Six Hats in Second Life - Virtual Classrooms Hats in Second Life.pdf · Six Hats in Second Life: Enhancing Preservice Teacher Learning in a Virtual World 3 Image 1: Jass Easterman

Six Hats in Second Life: Enhancing Preservice Teacher

Learning in a Virtual World

Sue Gregory and Yvonne Masters (University of New England, Armidale, NSW, Australia)

Abstract A well known teaching and learning strategy for teachers is Edward de Bono’s ‘Six Thinking Hats’. Our research examined the engagement and understanding of first year preservice teachers being taught the theory and practice of this strategy through both on-campus and Second Life (virtual) workshops. In both workshops, the six thinking hats were used to judge student response to the use of this approach in their teaching. This pilot study provides insights into the use of virtual worlds for teaching and learning. The paper clarifies methodological issues such as why the Six Thinking Hats were used and the controls that were put in place between real life and Second Life workshops. The results, the challenges that were encountered, the future plans for virtual classrooms, particularly in the area of distance education, and whether this study can be generalised beyond preservice teacher education is discussed. Introduction Virtual worlds are computer programs that attempt to simulate certain aspects of the real or fantasy world, which become a low cost space that can be a substitute for many real world activities (B. Gregory, 2009). While there are many ways in which virtual worlds are used, a lot of hype surrounds the use of a virtual world as an educational tool. The pilot study described here was conducted at a university in northern NSW, Australia, in order to investigate whether traditional teaching could be replicated, or improved, by using a virtual world such as Second Life as a teaching aid for students. First year preservice education students were taught one module of their studies through the face-to-face method of a workshop and then this was replicated in the virtual world of Second Life. After approval by the University Ethics Committee, students were observed, they completed surveys and had their online conversations recorded. Background/Literature Review Our university is predominantly traditional in its teaching despite approximately 80% of students studying via distance education. The overall Good University Guide rating has been consistently five out of a possible five star rating due to the fact that internal students enjoy their on-campus experience and distance students successfully learn new ways of learning with online materials. Over the past decade the university has been providing students with more and more study materials online. However, for internal students, face-to-face lectures and workshops are still the predominant means of imparting knowledge. Distance education students do not have this option with all materials being online or provided through CDs. For off-campus students, almost all elearning takes place through one of two Learning Management Systems (Sakai or Blackboard), utilising downloads of pdf files (portable document format), html documents, discussion boards, wikis, chat rooms and blogs. To more deeply engage distance students, a virtual world such as Second

Six Hats in Second Life: Enhancing Preservice Teacher Learning in a Virtual World 2

Life could be used to conduct classes either synchronously or asynchronously. Preliminary research conducted by Gregory demonstrated that students appreciate this environment because they “feel like they are really there” with the other students and the academic; for these students it is like a “face to face encounter” (Gregory & Tynan, 2009). This mode of learning has been more engaging and meaningful for students. Currently, the university is undergoing considerable change via a grant to help establish it as an eUniversity. Our research into the use of a virtual world to enhance preservice teacher education is one small study in this larger picture. It is important to understand that virtual worlds, such as Second Life, are multi-user, interactive computer simulated environments created for users to inhabit and interact via avatars, which are graphical representations of a person that can be personalised and used in the virtual world (Gregory & Tynan, 2009). This pilot study is the first step in discovering how this kind of world can be used in a variety of ways. As well as theory units, preservice education students must undertake a series of professional experiences within relevant school settings during their candidature. Second Life was chosen to test the environment firstly as a way in which distance education students could practise their teaching skills in a non-judgemental, risk-free environment, and also as a means of liaison with both academics and other students whilst involved in professional experience. To do this, a pilot study was conducted to ascertain whether Second Life is a feasible environment. To enable a comparison between traditional real life experience and the virtual experience in Second Life, internal first year preservice students were chosen for the project. A scenario was established in order to compare feedback collected via surveys comparing a real life workshop with a Second Life workshop. The object was to make comparisons between the students’ beliefs regarding their learning and engagement in a virtual environment as compared to how they believed that they learned in a face-to-face situation. Engagement is multidimensional and can be divided into three categories: affective, behavioural and cognitive. It is a combination of an individual student’s feelings (affective), observable actions or performance (behavioural), perceptions and beliefs (cognitive) (Russell, Ainley, & Frydenberg, 2005; Jimerson, Campos, & Greif, 2003). Reading (2008) states that engagement can be measured through teacher and student reporting and observation. Hu & Kuht (2002) state, “Student engagement is a function of the interaction of the student and institutional characteristics”. In their study, Greene & Miller (1996) report that achievement in the classroom was determined by a student’s perceived ability and learning goals which influenced meaningful cognitive engagement. Schaufeli, Bakker, & Salanova (2006, p702) state that if one is engaged, they “have a sense of energetic and effective connection with the activities they are undertaking”. During this project students “learned the skills for seeking out the required knowledge as the changing situation demanded” (Raeburn, Muldoon, & Bookallil, 2009, p821) which “facilitated active student engagement in authentic learning activities designed to achieve desired learning outcomes” (Gregory & Lloyd, 2010). Engagement refers to the “time, energy and resources students devote to activities designed to enhance learning” (Krause, 2005). This research incorporated a variety of ways to measure engagement in the classroom and virtual world.


Image 1: Jass Easterman

Image 2: Tamsyn Lexenstar

To assist the study, a virtual classroom and playground were created based on what students would encounter in a real school. The classroom included student and teacher desks and chairs, whiteboard, chalkboard, student work featured around the room, interactive books and games. In the playground were a variety of interactive play equipment, including bikes, skateboards, swings, sandpit, climbing frames, seesaws, limbo, Uno, chess, Tai Chi, meditation, exercise and yoga mats, balls for bounding, kicking and throwing. The school environment was developed with a range of resources to enable academics to use it with their students as if they were in a real classroom or playground. Why was Second Life chosen for the study? Second Life is a tested environment for use in an educational setting and accordingly was chosen for this research project. It was opened to the public in 2003 (Gregory & Smith, 2008) enabling users to create their own spaces (Jennings & Collins, 2007). It is an environment that has already been created for immediate use (Linden Lab, 2008). In 2008 it was stated that there are more than 100 virtual worlds (Collins, 2008) and the numbers are growing significantly. However, according to Farley & Steel (2009); Lemon & Kelly (2009) and Honey, Diener, Connor, Veltman, & Bodily (2009) there are now more than 200 virtual worlds from which to choose. Lester (2008) claims there are approximately 1,000 educational institutions using Second Life. At any one time, more than 70,000 members are logged on to Second Life (Linden Research Inc, 2009). It was decided to create a classroom and playground based on real life to test student’s perceptions of the environment. This was a relatively easy task that required no computer programming expertise and only basic desktop publishing skills. Introducing Jass Easterman and Tamsyn Lexenstar

The authors’ avatars, which are virtual representations of themselves, were used to teach in the environment. The avatars are Jass Easterman (created in 2007) and Tamsyn Lexenstar (created in 2008). Jass has been teaching in Second Life for over two years and has over 20 years of real life teaching experience. Tamsyn, on the other hand, although with over 30 years of real life teaching experience, is new to teaching in a virtual world. Jass created the virtual classroom and

playground for student use and her role was purely observational and to provide troubleshooting if required. Tamsyn conducted the real life and Second Life workshops. To aid Tamsyn’s use of the environment, Jass provided a few orientation sessions and also Jass gave a preliminary lecture to students to teach them how to use Second Life during their workshops. Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats Preservice education students are introduced to de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats as an integral component of their work on teaching and learning in their first year of study. de Bono (1985) argued “we do not have a simple language as a control system for our thinking” (p201). He developed the metaphor of six thinking hats to emphasise different kinds of thinking. This process has been widely used in schools to encourage


students to ‘mentally shift gears’ and to think about their own thinking (metacognition). The six thinking hats assist teachers to engage their students in metacognition and they provide a scaffolding tool to assist in this ‘thinking about thinking’. The use of this thinking scaffold can also assist students to consider different perspectives on a topic. Why was de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats used for the Study/Statement of Problem The project required traditional face-to-face workshops to be conducted and then repeat sessions in Second Life in order to compare the perceptions of students and academics of the learning environment, what was being taught and how it was being taught. The material needed to be something that could be easily replicated in Second Life. The decision was made to use de Bono’s six thinking hats for two main reasons:

1. The content was relatively easy to replicate in Second Life with limited skills. The project was also going to involve a novice Second Life user who was an expert in the field of teaching de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats. An aim of the study was to discover whether someone with limited use of a virtual world could teach within it without extensive training.

2. To enable students who participated in the study to provide rich data about the effectiveness of a virtual world for learning and teaching. Because the students would be required to consider the efficacy of the Second Life classroom and playground from six perspectives the data was expected to provide well considered views.

Pilot Study/Significance In the second semester of 2009 a Pilot Study was conducted to ascertain whether a virtual world is a viable educational tool to be used by academics to assist students, particularly those who are studying at a distance. Because the researchers were unsure of the amount of assistance that students might require in becoming familiar with a virtual world a decision was made to trial the pilot study with internal students where difficulties, if any, could be monitored. If these students were able to use the environment, then the study would be extended to the distance students. Also, internal students were used for the study so that duplicate lessons in real life and Second Life could be compared. The pilot study is significant because there has not been a study undertaken around the novice, academic or student, user of a virtual world and how they interact and engage in the environment without significant training. The topic of Second Life was introduced to preservice teachers in their first year of a four year Bachelor of Education (Primary) course. Tamsyn, as stated, had not taught in Second Life before and this tested whether a virtual world was a viable teaching aid for an academic unfamiliar with teaching in this type of environment. None of the students participating in the study had used Second Life before; however, they were introduced to the virtual world earlier in the year via a lecture. This study, by extension, will also test whether distance learners, who may not have used Second Life before, can quickly adapt to using the environment to interact and liaise with academics in a variety of contexts, but particularly whilst on professional experience. Research Question Prior to any work within the virtual classroom, approximately 90 preservice education students were given a lecture and subsequent two hour workshop on Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats. The real life lecture introduced the concept of de Bono’s six thinking hats to the students, whilst the follow-up workshop gave students the


opportunity to practise working with the six thinking hats in small groups. Students were reminded about the meaning of each hat and were then asked to discuss how the use of de Bono’s strategy could engage students in their classroom. Each student had to discuss the topic from the point of view of the hat that they were assigned. Roles during the workshop were rotated so that students experienced wearing a different coloured hat (and therefore had to respond differently) and groups were change. Jass Easterman created a virtual classroom and playground in Second Life based on how these school environments are established in the ‘real’ world. It enabled academics and students to use resources within this virtual environment as they would if they were in such a real-world classroom or playground. The opportunity to interact with other students and educators, use a variety of resources and undertake role-playing exercises has the potential to improve learning outcomes and to develop teaching skills. This will particularly be the case for distance education students who generally study in isolation, with little opportunity to closely interact with other students or to practise teaching skills. At present, students can only access online resources via one of two Learning Management Systems. This new scenario provides them with the opportunity to become immersed in a virtual environment, cooperating and working with others, within an experience that will make it seem like they are really there, all from their own home. To test the environment, internal preservice students attended a training session on how to use Second Life, followed by a workshop conducted in Second Life where they workshopped de Bono’s Six Hats. Students firstly used the environment as if they were school students, testing out the resources and play equipment available to them. They then returned to the classroom to their pre-assigned groups to discuss the merits of virtual classrooms as a teaching tool. The focus of both the initial pilot study and ongoing research is to improve the use of Second Life as a pedagogical tool in constructive learning through communication and feedback between preservice teachers and academics. The Pilot Study aimed to establish whether the novice Second Life academic and students believed that the virtual world was an engaging and effective place to learn and whether real life activities could be duplicated or improved in the virtual environment. Research Methodology A virtual classroom was created in Second Life based on real life classrooms (see Image 3). While a virtual world allows almost unlimited imagination, a fact that would have allowed a fantasy classroom to be created, the Second Life classroom was based on the physical structure of a real life classroom so that skills learnt in the virtual environment were transferable to use in real life teaching and vice versa. For this reason, Jass created a virtual classroom complete with children’s drawings on the walls, tables, chairs and whiteboard as would be found in a real classroom. A teacher’s desk and chair were also placed at the front of the room, near the whiteboard.

Image 3: Virtual Classroom in Second Life.


A virtual playground was also created with similar equipment to that found in many school playgrounds. Most of the equipment was interactive and students could play on the equipment if desired. There were swings, climbing frames, slides, seesaws, skipping games, balls for kicking or moving, chess and Uno. The playground can be seen in Image 4. The students were encouraged to experiment with the equipment and play as if they were children in a playground.

Forty avatars were created for student use and divided into four groups. Students were placed into groups of a maximum of six students so that they could role-play de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats in the virtual world. Student avatars were only members of one group which enabled

group conversations without disturbing other groups during their discussions. Two weeks after the real life de Bono workshops, the students entered Second Life to interact with the environment and undertook de Bono’s role-play exercises as they had done in the real life workshop. They examined the Second Life classroom and playground and discussed how they felt about the environment. Each workshop was divided into approximately 24 students who were further divided into groups of six so they could role-play using a coloured hat. Within the one workshop there were four groups of six students. The topic for discussion in the Second Life classroom was ‘How engaging is the use of a virtual world for learning and teaching?' During the Second Life workshop, students did not rotate hats but only role-played with one hat. During real life and Second Life workshops, when students wore a certain coloured hat they took on the following roles: informative (white hat), constructive (yellow hat), creative (green hat), cautious (black hat), intuitive (red hat) or reflective (blue hat). The questions and responses that they needed to pose to the others in their group as part of their ‘hat’ persona are outlined in Image 5.

Image 4: Virtual School Playground


Students were prepared for their experience in a virtual world through a lecture conducted prior to attending the Second Life workshop. Students were taught how to speak to each other via text in local and group chat (equivalent to Instant Messaging). They were taught how to function in the environment by learning how to walk, talk, use the play equipment, sit at the desks and put the hats on so that they could begin role-playing. Students were also taught how to talk in group chat so that only Tamsyn, Jass and the people in their own group could hear (read) the conversation. Communication with students was via text in the local chat window so that they could all hear (see) what everyone was saying (typing). However, when the students were undertaking their de Bono activities they only spoke with their group. Other groups could not hear (read) the conversation and were not given access to be able to do so. This method ensured that students of other groups did not interrupt other students in their role-play activity nor could they copy what other groups were doing. This is something that cannot be done in a similar real life situation because when students are in the same vicinity they hear what is happening in the other groups. Second Life provides a better learning environment for these types of role-playing activities. Students and academics were given a survey to complete at the end of each workshop. The surveys were paper based. Students, academic and observers (researcher and another academic) were to complete the survey seeking to clarify opinions on each type of engagement (affective, behavioural and cognitive). Data was recorded on a 5 point Likert Scale with a section for further comments.

Image 5: Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats Question in Second Life: ‘How engaging is the use of a virtual world for learning and teaching?'


Students were observed during their participation in both the real and the Second Life workshops and all online dialogue was recorded for analysis. This enabled gathering of data from several different angles. Undertaking both quantitative and qualitative research triangulated the data collection methodology. The responses to the surveys assisted in further refinement of the activities in both real life and Second Life. Research Findings The research findings are outlined in the tables following. Overall, students found that the real life workshops were enjoyable and that they learnt a great deal about de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats. As the workshop was interactive and required participation from all students, they felt engaged in the sessions. Students in the Second Life workshops were participating in the virtual world for their first time and at first found the experience surreal and difficult. However, as they became more used to operating their avatar in the virtual world, they were able to undertake the task at hand more easily. Table 1 and 2 give an overview of the total number of students who participated and how many were in each group. There was a total of a possible 98 students able to participate in the sessions. In the real life sessions, 89 students participated in the de Bono workshop and 98 in the Second Life de Bono workshop. Groups were distributed evenly with up to 24 students in each group and the table indicates the number of students who participated in both sessions. Table 1 Number of students in each of the Real Life and Second Life workshops and their breakdown into gender and group numbers. Total students Real Life Second Life Total Number 89 98 Male 20 18 Female 69 75 Number of students in each group Group 1 18 16 Group 2 16 19 Group 3 19 20 Group 4 19 22 Group 5 16 17 Number of the same students who participated in both sessions Group 1 13 Group 2 15 Group 3 17 Group 4 19 Group 5 15 Students were requested to complete surveys at the conclusion of both the real life and Second Life workshops. The questions asked were: On a scale of 1 to 5 (outlined in Table 2 below), please indicate the following:

1. How much effort did I put into my learning? 2. How interested was I in what I was learning? 3. How engaged was I in what I was learning? 4. How difficult did I find the concept to understand

The results indicated that students gave a similar response to the questions asked during both sessions (average), although it can be seen that there were students who didn’t enjoy the opportunity of participating in a virtual world workshop. These


students stated that they would prefer traditional means of teaching face to face with students and didn’t enjoy their experience in the virtual world. Table 2 Results of student feedback on workshops - What students thought of the different de Bono Workshops Questions Asked in Surveys (Average of groups combined)

Real Life (Av)

Min Max StDev Second Life (Av)

Min Max StDev

How much effort did I put into my learning? (1 none- 5 as much as possible)

3.81 2.8 5.0 0.7 3.69 2.0 4.8 0.8

How interested was I in what I was learning? (1 not interested at all – 5 really interested)

3.57 3.19 2.0 0.9 3.19 1.6 5.0 1.0

How engaged was I in what I was learning? (1 rarely engaged – 5 always engaged)

3.76 2.2 4.8 0.9 3.40 1.4 4.8 1.0

How difficult did I find the concept to understand (1 extremely challenging - 5 very easy)

3.45 2.0 5.0 0.8 3.17 1.4 4.4 0.8

Students were asked to comment on their experiences in the real life de Bono workshop and the Second Life de Bono workshop. Below is a summary of the number of students who commented on both the workshops they attended. Table 3 Number of students who made comments on both sessions, including number of students who made a more positive response towards the Second Life workshop compared to the real life workshop Real Life and Second Life de Bono

Total number of students responding to both sessions

How many students indicated a more positive response

towards Second Life (in at least one area)

Group 1 13 5 Group 2 15 6 Group 3 17 10 Group 4 19 12 Group 5 15 6 Students were asked to provide any further comments about their experiences in the real life and Second Life de Bono sessions. In Table 4 below are the comments made by students where they provided comments from each session they attended. These comments are compared with each other (ie each row is a comment from an individual student from their perspective of the real life de Bono workshop and the Second Life de Bono workshop). The comments indicate that some students preferred the traditional face to face lesson, others could see the benefits of using a virtual world in the right circumstances.


Table 4 Comments by the same students on their experiences in the real life de Bono workshop and the Second Life de Bono workshop Comparison of Comments from RL and SL de Bono (from the same students) Real Life Second Life It was interesting to learn about the six hats as this was the first time I have encountered the theory

It was a good example of where technology is heading.

I found it really enjoyable and engaging. Great job! -:)

It was okay, but I think it just encourages more computer games. Get kids out of doing stuff.

It was really good to allow us the chance to use the hats for ourselves because it gives us better opportunities when we teach it to the students.

I don't think that it will work because the kids will focus more on the technological side of things. They will also get bored if they use it all the time.

Some "hats" were more involved and engaged than others, which made it hard at times.

Once everyone got used to it and calmed down, it started to work.

Enjoyed wearing the hat and changing roles. Really helpful and insightful.

I have fun talking to everyone and not knowing who they were (sometimes when you know who it was you could be bias to what they have to say). I enjoyed myself. You should do this again.

I have a better understanding of de Bono's hats. Cheers.

It could be useful in the future but not at the moment.

I enjoyed playing in a character and wearing a hat. It was fun but informative at the same time.

We didn't have a great amount of time, I believe, to use it as an educational tool. If we had more time or had used it previously, then it would be a good educational tool. It was interesting as I have never used it before.

The hats were awesome and very practical. It was exciting that the class was not to talk. I will use these hats in my classroom. I think it helps understand the topic studied more.

It'd be fun. I think kids would be distracted the first lot of times there were in. It'd be good if there's something interesting on in Sydney and you could attend on the internet! Cool. Something different. At least it isn't just another essay!

I liked the idea of physically using the hats. Very interesting and fun.

I enjoyed the interactive side of the software. I like Second Life, but if you tried to use something like this in the classroom, it may be a bit distracting for the students. It was different, but fun. It was also different in not being able to physically talk to each other, however, I like the interactive objects

Talking about the hats as the topic when using the hats was very confusing at first.

Everyone would need thorough training, especially if this was used with externals and as with computers there are always bugs and issues.

It was quite fun and enjoyable and quite informative.

It was enjoyable. I learnt a lot about the application and its uses. It was very effective but as we didn't know who other people are was unsure who to talk to.

Helped to further extend my knowledge on the six hats -:).

It was very interesting and fun -:)

This lesson was very engaging and assisted in a full understanding of the topic.

It is very engaging once you understand it.

I found the concept easy to understand but I observed that others didn't. It was an effective technique to engage us on the topic.

It is good, however, I think it is very impersonal learning. For distance students it would be good.

Found it confusing at the start but once we started I understood the concepts.

I can see how it could be a good tool, mostly for distance education though. Took a bit to get used to, but with lessons I think it would be easy to catch on.

Personally, I have never seen it in a classroom and probably won't use it.

I don't see myself using this in the future. I just don't like the fact a computer teaching children rather than face to face.

I really enjoyed wearing the hats. It helped think about the hats in another light.

I enjoyed playing on Second Life. Maybe if I had more time to fiddle I would use it as an


The academic who conducted both real life and Second Life sessions was also requested to complete a survey, along with an observer and the other researcher who was also an observer. Table 5 is an overview of the academic’s perceptions of student engagement in the workshops. Questions asked of the academic in the survey were, on a scale of 1 to 5 where; 1-never, 2-rarely, 3-sometimes, 4-mostly, 5-always, please rate each student in relation to the following: Persistence:

• Finds ways to overcome problems during learning Attitude:

• Positive attitude to tasks, teacher and peers Independent Learning:

• Able to extend discussions based on responses within the group The academic, a novice to teaching in Second Life, found that she improved in her ability to teach in the virtual world with each subsequent workshop. The academic’s perceptions were that each workshop was better than the previous one, until the last workshop. This workshop was conducted directly after the previous one and she felt that she was exhausted and not as perceptive to student needs in the final workshop. These feelings were reflected in her belief of how well the workshop flowed and how the students responded to their activities in the virtual world. By comparing the academic’s observations in Table 5 with students’ perceptions in Table 3 there is a positive correlation to perceptions of using virtual worlds as a teaching and learning tool from Groups 3 and 4 by both students and academic. The academic felt the workshops “got better” as the week progressed and that workshops 3 and 4 were the best, which was supported by student perception data. Table 5 Academic feedback on perceptions of student engagement in the real life (RL) and Second Life (SL) workshops. Lecture

Feedback RL SL RL SL RL SL

Persistence Positive Difference

Attitude Positive Difference

Self Regulation Positive Difference

Group 1 3.4 1.5 3.4 1.8 3.4 1.8 Group 2 4.0 2.5 4.0 2.5 4.2 3.0 Group 3 3.8 4.0 3.3 4.0 3.2 4.0 Group 4 2.5 3.0 2.5 3.8 2.5 3.5 Group 5 3.8 2.5 3.7 2.3 4.3 2.0

Good follow on lesson from the lecture. Easier to understand/remember. Handout is very useful.

I thought it was good. Once the hype slowed down, we had some good points. It was engaging and constant, meaning the interaction levels were high. I liked it. I think it could work well, so long as it was scaffold effectively. Students need to know the point of what they are doing.

I find functional learning most effective. I enjoyed it.

There are pros and cons. It's always good to experience new concepts/technology to expand one's knowledge base. I see how it would/could be interesting to implement in the classroom. There would be a place for this in the classroom, but I don't think you would use it all the time. Great for feeling "included" as a long distance student and for a teacher to witness the contributions of an otherwise shy student. Good fun. I found it frustrating at first, but after I had the hand of it, was engaged...


Future As a comment from a student states, if the session is scaffolded properly, then it will work better. On reflection, this is what the Second Life sessions required more of. Unfortunately, during the semester, the academic who was to conduct the workshops was unable to participate at the required times and consequently the lecture on how to operate in the virtual world was given to the students a month prior to students actually logging in and using the virtual world. In future, these two sessions will be conducted a week apart so that students can see the fundamentals, as a group, on what to expect in the virtual world and how to operate their avatar. Two shorter workshops in the virtual world will be conducted instead of one longer one. The first will be so that they can familiarise themselves with the environment and the second will be undertaking the workshop on de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats. Results have been presented to interested academics within the university. This will be followed by professional development sessions for interested academics within the School of Education to provide ideas on how they could conduct sessions in the virtual world of Second Life to enable them to understand how they could use the environment in their teaching. Further role-playing scenarios will be created for students enabling them go into Second Life and interact with the environment, without the need of other students or academics providing asynchronous learning. Automated responses will be created from robotic (bots) students in the classroom so that the student can learn different teaching strategies. Conclusion/Recommendations As the Second Life classroom and playground proved to be a successful learning environment, strategies will be put in place to extend the research to professional experience students using the classroom as a teaching room in order to develop their teaching repertoire. Analysis of the results provide a positive reflection on Second Life as a teaching aid, particularly for novice users of Second Life, both academic and students, and discerns how it might be used as an alternative teaching aid in a variety of contexts. These will be explored in future projects. References Collins, C. (2008, November 29). AVWW 2008 Program, Australasian Virtual

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