Challenges or Opportunities for K-8 Edu-Focused VWs?

[Liam ODonnell]

With over 100 + virtual worlds for kids in development or in beta, it's very clear that many outside the educational community see the potential for youth engagement in these spaces.

Currently, the majority of kids' virtual worlds are rooted in the mini-games/coins/consumption cycle that does little more than train kids to be consumers (see: Virtual Worlds are Still Unwritten: Can We Move Beyond Consumption? or Can educational virtual worlds for kids work?.)

Increasingly, this potential is being recognized by those inside the world of education as more educators explore virtual worlds. Thankfully there are alternatives like Quest Atlantis, Knight Elimar’s Last Joust and others.

With these two models of virtual worlds (consumer-focused vs edu-focused) vying for the attention of young learners, what challenges or opportunities do you see on the horizon for educators wishing incorporate these spaces into their classroom?

How will we get students to engage with edu-focused vws with the same enthusiasm as a commercial vw? How can we facilitate learners to think critically about the messages these media are reinforcing/challenging?

Just some thoughts to get the discussion going. Please add your views, resources and opinions!

[Barry Joseph]

Liam, These are all excellent questions. I will respond to just one, saying that part of our job is to train youth to be media savvy, in all realms. So in training youth to be smart "consumers" of virtual worlds part of our task entails educating them to recognize when a virtual world is an extension of a brand and being used, in part, as an elaborate advertising vehicle. This would not mean they should avoid such spaces, but be able to occupy them with a more critical eye. The same goes for educational worlds - youth should be able to identify the educational goals behind a game's design and learn to recognize how its values are literally coded into the design of the world.

Thanks for starting this group and I look forward to seeing where you and the emerging community takes it. (btw, if you know a way the admins can label this to be featured on the home page, please let us know, and I would also encourage you to add as tags all of the virtual worlds you mentioned).

[Liam ODonnell]

I totally agree that empowering learners to be media savvy is an essential element to meaningful engagement in virtual worlds. I've presented to teaching colleagues about the consumerism messages in kids virtual worlds and encouraged them to incorporate these spaces into their media literacy programs. Giving learners sufficient scaffolding to recognize advertising messages and the language to critique, challenge or respond to these messages is at the very heart of the media literacy curriculum here in Ontario. Extending this sources of these messages beyond TV, magazines, etc, into virtual worlds seems to me like a natural next step in the learning for both student and teacher.

Thanks for the tagging tips, Barry. Will add those now. Not sure how to label this group to get it featured, but will dig around admin permissions and see what I can find.

[Cathy Arreguin / Mari Asturias]

Hi Liam,
Thanks for starting this group. It's a fascinating subject. At least in the U.S. we have to balance the use of innovative technology with a strong push to achieve individual state mandated standards in various content areas. Right now, I'm working with Global Kids in co-developing their Science in Second Life project.

The interesting thing we're finding is that while engagement is just through the roof, it takes more time to cover the material. I would argue, however, that the students are going deeper!

One really interesting project I drew from is the River City Project, run by folks at Harvard. They have a great website and make most of their research freely available. I've gleaned a lot of good information from their work that, I think, translates to K-8 VW development.

Really looking forward to discussions in this group. Thanks again.

[Liam ODonnell]

Cathy, that's really interesting what you say about engagement vs the time it takes to cover material. Is it just the challenges of set up times, glitches and other fun tech problems that eat up all that time? Or is it that actually teaching in virtual spaces just moves at a slower pace?

I have yet to have the chance to actually use a virtual world to teach kids, so I am very interested in what practical and even mundane (ie tech problems) challenges lie ahead for me when I do get the chance to use these spaces in my classroom.

And thanks for the River City link. It's great and I will definitely explore it further.

Thanks for commenting and joining the group!

[ShapingYouth]

Liam, m'friend, how goes it?! We meet again...virtually, of course!

As you know, I strongly favor the edu-focus vs. commercial focus VW platform, even if it's hiding under the guise of same...in other words, to me, it's 'embedded learning' that needs to transpire, where the kids are having fun gaining knowledge and positive life skills without 'feeling' as if they're having task-driven edu-focus slammed down their throats...They know an edu-site, of course, because they're media literate...but using the 'learn by doing' experiential mode tends to have more 'stickiness' as they say in the ad biz.

Personally, I've seen that self-identifying as an 'edu-venture' or 'serious game' is the kiss of death when it comes to early adoption and perpetuation of same...so the key is how to make it fun, engaging and 'meet state mandates' as Cathy says...

Shaping Youth has been testing an online/offline gaming model which is more of a 'hands-on' train the trainer approach to getting kids to use their tactile/sensory RL skills to develop e-learning that is scalable.

I still say we need a 'summit' of thought leaders in this realm to tackle the RW to VW digital sphere imparting teen critical thinking skills/personal growth and exploration, into media literacy enrichment.

Summer...S.F., ok? Be there! ;-)

[Liam ODonnell]

Amy, great to see you in here! And yes, I agree that the "edu" label can totally be the kiss of death with kids. Making the learning embedded is very important in getting the kids to buy into the experience of the game or world. I definitely think there is room for commercial worlds to have educational elements to it, just like our friends at Dizzywood are doing (although I do have my reservations on some of what they call "educational" - more on that when I have time.) I'm just eager, as you know, for when they move beyond the coin-consumption cycle that you've previously talked about in your blog.

Virtual worlds and video games already have a level of learning embedded in them, from facilitating safe risk-taking ("I'll try that jump because if I fall, I'll just start over again") to providing a place where players can formulate theories and test them out ("If I run faster before the jump, I just might travel farther".) I think the challenge for creators of educational spaces is to add to this learning, while continuing to keep it embedded.

A summit is a fantastic idea. SF in the summer would be great, but might be difficult for me to arrange - maybe we can meet up in a, oh I don't know, virtual world? :-)

[ShapingYouth]

Hey Liam, great idea...take your pick! Sorry I've been awol, but Shaping Youth is hosting a big edu-film documentary series next week and I'm a bit slammed. Which VW would you prefer? (and yes, I think 'educational' terminology is subjective at best, (DW or otherwise) as I've been trying to 'seed ideas' with various VW crews in beta reminding them that "it's the CONTENT stupid" (in a kinder gentler way, of course) In other words, meaningfulness matters, and it's nice that cool platforms can make avatars twirl and dance and levitate and such, but the embedded learning is what floats my boat so to speak...More soon...Amy J.

[Liam ODonnell]

Amy, you have not been awol at all! You've been busy talking the talk, walking the walk and throwing it down for better, kinder virtual worlds for kids. You are one busy person. I'd love to meet up, in world or even in just boring old skype to talk to you about your work in getting the message to those vw creators that they are building more than shopping malls for kids. Will email soon.

[Daniel Livingstone]

Coming slightly late to this discussion - only just spotted it.
Have to confess it has been on my mind a little though I mainly work at college/university level...

Most VW's have taken a lead from games where acquisition of 'stuff' is the reward/goal for completing quests. In removing quests and game like goals. acquiring 'stuff' becomes so much more central to the experience - though I guess it could be countered that some kids might be happy just to chat. The marketers certainly want them to spend though.

And I agree that some of the worlds themselves seem to be focussed on rewarding consumerist behaviors and not necessarily much else (anyone looked at Barbie Girls?)

So it ends up with a triple whammy:
- VWs become a locked in advertising/promotion space
- Virtual rewards can be offered for real goods (codes on special Barbie accessories, etc)
- Real money can be pumped in to boost your virtual life (Buy a $5 neopets card at Target, or for grown ups that Linden$ button always waiting...)

The one exception may be handipoints
( http://learninggames.wordpress.com/2008/04/07/virtual-rewards-real-... ) though I haven't
logged into the virtual world side of this - and their web-page doesn't provide too much detail.

[Liam ODonnell]

Daniel, you're not late. You arrived just in time. ;) Thanks for the handipoints link Daniel. I must check it out. We are at such an early stage with the creation of these spaces that I'm happy to cut developers a little slack in regards to their narrow view that vws are merely places to collect stuff. With folks like Amy and places like rezed, hopefully we'll be able to push them into realizing they are creating worlds and worlds are full of potential that go beyond getting a new outfit for your avatar.

Welcome to the group and feel free to start your own discussion on a topic that interests you.

[Jan Herder]

Thank you everyone for some very stimulating ideas. Still pioneering in my efforts to integrate VW's into my teaching, I'm constantly struck by the need to 'reality check' what occurs virtually. I am reminded by the students to keep going back to RL in their virtual explorations. I get carried away by the possibilities of SL and the power of virtual creations. But the students bring me back to earth because they lose interest if they can't bring it home somehow. I haven't evolved gaming so much as playing--letting them rediscover that essential often forgotten skill. I let them play ( these are college kids) and then see what they can bring back to the RL task. The entire time embedded skills are learned or discovered--and that is one of the beautiful aspects of e-learning. Then the 'learning by doing' takes on another dimension because they want to translate this virtual prowess into RL results. This is self motivating and keeps them coming back for more, digging deeper. "Shaping Youth's" model sounds very intriguing in this context; though I'd have to say my preference is 'self shaping youth' :-)
Keeping one foot in each world is critical even if the ground is entirely different. My students might be said to be 'media savvy' but on the whole completely unaware of the manipulation embedded in the media. I'm eager to learn how to bring this to their awareness.

[ShapingYouth]

Hi Jan, ---yah, that name never sits well with kids either, it was initially intended for a more global context of how 'media and marketing are shaping youth' but as we all know, kids do NOT want to feel like they're being 'shaped' in any form, so we've actually added a tagline, "using the power of media for positive change" in all our student encounters so kids know good and well we consider THEM the ones with the ability to shape their own destiny without the media shaping a more limited worldview.

Anyway, to your point about self-motivation and digging deeper, to me, this fits perfectly with our work, as we feel much of these 'aha moments' come with media literacy (as Barry mentioned above, kids KNOWING when they're being 'sold' etc.) AND a hefty dose of pushback as we 'lift the veil and reveal' the limitations of someone else's influence on kids worldview.

In short, the thought that media is defining kids before they can even define themselves.

When kids can apply those critical thinking skills across the board to RL, SL, virtual worlds, and education as we know it, they're empowered to take the reins and consider, 'wait a sec, is this IT?' Does it have to be this way?

Then they can take steps to shape, morph and shift their learning accordingly...to become PART of the conversation rather than a passive recipient.

Not just talking e-learning here on the academic front either, this applies to life skills/emotional learning, (e.g. a hard blow to the ego from a social media or avatar 'crush' that turns out to be surreal ---I'm working on a piece right now called "3rd wheel in a 2nd life" based on user-experiences/impact on relational trust)

As for the manipulation embedded in ALL media (most all content has some POV) Shaping Youth is interested in testing a 'living lab' of media literacy/persuasive powers by embedding content and 'what ifs' into casual learning so that avatars achieve certain 'levels' and attributes as they learn to navigate some of those conundrums in peer to peer guidance/facilitation...

We're interested in seeing who might want to fund such a media lab 'in-world' and are in some talks with tween beta sites now as we've found this knowledge needs to come into their lives early and often...

Lift and reveal...that's the tactic the kids seem to embrace most effectively, as they need to 'get it' themselves.

To me, it's kind of like the diff btwn being a driver and a passenger when someone asks you where an address is, if you haven't taken the wheel, you haven't really paid attention and are likely to have a fuzzy general understanding but not core knowledge...So I DO think we're all on the same page in terms of giving youth that wheel, even if it's with a learner's permit for the very young.

Being a long winded blog hog, so I'll hush for now, but am so thrilled about this site to have people to TALK to about this stuff! --Amy