There’s A Lot Of 3d Thinking Going On Down There: educational design and adoption in virtual worlds

Tim Savage – MetaMeets 2010

The Emperors new clothes?

• So again I put the question out to Second Life-based educators reading this blog: When will we start to see rigorous efficacy studies around educational projects in SL?– New World Notes – Wagner James Au

• Most prior research has looked at gross level, short term effects. We are interested in measuring the effects of methods using [virtual environments] as compared to [non-virtual environments]– Office of the Director of National Intelligence

Where are we now?

Educator Adoption•Replication of existing practice•Small learning gain•Productivity gains

Educational Innovation•Creation of innovative practice•Significant & demonstrable learning gain

Diffusion of Innovation - Rogers

Early Adopters

Forgiving of the technology

Motivated

Open to change, but still carefulOpinion leaders

We need:•Evidence•Process to move forward

Early Majority

Less forgiving of the technology

Interested

Open to change, but cautious

Will seek out the early adopters

Authentic practice examples

Why Replicate?

Relevance Perceived usefulness

Acceptance and adoption

Examining technology acceptance by school teachers: a longitudinal studyPaul Jen-Hwa Hu, Theodore H. K. Clark and Will W. Mab, 2004

Initial acceptanceColleagues perceptions

Educator Technology Adoption

Creativity, Practice Experience

Innovation

Educational Innovation

Educational Innovation

Educational Innovation

Educational Innovation

Model of Innovation

Identification of a pedagogy

Design learning experience

Implementation

Analysis

• Evaluation

- Learning experience

- Pedagogy in action

Affordances

The Need for Balance

ReplicationAdoption

InnovationLearning Gain

Credits and References

• Hilary Mc Loughlin – Research Fellow, TCD• Carina Girvan – IRCSET PhD Scholar TCD• Lecturers and students at TCD who participated

in our experiences

• Carina Girvan, Timothy Savage, Identifying an appropriate pedagogy for virtual worlds: A Communal Constructivism case study, Computers and Education, 55, (1), 2010, p342 - 349