I have now completed all parts of Assignment 3, including:
It has been a great learning experience and opened my eyes to a different aspect of e-Learning and Organisational Learning.
The total time I spent in 2nd Life was 6 hours. This included:
Below are my screencaps (click the link to view the image):
1. The first message you get when entering 2nd Life for the first time:
http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/8630/94404485hs6.jpg
2. Me after exploring both Help and Orientation Islands:
http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/7362/10201800rp5.jpg
3. Observing one of the slides on a Help Island presentation:
http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/7677/92245246ox5.jpg
4. The billboard which offered a directory of educational resources:
http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/5172/67043978cm5.jpg
5. Me at Edu-Nation, an island specialising in educational resources:
http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/9474/88897074iy2.jpg
6. One of my searches relating to education:
This post relates to my overview of educational resources available in 2nd Life.
As mentioned, on Help Island you are provided with a helpful directory of educational resources.
In addition, the Search tool proves eternally helpful in locating educationally related areas of 2nd Life. I searched for things like “seminar”, which brought up a multitude of places and events to teleport to.
I also searched for educational facilities, and found places such as “Edu-Nation”, an island full of resources for educators and learners within 2nd Life. Exploring islands like these is time consuming but useful and began to show me that 2nd Life does have some great purposes if used professionally.
There were some other key educational search result areas which proved interesting, such as a place to teleport to which contains information and training on 2nd Life Corporate Orientation. There are also institutions and people willing to pay in the 2nd Life currency for course developers in 2nd Life and content providers. “Training Camps” and other island of similar nature were also interesting to observe.
Companies such as IBM and ING also integrated 2nd Life technologies into their training, which was interesting.
Time spent exploring educational searches within 2nd Life - 1 hour (6 hours total in 2nd Life)
This post relates to Help Island, the third step in exploring and learning how to use 2nd Life, which I completed yesterday (21st October).
After finally figuring out how to teleport out of Orientation Island, I was taken to the next place, “Help Island” (HI). HI is a user directed island, differing from OI because all learning here is self directed and created based on the specific things you want to achieve and learn about 2nd Life as opposed to the requirement to complete specific tasks.
For me, HI provided me with the means to learn further about navigation, educational purposes, and avatar individualisation. HI included an area of slideshows which were helpful, clear and concise. It was very easy to view these slides and learn from them. I liked that the slide order was self directed and that the text was large, bold and readable.
Avatar individualisation was complicated. This involved utilising your “inventory” to select the specific clothes of your avatar, along with specs around hair, body, colour, eyes, etc. Instructions and guidelines around this step were extremely vague which meant a lot of time was wasted simply trying to figure out how to do this. And even once I did work out how to change the appearance, specifics were also confusing and at times impossible in terms of adding things and in terms of viewing.
The inventory is a bit more clear. You basically utilise the search bar to find different things (eg. searching for “hair” brings up different hair styles you can add to your avatar). I liked the accessibility and drop-down menus in the inventory.
Buying things was a bit complicated, but once mastering of the inventory was complete, this was much easier. I had to figure out that clicking on an object you are buying brought more options, and once you actually bought it, using it required searching your Inventory and then applying.
Talking to other people is relatively easy, similar to chatting on something like MSN.
Something which was incredibly useful was a directory that Help Island offered. A billboard was displayed on the island telling me that if I wanted a directory of educational islands/facilities, click on the billboard. Upon doing this a dialogue box opened, containing a range of frequently updated links to educational facilities within 2nd Life. This is a portal in itself to expand my learning and knowledge within the virtual world of 2nd Life, and I was impressed to see that this billboard was viewable to all on Help Island, because it means that many users who hadn’t necessarily signed up for educational purposes had a new option and idea of using 2nd Life.
Teleporting was again confusing, and I had to figure out for myself that leaving help island stemmed from using the search facility to find a place or event and then subsequently teleporting there.
In total, I spent just over 2 hours in Help Island learning more about 2nd Life and navigating.
My total time in 2nd Life at this point was 5 hours.
This posts relates to Assignment 3 on 2nd Life.
After initial setup (see previous post) I commenced my exploration and learning around 2nd Life over the next few days. The first place I was taken to when I logged in on the 2nd Life program was “Orientation Island” (OI).
OI is a place where all new users of 2nd Life are taken when they first log in. Here, users must complete various mandatory tasks in order to learn how to use all basic features of 2nd Life and their avatar. I feel this is essential, and this is a great idea, however instructions were very bombarding, confusing and unorganised in my opinion.
Learning how to walk, chat, speak, fly, search, use the map, buy items, drive vehicles, and teleport were all aspects of OI. These were organised into four different categories. Each task involved following instructions which would flash onto the screen, however I found achieving satisfactory understanding of the above-mentioned actions difficult because clarity around when you had actually mastered a skill was vague. This was especially evident in skills like buying things, driving, flying and searching properties.
The most difficult and time-consuming task, however, was definitely leaving OI via teleportation. Teleporting is initially very difficult and very unclear. There were so many other users on OI who I chatted with, who also had no idea how to “escape OI”, as many stated. It was only in collaboration with two other users that I actually worked out how to leave OI once all skills were learned, which I feel should be much more clear.
Overall, I believe the idea of having OI is excellent, and definitely required, as it provides first hand practical learning which no instruction manual could give you. My criticism is focused on the user-friendliness of OI and the difficulty that I, along with many other avatars, had in navigating, learning and leaving OI.
The next place that I was teleported to upon completion and leaving OI was Help Island….
Total time spent in OI learning and working out how to navigate and leave - 2 hours.
This post is to reflect on my initial setup of 2nd Life for Assignment 3.
On Thursday 18th October I commenced this assignment by setting up 2nd Life on my computer. This was relatively easy. The main page (www.secondlife.com) was clear in terms of where to go to set up a free account. After entering various basic details, I created my avatar (this was before installing the program). This involved developing a name for the avatar based on available selections (mine ended up being called Caesar Rowlands), as well as selecting a basic look from approx. 5 different models for both male and female (some were goth, some were regular, some were “sexy” club looks, etc).
Once I set up my avatar and created my free account (there was the option for paying for premium services) , email verification was sent. Once I verified, the next step was also very clear and easy to do. This involved actually installing the 2nd Life program onto my PC. It was basically the same as installing any other program so for me it was easy, whereas for less computer-savvy users it may be a bit more complicated.
Following the installation and avatar/account creation, the initial setup was basically done. I reset my computer as instructed, and opened the 2nd Life program once my computer had rebooted. Then it was simply a matter of entering my avatar’s name (Caesar Rowlands) and the password I selected in account creation, and then I entered this virtual world….
Overall, total initial setup for 2nd Life - inclusive of avatar, account and program creation/installation - took me about 1 hour.
For Assignment 3, I have decided to do 2nd Life. The reasoning is because of my skeptical stance and also interest in learning more about this technology following classroom discussions and the lecture and demo we had in class last week. 2nd Life does have great potential from an organisational perspective, and this is what I will obviously focus on in this assignment (because from a personal perspective I do not really agree with the motives of 2nd Life as reflected in various past posts on this blog).
Instead of participating in a course, I will set up an avatar in 2nd Life as well as install the program, explore the world, and comment/reflect on my experiences of setting up and exploring this virtual world.
Thus, the next few posts I make will be related to this assignment and my exploration of 2nd Life.
My objectives in participating in 2nd Life are:
My expectations through exploring 2nd Life are:
Assignment 3: Short e-Learning courseDue: Friday 2 November, 2007 Weighting: 30% for Pass gradeTask:• Search for and select an appropriate short online course
(Suggestions will be provided, but students are not limited to these courses)• Complete the short course – the nominal length of the course should be no longer than 4 hours• Throughout the above process, regular postings on the weblog will report on the learning experiences, including a final reflection of the learning experience.
Additional weighting 21%: Students wishing to achieve higher grades will review the short course and compare the experience to their current workplace context, including recommendations for improvement or adaptation.This review is to be placed on a separate page on the student’s blog and will need to include correct referencing formats.
Today at work my department was discussing utilising iPod’s as incentives in our firm. Currently, departments within my company (including Marketing, Innovations, Sustainability, etc) give away iPod’s as rewards for participation in various activities and incentives, as well as gifts for long service anniversaries and at conferences and seminars.
I believe that utilising iPod’s as incentives for employees is an excellent idea and I believe it engages generation Y employees specifically, and gives the outlook that the firm is up-to-date with modern technologies.
I also believe there is HUGE potential to include e-Learning in this incentive of giving away iPod’s…
By collaborating with L&D (for content), IT (for technological suggestions and support), Legal (for implications and privacy issues) and possibly external providers, I think that an excellent future idea for my firm and other firms is to program the iPod’s given out as prizes and rewards to include company-related e-Learning materials such as podcasts of courses, training materials, images and general firm inductions. These materials could be tailored to the specific department the employee works in, or the specific reason for the iPod being rewarded.
This poses many technological issues which would have to be overcome, which is where IT and possible external providers would come into play. By smoothing out all the issues from the onset, implementing a project like this would be much more efficient and easy.
The outcome has massive potential for L&D and general firm, as well as for the employees and for engagement. It would require a lot of ground work, however the results would be worth it.
Yesterday we had a guest lecturer come in and present the concept of Virtual Worlds (specifically 2nd Life). I have posted on this before with my ideas and skepticism around the concept of Virtual Worlds. After yesterday’s lecture, I most definitely have a much more clear understanding of exactly what is involved and what capabilities and prospects 2nd Life has. Ultimately though, my thought process and conclusions remain the same.
As a tool for Organisational Development and L&D, I do see 2nd Life as having huge potential of unlocking territories previously uncharted. As the technology advances this will be more feasible. The primary factor I believe is extremely useful is the idea that users could be anywhere in the real world and still have a sense of greater connectivity and interaction as they coexist in the setting of 2nd Life. Conferences, seminars, focus groups, training, induction, and even job interviews were mentioned as uses for 2nd Life in a professional capacity.
Companies like Westpac and IBM currently utilise 2nd Life for their conferences, programs and inductions. Personally I very much disagree with a strictly Virtual based induction or training program, or conference. Having worked for the past 3 years in the corporate sector, professionally the benefits of face-to-face contact are invaluable. Business is all about networking, and especially in HR it is about people. While 2nd Life may obstruct certain locational barriers, it also restricts your ability to network with colleagues in the real world which can be very career limiting and also limiting and restrictive to the development of certain business and professional social skills which young adults must learn to demonstrate once they enter the workforce.
Using 2nd Life as a recruitment tool is also dangerous, as people may give off a totally difference impression through their “avatar” than they do in person. Granted, even in real life job interviews you can never fully gauge how a potential candidate would turn out, however attempting to judge this through a virtual world would be even harder.
I believe companies utilising 2nd Life and spending thousands of dollars on it are incredibly smart, as the popularity of this new frontier is undeniable and therefore capitalising on that is good business. Corporations will probably end up gaining the most out of virtual worlds in my opinion.
At the end of the day, while I am skeptical of 2nd Life and won’t join until I have to or have an interest in doing so from a research perspective, I do see the benefits in this Virtual World from an L&D and general learning perspective, however I strongly feel that people must understand the importance of a balance between a virtual world and the real world, which is the one we actually live in.
1. What do you already know about your preferred learning styles?
Currently, I have undertaken several preference and learning tests, such as the Meyers Briggs Type Indicator test among others. I know that I like to be autonomous in many instances, for things to be very orderly, that I have a preference for information based on fact and clarity, that I am extremely details focused, and that techniques like memorising and listing/note taking work well with me.
2. What influence will your preferred learning styles have on your e-Learning experiences?
I believe my preferred learning styles will correlate well with certain aspects of e-Learning. E-Learning allows the learner to move at their own pace, which would work perfectly with me. It also would have a lot of visual and text-based content that is tangible (ie. I can see and read it, and learn it), as opposed to large amounts of philosophical theory which is more ambiguous. I would also be able to go over materials multiple times whenever I desire which matches well with my preferences.
3. VARK QUESTIONNAIRE - done. Result - Mild Read/Write Preference.
After Vark question: explain how your preferred learning style might be reflected in the layout of your weblog, your approach to learning and what influence it will have on the short course you have selected!
Not surprisingly, I have a mild read/write preference, which means that handouts, lists, memorising, note taking, and being very organised are traits which appeal to me. My read/write preference is reflected in my Weblog. My posts are usually in a structured, orderly fashion with clearly defined headings and answers organised under bolded and numbered questions/headings. I also often post many posts in one sitting/a shorter span of time, as I enjoy working autonomously and judging when I can schedule in the adequate time to do my work in the way it deserves.
My approach to learning is much the same, as I have detailed in the above questions. I work best in an environment where I can organise my own work, and also where there are facts and information to clearly learn and memorise. I prefer handouts, details, lists, notes and evidence as opposed of philosophical theories and ad-hoc learning.
The influence this will likely have on the short course I select will be that I will be selecting a course which involves learning something practical, based on fact or detail. An orderly course where the objectives and outcomes are clearly defined and the means to reach those goals are challenging but attainable.
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