A Second Life pilot in three online M-level programmes

Can Second Life address these challenges in online learning? Need for flexibility Need for interaction Student-student Student-tutor Time-poor students Different time zones MSc in Psychology of Work Online MA in TESOL & Applied Linguistics MSc in Occupational Psychology Medicine, Health, Languages (e.g. Boulos et al, 2007; Edwards et al, 2008) Replicating cultures and societies (Edirisingha et al, 2009) How to run a business (Antonacci & Modaress, 2005) E-tivity design Salmon, 2004: atimod.com/e-tivities/5stage.shtm Surveys Cognitive mapping interviews – staff, students Blackboard discussion forums Lessons learnt Purpose: Apply principles of occupational safety Task: Assess safety hazards on an oil rig Preparation: Oil rig was sourced and modified. Approach: All students met as a group in SL. Number of students: 4 Purpose: Apply ELT theory to a lesson observation Task: Criterion-based lesson observation Preparation: Identifying an EFL school in SL Approach: Students visited SL individually and interacted on discussion board Number of students: 6 Previous research: Data gathering: Thanks to Sky Maruti (http://www.skymaruti.co.uk) for the oil rig