Teaching Enhancement Grant TeamApplication – Education
Multiple Applicants
Title of Proposed Project: Incorporating experiential learning through Second Life in
organization learning and development
Abstract of the project.
This project aims at enriching experiential learning with Second Life for students at the
Department of Organization Learning and Development. Experiential learning offers
students the opportunities to practice skills that match as nearly as possible the real-world
tasks of professionals in the fields. Traditionally, due to the limits of the physical world,
students can only simulate a business strategic plan or instructional plan on paper. With
the introduction of Second Life, students will be able to implement projects in the virtual
world with real-life audience. Second Life is a 3D virtual learning environment that
supports multiple learner activities. A growing number of universities and organization
has employed Second Life for online learning and virtual team building. This project will
expand student learning opportunities and enrich their learning experiences. The final
product will a virtual learning space with sound pedagogy for UST faculty to utilize for
their own instructional purposes.
NARRATIVE:
1. Rationale and need for the project:
This project aims at enhancing experiential learning with new technology into two
courses, with the possibilities of extending the pedagogy to other courses, at the
Department of Organization Learning and Development. The courses are HRDO604,
Organization Development: Diagnosis, Design and Intervention Systems and HRDO600
Instructional Design for E-Learning. Experiential learning offers students the
opportunities to practice skills that “match as nearly as possible the real-world tasks of
professionals in the fields” (Lombari, 2007). Oftentimes, these opportunities are limited
by available sources. For example, E-Learning students may not have the platform to
actually teach an online course if they are not already affiliated with a university. Second
Life is a 3D virtual learning environment that supports multiple learners, has been
employed by many corporations and universities for learning and training, is a low
barrier-to-entry for content creation, is programmable, and provides an abundant reusable
instructional content (Mason, 2007). In the last few years, a rapidly growing number of
business and universities have established presence in Second Life. People enter the
virtual worlds in Second Life via an avatar which is their representation in the virtual
learning space. The avatars can walk, talk, and move around the same way that they
would move in real world. By using Second Life as a platform for experiential learning,
this project team can engage students in simulation, collaboration, problem-solving, roleplay with real world audience. Traditionally, these courses require students to complete a
diagnostic or design plan to address issues faced in organizations or E-Learning
environments. The students do not really have to carry out these plans due to a lack of
clients and the limits of the physical world. Through this project, the students would have
an opportunity to experiment with a strategic solution or instructional plan in Second
Life, where they will continually evaluate and revise projects throughout the course.
Second Life provides an excellent expansion of problems that students are able to
address. Students will be able to create an online classroom with the virtual artifacts that
resemble the settings of a classroom or a consulting firm. Students will be able to go
beyond the limits of the physical world and meet with clients to carry out their business
plans and receive direct feedback from peer or clients. The project team believe that the
expanded learning opportunity will lead to greater learning outcomes than were
previously possible.
2. Goals and objectives:
This grant will provide the necessary funding for the project team to receive professional
development at conferences and develop a Second Life virtual learning space that is
based on experiential learning model. Students will be able to develop authentic projects
with real-life clients. The following goals and objectives outline this initiative.
Goal A: Establish a presence in Second Life for the Department of Organization
Learning and Development
Objective A.1: Consult with IRT to seek sponsorship in funding and technology
support to secure a land in Second Life
Objective A.2: Study virtual learning environments by other universities in
similar disciplines to determine the best scenario for the project
Goal B: Apply new instructional strategies and artifacts for virtual learning space
Objective B.1: Research case studies and best practices that have utilized Second
Life for experiential learning through the Internet, library, academic listserv, and
professional conferences
Objective B.2: Obtain objects in Second Life that can be used for the virtual
organization learning
Objective B.3: Acquire the skills necessary to build instructional objects that
simulate an online classroom or a business meeting
Goal C: Create instructional materials and activities to be implemented in classes
Objective C.1: Write instructional scenarios to provide examples on how to use of
simulation, role-play, and problem-solving in virtual worlds
Objective C.2: Create new activities to engage students in experiential learning
with Second Life
3. Activities:
Phase 1 Virtual Classroom Preparations (goal A): The project team will buy or lease
land in Second Life to set up a professional learning space for students to construct their
own cubicles for the development of business strategies. Since this might be the first
example of a graduate program utilizing Second Life for classroom instruction, we have
consulted with IRT on the possible funding or technical support. However, Second Life
support does not fall into the norms of the IRT services. Our initial inquiry with IRT has
not received a firm answer on whether we will receive any support. The project team has
sufficient technical skills to move on with the project although we would prefer
collaborating with IRT. This project funding will help with the implementation of a
virtual learning space in due time without delay. The project team will also investigate
the existing the settings of virtual classrooms or training rooms that have been established
by other organizations or universities in order to come up with the best design of our
classroom.
Phase 2 New pedagogy development (goal B): This would be our first experience in
employing the principles of experiential learning with Second Life in our teaching
although both team members have utilized experiential learning in traditional face-to-face
teaching. We will actively participate in Second Life listserv, wiki, blogs, webinars, and
professional conferences. We have identified two conferences that focus on the best
educational practices of Second Life. The first is the annual conference of “Virtual Words
Best Practices in Education” to be held in Second Life (virtual participation) in March
2009 and the second conference is the “Second Life Educational Community
Convention” to be held in San Francisco in August 2009. We believe that both
conferences will provide a wealth of most recent research and best practices in Second
Life.
Phase 3 Classroom activities creation (goal C): The project team envisions that the
students will act as organization development consultants or E-Learning designers to
provide solutions to clients. We will adopt Kolb’s (1984) four-stage experiential learning
model (experience-reflection-abstraction-experimentation) to design the learning
activities. The following is a description of possible classroom or online activities. . ELearning students will create a course module and run the prototype of the training
module in Second Life, where they will continually evaluate and revise projects
throughout the course. Organization development students will facilitate a learning
module focusing on a variety of “types of interventions” using Second Life. At the
beginning of the course, students will complete assigned readings and hands-on practice
to acquaint them with the major instructional design concepts. They will also receive
orientation to Second Life. Students will start with a scavenger hunt in Second Life to
become familiar with navigation and learn some places of interests in Second Life. Each
team will receive a starter kit on how to construct a meeting place and conduct
consultation sessions with clients. After the experimental component, students will be
assessed with both authentic and traditional assessment tools. They will reflect on the
learning and designing processes through online journals. They will also receive peer
evaluation on the authenticity of the projects.
4. Evaluation:
Objectives
Evaluation
Objective A.1 Work with IRT
Objective A.2 Virtual learning
space examples
Responses from IRT consultants
Compile a report in the project blog/wiki on
examples of virtual learning space in Second Life
by other universities and organizations
Objective B.1 Research best
Compile a report on the best practices and lesson
practices
plans
Objective B.2 Collect Second Life Set up an inventory of objects in Second Life for
objects
educators and students to use
Objective B.3 Advance skills
Complete the classroom setup and invite
colleagues to provide feedback
Objective C.1 Create instructional Provide various instructional scenarios in project
scenarios
blog/wiki and ask colleagues or E-Learning
Center consultants for feedback
Objective C.2 Create new
Provide activity handouts in project blog/wiki and
activities
ask colleagues or E-Learning Center consultants
for feedback
5. Dissemination:
A blog and wiki will be created to share educational resources, recent research,
bibliography, instructional scenarios, and handouts with the UST and educational
community. This blog/wiki will include information and access to the Second Life
learning space for all educators who would like to utilize the materials for their own
classroom instruction. We plan to implement the new pedagogy in spring 2010. We
would propose a presentation with the IRT E-Learning Center to share our experience
and the results.