Using Second Life to Teach About Marketing in Second Life

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2011 33: 217 originally published online 20 June 2011Journal of Marketing EducationWade Halvorson, Mike Ewing and Lydia Windisch

Using Second Life to Teach About Marketing in Second Life

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Introduction

Universities are host to a new generation of students. They have grown up in a world where they play, conduct relation-ships, explore, and learn about the world, virtually. Virtual worlds (VWs), made possible by the convergence of com-puter gaming and virtual reality technologies, present new opportunities for engaging students and enhancing their learning experience. Before educators can seize on these opportunities, they face a steep learning curve, especially with sophisticated three-dimensional platforms such as Second Life (SL; Wood, Solomon, & Allan, 2008). As a result, faculty resistance to the use of new educational tech-nologies can present a significant barrier to its uptake (Peterson, Albaum, Munuera, & Cunningham, 2002). This exploratory article addresses the issue of how steep a learn-ing curve (for both student and instructors) is necessary before educators can start achieving pedagogical objectives by conducting classes in and about SL. One study is con-ducted following a complete immersion approach to SL. The second, requiring significantly less technical proficiency, takes a nonimmersive approach. The results are compared and contrasted. The two different journeys to a similar destination are detailed, successes outlined, and problems and implications discussed from both student and faculty perspectives.

We proceed as follows: First, we review the issues sur-rounding educational technologies in the marketing classroom before giving specific attention to education in VW settings.

Second, we examine the case method in marketing education with particular reference to its partial renaissance in SL. Next, we offer two interpretive perspectives on teaching cases in SL. We conclude by identifying avenues for future research by suggesting implications for teaching practice and acknowledging the limitations of the present work.

Educational TechnologyFerrell and Ferrell (2002) note that one of the most sig-nificant issues confronting university administrators is the enabling of students and faculty with appropriate technol-ogy resources that facilitate teaching and learning. Peterson et al. (2002, p. 9) define instructional technology as includ-ing “electronic and non-electronic instruments, tools, and techniques that are used in the delivery of course materials and/or in a ‘backroom’ support capacity.” Instructional technologies include a variety of pedagogical platforms such as multimedia slide shows, videos, simulations, and Internet exercises, as well as course management technol-ogy such as distance learning, secure communication sites

410854 JMDXXX10.1177/0273475311410854Halvorson et al.Journal of Marketing Education

1University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia2Monash University, Caulfield East, Victoria, Australia3RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Corresponding Author:Wade Halvorson, UWA Business School, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia Email:[email protected]

Using Second Life to Teach About Marketing in Second Life

Wade Halvorson1, Mike Ewing2, and Lydia Windisch3

Abstract

There are compelling reasons for educators to consider incorporating virtual worlds (VWs) in their marketing curriculum. That said, the ways in which VWs can be implemented into the teaching curriculum are many and varied. This article reports on two studies in which notionally similar graduate classes are taught about marketing in Second Life (SL). The degree of student and instructor immersion is intentionally varied: One class is taught entirely in SL, by a technically expert instructor, while novice/intermediate instructors teach the second class in an interactive tutorial setting. Taken together, these studies offer marketing educators insights into developing “full” and “lite” approaches to teaching in SL, thereby lowering the barrier to uptake of the technology by catering to a broader spectrum of both instructor and student competencies, interests, and abilities.

Keywords

virtual world, Second Life, computer gaming, virtual reality, case study

at Univ of Illinois at Chicago Library on October 28, 2014jmd.sagepub.comDownloaded from


218 Journal of Marketing Education 33(2)

(e.g., Blackboard, WebCT), threaded discussion groups, and chat rooms for both the professor and students (Ferrell & Ferrell, 2002; Peterson et al., 2002; Strauss & Hill, 2007).

According to Nuldén (1999), educators generally under-stand that these instructional technologies can create envi-ronments suitable for learning. Malhotra (2002) raises a number of issues that educators need to address in using technology in the classroom. Recently, marketing educators have begun to showcase their efforts at addressing some of these instructional technology issues. Interestingly, a key benefit that runs throughout the following examples is the enhanced communicating and collaborating abilities through the use of instruction technologies.

One of the most prominent instructional technologies dis-cussed in the Web 2.0 era (from 2003 to the present time) of educational literature is that of online course delivery (i.e., distance learning). Hansen (2008) offers a comprehensive comparison of knowledge transfer in online versus tradi-tional course delivery, finding that online students produced better knowledge transfer results as measured by perfor-mance in the development of a marketing plan. These results were attributed in large part to the sense of community found in online collaborations. Of the three categories of variables that Becheikh, Ziam, Idrissi, Castonguay, and Landry (2010) contend are necessary for successful knowledge transfer, the use of VWs as teaching tools affects two, namely, the actors involved in the transfer process and the transfer mechanisms. The pedagogy of experiential learning is particularly salient in this process—Kolb and Kolb (2005) refer to the impor-tance of creating “learning spaces,” particularly so as to allow for “conversational learning,” that is, the spontaneous and natural discussions that take place between students. VWs are another medium by which a learning space can be cre-ated to engage in this communal and collaborative aspect of learning.

Virtual teamwork has been identified as a pedagogical enhancement made possible by instructional technologies (even in traditional course formats). For the development of a marketing plan in an international marketing course, Hu (2009) used an international virtual team project involving collaboration between American and Chinese students. In particular, Hu found that students were able to develop their workplace skills in an international setting, although they had not left the country, and also understand the cultural impact of international marketing plans. Similarly, Newman and Hermans’s (2008) report on virtual teams comprised of MBA students in the United Kingdom and the United States, in which the teams worked with virtual clients, showed that students perceived, and demonstrated, greater communica-tion skills between global team members.

While virtual teams allow for remote communication and interactions, Cronin (2009) and Workman (2008) point to wikis as another means of facilitating and promoting collab-orative efforts among students. Wikis are server software

that have increased the usability for creators and editors of websites. The main uses of wikis are for creating collabora-tive websites (including community-based websites), corpo-rate intranets, and managing knowledge. Wikis can be open purpose, whereby any and every web user is able to upload and edit information to the webpage, or have a specific pur-pose, where users have editorial access rights to remove information that they consider to be beyond the purview of the website. Wikis can provide unique opportunities for col-laborative learning in the marketing classroom.

The word “virtual” crops up repeatedly when discussing instructional technology, such as interactive media, CD ROMs, and so on. That is, people communicate without hav-ing to meet face to face, whether it be on social networks, e-mail, or chat rooms. Essentially, the communication and collaboration is mediated by computer and made possible via cyberspace engagements. In another attempt at facilitating collaboration among students and teams, Boostrom, Kurthakoti, and Summey (2009) detail the use of a segregated social networking site. In this example, students reported that the social networking site contributed to a sense of accomplish-ment and learning.

Taking “virtual” to the next level enables people to meet “face to face” in a three-dimensional, fully immersive VW. According to Bainbridge (2007, p. 472), a VW is “an electronic environment that visually mimics complex visual spaces, where people can interact with each other and with virtual objects, and where people are represented by animated char-acters.” It is through these animated characters (avatars) that face-to-face interactions are simulated.

Second LifeSecond Life is a three-dimensional, fully immersive, online VW that allows participants to create their own environ-ments and experiences. While the concept for SL was devel-oped in 1999, a beta testing version was only launched in 2002, shortly followed by a full version launch in 2003 by Linden Lab (Rymaszewski et al., 2007). Even after this full launch, SL continues to be upgraded and developed. Ostensibly, SL functions as space in which participants, through their avatars, produce and possess objects and prop-erty; develop interpersonal networks; and enact financial transactions in a fully operational economy (Castronova, 2005; Ludlow & Wallace, 2007).

AvatarsAvatars are three-dimensional representations of the users within VWs, similar to the “characters” that computer gam-ers create to train, gain information, and engage with others in the virtual setting (Bessiére, Seay, & Kiesler, 2007). Participation in VWs is quite difficult without a “virtual being” (avatar) as the participant’s representative in the



Halvorson et al. 219

world. Indeed, some cultures and subcultures in SL are dependent on participants being present as an avatar (Boellstorff, 2008).

The Virtual World of EducationAs of the third quarter of 2010, there were one billion users registered for VW sites (ReadWriteWeb, 2010), with the average participant spending 20 hours a week in these environments. It is also predicted that 80% of active Internet users (i.e., users who regularly use the Internet) and Fortune 500 enterprises will participate in VWs by the end of 2011 (Gartner Group, 2007). Indeed, national gov-ernments are using such platforms to develop business opportunities. In 2010, the Thai government launched “Thailand Planet” (Betterverse, 2010), not only for the development of Thai tourism but also for selling and cre-ating digital content. VWs are dominated by two types of immersive environments: (a) role-playing games such as World of Warcraft and Halo and (b) social communities such as SL and There.

G. Wong (2006) suggests that the classroom of the future is not on a college campus, but rather in the VW of SL. Already, Rzewnicki (2007) reported that more than 100 uni-versities from more than 20 countries had an active presence in the VW of SL. While several disciplines are engaged in ongoing dialogues about virtual opportunities, Wood et al. (2008) bemoan the lack of business education scholarship as related to the use of VWs for educational purposes. Recently, however, Tuten (2009) provided students in a Principles of Marketing class with the unique opportunity to create a mar-keting plan for a product that is, or could be, offered in SL. From an innovation perspective, the project allowed for stu-dents to engage in a traditional project within what was con-sidered a more salient, and therefore supportive, environment. Quoting one student, “I felt so far behind before this project; there’s a whole world of technology out there affecting mar-keting. I would have missed it completely except for this project” (Tuten, 2009, p. 4).

A pedagogical issue highlighted by Malhotra (2002) per-tains to how technology intersects with different pedagogi-cal approaches. Malhotra (2002) points out that the content and nature/mode of the course should be closely considered along with the applicability of technologies. For example, can technology work to enhance all lectures, case methods, discussions, problem solving, fieldwork, and role playing, or only some of these delivery techniques? If technology is applicable with these teaching methods, what is best prac-tice to ensure that there is a meaningful educational engage-ment rather than simply using technology for the sake of technology. It is this topic that the current study will attempt to explore—specifically, how the case method can be employed in SL.

The marketing plan in SL (discussed earlier) provides a good example of the ability to integrate Web 2.0 in mar-keting pedagogy. Students were able to engage in problem solving and fieldwork in the VW, and the project epito-mizes Cheal’s (2008) view that the best online education is active and participatory. However, the example is in direct contrast to Peterson et al. (2002), who suggest that the delivery of theoretical or factual material (e.g., lecture) is a better candidate for the integration of instruction tech-nologies than courses that attempt to use experientially based applications of theoretical or factual material. Yet it is likely that much has changed in interactive digital media since the authors made that suggestion almost a decade ago.

The rise in interactive digital media has catapulted con-tact abilities from the traditional web model to a new post-Web 2.0 world, where students and faculty can now have greater interaction in classroom exchanges. Peterson et al. (2002) were likely critiquing one-way communication instruc-tional technologies instead of the interactive instructional technologies available with Web 2.0. The move from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 technologies, however, does allow for explo-ration of Malhotra’s (2002) questions with respect to whether new technologies will become a substitute for discussions in the classroom context.

Research ApproachAs part of their in-class assessment, two graduate marketing classes of approximately 45 students, on the east and west coasts of Australia, were introduced to SL and trained to a level whereby they could attend and actively participate in an Ivey case study (Halvorson, Parent, & Pitt, 2009) on Tourism Ireland. A description of the two cohorts is pro-vided in Table 1. Both cohorts of students were from cultur-ally similar Australian group of eight (research intensive) universities.

Training for Group 1 consisted of a series of weekly tuto-rials conducted in SL, during which time students undertook guided exercises, attended a number of lectures requiring progressively more interaction, and a hands-on seminar on building in SL conducted by a nonacademic guest SL builder. Practice using a microphone and managing sound controls was emphasised in preparation for the two interactive case study sessions as active participation in SL requires both voice and text messaging. Students also maintained blogs with regular commentary on their SL experiences as part of the course assessment. Group 1 was therefore designated the SL “Full” (as opposed to “Lite”) group. Figure 1 captures Group 1 participants involved in the virtual class discussion. Training for Group 2 was neither as intensive nor as immer-sive as for Group 1. Students were asked (not mandated) to create their own avatars in the weeks leading up to the SL




case study class. Not all students were able to do so, due to technological restrictions. Given the less immersive approach, this second group was termed the SL “Lite” group.

MethodThis research used semistructured (open-ended) interviews approach in an interpretive tradition. Four open-ended ques-tions were used to elicit discussion from the students:

1. What did you most enjoy about the Second Life case study session?

2. What did you least enjoy/not enjoy?3. What did you learn?4. What could lecturers (instructors) do differently with

next year’s class to improve the learning experience?

Students’ responses to the four questions were then sorted into meaningful units of analysis (Tesch, 1990), although in some instances sentences or phrases occurring prior to the target segment were included to provide context and meaning. These segments were then further sorted into similar categories to form meaningful classes of stu-

dents’ responses (Tesch, 1990) that could then be ana-lyzed. Two basic categories examined initially were teaching-related themes (quality or effectiveness) and technology-related themes (either specific to SL or to VWs in general).

FindingsSecond Life Full Students

Teaching-Related ThemesConvenience of virtual attendance. The convenience of

being able to attend class without the need to travel to a physical venue was, for some students, very convenient. In some cases student linked this to being more conducive to engaging and participating more in class.

Love not having to drive home after finishing the lecture.

It seems to me very easy to listen to the lecture on this while having the feeling I am sitting in the lecture theater with my friends.

I was relaxed at my place and had a hot tea.

I thought this space can encourage more voluntary involvement that is not hampered by any physical and psychological barriers.

Engagement. A number of students reported feeling strong engagement from being able to virtually visit (teleport to) the subject of the case study, the Blarney Stone pub and virtual Dublin. The romanticism of visiting and engaging with the teaching in the surrounds of Dublin enhanced the experience for students.

I enjoyed being able to look around Dublin.

People at the Blarney Stone bar are friendly and have a great sense of humor.

Table 1. Sample (Class) Characteristics

Group 1 Group 2

Location West coast East coastLevel Graduate GraduateCourse Buyer Behavior Marketing CommunicationsClass size 43 46Delivery mode Full immersion—taught entirely in SL, students

dispersed across remote locationsPartial immersion—taught in-class in interactive

tutorial mode; all students in one classroomStudents’ technical proficiency Uniformly high VariedInstructors’ technical SL proficiency Expert Intermediate and novice

Note: SL = Second Life.

Figure 1. The west coast (“full”) class in Second LifeNote: Instructor/first author in foreground with his back to the “camera.”




Seeing my avatar walking on the street of Dublin cre-ated a sense of connection between the real me and the real city of Dublin.

Empowerment. For the immersed students, there was a sense of potential for some (formerly!) shy students to con-tribute to class discussions. Note that the students who have self-classified themselves as “shy” are almost all international (mainly Asian) students—raising an unanticipated “cultural equivalence” issue that will be addressed in the Discussion section. The “extended self-avatar” (Berthon, Pitt, Halvorson, Ewing, & Crittenden, 2010) that appeared in SL appears to have more license to talk and engage. Other students also noticed the change in the communication style of the class as a whole.

It gives me more opportunity to interact with the lec-turer and other students. It gives a good opportunity for some shy guy, like me, to communicate with oth-ers, especially communicate with teacher.

Everyone seems to be slightly more talkative.

Second Life manages to breakdown the communica-tion barriers.

There is a stronger sense of belonging as a group, people that don’t talk to each other in class, actually talk with each other in SL.

Interesting how people feel more comfortable texting their opinions.

Having such different names also gives an alter-ego feel to an individual empowering them in ways not possible in real life.

Many students who are too shy can easily give partici-pation and express their opinion by typing messages or speaking without pressure environment.

I am a shy person who hardly speaks at class. However, I could type the comment if u asked something I wanted to talk. It was a great opportunity to give my voice during the lecture.

Technology-Related ThemesEnthusiasm for education and marketing. Students were

quite enthused about how SL can be used for both educa-tional purposes and in terms of marketing applications. Aspects that were noted included increased interest, cost efficiency, and the enhanced global collaboration that SL can bring to these interactions.

I liked how the lecturer can quickly poll the audience and how participative people were (for some reason, in class, it seems like many people don’t raise their hand for either of the proposed options!).

It is a cheap option for distance learning.

Class can actually be fun, when all the students are active participating in the discussion.

Communities could be very valuable to large brands looking to better understand their target markets.

Second Life possesses the potential in becoming a major global melting pot and further support the glo-balization phenomenon.

In the virtual class, we help each other with handling technical problems, which improves our relationship with each other.

For me, a new student from China, is that it gives me more time to understand what teacher said in lecture, e.g., I can use dictionary.

Usefulness/Application of SLCopresence. A sense of being part of a community, and a

sense of copresence with the teacher and classmates, emerged as the students became more proficient with the SL interface and avatar controls. Relaxing into the VW afforded some students the opportunity to concentrate and engage with the Tourism Ireland case study being analyzed.

I found that I was able to communicate with the lec-turer in a more relaxed manner (like a friend) as com-pared to face-to-face lectures.

I also found that others who I haven’t yet spoken to in class were great to help me out, when needed.

There is a stronger sense of belonging as a group.

I really did enjoy the sense of community.

Second Life has enable us to act normally and how we want to act in real life, e.g., sitting down, clapping, walking, while interacting with others.

Second Life, the atmosphere of the class is differ-ent. Everyone seems more active, friendly and hav-ing fun.

Everyone acted as a part of a team.




The familiarity of it all puts me at ease . . . moving amongst fellow students within our virtual campus gives me the closest thing to a sense of belonging I have felt since entering SL.

Second Life “Lite” StudentsTeaching-Related Themes

Use as an educational tool. Similar to the immersed SL “Full” group, students were very supportive of the educa-tional use of SL as a means for exploring potential marketing applications. They were able to clearly articulate the value-added benefit that the SL case study experience brought to their understanding of VWs.

Experiencing Second Life in addition to reading the case study provided a better understanding of how virtual worlds operate. The written descriptions are good but having a go at operating/guiding an avatar just added that extra dimension to understand what the study was about.

Personally I enjoyed using Second Life as a means to study the Green dot case. Although it did not go that smoothly, it has made the case much more interesting in exploring SL and Dublin rather than just reading and discussing. I also thought that allowing students to come up with potential firms and industries that can use Second Life as a mean for marketing was interest-ing. A lot of the students were very creative and think-ing out of the box, which is why the session was more interesting and fun.

I feel excited with the second life. It creates value for students in class to have the interaction and discussion.

If I wanted to further explore I would be confident to get navigate myself around and try to interact with other avatars.

Frustrations. Some SL “Lite” students appeared to be uncomfortable with the free-flowing discussion-based nature of the case study.

Maybe the class was too discussion based? I under-stand we can generate and share more ideas through discussion, but it’s bit hard for me to catch up with all the new and different ideas. Also, it’s sometimes hard to judge if some ideas are good or not.

I also felt too much time was spent on group discus-sion. Because most of the class did not know much about marketing communications through virtual worlds, I would have preferred any of the lecturers

present to go in depth on a few examples of communi-cations in virtual worlds, why they worked, why they didn’t, how they did it—similar to our case study for-mat before the 3 questions were asked to be discussed. Some examples were provided but I felt on a very superficial level.

It was hard to concentrate on what was being said while at the same time interacting online.

It is possible, however, that this aversion was due to the lack of participation, or perceived inability to participate, by all students in the group discussion. One student indicated that some students “took over” the discussion to the detriment of the participation by other students.

To be honest, in the last hour, there was a discussion among three to four people, and the rest of the class just sat quietly. The topic of that discussion was inter-esting; however, it was not involved from all class. I believe during that time, we can discuss and explore more about SL or the guest speakers can share with us more about his experiences with social media or SL so we can improve and extend our knowledge about cyber world especially about pros and cons of social media to assess the potential to utilize in our jobs.

Some students who had developed avatars for themselves before the class were frustrated by the time spent during the class in SL.

I don’t want to sound negative, but we already set up an Avatar and walked around Dublin on our own so the in class experience was nothing new and to be hon-est was quite boring.

Some of these issues arose due to some students not having developed an avatar and, consequently, had to be “shown” around SL. Other students picked up on this and were critical of the lack of preparation by the “non-avatared” students.

The lecturers should encourage more participation. Anyway, well done!!

If you have asked us to prepare in advance then don’t waste time taking us through it. We should be able to get right into the discussion.

I felt too much time was allowed to take us through SL. Considering we were asked to do some background research and sign up I felt it was not needed.

I think most importantly, lecturers should encourage “Everyone” to join the SL and create their Avatar to




get the most from this case. I realized not a lot of stu-dents are willing to join SL, where I think if everyone is in SL together, it can be beneficial where they can actually experience and learn through playing by themselves.

Make it a mandatory requirement for people to go on SL so students can take it a bit more seriously.

However, in the case of the East Coast University (SL Lite), various institutional constraints (outlined in the discussion) prevented the instructor from mandating that all students have avatars.

Technology-Related Themes. Students who had not devel-oped an avatar prior to the class were a little lost at times compared with those who were participating.

Also, we spent more than 1 hour to just watch SL in class without much explanation what’s going on. I wasn’t really sure what I was expected to do except just sit and watch.

Technology is still not that advance. Speed was very slow and it was more frustrating than fun.

The guided tour of second life was a little haphazard. . . . It was hard to keep up given different lap top speeds. Second Life doesn’t run on my laptop as fast as it did on the presentation screen.

It is slow and pretty confusing.

In my opinion, not every student can join the Second Life in class so that some people feel bored about that.

The SL Lite students were aware that they could have been a more enhanced teaching environment (similar to the cell immersion teaching approach).

I believe the better way to engage students in SL is to allow them to be a part of SL and probably learn in that class through SL program. I think it will be more fun and more engaging. Therefore, it may be a good idea to do this session in computer lab and guest speakers lead us in the big screen that everyone in the class can see.

Play. The words “play” and “playing” arose several times during class discussions and in the formal responses from students. This could indicate one of two issues—either that there is a “gaming” hangover around SL that may undermine the perceived legitimacy of SL as a formal educational tool or that it may indeed add to the “fun” aspect of SL that would increase its uptake.

I learnt how to involve in this program as the lecturer showed us how we can play or something like that.

I thought the case and the teaching style of that night was quiet interesting, playing in the virtual world was quiet enjoyable.

The real target customers may not even play Second Life.

Actually experience and learn through playing by themselves.

Usefulness/Application of SL. Comments regarding the usefulness, or application, of SL seemed to split the SL Lite into two groups: the Skeptics and the Discovers. Unlike the SL Full group who appeared to be universally supportive of SL, there were some SL Lite students who were more skeptical and less enthusiastic.

The Skeptics. These participants seemed to feel that SL and other VW applications were limited by two main factors—the apparently “niche” nature of Web 2.0 technologies and the current technical limitations of VWs. Some allowed that there could be future opportunities for these applications but, nonetheless, seemed to feel that at the present time there was very little value in SL. This group voiced concerns that they had heard SL user numbers were falling and that as SL users are probably in a psychographically skewed market segment, SL was not likely to be a significant factor in mar-keting communications media.

I am still skeptical on how much impact virtual worlds can actually have on achieving marketing communica-tion objectives. Even though the new generation are digital natives, I still think that a limited target audi-ence with a very specific personality type will spend a significant amount of time in a virtual world. On the other hand I think Web 2.0 and beyond will have a greater target audience and a greater impact.

Not so much to do with not enjoying, but I was skepti-cal about how these strategies would fall into place if consumers are not demanding Second Life anymore. How should companies encourage consumers to go on 2nd life for these strategies to succeed would have been a good topic for discussion.

Although Second Life may be perceived as providing huge opportunity for marketers in the future, in my opinion, the program is rather difficult to use and the users are still limited to Western countries only. Besides, I still have some doubts whether the market-ing activities implemented on the Second Life can actually yield favorable outcomes for the company because it’s like the company is promoting its brand to




unknown target customers who may not have an inter-est in the products at all. The real target customers may not even play Second Life. Especially those global brands that would like to penetrate Asian mar-ket, I don’t think Second Life is a good tool for them to use because not many Asian people play or know the program.

As marketers we need to consider the virtual world, that being Second Life however I was not convinced. I would like to explore how the virtual worlds are working in a B2B sense and also in the children area ----- was referring to.

The Discoverers. Users in this group found SL to be new, fresh, and to have exciting potential to make lives easier and more interactive. On the whole, most of these respondents were quite specific—as opposed to using motherhood statements—about the value and applications of SL and VWs. They commented that avatars could find a job in Sec-ond Life to earn money and then use this in the real world and that the VW could be the next to learn of the commercial uses and moneymaking possibilities in SL. One student even felt that VWs could herald a new era of marketing.

I have learned a new tool for marketing communica-tion although I still have some doubts about its feasi-bility to apply in the real world. I think it depends on the type of products and businesses to successfully use Second Life. Target audiences should as well be con-sidered. For instance, if the company would like to promote its brand to Chinese people, but there are not many Chinese users in Second Life, the company would rather not waste its time and money doing mar-keting activities through Second Life. However, from this class, I’ve learned a new trend of marketing com-munication that moves towards social media and online platform. As a marketer, I need to be up-to-date with new technologies and understand new trend of consumers.

Realization of the vast opportunities available for mar-keting, some of which we can’t even think of yet or understand how we would execute—so much poten-tial, but all dependent on skills and bravery of market-ers to explore, and technological infrastructure to access at a consumer level. I think the most exciting part was product trial and NPD—Shamrock Island was a great example of what could have been an abso-lute disaster if construction had started prior to launch-ing through Second Life.

I’ve gained more knowledge about how Second Life can benefit the real business. I also like the fact that Second Life can really help people earn extra money.

Green dots case study gave an interesting insight into how the future of marketing could be. A decade ago, nobody imagined that social networking can take over the world that way, similarly, this case opened our eyes.

The things I have learned from this class is that there is more than traditional advertising and online com-munity such as Facebook, blogs, etc. but it has second life for marketers to create advertisements to custom-ers and also interaction.

It was bit disturbing to realize that whatever I may be learning about marketing today, might not be appli-cable in next 5 years due to such fast pace changing trends!

I had learnt that it is possible to do anything in the virtual world as long as they can engage their prospec-tive targets with it. If companies who plan to utilize the power of virtual world or social media, just to fol-low the trend with lack of planning, objectives or knowledge about your targeted consumers or your market, it is possible that it is wasting their money because they will get nothing in return since they can-not get the attention from the public. As a result, companies should make sure that they have clear understanding of the targets; who they are, what they normally do or go, what kinds of media they consume etc. With these understanding, it will bring the success to companies with high return on investment.

DiscussionThe novelty of an immersive, three-dimensional, online, and gamelike environment being used for serious teaching and learning purposes captured the imaginations of students and lecturers alike. The instructors plunged themselves into the unknown when they decided to teach a case in SL (about SL). They experienced significant problems and benefits working in a VW environment and came away with a measure of optimism for what is possible in the future using this technology.

Student participants from both groups also identified problems and benefits with the learning process in a VW. Frustration with the technology was the main issue raised by students from both cohorts. However, it was clearly evident that as the students became more practiced, issues such as controlling sound and voice became less problematic, leav-ing speed of rendering and continuity of connection as the main problems. Without exception students expressed confi-dence that it was only a matter of time before the technology caught up and these problems disappeared. But they had the benefit of spending significant time in the online world, get-ting to know their way around, building their skill levels, and overcoming many of the problems they encountered. No




matter whether teaching a case study or learning from one in the VW, this study makes it clear that a significant invest-ment of time is required to master the technology before par-ticipants can attempt to gain maximum educational benefit from it.

Another important “reality” brought home in the case is that of institutional barriers to SL participation and associ-ated consequences. In the case of the west coast (SL full) class, the business school actively encouraged SL participa-tion by students and faculty—and provided the requisite technical facilities and authority to support it. However, in terms of the otherwise comparable east coast institution, the Deanery was not overly supportive of SL, forbade its use on university hardware, and expressed a view that forcing stu-dents into SL could violate its duty of care to students. Permission was given, however, to download (and then erase after 24 hours) the SL software solely for the purpose of teaching the “Green dots” case. While some might find this position either laudable or deplorable, the authors have a more pragmatic (less extreme) position; that this kind of situ-ation is simply the “reality” in some institutions. Perhaps the only negative unintended consequence was the resultant het-erogeneity in student experience and expertise in SL. Where the west coast class was more homogenous in terms of expe-rience and competence, the east class cohort had some expert students, some neophytes, and many in between—which ended up frustrating the more competent students who felt that they had to waste time waiting for others to catch up. Indeed, as can be seen from the results, there were many more “skeptics” about SL in this east coast cohort.

An unanticipated benefit of the virtual classroom proved to be the degree to which technology helped flatten the cul-tural landscape and create a sense of cultural equivalence. Specifically, it enabled international students (primarily from Asian countries) to interact on a level playing field with their Australian-born classmates and the instructor, using anonymity and the virtual environment to set free any inhibi-tions students may feel as a result of their experience of edu-cation systems that are more examination-focused, view teachers as authority figures (Yue & Le, 2009), and place the students as reliant on their teachers to study (J. K.-K. Wong, 2004). In other words, and at the risk of gross generalization, they become more engaged and bothered the instructor and fellow students, and interacted on a par with their peers—to an extent to which they would typically not do in real life. Empowerment of students through other technologies, such as wikitextbooks (Ravid, Kalman, & Rafaeli, 2008) and com-puter games (Lim, 2008), has already been noted and argued to provide a medium through which students and teachers collaborate to create and discover knowledge. Furthermore, there is early evidence that the use of virtual environments in educational settings has a particularly empowering effect for international students (Craven, 2006). There is a long-stand-ing body of work within the education discipline that argues that enhanced student empowerment leads to students

accruing greater decision-making abilities (Sullivan, 2002) and maturity and responsibility (Panitz & Panitz, 2004). Thus, SL and other similar VWs offer a new and different mechanism to enhance student learning through student empowerment.

Practical Reasons to Consider SLOnline VWs such as SL show potential for alleviating many of the traditional problems associated with location, physical presence, and distance. For example, if a willing or able instructor is not available for students at a particular loca-tion, one could be “teleported” in from anywhere on earth, via SL. If increasingly time poor students are unable to attend regular real-life classes at the specified time and place, they might well be able to do so in a virtual environ-ment. As Internet technologies continue to evolve, converge, and become ubiquitous, so too will more opportunities become apparent.

Future ResearchThe intent of this current exploratory study was to gain insight into the case teaching experience in SL. As an explor-atory, naturalistic inquiry approach, only descriptions of experiences can be shared. However, knowing that teaching cases via an avatar is a viable option, a repertoire of research ideas have evolved for future examination.

As an exploratory study, the present research did not examine or correlate students’ learning styles in relation to their experiences with VW education. Generally speaking, it would be expected that there would be some categories of students, such as concrete sequential learners (Gregorc, 1985) or inductive/successive processors (Dunn, Sklar, Beaudry, & Bruno, 1990), who would not benefit, or be able to engage with, an educational approach that used VWs. However, Oblinger and Oblinger (2005) point out that the “Net generation” (born after 1980) are developing new learning styles that would appear to be a perfect fit with the learning experiences offered by SL. For example, Net generation students are argued to prefer interactivity, community engagement, and self-discovery over former types of learning. As such, future research may need to redefine learning styles among contemporary students before exploring which students adapt best to VW education.

As all interactions in SL take place through avatars, researchers could examine the role of the avatar in educa-tional interactions. For example, does avatar appearance effect the social interaction in the classroom engagement? Also, is student engagement effected by the type of avatars in the student mix? What effect does the appearance of stu-dent avatars have on their learning experience? Should there be rules of appearance for the classroom avatar student? From a pedagogical perspective, do some case types work




better than others in the VW? For example, do heavily quan-titative cases work better or worse than qualitative cases?

LimitationsAs with most exploratory research, the current project not without limitations, not least of which is that the method was driven by participant observation. The professors were both researcher and teacher in the experience. While open-ended interviews were conducted with the professors as interviewees after the teaching experience, the experience could have been clouded by postthinking and/or a desire to do well in an exploratory experience such as this. Additionally, only three instructors were included in this preliminary examination of case teaching in SL. Future inquiry needs to increase the number of teachers, as well as broaden the range of expertise. The current exploration focused on the case leader as either an expert case teacher or an intermediate case teacher. A wider range of expertise would both increase the number of observations and the ability to derive possible differences on teaching expertise. In conjunction with the greater breadth and depth, expertise could be extended to expert avatars and novice avatars (i.e., case teachers with a lot of experience as avatars and those new to the VW), as this was not controlled for in the current observational efforts.

ConclusionAs with any innovation, particularly as related to online offerings, the adoption and use of instructional technology in the marketing classroom has both advocates and propo-nents (see Evans, 2007). According to Hunt, Eagle, and Kitchen (2004), there is empirical evidence to support both sides of the debate, and Strauss and Hill (2007) suggest a similar situation with respect to student satisfaction with instructional technology. Wood et al. (2008) discuss the learning curve for both professor and student and, in particu-lar, the challenging platform in SL. Additionally, the evalu-ation of a virtual learning environment has proven to be a difficult, yet very important, assessment task (Michailidou & Economides, 2003).

From the student satisfaction side of teaching and learn-ing, Strauss and Hill (2007) corroborate findings by Ferrell and Ferrell (2002) and suggest that students possess a variety of learning styles and that faculty must be able to adapt to all styles in the classroom so as to create the best learning envi-ronment for all students. The bottom line is that some students prefer a lecture style teaching method, while oth-ers engage more actively in experiential/problem-based/ constructivist learning (Cheal, 2007). Both lecture and case study approaches can be supported in VWs.

From the faculty perspective, Strauss and Hill (2007) note that conventional wisdom suggests that faculty are the tech-nology laggards in web-based learning. Peterson et al. (2002)

indicate resistance to the use of instructional technology (particularly as related to forms of distance education) and offer the following excuses for the resistance: technophobia, inability to embrace new concepts, preparation time required, inertia/laziness, and the lack of concern for teaching relative to research expectations at research versus traditional teaching institutions (see Barner-Rasmussen, 1999; Ives & Jarvenpaa, 1996). As to the VW, Bugeja (2007) projects concern as to the accountability held by a professor or administrator when introducing/requiring students to the potentially unregulated world of SL and provides examples of online harassment and assault. Thus, to paraphrase Cheal (2007), the question in the minds of many faculty will be whether learning to teach in SL will be worth the effort—to which our qualified response would be “yes.”

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, author-ship, and/or publication of this article.

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Using Second Life to Teach About Marketing in Second Life