Using Second Life Avatars and Machinima to Introduce Sustainability into the University Curriculum:...

Simon Bignell, Ph.D. (SL: Milton Broome)

(Lecturer in Psychology, University of Derby, UK)

VWBPE Conference, Friday July 26th 2013, 8.05am PDT, Second Life

Using Second Life Avatars and Machinima

to Introduce Sustainability into the University Curriculum

VWBPE Conference, Friday July 26th 2013, 8.05am PDT, Second Life 2 / 31

Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE)

• In 2009 updated their strategic statement and action plan – Sustainable Development in HE.

• “Sustainable development principles must lie at the core of the education system, such that schools, colleges and universities become show cases for sustainable development among the communities that they serve.”


United Nations (UN)

• 2005-2014 the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development.

• Goal – to integrate the principles, values and practices of sustainable development into all aspects of education and learning.


Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE)

• All graduates should have knowledge of sustainable development.

• Many will be leaders in the future.

• Jonathon Porritt (Chancellor of Keele University, UK).

• “Universities are uniquely placed.”• “About…Campus, community and

curriculum.”• “Preparing students for the work of the

world not just the world of work”.


Who is doing what in the UK?

• Keele – embedded, 2011 opened a sustainability hub with £3.4 million funding.

• Gloucester – embedded, all students experience it, “Sustainability in their DNA”.

• Bradford - £3.1 million funding, achieving change through – curricula, volunteering, learning from corporate practice on campus.

• Plymouth – national and international impact via the Centre for Sustainable Futures. 4C approach: curriculum, campus change, community engagement – culture.







Photo of Virtual Lecture




Virtual Neonatal Ward: for a Developmental Psychology Module at University of Derby

Video of Neonatal Unit (1m16s): http://youtu.be/sEd9s0toHuk

http://youtu.be/sEd9s0toHuk


Project webpage: http://previewpsych.org/

http://previewpsych.org/




“We worked as a team... this seemed much more valuable than just writing an essay or having a discussion.”“I was thinking more about the real life Psychology because the avatars represented real people with real psychological problems.”

“...the content was easy to access and the tasks very enjoyable.”


Download available here:

http://previewpsych.org/BPD2.0.pdf

Best Practices Document

Best Practices in Virtual Worlds Teaching: A guide to using problem-based learning in Second Life

http://previewpsych.org/BPD2.0.pdf


Education for Sustainable Development

• Brundtland Commission: ES is – “…development that meets the needs of

the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

• Education is the means through which sustainable development can be achieved. UNESCO


• Two Sustainability / TEL Projects:– With Rosemary Horry (Environmental Sciences) funded by the Higher

Education Academy.– With Zaheer Hussain (Psychology) funded by the Higher Education Academy

Psychology Network.

• Evaluated different methods of embedding ESD in the curriculum.• Used Second Life to rate people’s pro-environmental behaviour and

attitudes to ‘green’ issues such as recycling, energy use and resources.

• Participants reported more pro-environmental behaviour a week after seeing the videos.


• In the problem-based learning scenarios we used programmed avatar interactions to lead the students to ask the question of ‘what is Sustainability?’

• The scenarios had some concrete examples from a contemporary lifestyle perspective.

• We constructed a series of learning scenarios for staff and students that highlighted the motivational and behavioural factors that impact on sustainability (e.g. resources, recycling and energy efficiency).


• Scenario 1. Resources: Small groups of students find out who has been using the most water in the virtual household and why, by interacting with the avatars and each other.

• Issues such as beliefs and behaviour about showers vs. bathing, washing the car and using the dishwasher were explored along with wider issues of sustainability of resources.

•

Example project video (3m20s):http://youtu.be/N_0FNyUX1Uo

http://youtu.be/N_0FNyUX1Uo

http://youtu.be/N_0FNyUX1Uo


• Scenario 2. Recycling: Students are tasked to establish what the issues are with one particular member of the family who is refusing to engage in pro-environmental behaviour.

• Issues such as beliefs about recycling paper, card and metal were explored in an attempt to find out why they think recycling is a good idea but nevertheless fail to engage in these activities.

•

Project video (2m26s):http://youtu.be/i4FOB6Yf_HQ

http://youtu.be/i4FOB6Yf_HQ

http://youtu.be/i4FOB6Yf_HQ


• Scenario 3. Energy Efficiency: Students worked in teams to answer questions about home energy use (e.g., leaving things on standby), replacing light bulbs with low wattage equivalents, whether using a microwave is better than the oven or the energy consumption of a washing machine at 30°C rather than 40°C.

Example project video (2m20s): http://youtu.be/EusqbduUejg

http://youtu.be/EusqbduUejg

http://youtu.be/EusqbduUejg



Educational Visual Storylines – ‘Teaching Cartoons’

• Uses a virtual world to create educational cartoons for teaching and online learning.

• Rapidly develop and deploy to modules.

• Import straight into our virtual learning platform.

• Summaries: Not dumbed down.


‘JISC - Moving into Virtual Worlds - Emerging Practice in a Digital Age’• With Aston University• JISC resources feature

commentary and reflection on pedagogical applications of virtual worlds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aTvE2OBQHc

Emerging Practice in a Digital Age JISC VIDEO http://www.jisc.ac.uk/emergeresource




http://www.jisc.ac.uk/emergeresource


How to visit the University of Derby Second Life Islands: 1) Create and avatar: http://tinyurl.com/GETAN-AVATAR2) Install Second Life: http://tinyurl.com/Download-SL 3) Teleport to us: http://tinyurl.com/DERBYSECONDLIFE

Virtual Campus Flythrough (1m6s): http://youtu.be/GQnyb87Zj0o

http://tinyurl.com/GETAN-AVATAR

http://tinyurl.com/Download-SL

http://tinyurl.com/DERBYSECONDLIFE

http://youtu.be/GQnyb87Zj0o


Using problem-based learning within 3D virtual worlds

– Published book chapter in with Dr Vanessa Parson (Sunderland University, Previously at Aston).

• Parson, V. & Bignell, S. (2011). in Hinrichs, R and Wankel, C (Eds), Transforming Virtual World Learning: Cutting-edge technologies in higher education, Vol. 4, pp. 245–265. Emerald Group Publishing Limited: Teynampet, India.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Transforming-Learning-Cutting-edge-Technologies-Education/dp/1780520522




Contact Dr Simon Bignell

Centre for Psychological Research University of Derby, UK

[email protected]+44 (0)1332 593043 (ext: 3043)

www.MiltonBroome.com www.PREVIEWPsych.org

http://www.miltonbroome.com/

http://www.previewpsych.org/

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