MULTI-USER AND VIRTUAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS: CASE STUDIES FROM NUS - PDF document

MULTI-USER AND VIRTUAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS: CASE STUDIES FROM NUS J. Yap Computer Centre, National University of Singapore (SINGAPORE) johnyap@nus.edu.sg Abstract This presentation will showcase 3 different academic modules in NUS that has effectively leverage on the NUS presence in Second Life for e-learning. The modules are made for undergraduate levels: “Introduction to Computing” from School of Computing, “Cybercrime and Society” and “Governance and New Media” from the New Media and Communication Department of Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. We will present how the academic modules involved, have successfully engaged the students in their learning, delivering unique experiential learning experiences and how assessment of their learning progress and performance was applied within the virtual environment. Keywords: second life, virtual learning environment, experiential learning, higher education, virtual world affordances, simulations for learning, game-based learning 1 INTRODUCTION Teaching students using novel ways and keeping them engaged in theoretical topics has been the most daunting task for educators in Higher Education. In recent years, educators have begun to venture into the forefront of using Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) leveraging on sophisticated teaching platforms like 3-dimensional (3D) multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs) which resonates with well-established virtual learning environments(VLEs) like Second Life. Educators are challenged to improve or enhance the understanding by way of experiencing the context in the study using a virtual world simulation, in the hope of leading students into developing more independent thinking and critical analysis of the intended topics. Staying relevant to the current cultures and lifestyles of learners, that has leaned towards the influx of digital games in virtual platforms, they realised learning in our era takes on a different paradigm of engagement of students for improving learning experiences (Payne, 2009). What could be more innovative and forward- thinking than making use of the affordances and efficacies of students in a 3D MUVE? 2 BACKGROUND With ever improving ICT infrastructures and prevalent new media cultures, there was an obvious need for a change in paradigm of learning. Brown. J(2002) has advocated that “learning comes as a result of a framework or environment that fosters learning rather than as a result of teaching.”(Pivec, 2006, p. 39) . Educators need a shift in focus on result-oriented methods in teaching to the purposeful design and implementation of actual learning environment that will be best for such delivery of information or knowledge transfer. The National University of Singapore first started their presence in Second Life in early 2008 and has been experimenting and testing this state-of-the-art learning technology for its education of Higher Learning in a MUVE. Lending our studies from the experiential theory, 4 dimensional framework in serious games, engagement and flow theories, Bloom’s taxonomies of learning, motivation theories, we shall summarise the learning experiences of the university in its 3 significant and impactful case studies. 3 CASE STUDY 1: FUN AND CHALLENGE IN A CYBERCRIME QUEST 3.1 Background: E-Learning Week in NUS The e-Learning week in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) of NUS was planned with the intention to simulate preparation for an outbreak of any pandemic disease that would require all

students to be self-quarantined in their own homes. The e-Learning exercise mandated that all students of the faculty would continue their week’s learning off the campus while attending their lectures and tutorials in various electronic modes of delivery. These modes of e-Learning included webcasts of over 400 lectures, various discussions boards in asynchronous or synchronous modes for over 1,400 tutorials and seminars throughout the entire faculty. “NM3210: Cybercrime and Society”, a communications module attended by 108 undergraduate students from the Communications and New Media Department in the faculty, became an ideal and relevant choice for the implementation of this unique mode of e-Learning for the week. 3.2 The Challenge The challenge for FASS in the e-Learning week was to find a virtual learning solution, formulate an e- Learning design that will prepare the students for a smooth learning experience, to effectively achieve better learning outcomes and to conduct assessments consistently without the existence of a typical face-to-face learning environment. At the end of the module, students from the different tutorial groups will also attempt to share their module research findings in the shared space of a virtual gallery that hosts all the final conclusions of their module research assignment. 3.3 An Engaging “Cybercrime Quest” All students will begin their virtual learning experience called “Cybercrime Quest”, at the landing area of NUS in Second Life, where there will be explicit signboards(Figure 3a) and instruction guides to help them through the exercise in a scaffold distribution (Silberman, 2007, p. 140) of instructional notecards or visuals along the way. For most of the students, this was a first experience in a MUVE like Second Life and it was important that explicit instructions are provided at the start (Judith Molka- Danielsen, 2009). At the first landing area, the students will all receive a start-up kit (which is a folder offered to their inventory) that will serve to steer the quest in a roleplay mode of a training criminologist with the challenge of identifying a cyber-hacker on the loose. All critical evidences need to be collected to warrant the arrest of the allegedly dangerous cybercriminal. The notecard will also briefly summarise the quest’s milestones so that students can have a glimpse of what is ahead for them in the VLE. Figure 3a: Start of Cybercrime Quest 3.4 Problem 1: Locating the Cipher Device From the landmark provided in the start-up kit, the students will be teleported to a simulated crime scene in the ghetto slum apartment(Figure 4) where the criminal was last found at his cyber-hacking location. Students will arrive at the scene with instructions to search through the ghetto apartment to locate the hidden cipher device in the midst of several decoys(Figure 3b) laid out in the same

apartment. This was probably the most challenging but fun introduction of the quest because only by locating the correct cipher device will the students be provided with further instructions and landmark to teleport to the next location last visited by the criminal. By clearing the first level of the quest, the students will naturally be more immersed in the VLE and also more proficient in using Second Life. This will also ensure that through such challenges (Malone, 1981), the students will be able to gain substantial confidence through the avatar’s interactivity, engaging them to take on the next challenge to decrypt the located cipher device. Figure 3b: Locating the Cipher Device 3.5 Problem 2: Decrypt Cipher Device Students will arrive at the second simulation, the NUS Cybercrime Laboratory, using the landmark given together with the cipher device. They are required to watch a video that illustrates how a typical ROT13 decryption technique works for decryption of data. In order to decrypt the cipher reader found earlier, they will need to hold the cipher device while touching the cipher reader (Figure 3c) to retrieve the codes. With the generated codes appearing only on their individual screen, they must now use the decryption codebook (Figure 3d) found on one of the walls to derive/substitute these codes which will reveal the next challenge location: “Ridgecat Cafe”. Unlike the previous stage where direct teleportation landmarks were provided in notecards, the students will now need to locate the signboard(found near the landing point) independently within the compound that will teleport them to the Ridgecat Cafe to proceed. Figure 3c: Retrieving Decryption Codes Figure 3d: Decryption Codebook Wall

3.6 Problem 3: Locate a Surveillance Camera Upon teleportation to the third simulation, the Ridgecat Cafe, the students will enter an internet cafe that is filled with excessive surveillance cameras (Figure 3e). By clicking on the correct camera, they will finally receive the visual of the criminal as taken by the one and only surveillance camera (Figure 3f). They will need to use this visual to match with a mugshot lineup back at the laboratory later. Before teleporting back to the laboratory, the students will also be required to watch a video on the excessive surveillance cameras in London, England, on the video wall. With this immersion experience in the virtual environment simulated to mimic our modern society of such surveillances, they will be also required to submit their own constructive reflections of the social impact of using surveillance cameras in the form of a short essay with reference to the exposure they have just experienced. Figure 3e: Excessive Surveillance Cameras Figure 3f: The Correct Surveillance Camera 3.7 Problem 4: Submission for Assessment This is the second teleportation to the Cybercrime Laboratory and the final teleportation trip, where the students would be very close to completing their e-Learning exercise in the VLE at this juncture. They would need to match their retrieved visual from the previous location with the mugshot lineup on the wall and submit their selected identity of the criminal via a dedicated chat channel scripted to store the individual submissions used for grading for their participation (Figure 3g). Figure 3g: Virtual submission of identity of criminal