Integrating Second Life into
a UT Austin Freshman English Course
NMC Conference, November 9, 2006
Michael Mayrath
• Educational Psychology Ph.D. student
The University of Texas at Austin
• Graduate Research Assistant
Division of Instructional Innovation &
Assessment (DIIA)
Agenda
• Tour: DIIA, UT Austin’s Second Life Island,
SL Pilot Project
• Research & Evaluation Methodology
• Results, Conclusions, Future Directions
Tour:
•DIIA
•UT Austin’s Second
Life island
•SL Pilot project
DIIA
(Division of Instructional Innovation and Assessment)
• one DIIA core objective: identify, explore,
and research the technological horizon
• DIIA starts with assessment: project
criteria
• games at UT Austin?
• pilot Second Life: 1 year
DIIA support
• Instructional Assessment Group
• Teaching and Learning Excellence Group
• Instructional Technology Group
• technical support
DIIA deliverables
• SL island
• account setup
• training sessions
• instruction manual
• instructional consultation
Second Life
• Multi-User Virtual Environment (MUVE)
• 1.2 million total SL residents
• Harvard, Tennessee, Pepperdine, Ball
State, and Central Missouri State
UT’s Second Life island
• 16-acre private island
• safe for students
• replicas of buildings on UT Austin campus
• freedom for students to build anywhere
Instructional setting for pilot
• English course: Composition & Reading in
World Literature
• 18 Plan II freshmen
• Fall 2006 — Spring 2007
• technology-oriented professor
Instructional objectives
• discovery learning
• fall goal: personal vision statement
• spring goal: leadership vision statement
• develop unity in verbal and visual
rhetoric
• compare UT Austin to other universities
Instructional activities in SL
• personal roadmap
• campus master plan
• two social hours per week
Implementation
• 8/30 - Course started
• 8/31 - Pre-surveys e-mailed
• 9/5 - 1st training
• 9/7 - 2nd training
• 9/12 - 1st SL assignment due (Roadmap)
• 11/30 - 2nd SL assignment due (Campus)
Research & Evaluation
Methodology
Research questions
• Are students more engaged in a course when SL
is used for instructional activities?
• How does students’ motivation in the course
change over the year?
• How do students’ beliefs, attitudes, and selfconfidence regarding technology affect their
desire to complete assignments in SL?
Evaluation questions
• How much support is needed to implement SL?
• What types of support are required?
• What do students like and dislike about SL?
• How difficult is it to learn SL?
• What is the future for using SL at UT Austin?
Mixed methods approach
• Quantitative methods:
– Surveys on 8/30/06 (pre),
11/22/06 (mid), and 4/13/07 (post)
• Qualitative methods:
– Interviews
– Observations
– Student reaction essays
Mixed methods study
Surveys
• writing confidence
• motivation while writing
• confidence in using technology
• feelings about technology
Response data analyzed for statistically significant
gains
Quantitative methods: Surveys
Writing Confidence
Strongly disagree ↔ Strongly agree
“I am able to …
…write using correct grammar.”
…write a 20-page term paper.”
…write a novel.”
Quantitative methods: Surveys
Motivation while Writing
Strongly disagree ↔ Strongly agree
“When writing a paper for school …
…I have a sense of control over what I
am writing.”
…I always start out with a clear goal of
what I want to write.”
Quantitative methods: Surveys
Confidence in using technology
Never done it ↔ Strongly disagree ↔ Strongly agree
“I feel confident …
…searching the Web using Google or Yahoo.”
…playing virtual world games such as Second Life
or SIM City.”
…creating/modifying your character in a game.”
…creating 3-D images.”
Quantitative methods: Surveys
Feelings about technology
Strongly disagree ↔ Strongly agree
• I would rather use Word to write than
paper.
• I like it when my instructor uses
PowerPoint in class.
• I like playing video games.
Qualitative methods: Interviews
• five students: high/low random
selection
• November 2006 & April 2007
• interviews recorded, transcribed, and
analyzed
• 34 questions
Qualitative methods: Interviews
Questions
• How has SL affected your interest in the
course?
• Do you feel like you have control over
what you do in SL?
• What frustrations have you experienced
working in SL?
• What do you like about working in SL?
Qualitative methods
Observations
• on-going throughout the year
Student reaction essays
• SL & writing
Preliminary
Results, Conclusions,
Future Directions
Results
Writing confidence survey
• Students were very confident in their
writing ability.
Motivation while writing survey
• Students believed they had skills to
match challenges.
• Students reported they had to work to
concentrate on writing.
Results
Confidence in using technology survey
• Students were very confident in using
e-mail, the Internet, Word, Excel, and
PowerPoint.
• Students were not confident in using
graphics programs, creating Web pages,
and programming.
Results
Feelings about technology survey
• Students liked using technology in the
classroom and in their work.
• Students expressed mixed feelings
about gaming.
• 48% of the students reported not
playing computer games.
Results
Interviews
• “[The] most frustrating thing is not
having a Control-Z key to undo what
you just did.”
• “I think the competition is a good
thing. It pushes a person can do.”
• “Our class is super competitive.”
Results
Observations
• competition for extra credit
• student anxiety and frustration
• training necessary for specific activities
• hand-outs with step-by-step
instructions
Results
Student Reaction Essays
• “Just as a SL building’s tiny details and elements
must all add up to a unified impression, a piece
of writing must be composed from support and
linked components.”
• “Having little to no experience in gaming or
computer programming, SL proved to be a real
challenge for me. To be completely honest, I
found the SL project to be more of a nuisance
than an integral part of my project.”
Conclusions
• Research questions addressed
– students’ engagement in course
– students’ motivation in course
– role of students’ attitudes on their use of SL
• Evaluation questions addressed
–
–
–
–
–
–
extent of support needed
type of support needed
students’ frustrations with SL
students’ likes concerning SL
difficulty of learning SL
future of SL at UT Austin
Conclusions
Research question: Are students more
engaged in a course when SL is used for
instructional activities?
Students’ engagement aided by
• anchoring activities in learning context
• training and support for SL activities
• avoiding too much competition
Conclusions
Research question: How does students’
motivation toward the course change over
the year?
• SL frustration may arise
• extra credit competition worrisome
• competition may grow too heated
Conclusions
Research question: How do students’
beliefs, attitudes, and self-confidence
toward technology affect their motivation
to participate in SL?
• like technology in the classroom
• high confidence in their tech skills
• motivation drops if SL gets frustrating
Conclusions
Evaluation question: How much support is
needed to implement SL in a course?
Dependent upon …
• instructional activity
• students’ proficiency in SL skills
• professor’s proficiency in SL skills
Conclusions
Evaluation question: What types of support
are required?
Dependent upon …
• students
• faculty
• independent evaluation
Conclusions
Evaluation question: What frustrations do
students experience using SL?
• ownership and group issues
• building
• activities not anchored in class context
Conclusions
Evaluation question: What do students like
about SL?
• customizing their avatar
• socializing in SL
• reflecting on what they have created
Conclusions
Evaluation question: How difficult is it for
students to learn how to use SL?
• steep learning curve (for our pilot)
• training
• step-by-step handouts
Future of SL at UT Austin
• expand SL applications at UT
• year-long course provides an advantage
• community building takes time
• continued assessment
• problem-based learning
Future of SL at UT Austin
• student programming in spring 2007
• continue data collection
• design other UT Austin SL opportunities
• extend literature on educational gaming
Michael Mayrath
mmayrath@mail.utexas.edu
Questions?