Dear Leopold, 

We integrated SecondLife for blended and online learning for adults in higher education. However, some people did struggle with the application itself. Yet once past figuring out how to use the program, it appeared to allow for a much deeper level of participation. 

Many thanks! Your answer begs further questions:

Was the English user interface an issue? Were the participants in further education (in the sense of lifelong learning)?

I came across a developer who had created a world in SL that allowed interaction with the human heart very interesting but his project stalled due to funding? Concept was spot on though. 

Thanks a lot, Paul . We are talking of a steep learning curve, I guess, therefore not really for the casual user.

I think it would be difficult to do this effectively in SL for accounting and business. My research in SL showed a whole range of topics being taught there from astronomy (avatars flying together around the universe) to health and safety (avatars investigating an accident scene). But where large amounts of 2d data are required you end up installing displays that link to the outside world, so perhaps for accounting and statistics it doesn't give you a real advantage.  Although for business skills you could create a learning space where students had to create and run an enterprise as part of a course......

Many thanks, Ahmad. Business skills may indeed be a potential candidate.

Dear Leopold,

I have made an extensive work in this topic. Please take a look in my profile to find some interesting articles. I would like also to suggest some of the important:

1. Pellas, N. (2014). The influence of computer self-efficacy, meta-cognitive self-regulation and self-esteem on student engagement in online learning programs: Evidence from the virtual world of Second Life. Computers in Human Behavior, 35(1), 157-170.

2. Pellas, N. & Kazanidis, I. (2014). Online and hybrid university-level courses with the utilization of Second Life: Investigating the factors that predict student choice in Second Life supported online and hybrid university-level courses. Computers in Human Behavior, 40(2), 31-43.

3. Pellas, N. & Peroutseas, E. (2016). Gaming in Second Life via Scratch4SL: Engaging high school students in programming courses. Journal of Educational Computing Research. DOI: 10.1177/0735633115612785.

4. Pellas, N. & Kazanidis, I. (2013). On the value of Second Life for students’ engagement in blended and online courses: A comparative study from the Higher Education in Greece. Education and Information Technologies. DOI: 10.1007/s10639-013-9294-4

Do not hesitate to conduct with me if you need further information. 

Kind regards

NP

Very many thanks, Nikolaos, for this valuable input. I shall go through your literature and will definitely contact you should the need for more information arise.

Hi!

I thought, in 2007 and 2008, that Second Life was a nice platform for learning applications in biohydrometallurgy (the use of bacteria in metallurgical processes) which I worked with in a huge EU FP6 project. Two separate factories for bioleaching metal extraction were built, with information signs and simulation possibilities. http://wiki.biomine.skelleftea.se/wiki/index.php/Learning_object:3D_models_of_bioleaching_plants_on_LTU_island_in_Second_Life 

And it was nice for the time being, but coming into the application itself took too much time and effort for students. And after the project was over, the university did not want to pay for the island any longer....and since then I think the special university price for land in Second Life has been removed. So today I regard in practice Second Life useless for teaching and learning purposes. Much more useful was our huge wiki on the subject, BioMineWiki http://wiki.biomine.skelleftea.se/wiki/index.php/Main_Page and our documentary film in HD ("Invisible Miners" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCzDIv38qAA )  and other Open Educational Resources. The Second Life thing was not worth it, in retrospect. 

And one more aspect. the name "Second Life" reflects a vanishing and primitive view on ICTs role in our lives. ICTs are now integrating into our normal everyday life, not mainly enabling some kind of shadow existence in a separate digital world. A transient phenomenon I think.

Hi everyone.

I would also like to inform for my articles that will be published later this month. You can find a draft of it in my profile. This is: Pellas, N., Konstantinou, N., Kazanidis, I. & Georgiou, G. (2016). Exploring the educational potential of three-dimensional multi-user virtual worlds for STEM education: A mixed-method systematic literature review. Education & Information Technologies. DOI: 10.1007/s10639-016-9537-2

Kind regards,

NP

Very good points, Anders, and many thanks for the links.

@Nikolaos: I will definitely look at your mixed-method approach.

Avatar-mediated learning and the identity formation is a very topic interesting to me. I have conducted research about people suffering from communication disabilities interacting and communicating though their avatar in SL. Despite the steep learning curve, they were active and motivated to train communication in the virtual world. I have linked to my Ph.D Renegotiation of self after a brain injury using immersive virtual environments

http://www.kommunikation.aau.dk/nyheder/Nyhed/phd-thesis-by-ulla-konnerup--renegotiation-of-self-after-a-brain-injury-using-immersive-virtual-environments.-.cid197738

Hi Leopold, there are many issues regarding the use of SL for education.There are millions of users of this paltform and thousands of universities but the reason  of why it seems not to be alive is rhe cost,Designing,buliding scenarios there and paying for the virtual space is expensive.Besides this, you will need an administrator for the campus(isle,land, etc).There is also something negative in some of the ways it has been used: teachers try to replicate the same methodology or same pedagogical strategies they use in face to face and real world education.What SL offers to teaching and learning is completely extraordinary.

What universites do is to develop collaborative work  and joint  work with other institutions which possess land in SL.

I have conducted research about virtual scenarios to foster language skills in monolingual students in onineeducation  using  SL, on buliding virtual communities of practice  in SL , and developing intercultural competencies using virtual worlds.Those practices were recent and really successful  as they could engage students in the learning process.

You can read about some of my work at:  http://edicionesean.ean.edu.co/index.php/revistas/digitales/virtualmente/23-publicaciones/334-virtu-lmente-volumen-1-numero-2-julio-diciembre-de-2013  pg.4-14.

If you need or want to contact an expert who can direct your work regarding accounting and business etc, just let me know.Evreything can be possible in a virtual world, all depends on the teaching-lerning startegy you propose.For your field, I am sure you willbeable to develop many of those based on cognitive processess and games.

Best regards

MAARTHA MENDEZ

Good luck, 2L was the tech de jure last century....   LOL  

With increased attention to online accessibility in the US by both Dept of Justice and Office for Civil Rights it's been more important here to note that there  were significant problems in 2L meeting the US accessibility requirements for people with disabilities.  

@ Ulla: very many thanks, Ulla, you work is highly interesting. A first question: can you give me an idea of the total cost / time spent on designed the virtual environments? Do you think Marta's comments (below) regarding cost / admin is justified?

@Martha: very many thanks, a very useful contribution. Do you have your work available in English, possibly as summary? I am vey interested.

@Raymond: do you think the problems you mention are inherent to Second Life or due to poor virtual environment design?

The accessibility problems with 2L were part of the basic design.  As 2L was fading from consciousness, a couple of organizations had started to design ways to improve access, but I stopped following the action when it became clear that 2L was past prime.

I tend to agree with you, Raymond.

However, there seem to be recent positive experiences with 2L. Also, I don't know of any alternatives and it does seem to be based on an exciting and novel idea.

@Leopold - In my case, I followed a project conducted and administrated by The institute of Speech. Language and Brain Disorders. It was a running project and the methodology and pedagogy was not a replicate of usual speech rehabilitation – on the contrary, it was a project focusing on identity formation and language construction related to avatar-mediated social interactions and communication.

According the cost – I have sent an email to the Institute of Speech, Language and Brain Disorders to have the precise costs. I will be back

I am looking forward, Ulla, many thanks in advance!

Check out Saadia A Khan's work at Columbia Teachers College. I heard her give a presentation at the International Immersive Education Summit in L.A. in 2014 and her work on education in Second Life is very impressive.

http://www.antiguahistory.net/ilt/about/people/saadia-khan/

Also, there's a book "Higher Education in Virtual Worlds: Teaching and Learning in Second Life" by by Gavin Dudeney, Charles Wankel. I think it came out in 2009.

Second Life is not dead and still has a very large population. However, I do not see it as a viable platform for teaching accounting.

Hi there... I did some work just on the Second Life momentum (around 2008) on its possibilities for education and social participation:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/297704315_Second_Life_and_Education_Possibilities_and_Limitations_of_Proprietary_Virtual_Worlds

Even at that moment I could see that some of its intrinsic characeteristics (name it land, money and private property) just didn't make it the best choice for these fields. Still I think virtual worlds have a lot to say on many related areas such as training and simulation.

Best!

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Conference Paper Second Life and Education: Possibilities and Limitations of ...

Many thanks for your contributions, Theresa and Jorge!

You don't have to buy or rent a whole island in Second Life. You can rent office space in someone's building.

Also, check out Open Sim which is the free open source version of Second Life. You can use the Firestorm Phoenix viewer in both Second Life and Open Sim.

I used Second Life as a student a few years ago and hated it. The cognitive load demands of navigating the environment were too high. My classmates and I spent the majority of our time trying to figure out Second Life that we barely touched on the actual content that we were supposed to be learning.

Thank you very much Whitney for this contribution. I fear the same is true for me, and I am glad I am getting not only pro-voices.