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Conference BookletResearchingLearninginImmersiveVirtualEnvironments

21-22 September

2011

Hosted by The Open UniversityMilton Keynes, United Kingdom

www.open.ac.uk/relive11

TheOpenUniversityWaltonHallMiltonKeynesMK76AAUnitedKingdomwww.open.ac.uk/relive11Tel:+44(0)1908655792Fax:+44(0)1908659112email:[email protected]

TheOpenUniversityisincorporatedbyRoyalCharter(RC000391),anexemptcharityinEngland&WalesandacharityregisteredinScotland(SC038302)

ContentsAcknowledgements

2 theOpenUniversity ReLive113

We are especially grateful to the Organising Committee for their help in making ReLIVE11 a reality:

Anna Peache, (Conference Chair) Eygus Ltd/The Open University, UK

Anne Adams, The Open University, UK

Catherine Reuben, The Open University, UK

Diane Ford, The Open University, UK

Helen Yanacopulos, The Open University, UK

Mark Childs, Coventry University, UK

Nicholas Braithwaite, The Open University, UK

Steve Swithenby, The Open University, UK

Sue Wellfare, The Open University, UK

Gail Vardy, The Open University, UK

Anne D’Mello, The Open University, UK

We are grateful to the Academic Committee for their support in developing the programme and proceedings, including the above mentioned and:

Andreas Schmeil, University of Lugano, Switzerland/Simon Fraser University, Canada

Angela Thomas, University of Tasmania, Australia

Béatrice Hasler, Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, Israel

Brian Burton, Abilene Christian University, US

Claus Nehmzow, 3D Avatar School, Hong Kong

Charles Wankel, St John’s University, US

Daniel Livingstone, University of the West of Scotland, UK

Daniel Pargman, Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden

Dave Taylor, Imperial College London, UK

George Papagiannakis, University of Crete, Greece

Jeremiah Spence, University of Texas at Austin, US

Julia Gillen, Lancaster University, UK

Kyung Sik Kim, Hoseo University, Korea

Maggi Savin-Baden, Coventry University, UK

Margarita Pérez García, MENON Network EEIG, Belgium

Mark Bell, Ball State University, US

Paul Hollins, JISC CETIS, UK

Peter Twining, The Open University, UK

Richard Gilbert, Loyola Marymount University, US

Robin Teigland, Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden

Rowin Young, University of Strathclyde, UK

Sabine Lawless-Reljic, ARVEL, US

Sara de Freitas, The Serious Games Institute, UK

Sarah Smith-Robbins, Ball State University, US

Shailey Minocha, The Open University, UK

Steve Warburton, University of London, UK

Stylianos Hatzipanagos, King’s College London, UK

Suzanne Conboy-Hill, University of Brighton, UK

Claudia L’Amoreaux, Future of Learning, US

We gratefully acknowledge the support offered by the following at The Open University:

Professor Denise Kirkpatrick , Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Learning, Teaching and Quality),

IT Helpdesk staff

Audio Visual staff, Keith Hamilton, Adrian Hardwick, Mark Butler and colleagues

Learning and Teaching Solutions, Chris Winter, Peter Devine

Events and Catering, Karen Bradbury, Gillian Ward, Shaun Havill, porters and catering services staff

Finance Department, Andy Stacey, Tracy Sapwell and Income Office staff

Printed by: Wilson Design Consultants, Milton Keynes

WELCOMEANDINTRODUCTIONTOReLIVE11 7

CONFERENCEINFORMATION 8

Arrivalandregistration 8

Conferenceprogramme 9

Refreshments 9

Transportandaccommodation 10

Generalqueries 11

WELCOMEADDRESS 12

KEYNOTESPEAKERS 13

Robin Wight President of leading advertising agency The Engine Group.

Andy Piper Developer, consultant and “social bridgebuilder”.13

PANELMEMBERS 14

PAPER PRESENTATIONS

Parallel Session A 15

1 Setting Up a Virtual World for Teaching English Language: Why Open Sim?

Margaret deJ Derrington15

2 Fostering the Creative Potential of Project Management Education in the Creative Industries

Simone Wesner15

3 +SPACES: Serious Games for Role-playing Government Polices

Michael Gardner and Bernard Horan16


Figure 4. Same Holodeck set out as Penguin Sanctuary.

Parallel Session B 17

1 Second Life Virtual Hazard Detection

Greg Sutton17

2 Virtual Worlds for Simulation in Computer Forensics Teaching

Jonathan Crellin, Mo Adda, Emma Duke-Williams and Jane Chandler17

3 DEMIURGE: A Framework for Developing Educational Virtual World

Alan Miller18

Parallel Session C 19

1 Designing for Immersive Mixed Reality Learning Environments Across School and Science Museum

Alfredo Jornet and Cecilie Flo Jahreie19

2 Seeking Planning Permission to Build a Gothic Cathedral in a Virtual World: Investigating a Dispute in Schome Park

Rebecca Ferguson, Julia Gillen, Peter Twining and Anna Peachey20

3 Creation of Knowledge and Student Engagement within Personal Learning Environments

Brian G. Burton, Barbara Martin and Jennifer Robbins20

Parallel Session D 20

1 “What’s in a name?” Choices of Names by Students in Second Life

Mark Childs and Marianne Riis20

2 Managing Responsibility for Student Identities in a Virtual World

Anna Peachey21

3 Effectiveness of Augmented Virtuality in Exergame on Physical Health Behavioral Intention

Sung Yeun “Su” Kim, Yoo Min Lee, Richard H. Gramzo and Frank Biocca22

Parallel Session E 23

1 Teaching and Learning Games Development in Virtual Worlds: An Empirical Study into Motivation and Immersion

Trevor Barker23

2 A Manageable and Scalable Approach to Education and Training

David Burden and Andrew Jinman24

3 Practice, Context, Dialogue: Using Automated Conversational Agents to Extend the Reach and Depth of Learning Activities in Immersive Worlds

Manuel Frutos-Perez25

Parallel Session F 25

1 Virtual Reality: Multiple Modes of Meaning

Kamaran Fathulla25

2 Social Collaborative Conferencing in the Virtual World

Andreas Schmeil, Béatrice S. Hasler, Sara de Freitas, Anna Peachey and Claus Nehmzow

26

3 An Alternative (to) Reality

Derek Jones27

Parallel Session I 27

1 The Interoperability and Integration Challenges of Virtual Environments

Paul Hollins and Daniel Livingstone27

2 Cloud Based Content Control for Virtual Worlds

Mike Hobbs28

3 Leaving the Lindens: Teaching in Virtual Worlds of Other Providers

Marc Conrad29

Parallel Session J 30

1 Learning the Language of Design in SecondLife

Georgina Holden, Nicole Schadewitz, Katerina Alexiou, Theodore Zamenopoulos and Steven Garner

30

2 Virtual Worlds as a Platform for 3D Application Development

Alan Miller31

3 Conducting Interviews in Virtual Worlds

Carina Girvan and Timothy Savage32

WORKSHOPS

Parallel Session G 33

Virtual Realities as Virtual Campuses

François Boeck33

Parallel Session H 33

IEEE Linkup Session

Ian Hughes33


WelcomeandintroductiontoReLIVE11Conference Welcome to the programme for the Researching Learning in Immersive Virtual Environments (ReLIVE11) Conference.

This year’s event is focusing on Finding Creative Solutions For New Futures, and we look forward to following this thread through an exciting and stimulating programme of talks and activities.

Pro Vice-Chancellor of The Open University, Professor Denise Kirkpatrick, will open the conference and introduce Robin Wight, our Keynote speaker from the infinitely creative world of advertising. We then begin our varied schedule of paper presentations, symposia and workshops, with highlights that include a live linkup with the IEEE VECoLab vPEARL summit in California.

Day one closes with a drinks reception and announcements of the best paper winners, with prizes in book vouchers sponsored by Springer.

The second day begins with an invited panel debate/Question Time where all delegates have the chance to put questions to a panel including Bill Thompson, Ian Hughes and Rebecca Mileham

This is followed by more presentations, symposia and workshops with a networking lunch. We end the second day on a high with a Keynote plenary led by Andy Piper.

The following booklet provides further details about the programme and information for delegates. ReLIVE11 staff are on hand and will be pleased to help with any queries you may have.

We welcome you to the ReLIVE11 Conference and hope you have an informative, stimulating and enjoyable two days.

With best wishes

Anna PeacheyReLIVE11 Conference Chair

WORKSHOPS

Parallel Session M 34

Top Tips for Research Methods in Virtual Worlds

Anne Adams34

Parallel Session N 34

It’s Time to Get Real About the Virtual: Presenting a Process of Rapid Tool Evaluation, Design, and Adoption within Immersive Virtual Environments

Sarah Smith-Robbins and Paul Hollins34

SYMPOSIA

Parallel Session K 35

Will Virtual Worlds Replace the WWW with a Virtual World Web?

Jane Chandler and Timothy Collinson35

Parallel Session L 35

Reinventing Ourselves: Contemporary Concepts of Identity in Virtual Worlds

Anna Peachey, Mark Childs et al35

POSTERSCloud Computing and Virtual Worlds: A Data and Communications Model for Combining Cloud Based Computing with Second Life

Anna Peachey, Mark Childs et al36

Investigating the Experiences of Students with Positive and Negative Preconceptions of Using a Virtual World Simulation of Professional Practise

Olivia Billingham36

NOTES 38

PROGRAMME 39

PROGRAMMEATAGLANCE 44

MAP 46


ConferenceInformationfordelegates

ArrivalandregistrationConference registration will be at the following times:

Wednesday 21st September 9:00 – 10:00 Bay Reception, Hub Lecture Theatre


Thursday 22nd September 8:45 – 9:15 Berrill Foyer

Registration for sessionsWorkshops and symposia will require sign up. Therefore, during registration on the 21st September you will be invited to sign up for workshop and symposia sessions. Registration will be on a first come first served basis.

There is no need to pre-register for the parallel paper, keynote or chaired debate sessions. These will all be in large rooms so there should be no problem accommodating everyone that wishes to attend a session.

SecurityFor security purposes please ensure you wear your conference badge at all times whilst on campus. If you have any emergency security issues please ring ext 53666 for the security lodge. Please do not leave personal items unattended. The University will not accept liability for loss or damage to personal items or equipment.

Storage of coats and luggageAs some of you may not be coming straight from your hotel, we will have a secure room available for you to store light luggage and coats until the end of the first day of the conference. PLEASE REMEMBER TO COLLECT YOUR LUGGAGE AT THE DESIGNATED TIMES AS DETAILED BELOW. Similarly, as you will be checking out of hotels, we will make this option available for the second day, so you can check your coats and luggage in to a secure store during registration as follows:

Luggage check-in:


Thursday 22nd September 8:45 – 9:15 Berril Foyer

Luggage pick-up:

Wednesday 21st September 17:00 – 17:30 Berril Foyer

Thursday 22nd September 16:30 – 17:00 Berril Foyer

ConferenceprogrammeConference sessionsA detailed programme is available on page 39.

Map and the OU campusPlease refer to page 46 of this booklet for a map of the campus. The rooms being used are indicated.

PostersThere is a poster display during lunch at 12:30 – 13:30 on Wednesday 21st September in the Hub Lecture Theatre. Posters will continue to be displayed throughout the conference in the Berrill Foyer.

Session etiquette and electronic equipmentWe ask that all delegates ensure that any personal electronic equipment is used with respect for session presenters and fellow delegates; we suggest turning off mobile phones, and using electronic equipment in silent mode.

In order to maximise the conference experience we also respectfully ask that you do not attempt to use the wireless network during sessions. We ask this so that presenters and facilitators have the best network service available to allow them to deliver their session.

Session changesWe will try to keep session changes to a minimum but inevitably there may be some last-minute changes or cancellations. Any information about changed or cancelled sessions will be posted on the conference notice board by the helpdesks.

Videographer / Journalist The sessions may be recorded or attended by a conference journalist, videographer and photographer but this should not cause any disturbance. The video footage, photographs and texts may be made available to the public via the internet and/or by other means. Audience members are participants in this process. If you have any concerns please speak to a member of ReLIVE11 staff.

Power points for laptopsWe have identified two areas where you should have access to power for charging laptops: Berrill Café or the Hub Lecture Theatre.

RefreshmentsRefreshments and lunchRefreshments will be available:


Wednesday 21st September 11:15 – 11:30 Christodoulou Meeting Rooms Foyer

Wednesday 21st September 15:30 – 16:00 Berrill Café

Thursday 22nd September 8:45 – 9:15 Berrill Café





You have also been given drinks vouchers to redeem at campus catering outlets so that you can grab a refreshment between sessions if you need to. Outlets are detailed on the map on page 34 of this booklet.

Lunch will be available:

Wednesday 21st September 12:30 – 13:30 Hub Lecture Theatre


Please contact us immediately if you have any special dietary requirements that you have not yet made us aware of.

Drinks receptionA drinks reception will take place on Wednesday 21st September between 17:00 – 18:00 in the Berrill Café. This will coincide with the Best Paper awards where prizes up to the value of £300 in book vouchers from Springer will be presented.

DinnerThe helpdesk will be able to provide a recommended list of local restaurants.

TransportandaccommodationThe Open University has its headquarters at Walton Hall in Milton Keynes which is midway between London and Birmingham, and Oxford and Cambridge. The OU is sited on the South East side of Milton Keynes. It is close to Junctions 13 and 14 of the M1 motorway.

ParkingDue to the volume of staff on campus, parking spaces can be limited. We would recommend using the East Parking overspill, South West or Church car parks. Please see the campus map for more details. You must ensure that you park in a designated parking bay; any vehicle clearly and unequivocally parked in an unauthorised location will be issued with a parking charge notice by campus security.

Taxi to the Railway station on 22nd September A taxi sign up sheet will posted at the registration/helpdesks to allow you to sign up for a shared taxi service between the Open University and Milton Keynes Railway Station at the end of the conference on the 22nd September. The sign up sheet will be removed after lunch on the 22nd September to allow for organisation of taxis.

If you would prefer to make your own arrangements please see table on the right for a list of local firms:

For bus or other travel information or advice please speak to a member of ReLIVE11 staff on the helpdesk.

AccommodationDelegates are responsible for booking their own accommodation whilst attending the conference. If you require any information regarding local hotels, please speak to a member of ReLIVE11 staff on the helpdesk.

GeneralqueriesHelpdesksHelpdesks will be manned during refreshment times as follows:




Wednesday 21st September 15:30 – 16:00 Berrill Foyer

Wednesday 21st September 17:00 – 17:30 Berrill Foyer






Throughout the day ReLIVE11 staff will be happy to help with any queries that you may have.

Disabled access and elevatorsAll venues at the Open University have disabled access. Please see a member of ReLIVE11 staff if you require assistance.

Please contact us immediately if you have any mobility requirements of which you have not yet made us aware.

No smoking policyThe Open University operates a non smoking policy. Please be respectful of this policy whilst on campus. All premises are designated smoke free. Smoking is not allowed in any part of any building, including bars and eating areas. Smoking is not permitted in or at entrances to the buildings. Smoking while on site is only allowed outdoors in designated ‘green’ areas.

Campus FacilitiesBank: A sub-branch of the National Westminster Bank is situated next to the shop (see campus map). It is open on Tuesday’s, Thursday’s and Fridays from 11:00 until 14:30.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE IS NO CASHPOINT ON CAMPUS.

Shop: The shop is located next to the bank. It is open from 8.00 until 16.45 Monday - Friday. It stocks a selection of confectionery, sandwiches, groceries, newspapers, magazines, fresh produce, ice cream, greetings cards, stamps and gifts.

Other queriesReLIVE11 staff will be pleased to help with any queries you may have.

FeedbackWe welcome your feedback. If you have any issues or concerns, please contact one of the ReLIVE11 staff.

Company Telephone number

Easy Cabs 01908 696666

MK Taxis 01908 585656

Raffles 01908 222222

Skyline 01908 222111


RobinWightRobin, who will set the tone for the conference by speaking about innovation and creativity, is President of leading advertising agency The Engine Group.

Although Robin has spent his whole career in advertising, he has always had a number of outside interests. From 1992 — 2002 he was Chairman of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, Charter for Business, which has since raised over £40 million. From 1997 — 2005 he was Chairman of Arts and Business, which encourages British businesses to invest £140 million a year in support for the arts. In the 2000 Birthday Honours Robin Wight was awarded a CVO for his services to the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, Charter for Business. In 2003 he founded the Ideas Foundation, a charity which helps identify and nurture creatively gifted young people from ethnic minorities through the award of Creativity Scholarships.

For the last three years he has been working on a study looking at the way the brain processes communications built on the latest learning from evolutionary psychology, cognitive psychology, and neuroscience.

AndyPiperAndy Piper has been working as a developer and consultant in the enterprise software space for fourteen years, and has a wealth of knowledge of common enterprise systems and platforms. He is probably best known online as a “social bridgebuilder”. His main weblog The Lost Outpost (http://andypiper.co.uk) reflects the diversity of his interests: development, design, communications, everything social, community building, marketing, gaming and digital imaging.

Andy is a regular conference speaker on various topics, ranging from enterprise middleware to Virtual Worlds to social software. Andy is also a member of bcs, the Chartered Institute for IT. He holds a Master of Arts (Oxf) in Modern History from Brasenose College, Oxford University, in the UK.

Prof.DeniseKirkpatrickFrom Professor Denise Kirkpatrick Pro Vice-Chancellor for Learning, Teaching and Quality, The Open University, UK

Professor Denise Kirkpatrick is the Pro Vice-Chancellor for Learning, Teaching and Quality at The Open University where she is responsible for the production and delivery of the University’s learning materials and resources and the Learning and Teaching Strategy. The role also involves development and implementation of policy with respect to the use of ICT and new media in teaching and teaching support, responsibility for the function of the library to provide resources and services to OU students and staff, as well as the wider community. Quality assurance processes and maintenance of standards also come within the role, both in relation to sector expectations as articulated by the QAA and internally as an assurance of best practice.

Denise was previously the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Academic) at La Trobe University in Australia. She has worked in a number of Australian universities as an academic, and in the area of teaching and learning policy and practice, with an emphasis on the application of new media. Her recent research investigates the ways millennials approach learning and ways of creating effective and engaging learning experiences for these students.

Her previous research has investigated effective design for learning with new technologies and student engagement in e-learning. She developed the award winning Mekong e-Sim, an online role play simulation which was used to teach students in Australian and Malaysian universities. She recently completed the CATS project - Creating Accessible Teaching and Support - a suite of projects to support staff teaching students with disabilities.

KeynoteSpeakersWelcomeAddress

Denise was President of the Australasian Council on Open Distance and E-Learning (ACODE) 2003-7, and is a member of the following:

• International Council for Open

and Distance Learning

(ICDE) Executive Committee

• IMS Global Learning

Consortium Executive Strategy

Board

• Leadership Foundation for

Higher Education

• The Observatory on Borderless

Higher Education Advisory

Board

Follow Andy at: http://twitter.com/andypiper


PaulHollins(PanelChair)Paul is currently Director of the Institute for Educational Cybernetics located at the University of Bolton and also Director of the JISC CETIS Innovation Support Centre. Paul has a strong research interest in digital games and virtual worlds and has, over the last decade, written and published extensively on their potential and application in educational settings.

In a previous and far more interesting life Paul worked in the games industry as Director of Licencing for an international publisher and in addition to overseeing the production of a number of successful games was responsible for one or two real turkeys, or learning curves as he now prefers to refer to them.

IanHughesIan Hughes, a.k.a epredator when online, is a Metaverse Evangelist and founder of Feeding Edge Ltd, Taking a bite out of technology so you don’t have to http://www.feedingedge.co.uk/. In 2006, whilst at IBM, he led thousands of colleagues into virtual worlds like Second Life with projects such as Wimbledon. He has shown that leadership can be driven by the digital native and innovators can gather together regardless of geography or organization. Using creative expression online leads him to no longer be the programmer he grew up as. He presents an emerging technology slot on the ITV kids show The Cool Stuff Collective, currently into its second series http://www.feedingedge.

co.uk/blog/tv-showreel/. Ian is the chair of the BCS Animation and Games industry Group. If you discover anything else about Ian feel free to update http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Hughes_(aka_epredator)

RebeccaMilehamRebecca Mileham’s career in science writing has taken her to fly an aircraft simulator at Heathrow Airport, to sample the wares at the McVities biscuit factory in Harlesden, and down into the bowels of the British Library Sound Archive, among many other places. She studied physics and science communication at Imperial College before joining the Science Museum to develop exhibitions on topics both historic and contemporary. As a freelance journalist and writing coach, she now writes about science, technology and computer games and her first book Powering Up: are computer games changing our lives? was published by Wiley.

BillThompsonBill Thompson has been working in, on and around the Internet since 1984 and spends his time thinking, writing and speaking about the digital world we are in the midst of building. He appears weekly on Digital Planet on the BBC World Service, writes a regular column for the BBC News website and is an advisor to a range of arts and cultural organisations on their digital strategies. He is currently working in the Archive Development team at the BBC building relationships with museums, galleries and institutions

Parallel Session A

SettingUpaVirtualWorldforTeachingEnglishLanguage:WhyOpenSim?Margaret de Jong-Derrington

Following an investigation of language learning in Second Life (Derrington + Homewood, 2008) the Homewood Project was set up to create a Virtual World for learning English as a second language (ESL). Open Sim software was used for the server and students were advised to use the Hippo Viewer to enter the world. This paper reviews the reasons for the choices made and some of the technical problems encountered and solved in setting up the ELIP~Homewood world.

The choice of the language learning resources created is discussed briefly in terms of current theory concerning second language acquisition and pedagogy. The creation of these resources and the implications of building and scripting them in software that was inherently less stable but perhaps more controllable than Second Life, the relative benefits of language learning in small and in open environments, the relative costs in money and the steep technical learning curve must all betaken into account in making such a choice.

References

Derrington and Homewood (2008) Get Real – this isn’t real, it’s Second Life: Teaching ESL in a Virtual World./ RELIVE08 conference proceedings pp 104-120 http://www.open.ac.uk/relive08/documents/ReLIVE08_conference_proceedings_Lo.pdf

FosteringtheCreativePotentialofProjectManagementEducationintheCreativeIndustriesSimone Wesner

Creative Industries Management aims by its very nature to embrace new and innovative approaches to training and the sector has regarded the virtual world as a potential aid for fostering creative approaches for a considerable time. Second Life, as a 3D multi user virtual environment, enables users to transfer knowledge into practical project work while research into SL claims high value for learning.

The Experimental Learning Framework (ELF) is a three year research project (2009-2012) that investigates the potential of ‘Second Life’ for project management training. It aims to test the capacity of SL for learning and teaching in project management and to foster an understanding of virtual learning environments in relation to real life experience. Creative Industries Management students plan, implement and evaluate projects in the virtual world within the avatar based environment and the research project investigates if the resultant experience could be transferred into their real world skills base, in particular considering its creative potential for management solutions.

The research design is progressive, based on a reflexive approach and follows four stages of project implementation: familiarisation, communication, participation and multiplications. Each part is documented and captured through multiple methods including semi-structured interviews, participant observation and focus group discussions. Furthermore, participant diaries as well as participant assessment and module feedback forms have been incorporated into the data analysis.

ConferenceChairAnnaPeacheyAnna Peachey is a Director of Eygus Ltd, the company that manages The Open University’s presence in virtual worlds, and will be chairing ReLIVE11.

Until recently a Teaching Fellow with The Centre for Open Learning of Mathematics, Science, Computing and Technology CETL at The Open University, Anna’s research focuses on identity within learning communities in virtual worlds and she has published and presented extensively on this topic.

Anna is Editor-in-Chief of the Springer book series on Immersive Environments.

PanelMembers

ShortPaperParallelSessions


The first results show that immersion into the augmented environment impacted favourably on the motivational and emphatic experience of the learners. Situated and constructivist learning is inherent in the implementation of management skills training in Second Life, fostering creative thinking in terms of content and process. In particular, participants’ conceptual awareness improved over time resulting in ‘in-depth’ management practise outside the virtual environment. The opportunities to participate in building creation (from design to production) and to fill these buildings with life (simulation) are perceived to be a valuable training ground for real life situations in, for example, exhibition projects and events production. Social interaction with the avatar public (participants) proved to be challenging and developed networking skills as well as leadership and marketing competencies. Visualisation (non-language based) of objects triggered intercultural learning as a result of the ‘double cultural distance’ formation (twice removed from the original cultural background). However, an initial technical barrier needs to be overcome and mastered, which requires technical provision and an open-mind towards 3D MUVE projects to avoid intimidation of the participants while fostering virtual world literacy.

+SPACES:SeriousGamesforRole-playingGovernmentPolicesMichael Gardner and Bernard Horan

The paper addresses the ‘Method’ theme at ReLIVE by exploring how role-play simulations can be used to support policy discussion and refinement in virtual worlds. Although the work described is set primarily within the context of policy formulation for government, the lessons learnt are applicable to online learning and collaboration within virtual environments.

The EU +Spaces project (Positive Spaces – Policy Simulation in Virtual Spaces) is exploring how virtual world technologies can enable government agencies to measure public opinion on a large scale and maximize the value from prospective policy measures by leveraging the power of these communities. The project is building

applications that range from simple polling and debating to advanced policy simulations. Many of the challenges for the +Spaces project are shared with immersive education and there are close similarities with the use of virtual worlds for educational ‘Serious Games’ that are designed for the purpose of solving a problem. The project will be using many of the ideas from serious games to provide a framework for engaging with citizens in role-playing activities, allowing them to explore the implications of proposed government policies.

This paper started by examining both 3D immersive collaborative spaces and 2D web social networking services. It then examines some of the issues related to the creation of simulations to support policy-making scenarios – ultimately the most challenging part of the +Spaces project. The underlying concept is that the virtual world provides a micro-society, with many of the same dynamics resembling those in the real world. The work of Castronova [1] on synthetic worlds and their economies has already demonstrated that use behaviour in virtual worlds mirror those in the real world. The objective of the project is to engage with users in these virtual spaces and discover their real responses to simulated situations (rather than simulated responses in hypothetical situations). It is conceived that the measured reactions could be extrapolated to derive conclusions for the society at large. Creating computer-based simulations can be very complex (e.g. city traffic simulations), and existing game based simulations are typically closed environments (e.g. Farmville), which cannot easily be re-purposed. It is also difficult to reuse the underlying models to construct a new simulation. For these reasons role-playing provides a more tenable and reusable framework for ‘simulating’ government policy. In a role-play the virtual space provides an environment in which the participants themselves can act out a particular government policy issue, perhaps mediated by an online facilitator. The users can be assigned different roles (e.g. implementation of a new waste removal service by private contractors). The role-play could then take place in a virtual space that visually recreated the location of the intended policy e.g. town hall, local street. The +Spaces project is building on previous work on using serious game role-play environments

[2] to construct a unifying framework that ties all of these elements together. A number of different simulation scenarios are identified in the paper, and the issues and challenges for the project are clearly highlighted.

References:[1] Castronova, Edward, A Test of the Law of Demand in a Virtual World: Exploring the Petri Dish Approach to Social Science (July 2008). CESifo Working Paper Series No. 2355. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1173642[2] JISC PREVIEW project, http://www.pivote.info/

Parallel Session B

SecondLifeVirtualHazardDetectionGreg Sutton

One of the areas of training where virtual worlds have an advantage over the real world is in the simulations of hazardous environments. This paper describes how a hazard detection exercise was developed for a second life quarry, and how the code for that exercise has been developed so that it can be reused in other hazard detection simulations.

Derby University in collaboration with The Institute of Quarrying, has built a virtual quarry in second life to be used to train quarrying students in several aspects of quarrying safety and operational procedures. There are several activities designed into the virtual quarry including two hazard detection exercises. The two hazard detection exercises focus on different areas of the quarry, one takes place in a highly detailed quarry workshop, and the other takes place in the exterior of the quarry with hazards linked to potentially dangerous events and objects. Both hazard exercises use the same code base and include the following features.

Multiple student avatars are able to simultaneously take part in the detection exercise. The hazards randomise to enable reusability through use of multi-state hazards (safe or hazardous). Multi-choice questions are linked to each hazard object. Each question contains any none visible information about the object and asks the student to categorise the hazard. The content of the questions depend on the state of the object.

Customisable scoring dependent on the state of the object and gives students a score and a feedback message containing a breakdown of their results. There is also the option to email to the lecturer the students results. After the initial feedback has been given the student has the option to try the same test again or see further feedback. In feedback mode the hazards are highlighted and additional object specific feedback becomes available. After complete feedback has been given automatic randomisation of objects state occurs again to stop students redoing the exercise once they know the correct answers.

Not only dangerous situations have been simulated, but situations that are too expensive or impractical to setup in the real world. Using the same base code as the quarry exercises an environmental hazard detection simulation was built. This was set in a domestic house. Following on from the success of the domestic house a further simulation was built. This was a first floor maisonette flat and included the communal areas, areas where it would be impractical to set up a real life exercise.

The environmental hazard house simulation was further adapted for occupational health hazard detection. The code had to be altered as the answers are more subjective in this subject area. New features were added to store student responses rather than a score, giving the exercise a more qualitative feel to prompt discussion rather than assess skill.

The initial findings of the student survey showed that student response is good with the majority of the students fully engaging with the exercises and giving positive feedback. The findings of the student survey revealed encouraging and surprising results.

VirtualWorldsforSimulationinComputerForensicsTeachingJonathan Crellin, Mo Adda, Emma Duke-Williams and Jane Chandler

The use of simulation of various types in teaching computing is well established (Crellin, Chandler, Duke-Williams & Collinson 2009; Andrianoff & Levine, 2002) with digital forensic investigation being a subject area


where the range of simulation required is both wide and varied including for example:

• simulated seizure of evidence

• simulated case investigation

• investigation techniques that involve virtual simulation of systems

• simulated court appearance (as expert witness)

Each type of simulation can be complex and expensive to set up resulting in students having only limited opportunities to participate and learn from the simulation. For example students’ participation in mock trials in the University mock courtroom or in simulations of digital seizure in the University Forensics House require many months planning and co-ordination across Faculties. To enable students to gain more experience, in a cost effective way, simulations are being developed in Second Life to for seizure of digital evidence and to provide opportunities for students to practice as expert witnesses in a virtual courtroom.

This paper describes and evaluates the virtual simulations created, examples of student use and evidence from student and staff feedback (both qualitative and quantitative) on both the benefits and disadvantages of simulation which whilst usually highly appreciated by students can also induce stress and anxiety in some instances.

References

Andrianoff, S., Levine, D. Role playing in an object-oriented world. ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, 2002 .

Crellin, J., Chandler, J., Duke-Williams, E. and Collinson, T. (2009) Virtual worlds in computing education, Computer Science Education, Vol. 19, No. 4, December 2009, 315334 (nb: Access restricted by publisher) (unrestricted pre publication draft version)

DEMIURGE:AFrameworkforDevelopingEducationalVirtualWorldsAlan Miller

Virtual Worlds offer the promise of both widening and enriching the educational scenarios within which exploratory learning may be practiced. They empower students

to explore virtual contexts that would be inaccessible to them in the real world. Learners achieve presence through the proxies of avatars, and consequently are aware of and may interact with fellow learners within the virtual environment. The geography and architecture of virtual worlds may be defined and programmed by users, thereby allowing learners to participate in a creative process online.

As the baseline of computing equipment available in academic institutions and the home environment continues to advance, we expect that 3D virtual environments will become more commonplace and accessible.

The work reported in this paper is motivated by our experience in developing educational virtual worlds for computer science, classics, history and management students. The projects include a virtual archaeological excavation, a virtual laboratory for exploring wireless networking protocols, a reconstruction of St Andrews Cathedral, a space for experimenting with network routing protocols, and support for learning how to intervene in humanitarian disasters. The work was conducted over three years and involves both the popular virtual world Second Life and its open source alternative, OpenSim.

We have found that virtual worlds are engaging, popular and motivating. Students enjoy using them and find them educationally valuable. Furthermore, virtual worlds provide a rich environment, through which content, presented on media such as text, images, video and animations, may be collaboratively explored. Interactivity ranges from simple exhibits as might be found in a museum to configurable, complex simulations visualised in a 3D space.

In the course of our work a number of challenges that need to be met for the educational potential of virtual worlds to be unlocked have been identified. These reside in the areas of system development, content creation and service provision. This paper reports on work which addresses the challenge of facilitating content creation.

A toolkit called DEMIURGE has been developed which allows content for educational virtual worlds to be easily and quickly created. This toolkit enables users to

run a sandbox virtual world locally, to create their content within it and then to save said content and upload it to a server for use. The sandbox environment consists of a configured OpenSim server, client and supporting software. It can be run for a USB stick with the minimum of configuration.

To supplement the development environment a comprehensive set of resources have been developed. These allow themed 3D spaces to be loaded as a starting point for content creation. These spaces may then be tailored in world to meet specific requirements. Libraries of terrains, textures, buildings and educational tools have been collated, along with tools to allow them to be easily loaded into and saved from the virtual world.

DEMIURGE also comes with several pre-configured educational environments, these include the Virtual Wireless Laboratory and Virtual Archaeological excavation.

Parallel Session C

DesigningforImmersiveMixedRealityLearningEnvironmentsAcrossSchoolandScienceMuseumAlfredo Jornet and Cecilie Flo Jahreie

Social institutions outside schools, such as museum and science centers, make systematic efforts in providing learning activities. It is widely acknowledged that technological tools can be employed to engage visitors with socio-scientific issues and help realize the educational potential of museums (Heath, vom Lehn, & Osborne, 2005; Kaptelinin, 2011; Meisner, et al., 2007). However, the potential of ICT has not been utilized in and between these settings (Kaptelinin, 2011). In the “Mixed Reality Interactions across Context of Learning” (MIRACLE) project we design a learning mission where different technological devices are used as tools for bridging the contexts of schools and science museums, through immersive learning scenarios that foster students’ understanding of concepts in science. In MIRACLE, the concept of

immersive learning environment is expanded from the 3-D web-based interface to mixed reality settings where both physical and digital devices enhance learner’s interactions with each other and with the curriculum concepts in immersive and embodied experiences. The aim of the paper is to discuss the multidisciplinary aspects involved in the process of designing such immersive learning environments across the school and the science museum.

The project is inspired by a design-based research approach (Brown, 1992; Collins, 1992). In general terms, this implies that we design for educational interventions based on theoretical frameworks, which in turn are informed by research on iterative implementations within those local settings. MIRACLE’s current iterative design process is motivated by a set of workshops with different relevant stakeholders as researchers, teachers, museum conservators and exhibition designers. In this paper, video-recordings of the workshops are analyzed in order to explore how concepts related to the design of immersive learning environments across the school and the museum are constructed in the interactions between the different actors. In the analysis, contradictions within and between the activity systems involved are used to understand the conceptual development during the design process. As a theoretical basis for the analysis we use Activity Theory (Egenström, 1987), which addresses how experts are engaged not only in tasks within one and the same activity, but also increasingly involved in multiple activities contexts (Engeström, Engeström, & Kärkkäinen, 1995).

References

Engeström, Y., Engeström, R., & Kärkkäinen, M. (1995). Polycontextuality and boundary crossing in expert cognition: Learning and problem solving in complex work activities. Learning and Instruction, 5, 319–336.

Heath, C., vom Lehn, D., & Osborne, J. (2005). Interaction and interactives: Collaboration and participation with computer-based exhibits. Public Understanding of Science, 14, 91–101.

Kaptelinin, V. (2011). Designing technological support for meaning making in museum learning: An activity theoretical framework. Paper presented at the HICSS 44.

Meisner, R., vom Lehn, D., Heath, C., Burch, A., Gammon, B., & Reisman, M. (2007). Exhibiting performance: Co-participation in science centres and museums. International Journal of Science Education, 29(12), 1531–1555.


SeekingPlanningPermissiontoBuildaGothicCathedralinaVirtualWorld:InvestigatingaDisputeinSchomeParkRebecca Ferguson, Julia Gillen, Peter Twining and Anna Peachey

The Schome Park Community or Schommunity that forms the focus of this study was a thirteen-month long programme involving teenagers located in the UK and the USA in 2007-8. Most participated outside their school environments but the programme included after school clubs and a classroom group. This hybrid virtual community consistently enacted a view that genuine participation by learners must be instantiated at all stages of education. Several years’ later, we continue to grapple with the challenges of working with a vast dataset, still engaged by the unique richness of researching a fascinating challenge to many practices of formal education.

In this paper, we analyse a dispute that arose when a school-based group entered the Schommunity and a member proposed to build a ‘Gothic cathedral’, an inadvertent threat to established norms. The thoughtful debate that followed includes negotiations on what it takes to become a member of the Schommunity, how new members can be trusted, how the community is governed, where authority resides, its laws, its history, its customs, its mores and its art forms. At the same time, many of the assumptions of conventional education – teacher authority, homework, assignments, deadlines and lack of pupil choice - are challenged.

This paper seeks to contribute conceptually in two ways. We contribute to the study of interactions in this virtual world community and outcomes for learning; methodologically we develop a contribution to studying multimodal discourses

CreationofKnowledgeandStudentEngagementwithinPersonalLearningEnvironmentsBrian G. Burton, Barbara Martin and Jennifer Robbins

This paper’s goal is to examine the student engagement and the creation of student knowledge of undergraduate students using a 3D Virtual Learning Environment. After creating a 3D didactic constructivist virtual environment, student conversations were recorded for engagement dimensions using Hara, Bonk, and Angeli (2000) framework and Nonaka and Takeuchi, (1995) knowledge creation theory. Findings revealed that five forms of student engagement amplified the learning process and that a complete knowledge spiral occurred emphasizing the four modes of knowledge conversion. Though limited in time and scope, results further suggest that a highly engaged community of learners was created. Evaluation of student’s learning and knowledge creation from an expansive learning (Engestrom and Sannino, 2010) view as well as analysis including student’s perceived success and perceptions of the virtual environment are included

Parallel Session D

“What’sinaName?”ChoicesofNamesbyStudentsinSecondLifeMark Childs and Marianne Riis

The first point of invention in creating an identity in a virtual world is the choice of a name. Naming conventions differ from virtual world to virtual world; in Active Worlds Europe, for example, name choice is completely open, but the CEO of that company encourages users to use their physical world names (Emmanuel Grijs, personal communication). Until recently, Second LifeTM gave those registering a selection of surnames, and new users were then expected to choose a first name to produce a unique identifying name. As Truelove and Hibbert (2008; 365) note, the

wrong choice at this stage can influence a user’s long term identity, and indeed in their teaching considerable time is spent scaffolding this early stage.

This presentation reports on the analysis by two researchers and teachers of the decisions made by students with respect to the names chosen and how the name has influenced their relationships within Second Life, and their relationship to their avatar. The authors also reflect on their own avatar names, the decisions that led to those choices and how this has affected both their academic and education practice.

In the study at the University of Aalborg, approximately a third of students chose a first name that was a reflection of their real names. This signalled a view of the purpose of the virtual world to be an augmentationist one, with no intention to develop an alternative, specifically inworld, identity. The remainder chose names unrelated to their real names, either from security concerns, or due to that name already having an established meaning in another aspect of their lives, or from a desire to distance themselves from any potential inworld interaction. The names therefore also acted as a marker of the establishment of an idem-identity (i.e. marking allegiance to a community or group) or an ipse-identity (i.e. marking out an individuation from communities or groups) (Macfadyen, 2008; 563). Where the name reflected some part of their physical world identities this could be interpreted as attempts to establish closer relations to, rather than maintaining distance from, their avatars.

Since these choices pre-date the users’ engagement with the world, the name chosen acts as an indicator of the preconceptions and predispositions of the users, before their engagement with the world, and their identity within the world, develops. Identifying at this stage learners’ rationales for their selection of names can therefore act as an indicator of students’ anxieties about engaging in virtual world activities, the nature of their engagement with the virtual world, the degree to which they have a predisposition to developing an inworld identity, and hence experience embodiment and presence within the virtual world.

References

Macfadyen, L.P. (2008) Constructing ethnicity and identity in the online classroom: Linguistic practices and ritual text acts in Hodgson, V., Jones, C., Kargidis, T., McConnell, D., Retalis, S., Stamatis, D. and Zenios, M. (eds) Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Networked Learning, 5th & 6th May, 2008, Halkidiki, Greece., 560 – 568.

Truelove, I. and Hibbert, G. (2008) Learning to walk before you know your name: Pre-Second Life scaffolding for noobs, Proceedings of the ReLIVE 08 conference, 20th and 21st November, 2008, Open University, 362 - 368.

ManagingResponsibilityforStudentIdentitiesinaVirtualWorldAnna Peachey

Since 2006 The Open University has owned a number of islands in Second Life, using them for a range of social and formal and informal learning activities. The core island, Open University, hosts a Greeter service. Staff and students volunteer to have their avatar picture available at the landing point, and new users can click on the picture sending a page to the inworld Greeter who then teleports to the landing point to offer support as needed.

In January 2010 an induction event took place on Open University Island, during which upwards of 500 new users registered using a direct SLURL (Second Life URL) to Open University landing point over a period of four weeks, with one very oversubscribed synchronous activity. All students were new to The Open University and were starting level one modules in subjects across all faculties. Many of these students used the OU Greeter service to solicit advice and support as they entered the environment. During informal debrief discussions after the event, Greeters reported that some new students had expressed concerns about the default avatars (all supplied by Linden Lab, the company that owns and administers Second Life), as none of them were appropriately dressed for the students’ religious/cultural beliefs and preferences. Specifically, at least three Muslim women had requested head covering for their avatars.

This informal report raised a variety of issues relating to identity and authenticity, alongside questions about institutional responsibility towards students in immersive environments. In consultation with the Equality and Diversity


Office, who in turn consulted with colleagues from Religious Studies, the inworld managers of the OU islands collated a list of core clothing items meeting religious and cultural needs that the institution might expect a reasonable percentage of students to require. These items were then created virtually and placed in a freebie vendor at Open University Island landing point.

Following approval from the Student Research Projects Panel and the Ethics Committee, the vendor was fitted with a device to capture all “sales”, offering a link to an online survey capturing reflections about avatar personalisation. This set up was ready for the Student Induction Event in January 2011, where a much smaller group of students accessed The Open University facilities in Second Life. 11 Students responded to the online survey.

In my presentation I will talk about the institutional process that led to the provision of avatar clothing items for religious and cultural needs. I will discuss the results of the online survey analysis and draw on interviews with students to propose further research into how student identities are contextually mediated in a virtual world.

EffectivenessofAugmentedVirtualityinExergameonPhysicalHealthBehavioralIntentionSung Yeun “Su” Kim, Yoo Min Lee, Richard H. Gramzo and Frank Biocca

Computer and video gaming has today become a very popular activity for children, adolescents and even adults. Video games provide users access to entertainment or the chance to escape into a relaxing virtual world, but at the same time, they can trigger emotional involvement and reactions in game users such as aggression, joy, fear, or excitement that these games simulate. Recent content and technological developments—including advances in augmented virtuality and 3D graphics technologies that provide an interactive virtual world and modality interactivity affordance—have enabled video games to further enhance game users’ interactivity, engagement, and experiences (Fox, Arena, & Bailenson, 2009; Simsarian & Akesson, 1997).

Given the popularity and pervasive influence of video games, researchers and educators have naturally been interested in the effects these games place on game users. Some raise concerns that playing video games could lead to social isolation or increased aggression and/or violence, especially when playing ones with violent content such as fighting or shooting, while others consider that some aspects of video games might facilitate effective learning or healthy behavior change (Gentile & Anderson, 2003; Kirkley & Kirkley, 2007; Provenzo, 1992; Squire, 2003). Much of the early research on video games focused primarily on identifying the important attributes of the form and content of video games (e.g., see Ivory & Kalyanaraman, 2007). Numerous studies have shown that playing video games can positively or negatively affect the cognitive and behavior responses of game users (Anderson & Dill, 2000; Sherry, 2001; Squire, 2003). In addition, graphically realistic physical cues (e.g., avatar realism and affinity) in video games have been shown to augment users’ sense of presence, enjoyment, aggression, and arousal, as well as real-life behavioral intentions (Eastin, 2006; Lachlan, Smith, & Tamborini, 2005; Nowak & Rauh, 2005).

The present study examines in details how users interact with virtual game environments and how this relationship affects their learning ability. Specifically, this study investigates whether or not the use of augmented virtuality in the context of fitness video games (“exergames”) facilitates game users’ desires or intentions to engage in health behaviors. In this presentation, we demonstrate the effects of different levels of modality interactivity affordance in exergames, involving combinations of behavioral feedback and the physical cue of userself, on game users’ perceived presence, immersion, enjoyment, and physical exercise intentions. We further discuss the moderating role of individuals’ regulatory goal (promotion-focused vs. prevention-focused) on the game users’ outcomes of exposures, and investigates the psychological mechanism underlying the relationship between the use of the augmented virtuality in exergames and physical exercise intentions. The results of this study will help continue the development of theories about the effects of playing video games.

References

Anderson, C. A., & Dill, K. E. (2000). Video games and aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behavior in the laboratory and in life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78(4), 772–790.

Eastin, M. S. (2006). Video game violence and the female game player: Self- and opponent gender effects on presence and aggressive thoughts. Human Communication Research, 32(3), 351–372.

Fox, J., Arena, D., & Bailenson, J. N. (2009). Virtual reality: A survival guide for the social scientist. Journal of Media Psychology, 21(3), 95–113.

Gentile, D. A., & Anderson, C. A. (2003). Violent video games: The newest media violence hazard. In D. A. Gentile (Eds.), Media Violence and Children: A Complete Guide for Parents and Professionals (pp. 131–152). Westport, CT: Praeger.

Ivory, J. D., & Kalyanaraman, S. (2007). The effects of technological advancement and violent content in video games on players’ feelings of presence, involvement, physiological arousal, and aggression. Journal of Communication, 57(3), 532–555.

Kirkley, S. E., & Kirkley, J. R. (2007). Creating next generation blended learning environments using mixed reality, video games and simulations. TechTrends, 49, 42–52.

Lachlan, K. A., Smith, S. L, & Tamborini, R. (2005). Models for aggressive behavior: The attributes of violent characters in popular video games. Communication Studies, 56(4), 313–329.

Nowak, K. L., & Rauh, C. (2005). The influence of the avatar on online perceptions of anthropomorphism, androgyny, credibility, homophily, and attraction. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 11(1).

Provenzo, E. F. (1992). What do video games teach? Education Digest, 58(4), 56–58.

Sherry, J. L (2001). The effects of violent video games on aggression: A meta-analysis. Human Communication Research, 27(3), 409–431.

Simsarian, K. T., & Akesson, K.-P. (1997). Windows on the world: An example of augmented virtuality. Interface Sixth International Conference Montpellier, Man-machine Interaction, 68–71.

Squire, K. (2003). Video games in education. International Journal of Intelligent Simulations and Gaming, 2(1), 49–62

Parallel Session E

TeachingandLearningGamesDevelopmentinVirtualWorlds:AnEmpiricalStudyintoMotivationandImmersionTrevor Barker

In the real world we make use of a wide range of skills that equip us for life in the three dimensional space that we inhabit. Currently there is a great deal of interest in the development and use of three

dimensional applications such as television, film and computer games. With the increased power of modern computers it has become possible to develop online virtual worlds such as Second Life (secondlife.com) which are currently being used in teaching and learning in a variety of domains (deFreitas, 2008). For this reason there has been much interest at the University of Hertfordshire in teaching and learning in virtual worlds such as Second Life. The department of Computer Science has established a virtual campus in Second Life where a fairly broad range of learning and teaching activities take place. These include presenting textual, audio and video learning and teaching materials, delivering synchronous and asynchronous virtual lectures, providing simulations and group working areas (Barker et al., 2008). More recently our research has been concerned with issues of the affordances and usability of such spaces (Barker, 2010). In addition to recommendations related to these aspects of three dimensional worlds, the importance of motivation and immersion in such spaces was identified. Farley has described the sense of immersion as ‘the learner’s impression of actually ‘being there’ in the virtual world and is a necessary condition for presence. This refers to a decreased awareness of one’s existence in the actual physical space at the computer’ (Farley, 2009). Initial findings from this research suggested that in order for learners to have a sense of real presence and immersion in a virtual space, the nature of the tasks in which they engaged was important. It was therefore decided to undertake additional research in order to understand this influence more fully.

This paper therefore presents findings from a two year study into the motivation of learners using a three-dimensional (3D) virtual world in their studies. Two cohorts of learners following second and final year undergraduate Computer Science modules used the Second Life virtual world to support their project work. Final year students developed computer applications using the Second Life environment as a means of supporting their work. Second year students used the Second Life environment in which to develop and play ‘real-world’ games. As part of their final assessments learners were required to produce reflective reports of their


experiences in the virtual world. Analysis of these reports was able to provide an understanding of some of the factors that influenced immersion and motivation in the 3D virtual space. In addition to reflective reports, other evidence was obtained from monitoring students’ meetings in Second Life, from questionnaires and from face to face meetings with learners. Taken together it was possible to understand to some extent the part played by motivation in learning in virtual spaces and also how the setting up of real-world tasks was important in influencing motivation and immersion in the virtual space. The importance the tasks set for learners was found to be central to motivation and immersion. When learners felt motivated by the task in the real world, immersion in the virtual world was high. It was found to be important to motivate first in the real world rather than relying on features of the virtual world per se to motivate learners.

References

Barker, T., Haik, E. and Bennett, S. (2008), Factors that hinder and assist learning in virtual environments: An empirical study, Proceedings of Researching Learning in Virtual Environments – ReLIVE08 Conference, Open University, UK. November 2008.

Barker T., (2010) Empirically Based Recommendations related to the use of Virtual Worlds in Education, Research proceedings of Association for Learning Technology Conference (ALTC 201), September 7-9, Nottingham, UK

de Freitas, S (2008) Serious Virtual Worlds: a scoping study. Last accessed 06 May 2010 at: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/reports/2008/seriousvirtualworldsreport.aspx,

Farley, H. (2009), Facilitating immersion in virtual worlds: Issues and considerations, Last accessed 08 May, 2010 at: http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/auckland09/procs/farley-workshop.pdf

AManageableandScalableApproachtoEducationandTrainingDavid Burden and Andrew Jinman

Since the development of PIVOTE as a JISC funded project in 2007 many new features have been added and its adoption and use within Second Life (and now OpenSim) have continued to grow. Use cases vary from teaching citizenship to inner city kids in Glasgow, through training nurses and paramedics, to preparing New York to deal with a hurricane. In this paper we will look

at how PIVOTE has developed, particularly though the introduction of multi-user functionality and the examination of a recent US project which used PIVOTE as the basis for its teaching, and look at plans for the future.

The introduction of a multi-user mode has been a key development for PIVOTE and was created as part of the University of Leicester’s SWIFT (Second World Immersive Future Teaching) project. This allows multiple students to experience their own dedicated “instance” of an exercise and progress through it at their own pace, all through a single PIVOTE controller.

One of our most recent PIVOTE projects was developed in collaboration with University of Central Florida (UCF) and their accountancy department. Dr Hornik, an early adopter of virtual worlds (VW) for education has been using Second Life to assist in the delivery of several undergraduate accountancy modules for many years. However they encountered a number of issues including:

• Address the needs of many students, estimated at around 500.

• Training them affectively in be-spoke Second Life objects, which they need to use as part of their course, regardless of in-world skill level and technical know-how.

• Handling 500 students through the training within a period of several hours, and being able to scale to cater for more participants if required.

Daden worked with UCF to use multi-user PIVOTE to create a number of training exercises in the accountancy system to overcome these issues. The results of that training and the view of tutors and users will be presented, and the statistics for the throughput achieved.

The paper will conclude with a summary of PIVOTEs development plans over the next year, in particular the creation of an Actor/Prop eDrama style authoring system (moving away from the complexities of the underlying Medbiquitous Virtual patient 3-tier model), and the introduction of a 2D layout system for the 3D learning space – both being developed as part of a project for an Academy school in the UK.

Practice,Context,Dialogue:UsingAutomatedConversationalAgentstoExtendtheReachandDepthofLearningActivitiesinImmersiveWorldsManuel Frutos-Perez

This paper will report on current development work on automated conversational agents or chatbots that are intended to serve a dual purpose of general student support and automation of learning simulations to support discursive practice in a distributed learning model.

The virtual revolution has generated masses of information that our learners have to skilfully navigate in order to access the elements that are relevant to them (O’Donoghue 2010). A common online problem (Nielsen 2000) is that very often the user needs to know where something is located before they know exactly what they are looking for (e.g. an university student wants to find out information about the financial implications of deferring some assessments: does that information belong to the Academic Registry, the Finance Department or the Student Support Service?). This issue can get augmented for international students as the support structures of their home institutions can be very different to those of the receiving institution. Furthermore, international students who have recently arrived at the receiving institution are more likely to require further information on any number of issues, and their confusion will most likely be compounded by having to formulate their queries in a foreign language. The ever increasing abundance of online information is, of course, also and asset to learners. The immediacy and ubiquitous nature of access has the potential to transform learning paradigms (Bessa 2008), as large swathes of information are no longer proprietary to educational establishments, but widely available to the public. This dichotomy, the potential of the availability of large amounts of information and the problematic nature of having to navigate its ever increasing volume, constitutes the main driver behind a new project that we are

developing at the University of the West of England. The project is called Simulations in Higher Education Linguistic Localised Avatar (SHELLA). Its main aim is to harness the reach and effect of information already available online by developing a new type of user interface (Benyon 2010) that will mediate the communication process in a more natural way and that will help overcome communication barriers such as cultural and linguistic differences. A secondary aim of the project is to utilise the concept to support the delivery of learning simulations. In this case the interface will be used to access customised and prefabricated information banks, rather than real ones, so that students will be able to conduct interviews and investigations in order to extract particular information that forms part of an immersive learning simulation that takes place mainly in a virtual world like Second Life, but that gets the added flexibility of having the chatbots available both in-world as avatars and on the Internet as conversational agents.

References

Benyon, D. (2010). Designing Interactive Systems. Harlow, UK: Pearson Education Limited.

Bessa, R.L.C. (2008). Situating digital tools through ubiquitous virtuality: Iowa State University, Ph.D. 3307100

Nielsen, J. (2000). Designing Web Usability. Indianapolis, IN: New Riders Publishing.

O’Donoghue, J. (2010). Technology-Supported Environments for Personalized Learning. Hershey, NY: Information Science Reference.

Parallel Session F

VirtualReality:MultipleModesofMeaningKamaran Fathulla

Our interaction with the richness and complexity of the “real” world is intuitive and tacit or ‘proximal’ (Polanyi, 1967). We know of the various types of things, what is real, and what is not. We gained this ability for many reasons least of all is through our evolutionary development. However, the same cannot be said of a “virtual” world which we create. This is primarily because of the presence of an interface, namely computer technology, between us and the virtual world.


Though this interface is crucial and facilitates the creation of such worlds it nevertheless, brings in added complexities which can make virtual worlds seem to be less real and hence less intuitive than the actual real world. Virtual worlds have expressions of physical objects but they may also have visual expressions of non-physical things, there are non-avatar objects which are crucial and important elements of these worlds, there are auditory shapes flying around the screen, and so on. If computer technology is to create virtual worlds that are very proximal to the richness and intuitiveness of the reality of the real world then we must have a good account of what constitutes this reality. This is undoubtedly a philosophical question.

Historically, reductionist schools of thought have had a major influence on our understanding of reality. Such an approach seems to be at odds with our everyday experience of reality which revolves around multiple and different modes of meaning. A typical object, such as plant, can have multiple meanings such as biotic, spatial, historical, commercial, aesthetic, and many more. Furthermore, none of these modes of meaning are at odd or in conflict with each other. It therefore, implies that the things we interact with in a virtual world might also have different modes of meaning and serve different purposes at the same time. This is a unique challenge for developers and designers for virtual worlds because of the limitations and restrictions imposed by existing reductionist frameworks of understanding.

This paper introduces a new way of addressing this challenge through the proposal of fifteen ways or modes of meaning developed by the Dutch philosopher Herman Dooyeweerd. We will then explores its application particularly through its notions of “Individuality Structures” followed by the notion of “Enkapsis”, to the question of modes of meaning and how this benefits the development of virtual reality applications and technologies.

References

Dooyeweerd, H. (1955). A new critique of theoretical thought (Vols. I-IV). Jordan Station, Ontario, Canada: Paideia Press. (Original work published 1953-1958)

Polanyi, M. (1967) The Tacit Dimension, London: Routledge & Keagan Paul

SocialCollaborativeConferencingintheVirtualWorldAndreas Schmeil, Béatrice S. Hasler, Sara de Freitas, Anna Peachey and Claus Nehmzow

Over the last five years, virtual world platforms have proliferated, from ActiveWorlds to Second Life to OpenSim to Olive, a range of platforms that allow large numbers of users to coalesce around virtual structures over the web are being used widely. As a result of distributed groups of researchers working on shared research problems, cost savings due to high costs of petrol and travelling and natural international incidents such as the volcano eruption in Iceland researchers and industrialists are looking for other methods for coming together. In particular, the costs of international travel are high and many multinational companies are looking for ways to reduce costs, at the same time the pressures on the environment are extreme due to climate change so efforts to reduce carbon emissions are similarly pointing to a future world with reduced travel and increasing expense for air travel.

For these reasons, virtual world conferencing is becoming a popular solution, it has the immersion to make users feel engaged and part of the crowd, but has the ease of access and low costs that allows participants to take part from their offices or homes or on the move without missing out on the socializing aspects of the conference, and still attaining the main objective of bringing together a distributed group of participants from around the world. However, one of the major issues with using virtual worlds to support collaboration lies in the limits of the physical world itself in the shape of time zones; while users within a continent can relatively easily overcome the time zone barriers, when working between several continents 6-8 hours differences can be difficult to reconcile.

The authors organized a purely virtual world conference to bring together top international researchers in the field of virtual world research and development from academia and industry, and at the same time use the opportunity to test out the theory that virtual world conferences can be as engaging and

productive as physically held conferences, whilst reducing the costs and allowing the participation of the delegates in three different time zones to reflect the challenges of timings between the three main regions of the world: East, Central and West. This paper outlines the successes and challenges of adopting this approach. It includes analyses of questionnaires that were filled out by attendees, in an attempt to confirm or disprove the central hypothesis that virtual world conferences can support engaging and effective conferencing. The paper closes by presenting novel ideas for future conferences resulting from the attendees’ feedback and by discussing particular enhancements for the following edition of the conference.

AnAlternative(to)RealityDerek Jones

Virtual Reality has become a recognisable stock phrase, often referring to environments generated and hosted electronically. But the word virtual leads to natural conclusions about the nature of these ‘places’. Virtual suggests simulated, copied, mimicked - that there is an a priori reality that is the thing of value and that the virtual version of it must therefore be nothing more than a simulacrum.

This paper proposes that virtual (or Alternative) Realities may offer something genuinely different – something that it requires a complete shift in perspective to imagine. It is argued that incremental development in virtual realities (usually simulations of reality) will only provide a gradual facsimile of reality – it will not produce any radical Alternative Realities.

To generate an Alternative Reality we need to start with a new brief – one that starts from a different point of view. It requires a completely different starting point and approach – it may even require a new paradigm of perception. To do this we need to employ design thinking, not design.

Firstly, the concept of space is defined in terms of phenomenological perception. Drawing on exhibition work undertaken previously by the author around the subject of the phenomenology of space, analogies

between alternative architecture and Alternative Realities are proposed. Secondly, the reverse position is considered – virtual environments are examined with a view to discover alternative architectures in phenomenological reality.

Finally, possible parallels are drawn between the artifacts identified above to demonstrate the transferability of certain memes and ‘spaces’ and in an effort to create phenomenological information space – a different way of considering the interface with Alternative Realities. Several interesting potential avenues of investigation are identified and there is a quick look at the possible (imagined) future information space of education.

Parallel Session I

TheInteroperabilityandIntegrationChallengesofVirtualEnvironmentsPaul Hollins and Daniel Livingstone

Immersive virtual environments are being increasingly applied in educational and commercial teaching and learning contexts. Once the reserve of entertainment, these environments now act as platforms for a diverse variety of pedagogic activities including simulation, games, role-play, virtual meetings, lectures and assessment.

Given this variety of usage and the increasing desire of educators to re-use and repurpose content and resources as Open Educational Resources (OER), or through integration with other associated offline and online resources and activities, standards for sharing and communication are becoming critically important to educators wishing to incorporate the use of virtual environments within their practice. The use of open source immersive virtual environments such as Opensim or Open Wonderland and the ongoing development of interoperability specifications and standards such as the Hypergrid protocol and MPEG (Moving Pictures Expert Group) V go some way towards realizing these objectives.


Further progress has been made by the growth of virtual worlds that allow the transfer of avatars and inventory using the hypergrid protocol - ‘grids’ such as OS Grid, Reaction Grid, New World Grid et al.

The authors review and reflect on current activity and progress of the various formal and informal groups, standards and specifications bodies and other associated projects working towards the increased integration and interoperability of 3D virtual environments. Building on the authors’ previous published work on virtual worlds, standards and interoperability, opportunities and challenges ahead are identified and discussed. Opportunities are highlighted that could arise from additional improvements in our ability to create fully interoperable virtual environments, platforms, content and shared activities, as are recent technological developments that could result in an alternative, non-standards based, development trajectory. These developments include those such as the multiple variants of Opensim that now exist and the existence of incompatible versions of Hypergrid protocol. Such developments challenge wider integration and interoperability objectives.

Supported by a number of case studies the authors demonstrate that though technical interoperability is now achievable, organizational, cultural and economic barriers still remain to achieving integration and interoperability.

Educational applications are only a very small, but not insignificant, sub set of use of immersive virtual environments and in reality exercise little influence in shaping a technical environment largely driven by business prerogatives. As well as providing a timely snapshot of the current work in progress towards integration and interoperability there is clear recognition that the path to interoperability in immersive virtual environments will be a long and challenging and one with numerous and painful detours along the way.

CloudBasedContentControlforVirtualWorldsMike Hobbs

This paper presents a communications and data model that supports cloud based control and management of interactive learning scenarios in Second Life. It describes an example and discusses the advantages for implementing applications and the potential for inter-institutional collaborative applications using remote hosting on cloud computing infrastructure.

The concept of cloud computing is ill defined, but a short-list of common features place most virtual world environments within a broad interpretation of its definition (Boellstroff 2010). When we use Second Life (Linden 2010), for example, we do not know or care how the computing resources are organised to support the application. However, when we start to build supporting applications we typically use a locally owned and supported infrastructure.

SLOODLE (Sloodle 2011) uses HTTP protocols to link between virtual worlds (Second Life, Open Sim (OS 2011) and the Moodle (Moodle 2011) VLE. In-world educational activities can be supported, recorded and presented within a web based application that allows greater access, more reliable data storage and non-synchronous interaction (enabling off-line assessment rather than real time observation), than is available within the virtual world environment.

The availability of Virtual Worlds and their global access means that they lend themselves to sharing and re-use of resources. Tools such as SLOODLE, are openly available but each institution has to create and support their own instance. A natural development for educational virtual world applications is to use a cloud computing architecture to provide a web based interface to data storage, processing and control functions. This allows interested parties to register with the application to use and contribute to the whole educational resource rather than just the virtual world

element. This may provide a more easily sustainable model for communities of practice where the virtual world development expertise can be shared to a wider participating audience.

The following scenario (currently being developed at Anglia Ruskin) is used to illustrate the concept:

• A virtual ‘Toxic’ 1 laboratory is set up in Second Life to provide health and safety training for trainee science teachers before they take charge of school laboratories. Interactive objects (such as chemical spills) use data stored remotely, in a cloud based application, to determine their location, deployment status and behaviour. Student avatars engage with pre-prepared scenarios and their actions, notes and re-actions recorded by the system for later reflection.

• The web interface is a globally accessible application so that staff at participating institutions are able to configure and deploy a scenario, register students with the application, engage with the simulation and access their student interaction records.

Content contributions can be added to the available inventory for scene creation and by complying with the communication protocol other simulations can be connected to the system regardless of where they are hosted. The full paper will present an overview the use of cloud computing with virtual worlds, the data model for the ‘toxic lab’ scenario, and discuss data protection issues when using cloud computing resources.

References

Beollstroff 2010, Culture of the Cloud, Journal of Virtual Worlds Research, 2,5, April 2010.

Linden 2010, Linden Research Inc What is Second Life? [Online] Available at http://secondlife.com/whatis/ [Accessed May 2011]

Moodle 2011, Moodle Open Source Virtual Learning Environment organisation home page [Online] Available at http://moodle.org [Accessed May 2011]

OS 2011, Open Sim – Open Simulator organisation home page, [Online] Available at http://opensimulator.org [Accessed May 2011]

Sloodle 2011, SLOODLE Simulation Linked Object Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment project page,[Online] Available at http://www.sloodle.org [Accessed May 2011]

Toxic 2011, London Metropolitan University for the Charted Institute of Logistics and Transport – The Toxic Warehouse simulation for health and safety training. [Online] Available at http://toxicwarehouse.blogspot.com [Accessed May 2011]

LeavingtheLindens:TeachinginVirtualWorldsofOtherProvidersMarc Conrad

In the last years the University of Bedfordshire has utilized Second Life in various teaching and research projects. These included a (final year, undergraduate) class in the LSL (Linden Scripting Language), to illustrate Event Driven Programming and classes on Project Management (both undergraduate and postgraduate) where students were asked to apply the PRINCE2® Project Management methodology to build an educational showcase on the University of Bedfordshire’s Second Life island ‘Bedfordia’. The general setup of this latter assignment, in particular the difficulty to deal with large student numbers have been discussed in (Conrad, et.al, 2009). The added value of using Second Life in enhancing the acquisition of Project Management skills are presented in (Conrad, 2011). Research projects on avatar and identity (Conrad et al, 2010; Conrad et al, 2011) have been conducted in this period driven by students’ experience.

Issues with Linden Labs, the provider of Second Life, concerning the ownership of the University island made it difficult, if not impossible, to utilize Second Life similarly for the Academic Year 2010/11. It was therefore decided, at very short notice, to seek for alternative solutions that would replace Second Life without compromising the delivery of these classes. In doing so, two providers have been trialed, namely Dreamland Metaverse (http://www.3dmetaverse.com), a company that offers islands within the OSgrid (http://www.osgrid.org) infrastructure, and ReactionGrid (http://www.reactiongrid.com) who target the ‘educational’ market with their own grid infrastructure. Both worlds are based on the OpenSim (http://opensimulator.org) technology.

In this paper we will discuss the challenges encountered by using these environments, what measurements were taken to provide a learning experience similar to the Second Life driven classes, where it was necessary to compromise and the advantages in using an environment other than Second Life.


A very notable difference in using an OpenSim based solution is the much lower cost associated with this, compared to the fees imposed by Linden Labs. Other advantages are better and faster helpdesk responses and the availability of easy backups in form of ‘oar’-files. Challenges have been encountered with the OpenSim technology. During the LSL class, for instance, a problem with the physics engine made it nearly impossible for the avatar to move and certain features of LSL were unavailable.

The decision to use ReactionGrid for the Project Management class was made when the author was approached by an ‘evangelist’ of this company. The professionalism and indeed the responsiveness of this company is impressive. Nevertheless changes of the assignment were unavoidable. For instance the absence of an in-world economy made it necessary to redesign the ‘cost management’ and ‘procurement’ aspect of the assignment.

In conclusion, the competition within the Virtual World ‘market’ now brings visible advantages in cost and customer relations. However the devil is in the detail: the transition away from Second Life was far from being straightforward and changes in the setup and conduct of the classes were necessary in utilizing these other, externally provided, Virtual Worlds.

References

Conrad, M. (2011), Teaching Project Management in Second Life, in: Vincenti, G., Braman, J. (eds), Multi-User Virtual Environments for the Classroom: Practical Approaches to Teaching in Virtual Worlds, IGI Global, to appear.

Conrad, M., Charles, A., Neale, J. (2011), What is my Avatar? – Who is my Avatar? The Avatar as a Device to Achieve a Goal: Perceptions and Implications, in: Peachy, A., Childs, M. (eds), Reinventing Ourselves: Contemporary Concepts of Identity in Virtual Worlds, UK. Springer, to appear.

Conrad, M., Neale, J., Charles, A. (2010), This is my Body: The Uses and Effects of the Avatar in the Virtual World, International Journal for Infonomics (IJI), Volume 3, Issue 4, ISSN: 17424712 (Online).

Conrad, M., Pike, D.; Sant, P., Nwafor, C., Teaching Large Student Cohorts in Second Life. Proceedings of the First International Conference on Computer Supported Education (CSEDU), Lisboa, 2009.

Parallel Session J

LearningtheLanguageofDesigninSecondLifeGeorgina Holden, Nicole Schadewitz, Katerina Alexiou, Theodore Zamenopoulos and Steven Garner

This paper will discuss a pilot research study carried out for a European Funded Lifelong Learning programme project: Architectural and Design based Education and Practice through Content & Language Integrated Learning using Immersive Virtual Environments for 21st Century Skills (ARCHI21). Open University students taking modules in the Design and Innovation BSc award were invited to participate in a series of sessions around the subject of design briefs. The focus of the study was the acquisition of design specific language and development of skills required for the generation and interpretation of design briefs. The 17 students recruited took part in five sessions in SecondLife and a sixth session conducted using a conferencing tool (FlashMeeting). The students had a mix of linguistic backgrounds with around half ‘English as an additional language’ speakers.

Work in each session was planned and facilitated by four Design lecturers and a language specialist, with additional technical support. The five SecondLife sessions built understanding of design concepts through a series of activities based around the theme of fragility. Each session had linguistic aims in addition to its content-based aims. Students were also offered basic tuition in use of the SecondLife building tools to enable them to realise their design propositions. Conferencing was used part way through when brainstorming and written capture of ideas was needed in the design process. Most sessions utilised small group work with plenary sessions to start and round off the work for the day. Sky platforms were built to facilitate this and visits to each groups’ space were enabled using a virtual lift.

Despite a minority of students experiencing technical difficulties the affordances of the virtual world were perceived as being of great value to participants. The ability to give form to creative ideas using the building tools was perceived as having great benefit and

perceived as an alternative to 3D drawing software. For the facilitators the virtual world gave the opportunity to devise experiences that would not be possible in a face-to-face or 2D online environment allowing elements of surprise and delight to be bought into the teaching environment. The virtual world also encouraged all participants to contribute verbally to the sessions, in contrast, the conferencing session had mixed success and was more facilitator dependent.

The study highlights a number of practical issues around organisation and technical support for successful in-world teaching. However, more importantly it shows how in-world teaching can support an atelier style of learning (Seeley Brown, 2007) in which participants learn through doing, with ‘doing’ being practical (use of SL tools), knowledge based (knowledge and understanding of design process) and cognitive (ability to communicate and think in a designerly way) (Cross, 2006).

The paper also refers to studies carried out by a partner institution in France concluding that the ongoing work on the use of virtual worlds in design education to further explore and develop appropriate pedagogies for online design atelier teaching could make a significant contribution to distance learning particularly in a multi-national setting.

References

Cross, N. (2006) Designerly Ways of Knowing, London: SpringerVerlag.

Seeley Brown, J.: (2007), “OpenLearn 2007”, Keynote presentation, Researching open content in education conference, 30-31.10.07, Milton Keynes, The Open University. http://kn.open.ac.uk/public/getfile.cfm?documentfileid=12391

VirtualWorldsasaPlatformfor3DApplicationDevelopmentAlan Miller

Virtual Worlds are a new type of Internet application. They offer the potential of extending the engagement and realism of 3D games into the domains of computer supported educational, social and work based interactions. Whilst there are numerous virtual world implementations the genre is currently dominated by Second Life a commercial virtual world supported by Linden

Labs and OpenSim an open source toolkit for building virtual worlds available under GPL.

The programmability of SL is curtailed to simple scripts in part because of the desire to protect the environment from errant or rogue scripts that may consume sufficient resources to deny service to other users. OpenSim contains support for three additional programming modes. Mini Region Modules, Region Modules and Plug Ins.

This paper discusses a framework used to create “Network Island” a virtual world space which allows students to interact with 3D simulations of network routing protocols. It was created in the virtual world OpenSim.

This work demonstrates the power of virtual worlds to serve as a platform for developing 3D learning scenarios. To achieve this it was necessary to move beyond the limitations of the traditional virtual world scripting paradigm. This meant developing a system that allowed the power of high level software development to be added to the framework of a virtual world. Using OpenSim’s Mini Region Modules, an API has been developed which al lows for code written externally and compiled to software libraries to be imported into OpenSim via a scripting mecha nism while the server is live.

This project uses new virtual world programming mecha nisms which allow the system to be built in an efficient and maintainable manner. This project shows a possible methodology whereby code can be developed in an efficient manner, making full use of standard IDE tools and good abstraction techniques, which can then plug into a virtual world and become part of a learning environment. The fact that this code was de veloped externally, using and IDE and an API contained in library files means that the scope of projects developed using this technique can be greatly increased compared to what can feasibly be attempted working only with in world scripting mechanisms. This code essentially creates a ’best of both worlds’ situation. That is to say the developer gets all the benefits of in world scripting in a virtual world com bined with all the benefits of working in a full IDE. The developer can write their code in an IDE, compile it and then restart it in world without ever having to restart the server itself.


This mechanism has been used to develop a graph theory based visualisation tool that is fully situated within a virtual world. This visualiser is then used to demonstrate interactive simulations of Link State and Distance Vector routing algorithms. The mechanisms developed serve to highlight just how powerful virtual worlds can be as a development platform and how this power can be harnessed for education.

ConductingInterviewsinVirtualWorldsCarina Girvan and Timothy Savage

While educators are challenged by the educational affordances and constraints of virtual worlds (Jarmon, 2009), researchers also need to consider both the opportunities and obstacles to conducting educational research in virtual worlds (Moschini, 2008). Within qualitative methodologies interviews provide educational researchers with a particularly powerful research tool as a means to get ‘inside a person’s head’ (Tuckman, 1994) in order to understand their subjective experience. With notable exceptions such as Minocha, Minh and Reeves (2010), the current research literature lacks discussion on conducting interviews for educational research in virtual worlds.

This paper focuses on interviews as a form of data collection following learning experiences situated in virtual worlds and presents three approaches to conducting interviews in both one-to-one and group settings: traditional face-to-face; in-world with text; and in-world

with voice. The authors analysed interviews collected over several qualitative studies exploring the educational use of virtual worlds and reflected on their own experiences as both interviewers and interviewees. In total 26 individual and 13 group interviews of 30 to 60 minutes duration were analysed to explore the effect of the data collection method. The results of this analysis are presented as six cases which illustrate the limitations and advantages of each approach in both one-to-one and group interviews. By following any of these interview approaches there are implications for both the data collection protocol and the research outcomes. In particular this paper considers the extent to which the medium affects the message. This paper concludes with criteria for selection and recommendations for researchers using each of these interview approaches as part of any research study into the educational use of virtual worlds

References

Jarmon, L. (2009). Pedagogy and learning in the virtual world of Second Life. In P. Rogers, G. Berg, J. Boettcher, C. Howard, L. Justice & K. Schenk (Eds.) Encyclopaedia of distance and online learning. (2nd ed., pp.1610-1619): IGI Global

Minocha, S., Tran, M. & Reeves, A. (2010). Conducting empirical research in virtual worlds: Experiences from two projects in Second Life. Journal of Virtual Worlds Research, 3(1), pp. 3-21.

Moschini, E. (2008). ‘The Second Life Researcher Toolkit. An Exploration of in-World Tools, Methods and Approaches for Researching Educational Projects in Second Life’. Proceedings of the Researching Learning in Virtual Environments Conference, ReLIVE08. Open University, Milton Keynes, UK. ISBN 97818487310U4. Accessed from http://www.open.ac.uk/relive08/documents/ReLIVE08_conference_proceedings_Lo.pdf

Tuckman, B. W. (1994). Conducting educational research. London: Harcourt Brace College Publishers

Parallel Session G

VirtualRealitiesasVirtualCampusesFrançois Boeck

Teaching is challenging, teaching at distance more so. In order to diminish the difference between normal and remote teaching the use of immersive three dimensional virtual realities have a lot of advantage and can effectively suppress the disadvantage of teaching from afar. Virtual realities give too possibilities that are impossible in normal teaching making them more practical in a lot of ways. We will detail the possibilities that virtual realities give us and show examples and demonstrations of how those are already implemented by the science circle organization. Then we will make suggestion as how virtual environment could be made more available and usable.

The Science Circle http://sciencecircle.org is an alliance of scientists from around the globe offering free science classes and seminars in Archaeology, Astrophysics, Epistemology, Geology, Sociology of Science, Psychology, Public Health and Telecommunications.

Also twice a month we organize inter disciplinary seminars. Our former presentations are available at http://sciencecircle.org/index.php/sc-pdf

Parallel Session H

IEEELinkupSessionIan Hughes

The IEEE standards organization supported by e426.org have gathered together a body of experienced people from the virtual worlds industry to form the VECoLab (Virtual Environment Cooperation Lab). This organization is tasked with “Revolutionizing the way we live work and play” by harnessing the untapped power of converging 3D technologies.

Traditional standards bodies have looked at the pure technical detail of a technology. With the power of virtual environments IEEE have to look deeper to find how this affects us as people. In gathering experience, examples and working ideas from all parts of the virtual world industry the IEEE aims to generate and document consensus that is greater than the sum of its parts. Many of us are doing similar things, pushing platforms past where they were intended to go. We need to discover what is missing, what is common and how to bridge those gaps. In doing this stocktaking we also have a chance to find the next evolution and leap.

As part of its remit the IEEE VECoLab is holding a summit in California. In keeping with the different approach to this from the contributors it is taking place in Hollywood. The two day event is a continuous game of exploration featuring teams of practitioners physically present and co-located in multiple virtual environments working to share their ideas and uncover common ground. The explosion of ideas and cross fertilization of genres will lead to documented consensus which will act as a springboard for further events and shared with the wider community.

In this session we will connect live to Hollywood half way through their tasks and see what has happened and where it is going. We will be connecting two bodies of people, passionate and knowledgeable in virtual environments. At ReLIVE11 we will be able to both listen, see and hear what has transpired but also feed into it as collective attendees.

Cross platform mixed media experiences can be tricky, as many of us know. However that is not a reason to avoid them. In applying our collective expertise from both conferences to connect to one another we are all taking part in another exemplar that will feed into the IEEE shared public knowledge.

WorkshopSessions


Parallel Session M

TopTipsforResearchMethodsinVirtualWorlds.Anne Adams

Virtual worlds are increasingly being used in the educational, industrial and public sector. However, evaluations of their effectiveness are frequently called for, yet the nature of these environments requires a different research approach. This workshop will review the opportunities and challenges of researching in immersive environments. This will be reviewed through three sections with key points presented and debated with the audience to gain added insight and then summarised into three of four main points.

• Planning research and reflexivity

• Conducting the research (methods, stages and issues)

• Analysing the findings (developing a useful narrative)

Finally the group will develop a: “Top Ten Tips for Researchers in Virtual Worlds”. It is hoped that this joint participatory style will lead not only to established approaches for research in virtual worlds but also uncover novel approaches that will extend our understanding of research practice in virtual worlds.

Parallel Session N

It’sTimetoGetRealAbouttheVirtual:PresentingaProcessofRapidToolEvaluation,Design,andAdoptionwithinImmersiveVirtualEnvironments.Sarah Smith-Robbins and Paul Hollins

Immersive Virtual Learning Environments, virtual or synthetic worlds such as Second Life and OpenSim have, over the last decade or so, emerged as authentic digital

tools for those engaged in the practice of teaching, learning and research. Now that the hyperbole that inevitably surrounds early adoption of any new technology has subsided use in education is tentatively venturing on to the “plateau of productivity”.

Early use of these environments in educational settings, arguably, focused primarily on the efficacy of the environments in improving engagement and interaction with students but should now be considered as part of a much wider challenge to established practice. The use of digital technologies brings into question our existing notions of curriculum design and delivery, challenges the digital literacy of tutors and students alike, opens up new pedagogic possibilities and in times of austerity may provide our education institutions with a scaleable opportunity to widen participation within constrained budgets.

The efficacy of educational activities within these environments is largely dependent on a combination of the affordances (Hollins and Robbins 2009) provided by the environments mechanics the literacy of both the Tutors and students engaged in the activity and, significantly, the emergent complexity produced by the interactions between them. In this paper the authors explore the relationship between the mechanics in game based immersive virtual environments, the designers or tutors intended objectives or learning outcomes and the student.

Utilizing Activity Theory and Genre Ecology Models, this presentation suggests a model of immersive environment mechanical and social literacy beneficial to designers, instructors, and students. This literacy is used to analyze and evaluate learning potential within such an environment, explore potential activity designs within the space, and hasten the necessary acquisition of skills within the space. Via a hands-on exercise including an examination of the genres of a commonly known virtual environment (both designer-provided and user-created) made possible by the mechanics of the environment, participants in this session will learn to make use of this model in their own work.

Parallel Session K

WillVirtualWorldsReplacetheWWWwithaVirtualWorldWeb?Jane Chandler and Timothy Collinson

Whether or not virtual worlds can, in the near future, be seamlessly integrated with the WWW, providing users with a choice between current 2-D web pages and 3-D virtual world web pages which provide not only additional functionality but also the ability to interact, in real time, with other 3-D web page users/viewers.

This symposium will make use of a Goldfish Bowl* format, pre-seeded with 4 or 5 invited “fish” from amongst presenters at ReLIVE11. This will provide an opportunity for a structured debate.

The session leaders will introduce the symposia and manage the free movement of all participants between the audience and discussion group.

Participants will gain an appreciation and understanding of the potential and/or limitations of virtual worlds providing a 3 dimensional version of the WWW.

* http://www.spaconference.org/ot2004/ sessionformats.shtml

“A goldfish bowl provides an effective means of exploring the breadth of opinion on a given topic. The session is started by a small discussion group (say four or five people) consisting of specially invited participants, with the rest of the participants forming an audience.

Spare places in the discussion group are available, and members of the audience may take up these places when they feel they have a contribution to make. Members of the discussion group leave their places when they have had their say, making room for new participants.”

Parallel Session L

ReinventingOurselves:ContemporaryConceptsofIdentityinVirtualWorldsAnna Peachey, Mark Childs et al

At the last ReLIVE conference, Bill Thompson stated that the real benefit of virtual worlds is that they provide an opportunity to “rethink our fundamental assumptions about what personality is, what identity is, what it is to be a human being” (Thompson 2008). One of the ways that exploring and learning in virtual worlds is having an impact on society and the individuals who use these platforms is in the way that concepts such as Identity are being transformed. Reinventing Ourselves (Peachey and Childs, 2011) looks at various aspects of identity in virtual worlds, from a range of perspectives and using an assortment of different modes of discourse. Some chapters are formal research based on quantitative or qualitative data, others are literature reviews of generic or specific aspects of identity, still further are analyses of personal experiences of exploring identity in social or game worlds. Specific themes examined by the book are:

• Interpretations of identity and the impact made by virtual worlds on these interpretations

• The factors that influence the development of avatar identities

• Managing multiple identities across different platforms and different realities

• Creating identities inworld for specific physical world purposes

This symposium explores some of the themes of the book, giving the authors of the separate chapters an opportunity to discuss their work, answer questions about how they see identity

Contributors to the symposium will include Anna Peachey and Mark Childs (the editors of the book) and Anne Adams, Marc Conrad and Diane Carr (authors of separate chapters). It is hoped that other authors will be able to attend

Symposia

References Parallel Session L

Peachey, A. and Childs, M. (eds.) (2011) Reinventing Ourselves: Exploring Identity in Virtual Worlds, UK: London, Springer.

Thompson, W. (2008) Chaired debate, Anna Peachey, Roo Reynolds, Edward Castronova, Claudia L’Amoreaux, Bill Thompson, Ren Reynolds, ReLIVE08, 21st Nov 2008, Open University. Available at http://stadium.open.ac.uk/stadia/preview.php?whichevent=1248&s=31&schedule=1468


PostersPosters

CloudComputingandVirtualWorlds:ADataandCommunicationsModelforCombiningCloudBasedComputingwithSecondLife.Elaine Brown and Mike Hobbs

This poster will present a communications model illustrated with a recent teaching example that used the Google App Engine (2011) as a data resource for in-world activities.

One of the core features of Second Life (2010) is its ability to accept and generate HTTP messages allowing it to communicate with other web based applications.

In a recent module delivered as part of the Anglia Ruskin University Computer Gaming and Technology degree we used the Google App Engine as a resource for student applications. The brief was to create a fairground ride or stall, such as a coconut shy, where avatars would be able to have a go and be given a prize. An App Engine application was set up and students

given template LSL code that allowed them generate a ‘Top Ten’ score from the data stored on the App Engine.

For this simple application the App Engine provided a cheap (cost free for low usage) way of managing data generated from multiple applications within Second Life and enabling this to be inspected and available for applications outside the virtual world

The cloud based resource model allows data from Second Life to be exported and maintained without the cost or security issues associated with a local implementation hosted at a particular institution. A significant feature for the future is the potential for using this to share resources across institutions with minimal investment in infrastructure.

This poster will show the virtual world application and a schematic representation of the data flows, data storage, processing and communications that were used to support it.

References

Google App Engine 2011, Google App Engine web hosting infrastructure home page, [Online] Available at http://code.google.com/appengine/ [Accessed May 2011]

Second Life 2010, Linden Research Inc, virtual world home page, [Online] Available at http://secondlife.com [Accessed May 2011]

InvestigatingtheExperiencesofStudentswithPositiveandNegativePreconceptionsofUsingaVirtualWorldSimulationofProfessionalPractiseOlivia Billingham

Electronically delivered simulations enable educators to place students in vocationally relevant situations or to experience events that would be impossible, or extremely difficult or costly to replicate in a real world setting. The simulations allow students to gain invaluable insights into relevant, work place situations, to put classroom theory into practise, to see the consequences of their actions and to make mistakes in a ‘safe’ environment before coming face-to-face with the situation in the work place. The Simulations for Higher Education (SHE) initiative at the University of the West of England (UWE) is a focus for information and communication technology (ICT) supported simulations that are being developed across the university.

The research presented here will focus on a risk assessment simulation in the virtual world Second Life. The risk assessment simulator is set in a boat hire premises

that poses potential risks to both staff and customers. Thirty six students were immersed in Second Life to conduct a risk assessment as part of their undergraduate studies into environmental health.

Preliminary findings suggest that those students who were not daunted by the prospect of using the simulation had a positive learning experience. These students thought that the simulation was of benefit to their learning, that it gave them an insight into conducting a real world risk assessment, that it helped them to develop professional skills that they could use in the work place and that the simulation helped them to connect information and ideas about the risk assessment. Additionally, these students thought that the exercise was fun. In contrast, students who were daunted by the prospect of using the Second Life simulation were less likely to think that their learning had benefited from the experience and were also less likely to have enjoyed the experience. These results suggest that students who are unperturbed at the prospect of the in-world simulation stand to have a better learning experience in contrast to those students who view the potential simulation with trepidation. This poster will present and explore these preliminary findings in more detail.


Notes

Day 1 – Wednesday 21st September 2011

Time Session Venue

9:00 – 10:00 Registration and Coffee Bay Reception, Hub Lecture Theatre

10:00 – 10:15

Welcome Address

Professor Denise Kirkpatrick

Pro Vice-Chancellor (Learning, Teaching and Quality)

Hub Lecture Theatre

10:15 – 11:15

Opening Keynote Presentation

Robin Wight - The Evolution of Advertising Engagement: From Mad Men to Virtual Worlds

11:15 – 11:30 Coffee to goChristodoulou Meeting Rooms Foyer

11:30 – 12:30 Short Paper Parallel Sessions

Parallel Session A Chair: Andreas Schmell

Christodoulou Meeting Room 11 (CMR11)

Margaret de Jong- Derrington

(26) Setting Up a Virtual World for Teaching English Language: Why Open Sim?

Simone Wesner(37) Fostering the Creative Potential of Project Management Education in the Creative Industries

Michael Gardner and Bernard Horan

(3) +SPACES: Serious Games for Role-playing Government Polices

Parallel Session B Chair: Mark Childs


Greg Sutton (6) Second Life Virtual Hazard Detection

Jonathan Crellin, Mo Adda, Emma Duke-Williams and Jane Chandler

(27) Virtual Worlds for Simulation in Computer Forensics Teaching

Alan Miller(31) DEMIURGE: A Framework for Developing Educational Virtual Worlds

Programme



Time Session Venue

Manuel Frutos-Perez

(21) Practice, Context, Dialogue: Using Automated Conversational Agents to Extend the Reach and Depth of Learning Activities in Immersive Worlds

Parallel Session F

Chair: Marc Conrad


Kamaran Fathulla(35) Virtual Reality: Multiple Modes of Meaning

Andreas Schmeil, Béatrice S. Hasler, Sara de Freitas, Anna Peachey and Claus Nehmzow

(19) Social Collaborative Conferencing in the Virtual World

Derek Jones (38) An Alternative (to) Reality

15:30 – 16:00 Afternoon tea Berrill Café

16:00 – 17:00 Workshop Sessions

Parallel Session GLibrary Seminar Rooms 1-2, 2nd Floor, Library

François Boeck Workshop

(45) Virtual Realities as Virtual Campuses

Parallel Session HMeeting Room 8, 1st Floor, Perry E Building

Ian HughesWorkshop

(39) IEEE Linkup Session

17:00 – 18:00 Drinks reception and Best Paper Awards Berrill Café

18:00 Recommendations for dinner available from the helpdesk during the conference

Programme


Time Session Venue

12:30 – 13:30 Lunch & poster display Hub Lecture Theatre


Parallel Session C Chair: Paul Hollins


Alfredo Jornet and Cecilie Flo Jahreie

(34) Designing for Immersive Mixed Reality Learning Environments Across School and Science Museum

Rebecca Ferguson, Julia Gillen, Peter Twining and Anna Peachey

(9) Seeking Planning Permission to Build a Gothic Cathedral in a Virtual World: Investigating a Dispute in Schome Park

Brian G. Burton, Barbara Martin and Jennifer Robbins

(16) Creation of Knowledge and Student Engagement within Personal Learning Environments

Parallel Session D Chair: Timothy Collinson


Mark Childs and Marianne Riis

(23) “What’s in a name?” Choices of Names by Students in Second Life

Anna Peachey(43) Managing Responsibility for Student Identities in a Virtual World

Sung Yeun “Su” Kim, Yoo Min Lee, Richard H. Gramzo and Frank Biocca

(12) Effectiveness of Augmented Virtuality in Exergame on Physical Health Behavioral Intention


Parallel Session E Chair: Anne Adams


Trevor Barker(20) Teaching and Learning Games Development in Virtual Worlds: An Empirical Study into Motivation and Immersion

David Burden and Andrew Jinman

(7) A Manageable and Scalable Approach to Education and Training


Day 2 – Thursday 22nd September 2011

Time Session Venue

Parallel Session L

SymposiumMeeting Room 8, 1st Floor, Perry E Building

Anna Peachey, Mark Childs et al

Symposium

(41) Reinventing Ourselves: Contemporary Concepts of Identity in Virtual World

13:15 – 14:15 Lunch Berrill Café

14:15 – 15:15 Workshop sessions

Parallel Session M

WorkshopRobert Hooke Seminar Room, Ground Floor

Anne Adams

Workshop

(44) Top Tips for Research Methods in Virtual Worlds

Parallel Session N

WorkshopMeeting Room 8, 1st Floor, Perry E Building

Sarah Smith-Robbins and Paul Hollins

Workshop

(13) It’s Time to Get Real About the Virtual: Presenting a Process of Rapid Tool Evaluation, Design, and Adoption within Immersive Virtual Environments


15:45 – 16:45

Closing Keynote Presentation – Andy Piper

Where Next? From the Virtual and Philosophical, to the Real and Practical

Berrill Lecture Theatre

16:45 Close

Programme


Time Session Venue

8:45 – 9:15 Coffee Berrill Café

9:15 – 10:45 Chaired debateBerrill Lecture Theatre


11:15 – 12:15 Short Paper Parallel sessions

Parallel Session I

Chair: Julia Gillen

Robert Hooke Seminar Room, Ground Floor

Paul Hollins and Daniel Livingstone

(1) The Interoperability and Integration Challenges of Virtual Environments

Mike Hobbs(5) Cloud Based Content Control for Virtual Worlds

Marc Conrad(25) Leaving the Lindens: Teaching in Virtual Worlds of Other Providers

Parallel Session J

Chair: David Burden

Meeting Room 8, 1st Floor, Perry E Building

Georgina Holden, Nicole Schadewitz, Katerina Alexiou, Theodore Zamenopoulos and Steven Garner

(33) Learning the Language of Design in SecondLife

Alan Miller(32) Virtual Worlds as a Platform for 3D Application Development

Carina Girvan and Timothy Savage

(8) Conducting Interviews in Virtual Worlds

12:15 – 13:15 Symposia

Parallel Session K

SymposiumRobert Hooke Seminar Room, Ground Floor

Jane Chandler and Timothy Collinson

Symposium

(29) Will Virtual Worlds Replace the WWW with a Virtual World Web?



Time Session Venue


9:15 – 10:45 Chaired Debate Berrill Lecture Theatre



Parallel Session IRobert Hooke Seminar Room

Parallel Session J Meeting Room 8

12:15 – 13:15 Symposia

Parallel Session KRobert Hooke Seminar Room

Parallel Session L Meeting Room 8

13:15 – 14:15 Lunch Berrill Café


Parallel Session MRobert Hooke Seminar Room

Parallel Session N Meeting Room 8


15:45 – 16:45 Closing Keynote Presentation – Andy Piper

Berrill Lecture Theatre

16:45 Close


Time Session Venue

9:00 – 10:00 Registration and coffee Bay Reception

10:00– 10:15 Welcome Address Hub Lecture Theatre

10:15 -11:15Opening Keynote Presentation –

Robin WightHub Lecture Theatre

11:15 – 11:30 Coffee to go CMR Foyer

11:30– 12:30 Short Paper Parallel Sessions

Parallel Session A CMR 11

Parallel Session B CMR 15

12:30 – 13:30 Lunch & Poster Display Hub Lecture Theatre


Parallel Session C CMR 11

Parallel Session D CMR 15


Parallel Session E CMR 11

Parallel Session F CMR 15



Parallel Session GLibrary Seminar Rooms 1-2

Parallel Session H Meeting Room 8

17:00 – 18:00 Drinks reception and Best Paper Awards Berrill Café

18:00 Recommendations for dinner available from the helpdesk during the conference

Programmeataglance

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Campusmap

Hammerwood GateParking

EastParking

EastParking

ChurchParking

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Pond

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GardinerB uilding 2

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S t Michael’sChurch

R obert Hooke

Alan Turing

S ecurityLodge

GoodsR eceivingTerminal

Rgni

Road No tr h Rgni

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S t Michael’s Drive

S portsPa vilion

Hotel

Michael Y oung Building

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R ing R oad West

East Walkway

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B err ill Lectur eTheatr e

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East Lane

George AbellObservatory

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Hub Hub Hub Theatre

Hammerwood Gate

UniversityR oundabout

Groveway H9 Groveway H9

Informationpoint

Parking Disabledparking

Bus s top

Bicycleparking

Catering S port sPavilion

Church

Gate

S tairs

Dog Run

Building entrance

Central walkway Main access routes

Footpath

Campus car park access road

Ring road & external main road

Walton Hall CampusVisitor Guide

Joe ClinchBuilding

Frank Henshaw Building

Philip SullyBuilding

Librarycarpark

South Lodge

East Campus

Bric

khill

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eet V

10

Betty Boothroyd Library

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Hub Lecture Theatre and Bay Reception

1

Christodoulou Meeting Rooms (CMR11 and 15)

2

Robert Hooke Seminar Room 3

Meeting Room 8 Enter via Berrill Foyer, follow signs for eSTEeM

4

Berrill Lecture Theatre, Foyer and Café Enter via Berrill Café/Reception area

5

Library Seminar Rooms 1-2 6

Recommended parking: East Overspill Parking

7

Recommended parking: South West Parking

8

Recommended parking: Church Parking

9

Hilton Hotel 10

Kents Hill Park Training and Conference Centre

11

Refreshments R

Designated smoking areas S

Bus stop B

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