experience very much, as first activities in SL show.
They especially value the opportunity to interact with their distance-learning classmates. In the words of students on the MOOSE blog: “It’s much nicer than ever, meeting people from the DL groups”. SL is also helpful in developing a feeling of being ‘in company’ and ‘part of the group’. Presence through avatars makes people ‘feel more equal’ because it doesn’t matter ‘what they look like in real life’. An avatar also allows people to ‘see’ somebody, making them ‘feel more personal’, ‘less anonymous’ and ‘more familiar and comfortable meeting others’.
Experiential Space
The Media Zoo Island is designed as a creative space, offering students an opportunity to experiment and to try things out. At the same time, it is an experiment itself, as there are ambitious research aims behind each of the parts of the island. MOOSE is based in the Exotic House, where the most challenging, risky and potentially rewarding projects go on. “Our research should go beyond the typical ‘what works’ scenarios of technology introduction”, says Nie, “At this early stage of introducing 3-D environments into learning and teaching, we urgently need to develop pedagogical models to use in supporting and enhancing students’ learning through 3D Multi User Virtual Environments. This is what MOOSE is about”, she concludes.
In the next few years, the research team will work on developing a pedagogical framework of students' engagement and socialisation in a 3D environment for learning, as well as a framework for SL-moderating skills and an exemplary training course.
At OEB 2008, Dr Ming Nie will present MOOSE on Thursday, December 4th, 16:15 – 17:30, in the session "Second Life Learning Experiences".
More information http://www.le.ac.uk/beyonddistance/moose/index.html
September 17, 2008
