immersive language pilot project
DESCRIPTION
The immersive language pilot project on Second Life was initiated in 2012 and involved the use of Second Life for 3 language programmes taught at Victoria University of Wellington’s School of Language and Cultures. The intend of this project is – to provide opportunities to interact naturally with native speakers, – to enhance students’ cultural awareness by exploring various sims (RL and fantasy), – to (informally) measure students oral and written input and output compared to what they get in class – to gauge their level of engagement and motivation when immersed in a 3D virtual environment. Following the success of the project, lecturers have expressed their interest in continuing the project in the second trimester of 2013 and is currently in the planning phase. This presentation is a report of findings collated in the first stage of the project: this includes students and tutors impressions on their experience throughout the trimester and recommendations for implementation of such project in a university environment.TRANSCRIPT
ROMANCE LANGUAGES PILOT PROJECTSecond Life: The next best thing to being there?
BIOS AND SL BACKGROUND
Edith Paillat aka Cyber Placebo Language Technology Specialist @ Victoria
University Supports teaching @ learning 12 languages Interests: CoPs & SLA, Immersive environments
and situated learning, experiential approach with technology
Betsy Quero aka Inspira Alijunaiki Teacher of English and Spanish FL over 15 years PhD candidate and Spanish tutor @ Victoria
University Interests: learner autonomy, language learning
strategies, ESP vocabulary testing, ICT in SLA
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND:SITUATED LEARNING
“To provide a social and contextualised environment where learning is viewedas a social process and whereby knowledgeis co-constructed”.
(Wenger and Lave, 1991) and (Herrington and Oliver, 1995)
Virtual Spain, getting started El Instituto Español con Wara
Ysabel
SITUATED LEARNING 2
To bridge the gap between the theoretical learning (formal instruction of the classroom) and the real-life application of knowledge in the work environment
Catedral de Guadalajara @ Opera Joven
El dia de los Muertos @ SLVM
EXPERIENTIAL APPROACH Combined with the Experiential approach (Kolb, 1984)
where students would not only “do” and “feel” but reflect and conceptualise their experience to maximise their level of participation in consecutive sessions
Oral presentation for the French cohort 20% final mark
Poems & Visual Arts on Moya Island
Dancing at the Moulin Rouge
PILOT PROJECT BACKGROUND Project background - trim 1 2012 - French only - 3
students Grant for trim 2 Extended to Spanish level A2 and Italian Level A1 Funding for 5 graphic cards and tutor training One tutor per language, no SL experience One month preparation time and equipment Over 10 weeks, 1h1/2 per session, early morning In the lab (some from home) Average time 2 hours preparation
Instruction design principles
Following Herrington and Oliver, 1995 Authentic context Authentic activities Multiple roles and perspectives Coaching and scaffolding at critical times Expert Performance, modelling
Dancing “Thriller” on a haunted sim
Ordering Pizzaon Solaria
Buying food in Arcachon
Visiting a 3rd Art gallery at LEA
Italians and their pets on the Piazza San Marco
Venezia Visit on a Gondola
Exploring Art on Torley Island
Philosophy at the Roman latrines
Discussion at the Moulin Rouge
Driving a French 2CV
QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS?
In the text chat:
Would you consider learning a language in-world?
Would you consider teaching in-world? Tell us if you have any experience
RECOMMENDATIONS Implementation Phase ITS support (firewall ports, hardware and broadband issues) Department support, VWs design take a lot of preparation Inform and prepare your students well Inform and prepare your guest speakers well
In-world Plan at least two training sessions (interface, camera,
avatar, etc..) Know the environment(s) well to coach students well Get them to explore with a mission (short instructions) Get them to interact with people you trust Don’t lose contact with them – group management Multi-task as the leader look & act & deliver & think ahead Have a plan B and plan C
Explorations More thematic treasure hunts Broader than simply linguistic and cultural
targets Improvisation versus controlled
Train guest speakers – less guest speakers talking time / silences / questions Not at every session
Give time for contemplation then reflection Ice breaker recap / mid- / end of session
Propose project early stage Digital storytelling in a selected setting Machinima as final outcome?
WHAT NEXT: TRIM2 2013
Really difficult when you are not tech savvy. Sometimes things happened to environment that you can’t change back then you miss the whole conversation because you try to fix it” - French B1
STUDENTS IMPRESSIONS
This is just a question of taste, but I dislike the realism of the sims because the illusion is inevitably shattered by the unrealistic behaviour of the environment, objects,” - French B1
There was a feeling of natural (even though it’s virtual!) and authentic communication (did not feel forced to participate) – Spanish B1 “I liked having the other native
speakers there, the only thing I didn't enjoy was having second life classes on things we hadn't gone over in class” – Italian A1
INSTRUCTORS’ IMPRESSIONS
Together with the quality of selected guests, the variety of tools at disposition and the spontaneous involvement from students, I find the sessions to have efficiently led the group to reach the courses goals and achievements. Students have appropriately
practised their listening skills and developed adequate strategies of comprehension (using virtual contextual elements)
Being a total beginner implied for me to go through a process of initiation, which I must say was “smooth” and intuitive.
Despite a certain “reluctance” inspired by a background of more ‘classical academic approaches,”.
Contact us: [email protected] [email protected] http://languagepioneers.pbworks.com http://flickr.com/cyberplacebo
MERCI! GRAZIE! GRACIAS!
Herrington, J. and Oliver, R. (1995) Critical Characteristics of Situated Learning: Implications for the Instruction Design of Multimedia. ASCILITE 1995 [online]
Kohonen, V. 2000. Learning to learn through reflection – an experiential learning perspective [online]
Kolb, D. 1984. Experiential learning. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Whang F., Bruton J.K., Fall J. (2012) A three-step Model for Designing Initial Second Life_Based Foreign Language Learning Activities, MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching Vol.8, N0.4 December 2012 [online]
REFERENCES