Multi-user Virtual Environments for
International Classroom Collaboration:
Practical Approaches for Teaching and
Learning in Second Life
Successful International Institutional Collaboration in the Virtual World Second
Life, a case study
April 28, 2010
Annie Jeffrey, Boise State University
Jenny Wakefield, University of North Texas and University of Texas at Dallas
Howard Gregory, Kent State University
Scott Grant, Monash University
Abstract
With an increasing trend towards the use of participatory culture and networked learning in
education, opportunities to explore real examples of participatory culture are invaluable.
Interwoven into seemingly simple collaborations are pedagogical, cultural, knowledge
management, social, temporal, technical, as well as legal issues. A further layer of complexity
is added when considering international networks and collaborations. However, such issues
add a level of understanding important to participatory cultures. Enabled by communities of
practice, and social constructivist learning, a range of bricoleur skills are developed from
technical to higher level (cognitive skills) amongst students. These skills map many aspects of
Jenkins' Participatory Culture, and the skills essential to our 21st century students. In this
chapter, we review an empirical study where the 3D technology, the virtual social world
Second Life, supported learning for 21st century digital learners and how social networking
and scaffolding contributed to international educational collaboration.
Introduction
Virtual online and social learning is increasingly used worldwide at all educational levels. The
cost of laptop computers, smart phones and broadband internet connections have significantly
dropped over the past few years (Karif, 2009, para. 3), becoming affordable for
an increased number of students. Easily available tools such as web2.0 and web3.0 tools, have
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also developed from their infancy and become more user-friendly, often readily available for
free on the internet. These tools contribute to a new kind of learning that is engaging,
interactive, and real-time. Technology today contributes to access to learning in ways that
students in the past did not have. The new 3D Web represents the combination of social media,
digital media, new technologies and the maturing internet user (many of whom with strong
backgrounds in computer gaming)” (Driver et.al.,, 2008). This new Internet is immersive and
“promises to uncover previously unheard-of dimensions in engagement, which will in turn
increase educational and workforce collaboration, effectiveness, and retention” (Driver and
Driver, 2008).
Virtual worlds (VW) today, it has been proposed, are in the same position as the World Wide
Web was fifteen years ago, confusing and brimming with unrealized potential. “If the
telephone, radio, film, and TV helped to define life in the twentieth century, the VW is the one
true new medium of the twenty-first century. The VW combines aspects of all of these earlier
technologies, creating something novel in human experience.” (Damer, 2008). Foreshadowing
the current state of the internet today and the likely move to the 3D Web (Gregory,
2009), Janet H. Murray observed, in 1998, that the last five thousand years of human culture,
education, entertainment, business, and communication is now contained within and accessed
through the networked computer. "And the digital domain is assimilating greater powers of
representation all the time, as researchers try to build within it a virtual reality that is as deep
and rich has reality itself.” (Murray, 1998)
Second Life (SL) is an online social world technology where users adopt the shape of an avatar
and move around in a 3D virtual environment. Linden Lab developed the "world" in 2003 and it
has continued to make improvements since, such as, the addition of synchronous voice in
February 2007, a smart-phone call-in feature called Avaline in 2009, and the new 2.0 viewer in
2010 which “combines an easy browser-like experience with complete shared media
capabilities” (Release Notes/Second Life Viewer/2.0). Traditionally the 3D environment has had
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a high learning curve for new users despite efforts of developers to improve the user
experience by increasing the software's usability.
Literature Review
Many universities have used, and are using the 3D environment of SL in education. Educators at
the Appalachian State University were early adopters of the technology and developed the
Presence Pedagogy. This pedagogy is based on social constructivism, wherein learners build
community of practice and construct learning together fostering a collaborative environment.
In this environment each learner becomes a potential instructor, peer, expert, and novice
(Bronack, Sanders, Cheney, Riedl, Tashner, and Matzen, 2008). The border between who is a
teacher and who is a learner is blurred as each can contribute their specific knowledge to the
collaborative learning community.
A study carried out in 2009 at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, found that "collaborative
language activities in an immersive virtual world improved students’ self-efficacy beliefs about their
capacity to use Chinese language in a variety of real-life contexts" (Henderson, Huang, Grant,
Henderson, 2009) The study involved 100 undergraduate students engaged in a beginners' level Chinese
language and culture course and was based on a collaborative activity in a Chinese restaurant in Second
Life® to identify and order food in Mandarin
Jones and Bronack (2007) discuss the importance for instructors to support the development of
learning communities in a 3D environment allowing students opportunities to communicate
with peers and others. The assigned instructor takes on a role as a facilitator and helps students
with interaction and feedback, scaffolding learning. The 3D environment of SL provides the
ability to engage in synchronous discourse in many ways; in-world voice, private voice, in-world
private instant messaging, text-chat, and call-in from outside of the 3D environment to connect
with in-world residents. (Last mentioned is a for-fee service). Using a 3D environment instills a
sense of presence in the user. In Brown and Cairns’ study (2006) users described this sense of
presence as a feeling of actually being there while fully engaging in the activities in the 3D
world, oblivious of time and reality with full attention to the activities in the world.
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The addition of voice in Second Life™ has been a very successful and welcome addition and
adds to the sense of immediate presence. In 2009 fifty-two percent of residents used voice
(Sharma, as cited in Wakefield, 2009) The ability to use voice in Second Life enhances the
experience as Second Life, first and foremost is a social environment where people meet,
socialize, network, educate, and role play.
Research from Portugal (Esteves, Antunes, Foreseca, Morgado, and Martins, 2008) outlines the
successful use of communities of practice in the SL virtual environment teaching computer
programming. The researchers used action research methodology in an attempt to help
alleviate the high failure rate students experienced stemming from difficulties contextualizing
programming lessons. Using Second Life allowed students to create and compile programs in a
3D environment making the process engaging while giving them access to a community of
practice to help understand and fix programs which failed to run as anticipated. It also
alleviated the feeling of being socially lonely - disconnected - while programming. (Gregory,
2009)
The Participatory culture as defined by Jenkins, Clinton, Purushotma, Ribison, and Weigel
(2006), is a culture where strong support exists for creating and sharing one’s creations, and
passing knowledge on from the more experienced to the novice. The members of this culture
believe their contributions matter and feel socially connected to one another. Second Life is an
excellent environment to apply participatory learning in. Residents, the users of the
environment, may participate in events, groups, communities, and role play. They can
collaboratively build, script, train each other, and hold discourse in real-time.
Communities of practice have benefited from the Web 2.0 phenomena and it is assumed that
these benefits will continue to grow within the Web 3D world. Wenger, et.al. (2002) described
how communities of practice are successful over time because they are made up of
voluntary groups of individuals who generate excitement, relevance, and value with regards to
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a common passion. Wenger, et.al. (2002) call this spark “aliveness”, something that cannot
easily be designed. Jones and Bronack (2007), confirm that Communities of Practice are not
social per se. They develop around an activity towards accomplishing tasks that matter to those
involved. The “aliveness” of the CoP comes from sharing, inviting, transferring the enthusiasm
as well as the rhythm of the group for the task at hand – making others excited about being
part of the community and its purpose. Wenger, McDermott, and Snyder (2002) outlined the
interaction and collaboration for a successful CoP
At Boise State University, the Educational Technology Department started teaching courses in
Second Life in January, 2007. In her research there, Dawley (2009), identified that 3D virtual
world environments, such as Second Life, lend themselves particularly well as frameworks for
the ways people interact, teach, and learn collaboratively. Dawley found that social networks
technologies impact on learner’s thinking processes and development of consciousness and
calls this social network knowledge construction (Dawley, 2009). The 21st century learners are
no longer passive receivers of spoon-fed learning. This generation seeks out learning and builds
knowledge together in a social kind of way. Further, networking through collaboration occurs
virally in a virtual world and facilitates even international collaboration as we shall see in this
case study.
Seen against this background, the 3D virtual social world Second Life lends itself very well to
the new scaffold participatory culture education (Jenkins et. al., 2006), social network
knowledge construction pedagogy (Dawley, 2009), and the use of presence pedagogy (Bronack,
et.al., 2007), while developing community of practice. Few people will disagree that
collaboration and communication are essential in the 21st century classroom. Considering the
fact that learners today will needs to have a transferable education as they, over the course of
their professional careers, move from one career to another (Seely-Brown, 2008),
collaboration, networking, and communication become essential skills for educators to teach
and students to learn, in any classroom. We will here focus on the virtual classroom in Second
Life.
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Case Study
Background
In 2009, an instructor from Boise State University (BSU) in the U.S., and one from Monash
University in Australia explored the potential for a joint project work between two seemingly
disparate courses; Social Network Learning in Virtual Worlds and Chinese Media Studies.
The Boise State University’s graduate level SL course, Social Networks Learning in Virtual
Worlds, offered through the EdTech department, explores social media and networks in virtual
worlds incorporating various social and emerging technology tools. At Monash University
undergraduate students, enrolled in Mandarin Chinese language learning intertwined with
media related language literacy have been using Second Life for the past two years. As
instructors in a virtual classroom, the two instructors were respectively group leaders
facilitating instruction for their students in the virtual world. Individually they had set the
curriculum for their classes.
EdTech 597: Social Networking in Virtual Worlds
At Boise State, the instructor developed a course that had never been taught in this
environment before: a Social Networking in Virtual Worlds course. The class, EdTech 597,
offered as an elective in the Educational Technology Masters Program, attracted nine students.
The course consisted of weekly class activities, mandatory 2 hours in-world meetings, reflective
action including weekly readings and discussion, peer teaching, social networking participation,
and a final synthesis project to wrap up the class (Jeffrey, n.d). Class participation was,
needless to say, the ultimate goal for the course. The students taking this class were expected
to become active participants, expending time and effort to build the community and their
personal skills, through participation, collaboration and knowledge sharing.
The students who enrolled in this class, choose to take an online synchronous virtual worlds
course supported by weekly online asynchronous discussion postings, learning management
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system. It was understood that students enrolling for this course would have mastered basic
virtual world skills (as outlined in the course syllabus);

Use of camera controls

Ability to fly, walk, and teleport

Knowledge of communication tools (IM and chat)

Basic building skills (create prims, add textures and content)

Basic inventory management (can find items, wear clothing, make a notecard)

It is recommended that participants have at least 15-20 hours of prior participation in
Second Life before the course begins.
Nine students enrolled in the course during the Fall 2009 semester. Two of these students had
less than three months experience within the virtual environment classifying them as novices or
noobs in the SL vernacular. Of the remaining students, two had entered SL almost a year
before and had explore uses and ways to manipulate the space while the remaining students all
reported two or more years in-world.
An important part the BSU course, or indeed any online community, was its infrastructure
administration. This involved installing and maintaining a group communication system (Butler,
Sproull, Kiesler, and Kraut, 2002). Second Life allows for the use of a variety of communication
tools that are built into the user interface: local text-based chat, private channel IM text-chat
and voice. In addition to these online systems, the BSU course also used email, phone, text
messages, Wikis and the Moodle Learning Management System as communication tools.
Monash: Chinese Media Studies
At Monash, the instructor had engaged in Chinese language literacy for xx years. The Chinese
Media Studies of fall 2009 had 28 students enrolled. Students in the Chinese language learning
classes have been engaged in synchronous interviews with specially invited Mandarin Chinese
speaking guests. SL, being international, lends itself very well to this as people from anywhere
7
in the world, with a Second Life account, may communicate real-time without being in the
same physical space. The interview assignments incorporated machinima – video capture of the
computer screen - to provide students with the opportunity to enhance and review passive
learning in an active, creative, and purposeful way. Recording students during in-world
interviews and news reports then posting the resulting videos to the WWW, helps both the
students and the instructor to review the effectiveness of the language learning. Thus both are
able to follow development of the language learning process visually and auditory, fill in any
knowledge gaps, and provides the availability for peers, friends, and family to view the resulting
interviews online. In the past this video capture had been performed by a Teaching Assistant.
Project Conceived
Early in the semester, the two instructors decided to explore the opportunity of working
together to offer the graduate students in the EdTech course an opportunity to volunteer their
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help to the undergraduate students in the Monash course. It was their hope that transferring
control of the filming to BSU students would allow the Monash students to excel with their
language learning. Thus the Monash student would not be forced to divide their focus by
attempting to master the skills needed to assist the teaching assistant with successfully
planning and creating effective machinima projects. This, in turn, would strengthen their
engagement and focus the energy on the language learning. At the same time it was
understood that the BSU students could use the opportunity to develop networking skills and
build a community of practice within their own course.
The Project Proposal to BSU Students
Consequently the BSU graduate students were offered an opportunity to take over the entire
production process of a virtual world video project including locations, set-up, machinima capture,
production, and editing of the videos. They would be facilitating the entire process providing support to
the Monash undergraduate students. The project involved two separate rounds of filming. During the
first filmed session each group interviewed a native Chinese speaker and during a follow up session they
would present a news desk report focused on that interview. It was suggested that the news desk
report include a breakaway to an on-site reporter. Participation in the project would count as the
Capstone Project each student was required to present to the instructor to illustrate their mastery of the
goals and complete the course. A successful project would entail;
·
·
·
·
Choosing a studio location and adapting it for use during the interview and news desk sessions.
Coordinate film crews responsible for using desktop video capture software to record the
interviews with fellow EdTech students responsible for set design and location scouting and with
the Monash University students on the multiple filming dates.
Editing the resulting ten minute video files which include titles and end credits.
Uploading the edited video files to YouTube by the deadline.
BSU Student Acceptance
Eight BSU students expressed interest in the project. However an informal IM poll by the
course instructor discovered concerns about the amount of work needed to complete such a
project and the novice skill levels of some of those who would be participating. As one student
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put it "I think this project is going to stretch my skill set, I worry that the noobies (new users of
SL) are going to be overwhelmed." The most pressing concern for the BSU students was the
timing; the first scheduled Monash filming was to take place the following week giving them
only 8 days to prepare.
BSU Community Communications
The BSU students, facing a deadline and no further direct instruction from their instructor
arranged to meet the following Saturday, 5 days before filming. Only two of the students
attended this meeting. However, due to the time sensitive nature of the project they took the
initiative to made decisions that moved the project forward including; deciding on the Monash
Lecture Hall as the studio location for the interview sessions and contacting the Monash
instructor to request building permission for the location. In addition they asked for a
confirmation of filming time and inquire if there would be studio security on location during
filming to protect against unintentional and intentional (griefer) interruptions. In addition they
choose to assume the roles that best suited their experiences and skill sets. Further the created
a listing of the other students who had expressed an interest and assign them the roles they
had expressed an interest in performing. Hoping to encourage participation the also created
role descriptions for unassigned tasks that would need filled for a successful project.
One of these BSU graduate students assumed the role of Producer, assuming responsibility for
all filming and editing, as she was familiar with advanced video editing tools and the Fraps
screen capture software. The other BSU graduate student assumed the role of Production
Coordinator due to his studies in the field of Knowledge Management. He created a project
wiki to disseminate information regarding the meeting, the project schedule, student roles and
the ever expanding tasks which needed completed in order to complete the project
successfully. Because the EdTech class members had found the WikiSpaces (which they initially
used for their course interactions) user interface to be cumbersome the Production
Coordinator moved to PBWorks, a platform in which he was more comfortable and familiar.
PBWorks has a more user friendly, intuitive interface which the experienced Web 2.0 student
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found easy to use due to the WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) type interface. The
students and instructors who used the new platform appeared to agree with this assessment.
Project Wiki
The project Wiki's first page was a draft for a scope note outlining the project requirements
including sections outlining the opportunity, background, success criteria, risk and risk
reduction necessary for the project to complete with ease. These requirements were gathered
from the in world meeting between the two course instructors and the EdTech students. The
Production Coordinator who created the document assumed that his instructors and fellow
students would review his draft document (as the email invitation to the site requested) and
collectively correct mistaken assumptions, as well as add details and missed requirements.
Unfortunately this did not occur and several assumptions persisted until and after the first
filming.
The wiki was updated and expanded as needed, growing to include a main content page which
linked to the following pages;






Project information - the scope note as described above
Video - links to the completed videos as they became available
To do list –
o Questions about filming, groups and locations
o Tasks which that needed completed before the next recording
 Filming Cues for Monash students
 Create a standard title and end credit video using Photo Story 3 to use with
all videos.
o SL landmarks to filming locations
o Requests for Assistance with specific tasks, including;
 camera person to film sessions
 post production editor
Roles - a list of project roles and the students assigned
Meetings - notes of the SL meeting outlining the current state of the project, requirements,
etc...
Resources - which included information and links to;
o Digital media resources
 Photo Story 3 for Windows
 Fraps
 Audacity
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Orientation and Building Resources for new users to SL
Time Zone Coveter - the filming project involved meetings between individual in the
UK, US (Eastern, Central and Pacific time zones), Australia and Singapore.
Gallery - still photos taken during filming.
Schedule - filming schedules including times for each Monash group, their interview subject
and the date and time listed for Australia and SL.
o
o


The BSU students scheduled a second project meeting 3 days prior to the first scheduled
filming. This meeting was attended by both course instructors as well as the student who had
assumed the Producer and Production Coordinator rolls. Four more BSU students attended
including one who assumed the role of Set Designer and one who accepted the role of Location
Scout for the News Desk sessions as well as two students who had expressed interest yet
eventually failed to follow-through with assistance. During this meeting it was confirmed that
Fraps would be the video capture software and that both the Producer and Production
Coordinator (acting as back up camera) had the software installed. Location decisions that had
been made at the first meeting were shared and explained. Additionally it was at this meeting
that the first scope creep entered the project in that the Monash instructor shared his
expectations that besides a project title within the title and end credits, each video also include
student and guest names and English sub-titles (a request that proved too labor and time
intensive when considering the projects timeframe).
Due to time commitments only the Producer and Production Coordinator proved available to
prepare for and film the first interview sessions. Therefore the Production Coordinator
accepted the role of Set Designer, for the interview sessions, and assembled the required
daytime talk show set capable of seating 5 to 6 avatars. Stepping in as need became a common
event for the Producer and the Production Coordinator. The Monash students schedule did not
allow for either set approval or rehearsals before the live events. Indeed the Monash and BSU
students met for the first time during the first day of filming. Before the filming the Monash
instructor shared the typical schedule on the BSU project wiki.
Chinese Media Studies TV Chat Show Shooting Schedule
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中国媒体课电视专访节目拍摄计划
Start time – 5 mins Sound check
麦克风和音响系统的测试
Start time
Audience takes their seat
观众入席
Start time + 5mins
Guest arrives to be greeted by the interviewing group
被采访的客人到，采访小组迎接
Start time + 10mins
Interviewing group and guest take their places on the sofa on stage
采访小组和客人在舞台上的沙发坐下
Start time + 15mins
Interviewing group introduce themselves and their guest to the
audience (both those present and the future viewing audience)
采访小组向在坐的观众和将来看专访节目录像的观众做自我介绍并正式介绍被采访的客
人
Start time + 17 mins
Interviewing group begins interview, asking both pre-prepared and
spontaneous questions
采访小组开始采访客人，向客人提出事先准备好的问题和临时想起来的问题
Start time + 27 mins
Interviewing group winds up questions and prepares to thank guest
采访小组准备结束采访并向客人表示谢意
Start time + 30 mins
Interviewing group formally thanks guest and the audience and says
goodbye. Filming stops
采访小组向客人和观众正式表示谢意，向客人和观众说再见。停止拍摄节目
Interviewing group must thank guest again off camera and if there is a following interview,
invite them to stay and watch if they would like.
采访小组必须再次向客人表示感谢，并邀请客人留下来看下一个采访。
Audience must sit down quickly.
观众必须马上入席。
If there is a second interview, it would commence 5 minutes after the completion of the first.
若下面还有采访活动，第二个采访应该在第一个采访结束后按上述时间安排开始。
Monash Filming
The first day of filming interviews proved hectic. The Monash students were still new and
unfamiliar with the VR environment and the BSU students were still in the process of creating a
checklist to allow an easy progression of events within these sessions. Before filming began a
minor cultural issue with the set required the purchase of additional seating. The Set Designer
had purchased a single chair as a place of honor for the interviewee, the Monash instructor felt
13
this would be seen as isolating the guest and requested it be replaced by a sofa so a student
Figure 1: Interview Set, standing from left Scott, Howard & Annie, seated from right Jenny
could set next to the guest as a show of respect. The first interview experienced a sound issue
when an open microphone created an unattractive feedback throughout the first session.
However the issue was fixed for the remaining sessions. The only other surprise being that
interview times ran almost twice that expected which created issue during post production.
Interview Post Production
While initially it was the Producers intent to do all video recording and post production, having other
students act as filming back-ups only, once the volume of filming became clear this plan would not work.
The two lead students tweaked the load and shared responsibilities. Although he had only limited
experience with the Fraps software and video editing, the Production Coordinator, accepted
responsibility for editing and postproduction duties on half of the remaining interview and news desk
report sessions. In order to complete the video projects in a timely manner, he used software editing
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solutions within his experience including Microsoft Movie Maker, the shareware program Audacity (for
audio editing) and Microsoft Photo Story 3 (for the creation of title and end credits) for post production
video editing while she used
Table 1: Chat Show Interviews, September 17, 2009
Date/Day
Group
Interviewee
Time (Aus)
Time (China
/ Singapore)
9:00am
17.9.09
Thursday
17.9.09
Thursday
Group 3
Leo Pey
11:00am
Group 4
Greennote
12:30pm
10:30am (20
mins)
24.9.09
Thursday
24.9.09
Thursday
24.9.09
Thursday
Group 5
Jay
11:00am
9:00am
Group 1
Ling
11:00am
9:00am
Group 6 and 2
2:00pm
12 noon
24.9.09
Thursday
Group 6 and 2
Prof. Tim Xie
+ Suzhou Uni
Student
Suzhou Uni
Student (s)
2:00pm
12 noon
Time (USASLT)
Wed
6:00pm
Wed
7:30pm
Status
Wed
6:00pm
Wed
6:00pm
Wed
9:00pm
Confirmed
Wed
9:00pm
TBC
Confirmed
Confirmed
Confirmed
TBC
Adobe Premier. Using the same software would have been convenient as ideas could have been more
easily shared, however, with the strict schedule it was decided that learning a new software solution for
either would be too time consuming and risk project delays and possible failure. To increase their
familiarity with Fraps the Producer found YouTube tutorials and both students shared and developed
tips and tricks as they become more proficient.
Once the initial interview filming and post production session had been completed the student producer
and projection coordinator were able to take a moment to relax and regroup. With the assistance of
their instructor they began to explore ways to encourage more student participation in the hope of
gaining assistance with the work load. To that end they identify factors that could be contributing to the
other student’s lack of enthusiasm for the project. They identified the three most pressing issues as, the
time filming took place, the skill level required to participate and not being sure of what role they could
fulfill. Filming times were dependent on the Monash class schedule it could not to be adjusted. The
other two barriers to participation were address by creating a list of links to new user resources and
creating a list of possible project roles, both of which were posted on the wiki. The project team also
15
offered their fellow EdTech students weekly progress reports and posted links to the completed videos
to stimulate interest. No students stepped forwarded to help with video production.
Structure Within the Monash Course
Removing the need to learn additional technology on top of the use of the Second Life
environment, the Monash students were able to strengthen engagement and focus on
language learning. Working in groups, undergraduate students were further able to build their
own small communities of practice as they collaboratively, only scaffold by the instructor,
decided on which people to invite to their interview sessions. In their respective cohort, the
more experienced learners shared their knowledge, passing it on to those more novice. Further,
within their groups, students developed questions to ask the invited guests, practiced getting
ready for the chat shows, and later developed news desk reports also broadcast in SL. The news
desks were in the format of news desk reporting as well as written reports. In a sense, the
Monash students conformed to the many aspects of participatory culture that relate to people
working collaboratively in a real world as well as a networked social world. They collaborated
not only within their own group, but to some extent within the broader group; together with
the BSU students. The two groups’ common goals and interests were very much intertwined
contributing to each groups’ success in the participatory learning experience. Having said this,
we will further under discussion develop ideas on how this shared experience can be further
explored and built upon in the future.
New Desk Reports Filming
Although the student producer and projection coordinator were unable to find any classmates willing to
film and edit the hectic pace and practice of the first filming session left them more prepared and
comfortable with the assignment.
The second round of filming revolved around each group creating a news desk report that was related to
the interview they had preformed earlier. The projection coordinator used the time to work with the
set designer to find a location for this filming and the creation of the needed set. He also worked with
the Monash Instructor regarding the on-site reporter requirement for these sessions and the need for a
16
texture (photo) changer that would set behind the students during the report and change textures when
prompted by the students. The set designer donated the use of her sandbox (a SL building site) for the
news room and 3 sets (to accommodate the 3 different sized groups) were created.
Logistics issues hampered the flow of information between projection coordinator and the Monash
student groups regarding the need of the onsite reporter locations. Interaction between EdTech and
Monash students, outside of the studio filming times, was conducted through the Monash Instructor
putting part of the responsibility for their projects on him. Eventually due to the tight filming schedules
the onsite reporter breakaway shot was dropped from the project and all students took on the roll of
news desk reporter.
SLT Wednesday 14 October News Desk Reports
Date/Day Group
(Aus)
15.10.09 Group 1
Thursday
Group 3
Time (Aus)
Time (USA- SLT)
Location
11:00- 11:20
Wed 14.10.09
6:00 -6:20pm
Wed 14.10.09
To be decided
11:25-11:45
Group 4
11:50-12:10
Group 5
12:15-12:35
Group 2
2:00-2:20
Group 6
2:25-2:45
6:25-6:45pm
Wed 14.10.09
6:50-7:10pm
Wed 14.10.09
7:15-7:35pm
Wed 14.10.09
9:00-9:20pm
Wed 14.10.09
9:25-9:45pm
Status
To be decided
To be decided
To be decided
To be decided
To be decided
Project Issues and Assumptions
As stated before there were several project assumptions which were not discovered until the
students began the post production process. These included the issue of interview length
which had been given as an average of ten minutes. In fact the average length of the interview
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sessions was closer to twenty-five minutes including the title and end credits (with the longest
being almost 33 minutes). These resulted in a substantial increase in the time required to film
and edit the videos.
Closely related to the first issue was the second assumption that the BSU students would post
the videos free on YouTube as had been done in the past. In fact, YouTube has a limit on
uploads requiring that they be a maximum of 2GB in size and 10 minutes long. Thus the EdTech
Producer, an educator at heart, took it upon herself to secure a Vimeo account (an unforeseen
cost) that would allow the upload of such large files.
There was also an issue with the requirement that the Monash student names (both real and
SL) would be included in the credits. After the completion of the project it was discovered that
while there was implied consent there was no written consent for student names to have been
included in the videos. This lead to a lengthily debate within the core group and while there
was no clear resolution, several videos were taken down after grades had been assigned.
Despite these issue, when reviewing the experiences the two BSU graduate students who filled
the roles of Producer and Production Coordinator were satisfied with their work and their
contributions. They sensed pride, and relief, to have been able to successfully take ownership
of the entire production process. However, they also had a sense of disappointment that more
students had not been as fully engaged and involved in the project. For an online group to be
successful the basic requirement of investing in active participation and creating and consuming
content needs to be in place for the group to sustain. People who seek to manage communities
of practice find that they spend considerable time and attention on interacting, controlling, and
encouraging member’s behavior and that this takes time (Butler et.al., 2002). This was also
what the graduate students found as they completed the bulk of the filming project between
the two of them, taking time from other activates, to complete a project they felt responsible
for and that the undergraduates relied on them to finish. However if we use a metric often
assigned to communities of practice, a goal of 10% participation, than we find that we
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exceeded participation expectations as we had two members of the group totally committed
and two others offering varying degrees of assistance while others chose to only observe, just
as in traditional communities of this type.
Lessons Learned
Texting over phone provides a valuable tool during filming. When the Fraps screen capture
software is initiated the User Interface (UI) may be turned off using a keyboard shortcut. This
facilitates as the screen capture becomes clean; free of back-channel chat, avatar names,
incoming IM messages etc.
With a very tight schedule the BSU students filming the Monash activities had only one chance
to capture a usable video. Because of various unexpected situations that might occur in the
virtual environment the students decided to be each other's back-ups. This meant that both
students were capturing at any given time, but one of them was the responsible for
postproduction and video posting, while the other acting as backup. The schedule for the
filming was very tight and it was crucial to plan for user issues since re-takes were not an
option.
Timing - The tight turnaround time, from when the project was offered to EdTech students to
the first filming, was a huge hurdle to overcome. While two students accepted the challenge, it
may also have driven others away. Give participations enough time to prepare physically and
mentally when offering a skill starching project of this type.
Documentation – Because the project needs assessment posted to the wiki was never
completed, many assumptions were only corrected after they became problems. A project of
this size and scope requires documentation of expectations to ensure both smooth
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collaboration and success. “Over” documenting the scope and requirements of the project will
help catch problems before they happen. Scope creep, when requirements are discovered over
the course of the project, causes frustration and may threaten the success of the project.
One missed opportunity many have been not inviting the Monash students to participate in the
project wiki. Allowing them access to the wiki would have given them the opportunity to share
their expectations, make suggestions and gain understanding about the filming process before
the first interview. This would also have alleviated the information bottleneck (the Monash
instructor) between the two groups. Further, good community design takes into consideration
the opinions of both people within and outside the community. By inviting both “insiders” and
“outsiders” to contribute, a dialog can developed about community goals and the community
designed best suited to allowing the achievement of those goals (Wenger et.al., 2002).
Class Size - While classes in SL seem to work best when small, you may need a larger pool of SL
users with the skills and experience to complete a project of this type with success.
Successful community building by volunteers, like we have seen here, derives from people who
are motivated and engaged. Butler (2007) suggests that leader(s) perform community building
expecting to get something in return from the experience, either directly or indirectly. The two
graduate students in charge of the Monash filming found the prospect of working with an
international group of students on a project that would stretch and expand their skills to be
both challenging and exciting. While a highly demanding and time-consuming project, they saw
in it an opportunity to self-regulate, grow, and add the experience and final product as a piece
to their respective portfolios.
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