1. Effect of Second Life on Student Motivation
University of North England
Effect of Second Life on Student Motivation
Bethany Orellana
Conference for Imaginary Virtual World Research, 2010
Introduction
Immersive and collaborative communities of practice are possible in structured virtual environments such as Second Life. They can engage students in innovative and creative ways, holding the potential to unlock creative problem solving, increase motivation, and offer a deeper level of collaborative learning. Highly motivated students produce richer and higher quality work than those who are not (Pajares & Johnson, 1994). Virtual worlds have been used successfully as teaching resources in medical education and training (Kamel Boulos et al, 2007), psychiatry education (Yellowless et al, 2006) and more traditional e-learning courses (Hemmi et al, 2008).
AIM: to investigate student motivational levels while learning within Second Life
HYPOTHESES: that learning in SL will increase motivation and perceived learning
Methods
Participants: 54 (males : females = 21:33) on a 1st year undergraduate psychology course at a UK University, selected via opportunity sampling. Mean age was 19 years.
Materials: a list of tasks to accomplish within SL, the university computing laboratory, the follow-up questionnaire
Procedure: students took part as part of the Study Skills Module in their 1st year. They learned how to use SL then were asked to complete a list of tasks in groups. A questionnaire was circulated at the end of the session, containing questions relating to their experiences.
Results
The majority of participants had no problems using SL at all. The enthusiasm of the experimenters was evident and participants found SL to be a fun and entertaining way to learn. The whole immersive experience was very popular and individuals saw how to SL could be used to support their own courses and work. Some participants had problems using SL itself, although these were mainly technical unfamiliarity issues and orienting within SL itself. All issues experienced were easy to resolve with practice and not related in any way to the content presented within SL. Participants typically spent around 50% longer immersed in academic activity than they normally would.
Figure 1: Students looking for information while being monitored by a tutor avatar
Figure 2: Screen shot of student working with peers in-world
Ratings scales from 1-10
(1 = very positive response)
(10 = very positive response)
Table 1: Student opinion on how well SL worked as a Teaching and Learning Method
Discussion and Conclusions
Opinion regarding use of virtual worlds in education is generally very positive from those involved in education (Hemmi et al, 2009; Kamel Boulos et al, 2007). Most participants had no problems using SL at all. The enthusiasm of the experimenters was evident and individuals found SL to be a fun and entertaining way to learn; the whole experience was very popular. The general consensus was that the experience was more immersive than traditional methods of learning: providing an increased level of learning for those taking part. In SL students have to hunt for information themselves and integrate it correctly before it makes sense. It is a more thorough method of learning, as it promotes motivation and self-directed learning as well as critical thinking and better problem-solving skills. This study supports the view that increasing motivation through use of innovative teaching methods can facilitate learning and increase the uptake of information in a student population.
References
Hemmi, A., Bayne, S., & Land, R. (2009). The appropriating and repurposing of social technologies in higher education. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 25(1), 19-30
Kamel Boulos, M.N., Hetherington, L., % Wheeler, S. (2007). Second Life: an overview of the potential of 3-D virtual worlds in medical and health education. Health Information and Libraries Journal, 24,
Pajares, F., and Johnson, M. J. (1994). Confidence and Competence in Writing: the role of self-efficacy, outcome expectancy and apprehension. Research in the Teaching of English, 28,
Yellowless, P.M. (2006). Education About Hallucinations Using an Internet Virtual Reality System: A Qualitative Survey. Academic Psychiatry, 30(6),