Conversations about Emerging Learning Environments

That was the question we started asking last week when we met with Liz Wendland and Peter Moore, two developers of Croquet, a 3D immersive environment just starting to find a place at the University of Minnesota.

We had lots of BIG questions that we started to delve into, but we also had the opportunity to see Croquet in action and brainstorm some uses for it and other 3D immersive environments in teaching and learning.

First, the BIG questions around to 3D, or not to 3D:

1) What is gained from teaching and learning in these environments? (We like to think positively, you see.)

2) Are the effects on student learning outcomes significant enough to focus on development within these environments and the time needed to do so? (We are also realistic.)

And more broadly,

3) How can these environments be used and how are they being used for educational purposes?

Some reasons to use an environment like Second Life or Croquet we discussed were:

1) To collaborate in real time and create things together;

2) As a compelling space to run simulations; and

3) So remote learners can work in a single space to see and hear each other.

Sounds good. But the consensus was that second BIG question I listed above. Is it worth it for the time required to figure it all out?

We talked specifically about Second Life, perhaps the most widely known 3D immersive environment used in education. I talked about my own experience of finding out about Second Life, being really energized by the possibilities, downloading it, creating my avatar, walking in the door of Second Life, and then having the phone ring in this life which took me back out and since then, not having any time to really get in and explore.

Croquet is seen as a possible solution for faculty and instructors, as it is Open Source; it runs on individual machines; and there are developers who (if you have the money to hire them) can create the spaces for you. Croquet has been used at the University of Minnesota by a doctoral student, Julie Sykes, to create Croquelandia, a simulation space to teach pragmatics of the Spanish language. See the YouTube video here. I have sent an inquiry to Julie, now Dr. Julie Sykes, to see if we can read her resultant dissertation and find out what she learned.

That small exposure to Croquelandia in action got us thinking about using 3D immersive environments for role play, to scaffold course content, to have students practice skills they need to develop before they go out into the real world, as pre-study abroad to understand a language and a culture, and to simulate experiences for students in education, medicine, and other service professions.

What we’d like to know is how any of you out there are using 3D immersive environments for teaching and learning. What was your process in deciding “To 3D�? What do we need to know if we also decide “To 3D�?

Posted by Amy Garrett Dikkers at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Who are the UMN DMC Faculty Fellows?
The University of Minnesota Office of Information Technology's Digital Media Center (DMC) Faculty Fellowship Program annually selects a group of Twin Cities campus instructors to work on projects that employ technologies in order to enhance student learning. The 2008 - 2009 cohort, representing Public Affairs, Family Social Science, Education, Rhetoric, and Medicine will be working with DMC experts in educational technology, evaluation, and pedagogy over the course of the next 18 months to design and implement projects using emerging learning environments. Most importantly, the cohort will be looking to enhance student learning within these environments.

Why a blog?
Members of the DMC Faculty Fellowship are passionate about enhancing and accelerating student learning and retention. But, we are diverse in our levels of familiarity and experience with, and understanding and (frankly), acceptance of, ever-evolving technologies. As such, this blog started by the 2008 - 2009 cohort will record the thoughts and honest reflections about the opportunities, surprises, and struggles that surface, foreseen and unforeseen, in the process of our learning to use new tools and to employ emerging learning environments...it will reflect our learning from each other, from various University decision-makers, and from local experts in emerging learning environments whom we meet in the course of our Fellowship and as our projects take shape.

The current Fellowship group also has been charged by University of Minnesota Office of Information Technology to contemplate and suggest answers to the question, "What does the University of Minnesota need to do in order to become a leader in emerging learning environments such as mobile technologies, immersive environments (e.g., Croquet and Second Life), and Active Learning Classrooms?" To enrich the conversation, we invite Fellowship alumni, other faculty exploring educational technologies, administrators working to support faculty, etc. to share their observations, comments, insights and experiences.

In that respect, our hope is that this blog resource will be helpful to others who share in the dual passions of enhancing student learning and technology-driven emerging learning environments and that it will have a life beyond the 2008 - 2009 DMC Faculty Fellows.

Posted by Kimerly Wilcox at 11:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)