Is Second Life the right tool for Further and Higher Education?

I recently came across a survey on Second Life usage in UK Further and Higher Education (FE/HE). The research was commissioned by Eduserv, a not for profit IT service company and reveals some interesting examples of how the virtual world is being used as a learning tool. The study examined the scale of use* and asked how much time and resources were being committed, crucially were these efforts a success or did they fizzle out?

IWR technology expert David Tebbutt wrote a very informative article on Second Life back in our March issue, he discussed how companies such as IBM and Cisco think its worth having a strong presence there, as well as study sponsors Eduserv. Clearly they believe there are legs in the technology.

The findings revealed that there were “disappointingly few examples of actual use in teaching and learning” despite the research team uncovering “a great deal of discussion and speculation concerning its potential”.

Whilst this may not seem especially surprising, given that Second Life is relatively new and vulnerable to accusations of being a 2.0 gimmick, the study cites Linden Labs, creators of Second Life, as being supportive of the platform for use as an educational and learning tool. There is a dedicated wiki and discounts are available for HE and FE institutes wishing to set up shop in the virtual world. Furthermore, the anecdotal-led research flagged up some interesting ways that Second Life could be used as a unique teaching aid. I think some of these ideas offer an insight into why Second Life has the potential to become far more significant to information professionals and academics alike, although not without some refinement and despite current lacklustre take-up.

Elmwood college in Fife who tool part in the study outlined how certain members of their staff are already considering ways to make the most of a virtual world with plans mentioned of golf course design, sports event management and even as a marketing exercise where students using the Second Life economy “could make this a more interesting exercise than a paper-based, theoretical approach”

One academic, cited by the study as Dr Peter Miller told the researchers “I am currently developing a series of visualisation tools that I intend to use in cell and molecular biology lectures and make available in-world for informal student use from September 2007 onwards”. Dr Miller goes on to explain how students will then have the ability to build protein structures and “animate the regulatory networks in gene expression” in the virtual world.

The Open University, being a distance-based learning operation has understandably been quick off the mark to get involved with Second Life. It owns three islands and has experience there, running several tutorial-based courses on its CetlMent Island. The study also cites examples of specific courses provided in Second Life such as Leeds Metropolitan University for architecture students, with its “Designing in Virtual Worlds’ course. Meanwhile, staff at Newcastle and Nottingham Trent University, are looking at ways their business studies students can exploit the technology using the Second Life economy.

However, there were examples flagged up that aren’t so encouraging; one unnamed respondent cited how he tried to conduct an online SL induction lesson from home with his post-grad students in the classroom. “This was a disaster” he said, as he was unable to control the attention of the class. Notably the next day an alternate group of students attended the same class but this time in the “real world”, it was a success. “We achieved more in 30 minutes than we had in three hours the previous night. It made me realise the importance of a blended approach to inductions into Second Life” he says.

What is interesting is that even if Second Life isn’t ready to be taken on by all or even be up for consideration, I think these examples give a glimpse of its potential to be much more to academia in the coming years if not necessarily months.

With ever faster connection speeds and high definition graphics its real power lies not just in the 3-D visualisation of material, but if (when?) an effective way to engage with our peers and colleagues can be found that is superior to a “standard” online interface or real world experience. Or is the benefit of Second Life more about the experience of knowledge sharing? and dare I say an element of play that adds a whole new dimension to the learning experience?

The study concludes that there are over 40 UK universities and colleges that have a presence on Second Life, although not all are publicly available as they are in development. There is also talk of several institutes looking at Second Life as revenue generator for marketing to both future and past students. Most notably the research indicates that “many academics are developing Second Life with a view to provide facilities for the 2007-08 academic year.”

With that in mind, the examples above raise certain questions for me:

1) Are IWR readers using Second Life and if so how?
2) Is Second Life a mere fad or at least irrelevant for academia?
3) Does Second Life need to evolve or develop considerably before it could be of any realistic use to you?
4) Are early adopters actually pioneers and will end up stealing a march on those of us who haven’t yet signed up?
5) Is this the right time to join up?

As ever, I’m always interested to hear what any of you think about this.

*The study was originally going to be international, however researchers ended up focussing on UK FE and HE institutions as it emerged they were using the application more than expected and thus provided enough information for the purposes of the study.