Second Language E-Learning and Professional Training with Second Life®

Web 2.0 technologies are described as new and emerging for all fields of knowledge, including academia. Innovative e-learning formats like on-demand video, file sharing, blogs, Wikis, podcasting and virtual worlds are gaining increasing popularity among educators and students due to their emphasis on flexible, collaborative and community-building features, a promising natural channel for the social constructivist learning theory. This chapter addresses the application of e-learning in university degree programs based on exploiting the practical, intensive and holistic aspects of Second Life® (SL™). Although the specific framework dealt with is English as a foreign language, it seems feasible to assume that the learning processes are equally transferable to other disciplines. In light of the aforementioned premises, the outlook of e-learning 2.0 approaches require action research and shared experiences in order to back up or challenge the claims and expectations of the academic community concerned with best practices in education.

A Pedagogical Odyssey in Three-Dimensional Virtual Worlds

Schools based in the United States are trapped in a Henry Ford factory model of education that is focused on high-stakes testing. This model was effective when factories needed workers who possessed the same skill set. But the world has changed and societal demands on student learning have increased. Moreover, millions of students are failing to graduate from high school, which is a problem that continues to escalate. In an attempt to prepare students for work in the 21st century and to address the dropout crisis, educators are examining ways to integrate virtual worlds, including digital games, into the curriculum. This chapter begins by summarizing some of the theories that commonly frame the discussions about these worlds. Next an examination of the issues surrounding virtual worlds is presented. The concluding sections outline and describe the pedagogical mnemonic known as the “SECOND LIFE” model.

Web-Based Video for e-Learning

The recent explosive growth of Web-based video has expanded the repository of free content that can be tapped into for e-learning. Millions of video clips are now available online and more are uploaded each day. Since the creation of YouTubeTM in 2005, a video clip phenomenon has swept the Internet. Never before has it been so easy to locate, record, and distribute video online. This opens intriguing possibilities for teaching, learning, and course design for e-learning. This chapter introduces Web-based video as a new form of educational motion picture, delves into technical aspects of Web 2.0 video tools, describes instructional strategies that integrate Web-based video clips in e-learning, and examines barriers that could potentially inhibit its use. Future directions are also discussed.

Podcasting

E-Learning has undergone an amazing metamorphosis: it has changed from the delivery of individualized, static curricular information to the consumption and sharing of social knowledge. While Web 2.0 provides the best tools to achieve this goal, podcasting – as one of the Web 2.0 technologies - is one of the most flexible teaching and learning tool used today. It has been used increasingly in higher educational institutions. This chapter will discuss the uniqueness of podcasting technology in promoting e-learning in following aspects: 1) podcasting addressing the needs of a dynamic e-learning environment, 2) research results indicating the educational efficacy of podcasting in e-learning, and 3) podcasting best practice in e-learning design and delivery.

Empirical Evidence and Practical Cases for Using Virtual Worlds in Educational Contexts

The purpose of this chapter is to offer practical ideas and cases for educational use of the Second Life® virtual world with Web 2.0 based technology. Virtual worlds with Web 2.0 technologies have many methods for testing users’ experiences about and mutual understanding of other people, extending limited human capacities, and improving valuable skills in educational contexts. Through these activities, learners may receive positive feedback and beneficial learning experiences. In this chapter, the authors introduce three cases and provide empirical evidence for effective usage within three educational contexts: 1, offering a field trip in virtual space, 2 switching gender roles in the Second Life® virtual world to understand opposite genders, and 3. Object-making and manipulation activities to improve spatial reasoning.

Using Social Networking to Enhance Sense of Community in E-Learning Courses

This chapter provides an overview and development of sense of community and social networking; discusses the potential uses of social networking in education; and presents a case study that integrates social networking into two graduate courses for the purpose of building a sense of community, improving communications and interactions, and promoting student-centered collaboration. The construction of class social networking sites, the implementation of these networks, and their effects on the students’ learning experience are examined. In addition, an analysis of feedback from students on the value of social networking in learning is included.

Wikibook Transformations and Disruptions

A Wikibook is a transformative and disruptive technology that is finding increasing use in schools and higher education institutions. This new form of technology is inexpensive, accessible, and fairly responsive to the user. When engaged in a Wikibook project in an academic setting, learners are granted power to control the content and process of learning. Wikibooks are part of the Web 2.0 which can provide a powerful force in changing, and improving education. However, the authors’ multiple attempts to build Wikibooks in their own classes reveal that creating a successful Wikibook is not particularly easy. It is even more difficult when it entails more than one institution or class. Cross-institutional and internationally designed Wikibooks present many instructional challenges and dilemmas to learners and instructors. In addition, there are collaboration issues, technology issues, knowledge construction and sense of community issues, and general issues related to the Wikibook technology and the Wikibook design process itself. In response, in this chapter, the authors provide dozens of Wikibook collaboration ideas and suggestions based on our experiences.

Instructional Strategies for Teaching in Synchronous Online Learning Environments (SOLE)

This chapter deals centrally with one emerging aspect of Web 2.0 for education, that of the increasing demand for real time and near real-time interaction among users. Whereas most online learning has, to date, taken place in an asynchronous format, there is a growing need for an ability to provide learning opportunities in a synchronous setting. This chapter discusses synchronous online learning environments (SOLEs) and the affordances they present for teaching and learning. Particularly it focuses on a capability of these environments known as ancillary communications. It discusses ancillary communications as an intentional instructional strategy and presents guidelines for its implementation. And, in the spirit of Web 2.0, this chapter was written using the Web 2.0 application Google Docs.

VISOLE

VISOLE (Virtual Interactive Student-Oriented Learning Environment) is a constructivist pedagogical approach to empower computer game-based learning. This approach encompasses the creation of a near real-life online interactive world modeled upon a set of multi-disciplinary domains, in which each student plays a role in this “virtual world” and shapes its development. All missions, tasks and problems therein are generative and open-ended with neither prescribed strategies nor solutions. With sophisticated multi-player simulation contexts and teacher facilitation (scaffolding and debriefing), VISOLE provides opportunities for students to acquire both subject-specific knowledge and problem-solving skills through their near real-life gaming experience. This chapter aims to delineate the theoretical foundation and pedagogical implementation of VISOLE. Apart from that, the authors also introduce their game-pedagogy co-design strategy adopted in developing the first VISOLE instance—FARMTASIA.

University 2.0

Higher education is changing in important and profound ways. New technologies are enabling universities to reach new students and create innovative learning environments. Technology is also allowing students to interact, collaborate, and create customized learning experiences in ways that were previously impossible. University 2.0 offers amazing potential to fundamentally change the way higher education functions in the future. With this change will come the opportunity to improve educational quality, reach new learners, and create new organizational structures, but there will also be many potential problems. Many of the problems relate to the key issue of maintaining the vital human and social dimension of higher education in a rapidly changing, technology rich environment. This chapter describes many of the potential problems that will accompany university 2.0 and provides a series of recommended actions that university administrators can take to respond to the problems.