Are you ready to Evolve: Language teaching in

Second Life, a school with no walls!

Contact Person: Secil Somer Gebologlu
Contact Information:
e-mail: somersecil@gmail.com
Blog:
http://blog.iup.edu/blogs/course/fall2009/pagnucci/engl808/001/gxqq/
Web page: http://www.people.iup.edu/gxqq/

Current employment: Anadolu University, Turkey ; American Language

Institute, IUP

The aim
Second life provides unique educational opportunities through activities which
may not be possible in real life. However, it is definitely bigger than you can
imagine! Therefore, the biggest question for educators is where to start. The
answer is most likely to lie in collaborative opportunities that SL also provides.
From this starting point, the aim of this presentation is to provide information on
communities in SL and discuss the educational environment it offers by referring
to the experiences of educators who have benefited from SL to make their
learning environments richer.

Our students are changing: What about our education?

Our students are changing tremendously as a result of digital information they

process and the variety of technological devices they use. New brains chose to
play games as they provide them novel experiences that their brain can
reconstructs itself to be prepared for digital information (Draganski & May, 2008;
Sur & Rubenstein, 2005). Besides, gaming experience changes their attention
structure and thus they learn how to decide quickly on which input to process
(Johnson, 2005).

As a result of the gaming experience, the new generation seeks a learning

curriculum which is more experiential, engaging, interactive, social, and having
immediacy (Skiba & Barton, 2006). It also explains why they do not want to pay
attention to class activities (Nunley, 2004). As Raines (2002) mentions, the Net
generation prefers teamwork, technology, entertainment, excitement and
experiential activities. Likewise, Prensky (2001) points out that an interactive
learning context is vital for new generations as they feel free to choose what
they want to learn.

It is not all about technology, how we present it matters (Oblinger & Oblinger,
2005). What we know about technology and how we become effective guides for
our students are the key points. Additionally, attitudes and the interest of
teachers towards technology (Hunsberger, 2009) have a significant impact on

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student’s developing technological literacy skills. Yes, it is not easy for most of
us who are “digital immigrants” to adapt to new technologies, especially virtual
worlds. However, if virtual environments offer more authentic learning
environments that we seek so far, and if such environments help us to have
more learning and learner-centered classrooms, why don’t we try?

Second life is a parallel life which offers authentic, meaningful, enjoyable,

creative, experiential and less threatening educational opportunities, where
students can be more independent. SL is user-created, therefore open-ended
(Dervin, 2008). Immediacy is another important feature in SL, which makes it
more attractive and motivating for new generations. Second life offers a great
deal of diversity and variety of educational opportunities. By means of these,
educators can use the environment to create more immersive learning settings
for their students. The diversity of SL makes it a medium for creating research
projects and assignments for learners to have various different experiences.
The variety of possibilities and creativity it offers provide an atmosphere where
you can search, experiment, interact, collaborate, and learn. Second life is
definitely is bigger than you can imagine! Therefore, the biggest question for
educators is where to start.

Where to start ?

The biggest question in my mind was “Where can I start to use Second life in my
classes?” and this question is still the initial challenge for educators interested in
benefitting from virtual environments. Therefore, teachers’ attitude is the key
point for “to be or not to be” in SL. The collaborative environment in SL helps
teachers to minimize the burden they may experience especially if they aim at
introducing SL to their faculty.

There are many collaborative platforms in SL (e.g. communities, discussion

groups, forums) and SL seems a good atmosphere for ‘communities of practice’.
It is possible in SL to find many people from different countries, and therefore
highly authentic communication practice opportunities become possible in SL
and as Vickers (2007) also mentions, the time and place boundaries of real life
are overcome in SL as it is possible to communicate with people whenever you
like.

Let’s discover what it offers and what aspects of SL make it different from
traditional classrooms by hearing from an educator who has real experiences in
this virtual world.

Our guest: Howard Vickers, the director of Avatar Languages

http://www.avatarlanguages.com/home.php

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Contact information: E-mail: howard@avatarlanguages.com
Skype: howard.avatar.english
Second Life name: Vickers Halostar

Howard Vickers suggests that Second life is a really effective medium for
educational purposes. Apart from this, the context that SL promotes has some
differences when compared to traditional classroom contexts. It offers some
activities which may not be possible in real life. Howard Vickers, the owner of
Avatar Languages, provides access to some examples of learner created travel
podcasts (http://www.avatarlanguages.com/podcasts.php) and suggests that
SurReal Quests provides “a more focused approach” when compared to using
Second Life as a “conversation practice” (Vickers, 2007, p. 4). For his
suggestions and many inspiring ideas, it is strongly recommended to visit the
links below:

1) Vickers, H. (2009). Language Teaching Gains Second Life: Virtual Worlds

Offer New
Methods to Teach Languages. Retrieved on August 03, 2009 from:
http://www.omniglot.com/language/articles/secondlife.php

2) Vickers, H. (2007). SurReal Language Quests, AvatarLanguages.com

[Blog].
Retrieved October 3, 2009 from http://avatarlanguages.com/blog/?
p=14

3) Vickers, H. (2007). SurReal Quests: Enriched purposeful language learning

in Second
Life. Retrieved on September 28, 2009 from:
http://kt.flexiblelearning.net.au/tkt2007/edition-15/surreal-quests-
enriched-purposeful-language-learning-in-second-life/

4) “3D Virtual Worlds for Language Learning: a guide for teachers” :

http://www.avatarlanguages.com/teaching/virtualworld.php

5) How Avatar languages teach:

http://www.avatarlanguages.com/howweteach.php
6) SL languages Conference: http://www.slanguages.net/home.php

To benefit from Second life, the environment forces us to be more collaborative

in order not to get lost in this huge world. Howard Vickers builds communities for
educators where they can collaborate. Some of the communities he suggests
mentioned below:

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VIRTLANTIShttp://slurl.com/secondlife/VIRTLANTIS/60/25/21 is a great place to
practice teaching in SL; you can have a launchroom and reach tools that you can
use to design your teaching. Some of the tools that Howard Vickers suggests are
Holodecks, Skytable and Blankets. But, more importantly, there are educators
like Howard Vickers (Kip Yellowjacket) in the communities below which you can
participate, collaborate and contribute.

EduNation provides online training and development consultancy. If you follow

the link, you will see useful resources as well: http://www.theconsultants-
e.com/index.asp

Second Life English (SLE) Community: http://slenglish.ning.com/

Teach You Teach Me (TYTM): http://www.teachyouteachme.ning.com
Cypris chat: English learning Community: http://cypris.ning.com/

You can edit this document at http://www.scribd.com/doc/23726099

References
Dervin, F. (2008). Second Life and Language. In Language Magazine March 2008, p.28-29.
Retrieved from October 3, 2009 from:
http://www.languagemagazine.com/internetedition/march2008/2ndLife_LM_308.pdf

Draganski, B. & May, A. (1 September 2008). Training-induced structural changes in the adult
human brain. Behavioral Brain Research, (192), 1, pp. 137-142.

Hundsberger, S. (June, 2009) Foreign language learning in Second Life and the implications for
resource provision in academic libraries [electronic article]. Retrieved 0ctober 2009.
http://search.ebscohost.com
Nunley, K. F. (2004). Keeping Pace with Today's Quick Brains. (web article). Retrieved on October
14 from: http://www.help4teachers.com/ras.htm
Oblinger, D. G., & Oblinger, J. L. (2005). Educating the net generation. [E-book]. Retrieved on
October 16, 2009 from: http://www.educause.edu/educatingthenetgen

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, Part II: Do They Really Think Differently?
Retrieved October 25, 2009 from: http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/default.asp
Raines, C. (2002). Managing Millennials. Generations at Work, Retrieved in 2009 from,
http://www.generationsatwork.com/articles/millenials.htm.

Skiba, D., & Barton, A. (2006). ADAPTING YOUR TEACHING TO ACCOMMODATE THE NET
GENERATION OF LEARNERS. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 11(2), 15. Retrieved
from Education Research Complete database.

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Sur, M. and Rubenstein, J. L. R. (2005). Patterning and Plasticity of the Cerebral Cortex. (Article
Review). Science (310) 5749, pp. 805 – 810. Retrieved on October 10, 2009 from:
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/sci;310/5749/805?ck=nck

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