learning - Academic Conferences Limited

A Qualitative Evaluation of Academic Staff’s Perceptions of
Second Life as a Teaching Tool
Rose Heaney and Megan Anne Arroll
University of East London, School of Psychology, London, UK
r.heaney@uel.ac.uk
m.a.arroll@uel.ac.uk
Abstract: The aim of the study described in this paper was to investigate the potential of Second Life® (SL) as a
teaching tool on an undergraduate Psychology programme at University of East London (UEL). A qualitative
methodology (Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis; Smith, 1996) was chosen as we wanted to allow the
participants to express openly their first hand experience of using SL in their teaching at the same time as
bringing the researcher’s interpretation to bear. We interviewed four lecturers, with varied prior experience of
online teaching, before and after they conducted a tutorial-type session within SL (although one participant was
interviewed once only - after his session). From the interview transcriptions, we identified three superordinate
themes, namely ‘comfort’, ‘investment’ and ‘clear rationale’. Participants stated that the virtual and anonymous
nature of SL appeared to allow students who might have had difficulty voicing their questions/concerns in a
traditional, physical environment to engage actively in the session. It was also seen as a useful adjunct to the
physical campus for students studying at a distance for reasons of geography, illness, bad weather and the like.
However, these positives had to be offset against drawbacks such as the lack of non-verbal cues so important to
staff in the physical classroom and the potential for staff embarrassment in front of students in what is a
challenging and unpredictable environment. (Unlike students, staff could not hide behind their avatars.) Given the
unique characteristics of SL and the not insignificant investment of both time and resources by both staff and
students to take full advantage of the environment, they all emphasised the need for a clear rationale for its use.
All felt it had obvious potential for activities such as role play exercises, problem based learning scenarios and
student presentations but were less certain about its suitability for tutorials (the main activity experienced during
the study) and other forms of group teaching. In sum, this study illustrated that with adequate training of both staff
and students, clear strategies for use and a supportive and encouraging institutional environment, SL can be a
beneficial addition to the teaching and learning repertoire of higher education.
Keywords: second life; staff perceptions; interpretative phenomenological analysis
1. Background
Second Life® (SL) is a web-based, 3D virtual world, where users interact with each other via their
avatars (3D representations of themselves). As one of the largest and best known virtual words with
millions of users and tens of millions of square metres of virtual land, SL has been put to many uses,
not least educational. As a Multi User Virtual Environment (MUVE) rather than a Massively Multiplayer
Online Role-Playing Game (MMPORG) such as World of Warcraft (WoW), SL does not come with
pre-defined structures and goal oriented game-play though activities of this sort may be created.
Users or residents of SL create content - 98% of all content in SL is user-generated (Boellstorff, 2008)
- or use resources developed by others, make choices about how and with whom to interact and
whether to restrict themselves to their own (or their institution’s) private spaces or visit the many
public arenas. Many universities in the UK and elsewhere have been active in SL for several years
and continue to be, though recent increases in land charges and its continued lack of adoption as a
mainstream learning platform cast some doubts on its use in the longer term. However, the unique
ability of SL (and Virtual Worlds in general) to give users a sense of being present in an environment
other than the one they are actually in, and to interact within it (Schroeder, 2008), make for a rich
educational experience that can be expected to prevail in one form or the other and, as such, a fruitful
area for research and exploration. Additionally, SL’s text and voice communication facilities, in
combination with its 3D features, make it a viable and potentially more rewarding setting for online
meetings, tutorials etc., than those in more common use.
2. Teaching and learning in SL
The most documented educational uses of SL are those that benefit from its immersive and
visualising qualities such as: displays and exhibits; role play; simulations; historical recreations;
language learning; problem based learning (Warburton, 2009). Butler and White (2008) categorise
activities into three distinct types of educational models: real-time interactions such as role play
exercises or teaching sessions; machinima or the viewing of virtual interactions including orientations
and/or knowledge transfer; asynchronous interactions, for instance the creation of virtual objects for
assessment or the response to scripted, existing objects/environments.
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