My presentation at AACE E-Learn 2011 in Hawaii.

1. Second Life - an Environment for Authentic e-
Learning?
Hanna Teräs, Marjatta Myllylä, Tuomas Kaihua & Päivi Svärd
AACE E-Learn 2011, Hawaii
Image: lrargerich (Flickr)

2. “More authentic Higher Education
learning, more working Evaluation Council
life oriented
approaches, versatile
use of social media,
better student
engagement and
ownership through National Assembly For Wales / Cynulliad Cymru
collaborative learning
and knowledge
construction, please!”

3. Authentic tasks
Access to expert
performances
Authentic context
Multiple perspectives
Authentic e-Learning
Collaborative
Authentic assessment knowledge
construction
Reflection
Scaffolding
Articulation Images starting from context: vgm8383, Bodum, Destiny’s Agent,
Brian Hatchcock, Commons, Minette Layne, Robert Higgins,
James F Clay, clairity (Flickr)

4. Easier said than
done.
• An international benchmarking
project (Leppisaari,
Herrington, Vainio, Im 2011):
collaborative knowledge
construction weakly
implemented.
• Myllylä, Mäkelä & Torp (2009):
LMS based discussion forums
ineffective in creating learning
communities.

5. What about virtual
Let’s ask teachers!
worlds?

6. Interviewees
• 10 (7 women, 3 men).
• Active SL educators from
different parts of Finland.
• Different subject matter
experts
• Found in SL related events, in
SL itself, through existing
professional networks.
• Took place in SL.
Image: Christopher S Penn (Flickr)

7. How have you used
SL in education?
How could SL-
based
education be ? How do you use
social media?
developed?
How do you see the
future of education?

8. Interviews recorded
Transliteration
in Second Life
Categorization
Narrative according to the
analysis elements of authentic
e-Learning

9. Image: Bodum
Authentic context
and tasks
• Negative experiences with
classroom -> simulating
working life contexts in SL
• High degree of customization
of the learning process ->
ownership and commitment
• Authentic, field-specific tasks
(intl. trade fair, hospital,
language learning)
• Integration of real & second
life activities

10. Access to experts &
multiple perspectives
• SL for networking and
collaboration between
organizations.
• Businesses and third sector
participation (virtual Senior
Citizens’ home, trade fair).
• Attending international events,
lectures & groups of experts.

11. Collaborative
knowledge construction
• Lowered hierarchies between
students and teachers.
• Collaboration as a norm in the
virtual world.
• Students more eager to
collaborate: reluctant to end
sessions when scheduled.
• Collaboration between
teachers and institutions - or
will it be “educational arms
race”?

12. Reflection and
articulation
• Need for additional, text-
based media outside or
integrated in SL to promote
reflection and articulation
(Blogs, discussion forums,
Etherpad).
• Attending to feelings:
experiences differ greatly.
• “Could be combined with
digital narration”.

13. Scaffolding and
assessment
• No one had used lecturing,
instead they had authentic
project-based activities -> a
natural shift in teachers’ roles.
• Group tutorial and thesis
supervision sessions.
• Demanding for teachers
because of lack of support.
• No one mentioned
assessment!

14. Future of education?
Openness,
Enriching, not replacing
internationalization,
f2f education
collaboration
Mobile learning,
augmented reality
Teachers become
coaches and
facilitators Social media and virtual
worlds instead of LMS

15. Conclusions
• SL can be used to achieve the recommended, authentic and working-life
oriented learning in many ways.
• Especially authentic context, authentic tasks and collaborative knowledge
construction seem relatively easy to achieve.
• SL provided new, meaningful collaboration opportunities with other
educational organizations, working life and third sector.
• Improved student engagement and ownership of learning.
• Assessment did not come up and needs further research.
• Without wider recognition and support, the benefits are in danger of
remaining in the margin.

16. Thank You!
Hanna Teräs, Tampere University of Applied Sciences
hanna.teras@tamk.fi / www.hannateras.com