Grant+2008+UWSA+ET

=UWM Grant Project=

http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/LTC/sl.html https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/groups/sa/ltc/Tanya%20SL%20Project/Joosten_EDUCAUSE.mov

BACKGROUND (Spring 08):

With funding from an Emerging Technology grant, UWM implemented Second Life, a virtual world, on our campus in 4 courses. The project consisted of several members in different disciplines throughout the campus who integrated learning activities in Second Life into their course design, to learn if these systems are in fact effective for teaching and learning, and if so, what the most effective ways are to use these systems in courses.

The faculty who participated in the project included:

Latonia Glass School of Continuing Education

Susan Stalewski Clinical Lab Sciences

Patricia Thomas Occupational Therapy

Tanya Joosten Learning Technology Center Department of Communication

The goal was to learn and disseminate "best practices" and other resources for teaching with Second Life for use by faculty and LTDC staff throughout the UW System through a project website. The project also prepared the campus to support and assist instructors as they become interested in introducing virtual world learning activities into their courses.

http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/LTC/sl.html

PEDAGOGY:

At UWM our uses surrounded the ideas that:

1.) Second Life offers a social environment so for social scientists (anthropology, communication, sociology, and others -- it provides social phenomena and environment to study and to perform research within. For example, UWM Communication students research organizational selection of Second Life a as a communication media to meet organizational goals.

[|http://www.uwmsecondlife.blogspot.com]

2.) The experiential nature of Second Life provides faculty to meet pedagogical needs that focus on behavioral and affective learning objectives where Second Life provides an environment for role plays and simulations -- e.g., roles in a lab activity...in an organization or project team. UWM Clinical Lab Science students took on the roles of lab technician and participated in scripted role plays to learn experimentally allowing affective and behavioral change.

3.) The richness of Second Life allows for an engaging environment for students to meet with their classmates and instructors to exchange information and dialogue about sensitive subjects, such as ethics.

https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/groups/sa/ltc/Tanya%20SL%20Project/Joosten_EDUCAUSE.mov

EVALUATION:

UWM conducted a student survey and Tanya Joosten presented the results at EDUCAUSE 08. See presentations for more up to date data.

https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/groups/sa/ltc/SecondLife/EDUCAUSE08/ http://www.uwm.edu/~tjoosten/SecondLifeStudentSurvey.HTM

FUTURE directions as of Fall 08:

There needs to be more development in best practices in using Second Life, identifying what pedagogical goals can be best met in virtual worlds, samples of pedagogical uses in certain disciplines and across disciplines, collaborations focus on interdisciplinary work in second life (e.g., nursing, health sciences, public health, health communication) faculty development models proposed.