Service-Learning Immersion: LIS Students Connect with Professionals in Second Life

Lili Luo

Jeremy Kemp

San José State University

School of Library and information Science

http://tinyurl.com/servlearn

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LIS education in Second Life – benefits of the immersive technology

• Service-learning• Experimenting with pedagogical

approaches• Linking students with the active

professional LIS community in SL• Engaging students in a learning process

working with SL librarians

Service-Learning Immersion

Introduction

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Dewey (1956): active student involvement in learning is an essential element in effective education and learning should move beyond the theory and rhetoric of traditional classrooms to focus more on individual student experiences

Jacoby (1996): service-learning is a form of experiential education in which students engage in activities that address human and community needs together with structured opportunities intentionally designed to promote student learning and development. Reflection and reciprocity are key concepts of service-learning.

Service-Learning Immersion

Pedagogical framework of Service-Learning

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– Concrete experience– Reflection on the experience– Synthesis and abstract conceptualization– Active experimentation

Service-Learning Immersion

Service-Learning Cycle (David Kolb, 1984)

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– Service-Learning is embedded in standard courses– Activities tied to specific learning objectives– Reflected upon through the semester– Enriches student appreciation of course content– A method used most often to teach:

• Reference and collection development• User education• Technology and literacy

Service-Learning Immersion

Service-Learning in LIS education (Mary A. Ball, 2008)

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• Using Multi-User Virtual Environments (SL in particular)

• Conducting information retrieval in 3D• Learning tools for building and scripting• Organizing knowledge in 3D• Gaining familiarity with the literature• Recommending tools and techniques

Service-Learning Immersion

Course: Immersive Worlds Seminar

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New “Virtual Worlds” Trend

The 2D World Wide Web --> a 3D spaces world

Educators, librarians & art community are excited

New types of training tools

Document and Application sharing coming

Forterra Olive Open Croquet Sun Wonderland

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What is Second Life?

Second Life is a 3-D virtual world entirely built and owned by its “residents.”

Opened to the public in 2003

Grown explosively

More than 10 Million “residents” from around the globe.

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• Identify community needs– Gather “clients” from Listserv– Pick projects, create plans

• Complete the project• Reflect with a report, presentation

Service-Learning Immersion

Service-Learning Assignment

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David – “mUdd Zimminy”

Identifying community needs - Video 1

Writing the proposal and timeline - Video 2

Reflections on the project – Video 3

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Evaluation Study

• To gather perceptions of students and clients• Emails through LMS and in SL• Survey #1 – Student perceptions n=11 (of 52)• Survey #2 – Client perceptions n=4 (of 12)

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Student Background and Interests (Survey 1)

Service-Learning Immersion

18-259%

31-3527%

36-4018%

46-5536%

Over 559%

Information technologies

Academic librarianship

Special libraries

Archival studies

Digital preservation

Public librarianship

School librarianship

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Age Interests in LIS specialties

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Client Backgrounds (Surveys 1 + 2)

Accessibility specialist

Educator (Health sciences, LIS, K12)

Island manager

Library (administrator, consultant, Second Life, academic, govt., regional)

Museum exhibit designer

Non-profit projects manager

Other LIS students

Publishing Product Development Manager

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Most liked about the project (Survey 1)

(8) Learning Second Life tools and scripting

(6) Creating things, solving problems, making videos and displays

(4) Contributing something useful, public service, publicity,

(3) Research on a subject of interest

(2) Collaboration and socializing with client, peers and residents

Completing the work on my own

Nothing

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Helped master course objectives (Survey 1)

(5) Meeting people, connecting with outside orgs and being helpful to the community

(3) Learning Second Life skills

(3) Learning through immersion - Like dropping into a foreign country

(3) Not useful and the course objectives were vague

(2) Tied skills together in hands-on exercise to prep for later projects

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Skill level (Surveys 1 + 2)

Students (Survey 1)– 4 Very skilled (SL Scripting, SL building)– 5 Competent or adequate - 6 on a scale of 10– 4 Not at all– 4 Had other skills – Database, writing, research

Clients (Survey 2) – Complete beginner– Basic grasp of the tools/tasks– Intermediate - they needed some assistance– Excellent

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Feedback exchanged (Surveys 1 + 2)

Survey 1

Client to Student

(6) Yes

(3) No

(2) n/a

Student to Client

(3) Yes

(5) No

(3) n/a

Service-Learning Immersion

Survey 2

(4) Yes(0) No

(4) Yes(0) No

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Level of satisfaction with student (Survey 2)

Very high

Extremely satisfied - appreciated the support

Excellent

Understood the requirements quickly

Projects were well thought out and executed

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Conclusion

Professional community connections in SL

Providing public good

Experiential learning envelope – ties all the skills together

Authentic learning – real work in the real world

Hard to juggle learning objectives, ideal projects for students and needs of clients

Proper scoping of the project

Service-Learning Immersion

Lili Luo – lililuo@slis.sjsu.edu

Jeremy Kemp – jkemp@slis.sjsu.edu

San José State University

School of Library and information Science

Questions?

Service-Learning Immersion

Slides: http://tinyurl.com/servlearn