8/14/2019 EDUCATING MY AVATAR - VIRTUAL WORLDS IN CHINA
1/16
1
EDUCATING MY AVATAR
LEARNING IN THE WORLD OFSECOND LIFE
The Role of NewTechnologies in Global
SocietiesJuly 30-31, 2008
Hong Kong
2
Abstract Second Life is a virtual world that has grown exponentially since its inception in 2003.Currently over 13 million residents have accounts with Second Life, and more than 500universities are experimenting with, or offering classes in, this new medium. But is it all hypeand vapour, or are virtual worlds a serious tool for teaching and learning, and for other socialor economic activities? Second Life was inspired by Stevensons Snow Crash a futuristicnovel written in 1992 in which the Metaverse takes over from the Internet and imagines howa 3D virtual internet might evolve controlled by avatars that inhabit this virtual world.Second Life is one of over 250 virtual worlds that exist today for children, teens and adults,ranging from Neopets for under 10-year olds with over 45 million registered users, to Habbofor teens, with over 90 million accounts. Estimates (Mitham, 2008) put the total number ofaccounts in fully immersive virtual worlds at more than 238 million, and the phenomena isgrowing so rapidly, that China expects to have 150 million virtual world users by 2010.
How will this affect our use of the Internet, our social interactions, collaboration andcommunication in the future? Will our children grow us as avatars with a human personality,will there be a need for teachers or schools as we know them in the future, will our childrengo to work in a virtual world rather than travel to the office, or is this just another trend orphase that will pass in time? This paper explores the background to virtual worlds, examineshow they are being used in education and business today, and tries to evaluate the potentialand pitfalls for teachers considering entering a virtual world. It looks at examples of howSecond Life has been used in teaching and learning and the potential for educational use andfor developing business and commerce. It also reviews the potential impact of virtual worldsin the Chinese mainland, and looks ahead at the time when every Internet user may have asecond life in a virtual world.
K E Y W OR D S: on l i ne e d uc at i o n, v i r tua l w o r ld s , s e co n d l i fe , s im u l at i on s
8/14/2019 EDUCATING MY AVATAR - VIRTUAL WORLDS IN CHINA
2/16
3
Virtual Worlds Data
362 multi-user online role-playing gameslisted (Wikipedia)
Over US$1.5 Billion spent in VWs in 2007 China expects to have 150 Million VW users
by 2010 (Guardian 2008)
4
Virtual Worlds - DataPopulation of USA
= 304.83 Million(August 08)
Population ofvirtual worldsest. between2601 to 4652
Million withest. 46M active
users.1Mitham, 082Renaud, Oct 07
8/14/2019 EDUCATING MY AVATAR - VIRTUAL WORLDS IN CHINA
3/16
5
Virtual Worlds - Data
Population ofAustralia = 20.4Million (2007)
Population ofCyworld = 21Million (2008)
6
238 Million +
160 Million +
8/14/2019 EDUCATING MY AVATAR - VIRTUAL WORLDS IN CHINA
4/16
7
Impact on Individuals/Society
How will VWs affect our use of the Internet,our social interactions, collaboration andcommunication in the future?
Will our children grow up as avatars?
Will there be a need for teachers or schoolsas we know them in the future?
Will our children go to work in a virtual worldrather than travel to the office?
Is this just another passing fad?
8
Outline of this Exploratory Study Explore the background to virtual worlds.
Examine how they are being used today.
Review how Second Life has been used inteaching and learning.
Consider the potential for education & life.
Project the growth of virtual worlds in the
Chinese mainland. Look ahead to the time when every Internet
user may have a second life in a virtual world.
8/14/2019 EDUCATING MY AVATAR - VIRTUAL WORLDS IN CHINA
5/16
9
What are Virtual Worlds?
From Wikipedia: A computer-based simulatedenvironment intended for its users to inhabit andinteract via avatars. This habitation usually isrepresented in the form of two or three-dimensionalgraphical representations of humanoids (or otheravatars).
Not Simulations Not games Open ended users choose the outcome
and the activity
10
Common Features1. Shared Space: the world allows many users to
participate at once.2. Graphical User Interface: the world depicts
space visually.3. Immediacy: interaction takes place in real time.4. Interactivity: the world allows users to alter,
develop, build, content.5. Persistence: continues regardless of whether
individual users are logged in.6. Socialization/Community: the world allows and
encourages the formation of in-world socialgroups.
8/14/2019 EDUCATING MY AVATAR - VIRTUAL WORLDS IN CHINA
6/16
11
What is Second Life?
Launched in 2003
Created by Linden Research (Labs).
An immersive environment for users toplay and interact in.
The size of a small city, withthousands of servers (simulators)
No of registered islands 21,657 (July)
12
Who is using Second Life? SL has registered population (28 July)
of 14,537,201
Residents from over 100 countrieswith concentrations in North America,Germany and the UK.
Demographically, 60% are men, 40%are women aged from 18 - 85.
8/14/2019 EDUCATING MY AVATAR - VIRTUAL WORLDS IN CHINA
7/16
13
The Basics
Your ownavatar
Create you ownspace or not
Walk, run, flyor teleport
Chat, voice, IMor Skypeothers
14
Who is using SL? 100+ Corporations such as IBM,
Motorola, Armani, Domino Pizza,Mercedes, Reuters, Coca Cola, Nike etc
Embassies, the arts, music, religion
8/14/2019 EDUCATING MY AVATAR - VIRTUAL WORLDS IN CHINA
8/16
15
Educational use of SL
Formal teaching lectures, tutorials, training, presentations,
demonstrations.
Informal education offers moreexploration and creativity student exhibitions, role play, games and
virtual quests (Bleacher & Stockman,
2008).
16
Subject Areas
The most common uses of SecondLife seem to be in: computer studies, science subjects and
humanities (Livingstone & Kemp, 2007),
architectural studies, urban planning,graphic design, anatomy, natural
sciences, law, languages, programming,literature, art and tourism. Dickey(2005)
8/14/2019 EDUCATING MY AVATAR - VIRTUAL WORLDS IN CHINA
9/16
17PolyU Virtual Campus
18152 HK students using SL in 4 classes
8/14/2019 EDUCATING MY AVATAR - VIRTUAL WORLDS IN CHINA
10/16
19
152 HK students usingSL in 4 classes
20
Benefits for Teaching & Learning
Students enjoyed using it
It was an interactive learning experience
It was a positive student learningexperience
It provided a new dimension for my
subject It gave some variety to the subject
8/14/2019 EDUCATING MY AVATAR - VIRTUAL WORLDS IN CHINA
11/16
21
Teaching challenges
Setting up Second Life & Technical issues
Need time to get students familiar with SL
Lack of experience in using Second Life
Not enough time for the session or tutorial
Lack of computing facilities for students.
Often need to rely on technicians.
Some technical problems with voice chat
22
How to improve the use of SL?
Promote to our students Make it default install on all University PCs Include university IT Dept in planning. Video a few online sessions and present the
video to senior management, other staff andstudents to get buy-in.
Continue to let faculty know how it can beused as a teaching tool.
8/14/2019 EDUCATING MY AVATAR - VIRTUAL WORLDS IN CHINA
12/16
23
Other Problems
Technical hurdles graphic cards, speed
Learning curve
User expectations
Crime, sex, money &politics
Most problems in real
world exist in SL!
24
Virtual worlds in China China's Internet population surpassed the US
to become the world's biggest, with 253million people online 56% increase from a
year ago (China Internet NetworkInformation Center, 2008)
The share of the Chinese public using theInternet is still just 19.1 percent, leaving
more room for rapid growth.
8/14/2019 EDUCATING MY AVATAR - VIRTUAL WORLDS IN CHINA
13/16
25
Virtual worlds in China
10 Chinese virtual worldsunder development
HiPiHi largest with48,000 registered users
Others include: UWorld
NovoKing
Jaolan
Shanda
26
Virtual worlds in China UWorld has fewer than
1,000 users.
NovoKing has 10,000registered users
Shanda plans to launchits own version of SecondLife
Yaolan.com, a communitytargeting parents withchildren under 6 orparents-to-be
8/14/2019 EDUCATING MY AVATAR - VIRTUAL WORLDS IN CHINA
14/16
27
Worlds largest Virtual World
China Recreational District - a partnershipbetween private industry & Chinese government
CRDs goal - to create a virtual economyproviding infrastructure and platforms so anybusiness (in China & overseas) - can come in-world & sell their real-world products/services.
200 game and multimedia content producersare currently on site in an 80-square-kilometercomplex still being developed in West Beijing
Between now and the end of 2010, CRD, intendsto bring 150 million middle-class Chinese peopleand companies into their virtual world platform.
28
Future trends Merging of some virtual worlds Take your avatar and teleport between
various virtual worlds Strong case for virtual meetings and
conferences Growing use for in-company
communication & collaboration Increasing use for conducting business Merging of VLE/LMS into VWs
8/14/2019 EDUCATING MY AVATAR - VIRTUAL WORLDS IN CHINA
15/16
29
Convergence of VW & Social
Networking sites Virtual worlds ARE already socialnetworking sites, to some degree;
On social networking sites you playyourself, while in virtual worlds, youplay someone else.
Google launched Lively VW on 8 June08 to lure Facebook/My Space users
Will virtual worlds and social networkingsites combine? (Moore, 2008)
30
Virtual Worlds continue to grow There is an ever
increasing amount ofpeople using virtualworlds at a rate of15% every month anddoes not appear to bestopping or slowing
down anytime soon.(Hof, 2006d; Gartner, 2007
cited by Bray and Konsynski
2007).
8/14/2019 EDUCATING MY AVATAR - VIRTUAL WORLDS IN CHINA
16/16
31
ReferencesBleacher, L, and Stockman, S. (2008). Second Life: A Venue for Informal Education and ParticipatoryExploration. Lunar and Planetary Science XXXIX
Bray, D. A., Konsynski, B. (2008) Virtual Worlds, Virtual Economies, Virtual Institutions. Virtual Worlds andNew Realities Conference at Emory University, February 2008. Retrieved July 22, 2008 f romhttp://ssrn.com/abstract=962501
China Internet Network Information Centre (2008). Statistical Survey Report on the Internet Development inChina. Retrieved July 21, 2008 from http://www.cnnic.cn/uploadfiles/pdf/2008/2/29/104126.pdf
Dickey, M. D. (2005). Three-dimensional virtual worlds and distance learning: two case studies of ActiveWorlds as a medium for distance education. British Journal of Educational Technology 36(3): 439-451.
Keegan. V. (2008). Virtual worlds take over the online world. The Guardian, Thursday July 10 2008,Retrieved July 15, 2008 from http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/jul/10/internet.games
Livingstone, D,, Kemp, J. (2008). Massively Multi-Learner: Recent Advances in 3D Social Environments.Retrieved March 28, 2008 from http://cis.paisley.ac.uk/research/journal/v10n2/LinvingstoneKemp.doc
Mitham, N. (2008). Virtual Worlds by The Numbers: Today and The Future: Virtual Worlds Expo 2008 (NYC)Retrieved April 9, 2008 from http://www.kzero.co.uk/blog/?p=2021#more-2021
Moore. R. (2008). On the Convergence of Virtual Worlds and Social Networking Sites. Retrieved on July 3,2008 from http://terranova.blogs.com/terra_nova/2008/02/on-the-converge.html
Renaud in Virtual Worlds News (2007) Blogging Virtual Worlds Fall: Keynote-Chris Sherman, ReubenSteiger, Christian Renaud. Retrieved July 22, 2008 fromhttp://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2007/10/blogging-virt-5.html#more
Wikipedia (2008) Virtual world. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved July 21, 2008 fromhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_world
32
Contact detailsPaul Penfold,
Educational Development ManagerSchool of Hotel & Tourism ManagementThe Hong Kong Polytechnic University(852) 2766-4092 [email protected]
Skype: paulpenfoldBlog: http://penkyamp.blogspot.com
Wiki: http://shtmteacherswiki.pbwiki.com
The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands, but in seeing with new eyes. - Marcel Proust
Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten. B.F. Skinner
What I hear, I forget. What I see, I remember. What I do, I understand. - Kung Fu Tzu (Confucius)
I never teach my students; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn. - Albert Einstein
Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever. - Gandhi
I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think. - Socrates