Getting Real about Second Life Virtual Worlds in Higher Ed

NACAS West 2009 Regional Conference - Saturday, June 13, 2009

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MUVE refers to online, multi-user virtual environments, sometimes called virtual worlds that are not necessarily game-specific.

Modern MUVEs have:

• 3D isometric/third-person graphics • Are accessed over the Internet• Allow for some dozens of simultaneous users to interact • Represent a persistent virtual world

Virtual Worlds aka “MUVE”Virtual Worlds aka “MUVE”

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Are you “inworld?”Are you “inworld?”

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Your kids are.Your kids are.

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Perception of users of virtual Perception of users of virtual worlds:worlds:

• More Immersive• Greater Sense of Place• Amongst many others…

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If perception is reality…If perception is reality…

Then virtual worlds ARE place

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As with any place, movement of processes and people into a new environment is a complex operation of assimilating your current culture to the culture of your destination.

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Gartner May 2008:Gartner May 2008:

•Focused on the technology rather than user needs.

•The projects were greenlighted because they were 'cool' - or because competitors were doing it - not business vital. •A lack of clear objectives and a limited understanding of the demographics, attitudes and expectations of virtual-world communities.

Nine out of ten business forays into the virtual world fail within 18 months

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Gartner May 2008:Gartner May 2008:

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Journalism’s love for sexiness drives hype cycle. Journalism's love for a good failure story helps drives the trough of disillusionment.

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Pragmatic observations from Gartner Research

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Slope of enlightenment is accompanied by finding practicality.

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Enterprise Ready Enterprise Ready PlatformsPlatforms

http://cleverzebra.com/virtual-worlds

List from 11 Virtual Worlds Technologies That Will Change the Way We Work

• Active Worlds• OLIVE• Protosphere• Qwaq Forums• Second Life• Web.alive

Custom Built• Open Simulator• Project Wonderland

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Don’t ditch your LMS…yet!Don’t ditch your LMS…yet!

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Blend It!Blend It!

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• Research

• Conferences

• Marketing and recruitment

• Immersive learning experiences

The PossibilitiesThe Possibilities

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ResearchResearch

Workspace Awareness Toolkit and Collaboration HubFor software development teams

Eclipse Interactive Development Environment

(IDE)

3D Visualization

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ConferencesConferences

http://www.ohio.edu/outlook/06-07/March/416n-067.cfm

Arthur D. Little Virtual Exhibit at the PDMA Conference

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ConferencesConferences

U.S. State DepartmentEvent on Education Without Boundaries

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IBM Academy of TechnologyOctober 21st 2008

$250,000 savings in travel and venue costs $150,000 in additional productivity gains

Total Savings = $400,000

Estimated Final ROI = $320,000

Cost outlay = $80,000

Show me the money!!!!Show me the money!!!!

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Marketing and RecruitmentMarketing and RecruitmentCase Western Reserve

Chronicle article on Case Western Reserve's efforts

http://chronicle.com/weekly/v53/i37/37a02901.htm

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Immersive Learning ExperiencesImmersive Learning Experiences

Rafting Adventures for 8th Graders on the teen grid

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68jvnCqQ7yk

This module used for students to visualize the agents of erosion and deposition, as well as seeing how these agents create different landforms over time.

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Ohio State Riding Tour of the Male Testes

Immersive Learning ExperiencesImmersive Learning Experiences

Dr. Douglas Danforth, Ohio State

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Ohio University Software Engineering Process Game

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkkl3LucxTY

A multiplayer, online software engineering process game inside the virtual world of Second Life. Players can form teams and learn about the software engineering process through the use of role-playing.

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...We must move past the presentation of content to the creation of context wherein learners can apply and reflect upon the new knowledge they encounter. It is a matter of moving beyond "knowing" something to being able to do something with this new knowledge...

Rick Nigol of eLearn Campus

VWs = Experience & ContextVWs = Experience & Context

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Loyalist College Canadian Border Simulation

Immersive Learning ExperiencesImmersive Learning Experiences

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TEST SCORES IMPROVED BY 28%

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Going forward…

The world we are preparing students for is the same world we must ourselves be actively engaged in to effectively educate as residents as opposed to visitors.

Global Innovation Outlook 2.0 Group at IBM findings:

Enterprise in 50 Years – Notion of large corporation goes away.

Industry served by interconnected "on-demand" individuals.Full realization of the individual “core competency.”

Are we preparing students for this reality?

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Today: still paving cow paths.

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Tomorrow - continued movement towards fully augmented reality or merge of real-world and computer-generated data.

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Just like the early internet,Just like the early internet,There are challenges...There are challenges...

We must navigate these challenges to move forward...

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Towards involvement and partnerships

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The BIG Question:

Why do we want to do this?

• Have you adequately identified the need?

• Be sure it's not just what you want to do but what's best for the students / customers / clients / organization

• What haven't you been able to accomplish in other tools? with other methods?

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Contact InformationContact Information

Christopher Keesey

SL - Tanbou OggFacebook – Christopher

KeeseyTwitter – KeeseyEmail - Keesey@ohio.edu