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Virtual Worlds: Which Type is Right for Your

Institution?Donald J. Welch, Ph.D.

Merit Network

Michael Macedonia, Ph.D.Forterra Systems

Copyright Donald Welch 2007. This work is the intellectual property of the author. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given that the

copying is by permission of the author. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the author.

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Agenda Introduction Comparison considerations

Effectiveness Domain specificity K-12 cooperation Content Usability

Technical Reliability Performance Integration

Business Behavior Control Perceptions Cost Intellectual Property

Summary

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Introduction

Future of Virtual Worlds in Education Web → Course Management Systems Wireless

In 2003 I was on the cover of Communications Week for our classroom wireless network <5 years ago

Distance Learning

Parallels with the Web and wireless Early adopters From “justify” to “why don’t we have it” Real value

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Introduction

The way young people “Gamers” like to learn Inquiry based education Trial and error Contributory Social

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Introduction

VWs enable learning that we won’t be able to practically do any other way

First do the same things with new technology

Then do new things

It will be mainstream: Sometime

2 years? 10 years?

Decisions in the near future will have a major impact

Investment of scarce resources Failures

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Description of virtual worlds

Multi-FunctionMulti-FunctionSingle-FunctionSingle-Function

Pub

licP

ublic

Priv

ate

Priv

ate

SecondSecond LIfeLIfe

ActiveWorldsActiveWorlds

ThereThere

World ofWorld of WarcraftWarcraft

EverquestEverquest

Link TrainerLink Trainer

UCTUCT

ForterraForterra

Open Virtual WorldsOpen Virtual Worlds

BeyondBeyond

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Comparison Considerations

Educational Effectiveness

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Domain Specificity

Entertainment Business General

Purpose Education

Chemistry History Engineering

Scale Interface Physics Communication Collaboration Virtual Travel

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Domain Specificity Enterprises are looking for value Enterprises are looking for stability vs. limited

functionality Entertainment will trade Wow for stability Is a virtual world the best metaphor for

everything in the domain Web pages Flash Video Text VTC

Optimized for 1st person shooter Teamwork and communication

Optimized for creativity Flexibility

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Content Most of the education occurring in

virtual worlds today is not any different than what can be done with other online tools

This will change with new content, increased functionality, and new paradigms

How will we get a critical mass of content?

Ability to share? Commercialization?

Who will set the standards? OpenSource? Commercial providers? Collaborations?

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Usability

Access for the disabled Usability – ability to

master complex interfaces

Different audience for UI than games

Gamers vs. Professors vs. Non-Traditional Students

Can’t be a barrier for those who don’t or can’t game

Optimized for education Simple interface (based on

other experiences?) Integration with other online

systems Segregation and control

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Comparison Considerations

Technical

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Reliability

Uptime requirements for educational use are different than for commercial use

Classes that depend on it Students have tight schedules

Lots of dials that can be turned to balance stability

New Functionality Maintenance windows Infrastructure investment

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Performance

Performance Educational VW may take more performance and may be

enabled by a high performance campus network Public VWs have to work for the lowest common-

denominator

Will the VW engine have enough investment to keep up with performance needs?

Hardware Software Bandwidth

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Integration

Sharing of pedagogy Sharing of objects and

environments Environments that can be used Environments that can be

aggregated Environments that can be modified

Movement between virtual worlds

Image Interface Abilities Assets

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Business Considerations

Comparison Considerations

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Cost

Before the effectiveness has been developed/proven

After it is mainstream In what will the university

invest? Infrastructure Content creation Risk

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Privacy

Ability to Evaluate and Assess Students

Immediate feedback is valuable but who will know about it?

Classroom is controlled Good practice Ethics FERPA

Evaluation must be secure Who can observe the evaluation What resources can be brought into the

evaluation

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Behavior

Theft, fraud, exploitation of the vulnerable

Stealing of virtual valuables What virtual assets can be brought

into an educational setting?

Inappropriate behavior What is appropriate behavior in an

educational setting? Protection from outsiders Control of insiders Increasingly lawsuits in the real

world based on virtual world actions

Perceptions Advertising Social network convergence

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K12 Integration

Many higher education institutions increasingly have programs with K-12 students

When virtual worlds are part of the program are the behavior and privacy standards appropriate for high school students?

This may be harder in VWs than with current educational technology

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Control University image

Great learning environment High-tech, cutting edge Advertising/commercial

activities Image of educators and

students Both have different roles Are there new roles?

Trade-offs between new functions and stability

Trade-offs between scalability and stability

Government involvement Taxes Regulations Privacy Funding

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Intellectual Property

Piracy Significant investments in

object creation, content creation, pedagogy

How do we assign credit and ownership?

How does a university keep control of its core product?

Some universities are comfortable putting course content into the public domain

What about inquiry-based learning where students learn from each other – the professor is less important?

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Integration with other systems

Learning specific environments

Blackboard, SAKAI, etc.

Education Specific Environments

Banner, etc.

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Summary

Virtual Worlds are coming to education Critical decisions will need to be made as it

unfolds Important considerations include

Effectiveness Technical Business

Wrong decisions can Slow adoption Cause problems for the institution Cut off promising potential Cause unnecessary cost

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Answers?