Learning System for Virtual Environments

Using Sloodle: Dubai-Korea Virtual Cultural Exchange Using Sloodle to support learning and teaching

We look at a class taught across two institutions in Korea and Dubai, illustrating how Sloodle can be used to enhance learning and teaching activities that are using Second Life®. Second Life (and Sloodle) formed only one component of the class – and we see how Second Life/Sloodle may

be used alongside a range of other communications technologies in designing and supporting engaging learning experiences.

Second Life® and SL™ are trademarks of Linden Research, Inc.

Sloodle is funded and supported by Eduserv

Sloodle is supported by the San Jos÷ State University School of Library and

Information Science

Sloodle is supported by the University of the West of Scotland

Sloodle is an Open-Source project, released under GNU Public License. More

details at http://www.sloodle.org

In the following case study you will see the following symbols used: � This is a note, and may indicate an alternative use of Sloodle or other

aside.

� Good practice tip – a tip which might make running a class with Second Life and Sloodle go more smoothly.

Dubai-Korea Virtual Cultural Exchange The Dubai-Korea Virtual Cultural Exchange program, which took place in the spring of 2008, was a unique program which utilised a wide range of

modern information and communications technologies to bring together learners from two distant nations.

Chris Surridge at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and Nicole Shammas at Dubai Women’s College (DWC), designed

and deployed a seven-week course where students were able to work

together in international groups to learn about each other. The students involved at both institutions were learning English as a second language – and working together with other students where the only common language was English helped the students experience a motivated, meaningful

community of practice. To support both student interactions and provide support for learning a wide range of technologies were used – the Moodle web-based learning management system, podcasts, video conferencing and the virtual world of

Second Life. Moodle formed a single point of entry for all the varied class activities, integration with Second Life being supported by ‘Sloodle’ – an object-oriented dynamic learning environment for Second Life.

Setting Up Preparations for the course included setting up a small, dedicated, Moodle

site for the class. This included placing links to appropriate Second Life tutorials in prominent positions on the front page – one benefit of having

a dedicated class Moodle being that the front page matter could be specific to that one class.

The Moodle site used the ‘Kubrick’ theme, which has a less formal and

friendlier feel than many of the alternatives.

Getting to Know You At the start of the session, the classes at KAIST and DWC were each split into five groups, which were then paired with a group from the other institution. The first challenge for each pair of groups was to find out a little

about each other. For this activity the groups communicated via pre-recorded audio files, co-ordinated by placing the audio files in a Moodle audio forum (using Moodle plug-in module “Audio Recorder 1.1”). This

activity resulted in a rapid, asynchronous voice-based conversation that

stretched over several weeks.

Students were tasked to not only ask relevant questions, but to respond

with answers which were personal and genuine. The pronunciation differences between the sides required the students to develop their abilities to repair and maintain what could have been a faltering conversation. Skills of planned interaction, topic selection, response-consideration and

communication maintenance were intentionally built into the activity to develop students’ self-sufficiency in English.

Getting to Know All About You For the following activity, each side

prepared a ‘culture capsule’ containing a number of small objects to represent

their culture. These were posted to the other country, and opened in a live

video-conferencing session. For the first time, students were able to see

and hear each other ‘live’. As objects were taken from the

capsules, students asked and answered questions about the

contents and their relevance. This gift-giving activity emphasised the personal nature of the program

and acted as a trust and friendship building exercise.

This live video conference was then followed by another asynchronous activity: a video exchange, where each group of students prepared small

videos of their own choosing to illustrate their college life.

Getting to Know You (Virtually) The next activity for the students was to meet in Second Life. Video tutorials on registering for, and more generally about, Second Life were accessible

from the course home page and helped students get started. For this first session in Second Life, three of the core Sloodle tools were used – Access

Checker, Object Distributor and Web-Intercom.

Registering Second Life Avatars with Moodle

At the start of the class, students were asked to walk their avatars into, and out of, a large transparent pink cylinder – the Sloodle Access Checker (seen in the third image below). On doing so, a URL prompt appeared, taking students to a Moodle web-page. This simple process is used in Sloodle to

record a Moodle user’s avatar details – after which any Second Life interactions with Sloodle objects can be correctly attributed to the corresponding student.

� In the example here, students were logged into Moodle before starting

Second Life. Following the URL prompt in Second Life took students directly to the avatar registration page – which then simply required

them to click an ‘OK’ button. If they had not been logged into Moodle already, they would first be re-directed to a login page and then to the

avatar registration page. This ensures that a student has an account on the learning management system before they can add avatar

details, helping to verify their identity. � In the latest release of Sloodle, the Access Checker had been replaced

with an enrolment/registration ‘booth’ – which students click on to register their avatars. The booths themselves are full permission, and can be modified with institutional logos and colours.

Building an Inventory – the Object Distributor The Object Distributor is an Second Life distribution system which can be accessed from Moodle. In Second Life, a distributor was set up prior to the

class coming to Second Life and a large and varied array of free items – clothing, custom avatars and accessories – placed inside for students to play with and explore.

Students then spent a portion of their time browsing the list of objects and

selecting ones of interest via a Moodle web-page – and subsequent time discussing and showing off their new items.

� The Object Distributor also allows a teacher to send items to student

avatars via Moodle without having to login to Second Life. � Chris had taken time before class to put together a varied and

interesting collection of items – giving the students instant access to a pre-vetted inventory when they started Second Life with their own

accounts.

Real-time written conversation The next activity for the students was a Second Life text-chat

discussion in their group pairs. This activity allowed students to practice their written English skills in an informal and real-time setting. Each

group pair was directed to a different area where a Sloodle Web-

Intercom was waiting – by clicking on the Intercom, student chat was

mirrored to a corresponding Moodle chatroom, and archived there.

� Second Life terms-of-service require that permission is obtained before logging chat, and this is requested when the intercom is clicked

on. The intercom only records chat from avatars who agree to the logging.

Using the Web-Intercom was straightforward, and provided a significant

benefit to the students – the ability to review their chats after the fact. Viewing an archived chat is achieved by logging into Moodle, visiting the

relevant chat-room and clicking on a link labelled “View past chat sessions”. This was particularly helpful, as students were able to review their chat messages and see where communication succeeded or broke down. It also provided review material for further interactions. The final three sessions of

the class (which took place over seven weeks) were all conducted using

Second Life.

Summary In a staged program, Second Life was used for the final activities in a seven week class. All class activities – including those using Second Life – were

focussed on student-student interactions, as students in Korea and Dubai were given a range of opportunities to learn about one another, providing a

genuine motivation and context for learning English. The Sloodle tools worked well, and students did not need to do anything

more challenging than click on an object in Second Life to use them. Having

the Sloodle tools configured and set-up prior to the class use of Second Life was key to the successful use of the tools. Students actively used the Sloodle Web-Intercom to support their learning. The Sloodle Object Distributor provided an easy means for students locked

into a private island to have access to a varied and pre-selected inventory of fun and interesting objects to play with and talk about. The Sloodle tools may not require weeks of prefacing to be effective, but

embedding the use of the tools in a suitable context and with useful applications is of clear benefit. Motivation and meaningfulness played an enormous role in the effectiveness of these tools in the Dubai-Korea Virtual Cultural Exchange.

More Sloodle This case-study illustrates the use of a subset of the Sloodle tools – other tools (some

released since the study) include a glossary tool, a blogging toolbar/HUD, quiz and voting

tools, and even a prim “dropbox” which integrates with the Moodle

gradebook, helping to make the collection of 3D courseworks as

straightforward as the online collection of written essays.

Visit the Sloodle homepage - http://www.sloodle.org – or come to one of

our regular inworld meetings to learn more.

Getting Started with Sloodle

Sloodle Online – http://www.sloodle.org

Interested and want to know more? Visit the Sloodle project homepage.

Here you’ll find forums for users and developers (all welcome!) as well as Spanish language forums. The forums are active, and most requests for

help are answered within 24 hours, sometimes significantly less.

Via the homepage you’ll also find links to our Wiki (with masses of documentation for educators, students and Moodle administrators) and a number of community produced tutorial videos which can walk you through

the process of downloading, installing and getting started with the Sloodle tools.

Sloodle Inworld

You can also get support for Sloodle inworld – with regular weekly developer meetings and weekly ‘Sloodle 101’ classes open to anyone wanting to learn more. Soon we’ll be relocating to a new sim dedicated to Sloodle, and to

supporting Sloodle users – just use the “Teleport Now” link on the homepage to find the classes.

Sloodle 101 – Wednesdays, 2pm ‘Second Life Time’

Sloodle Developer Meeting – Tuesdays, 2pm ‘Second Life Time’

About Moodle

The Sloodle homepage has been created using Moodle, the open-source learning and content management system. You can learn more about Moodle at http://www.moodle.org/

Moodle is used daily by hundreds of thousands of students worldwide, and is the virtual learning environment of choice for many hundreds of schools, colleges, universities and businesses worldwide.