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Pre1suf

Adopters, Adoption, and

Perceived Attributes

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Pre2sufEarly Adopters

Educators for Professional development ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) and

ASTD (The American Society for Training and Development) were two leaders

Educators conduct classes, collaborate with peers, and participate in conferences

Military: For professional Development, teleconfrencing, role-playing, simulation, and recruiting

Universities, secondary schools and corporations are beginning to adopt virtual worlds for learning

Tours, treasure hunts, and collaborative projects are among the strategies engaged in with in the Virtual World

Virtual Worlds create a “power of presence”, offer apprentice type exercises, and authentic experiences through role play

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Pre3sufAdoption Phase of Virtual Worlds

According to Wienes, Virtual Worlds in the workplace are coming down from the hype bubble and are entering the early adoption phase

Virtual Worlds on are on the verge of expansion

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Pre4sufMoving Toward Adopting Virtual Worlds

The key elements that lead to failure are a focus on the technology instead of the users and their needs and a lack of strategic planning

There needs to be an objective and a goal to increase the adoption of Virtual Worlds

Moving 2-D technology into a 3-D environment

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Pre5sufWays to Succeed with Adoption

Based off the work of Badger (2008)

Define your use case Consider your team members skills Use the crawl-walk-run approach Provide tutorials and training

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Pre6sufLaggards

At this time, laggards are hard to determine since we are so early in the adoption phase

Most organizations drop the use of Virtual Worlds within 18 months if they do not feel success

These are likely to be the individuals that will be difficult to pull back into the use of Virtual Worlds

Within the school, teachers who do not have strong technology backgrounds or interest in technology will probably be among the last to adopt the technology

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Pre7sufEncouraging Laggards

Have a monthly newsletter with progress and success stories

Provide tutorials to make the transition easier Utilize user friendly Virtual Worlds Train mentors to assist those who struggle Invest in and recruit the top 20% of interested

teachers into the program Begin providing some professional development

and teacher meetings in a Virtual Environment Have someone available to answer questions in a

very timely manner

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Pre8sufUse of Perceived Attributes

There were many expectations of the virtual environment when it was introduced

Consumers were expecting to be in 3-D worlds were they were interacting with an imaginary world through all of their senses

The advancement of the technology has been much slower, so many have displaced disappointment toward the technology

We have to embrace the technology where it is in its advancement and grow with it to form a strong tie with the Virtual World and education

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Pre9sufRodger’s Perceived Attributes and the Virtual

World Relative Advantage: Flexibility of schedule; Parents can participate

around their schedule

Compatibility: The teachers the parents interact with will be the teachers that the parents already know. The children will be familiar with the Virtual World and will have a common knowledge of how to navigate to collaborate with parents.

Complexity: This may be the first time parents work with this technology. There will have to be tutorials and face to face demonstrations to introduce them to the process. There will also have to be answers to questions that are quick.

Trialability: There will be no cost to parents. They will be able to experiment and utilize the technology at no cost other than their time in getting familiar with the program.

Observability: There will be tutorials and mentoring available to the parents. The