Paving a Path for the use of Virtual Worlds in the School

Transcription of Video

Shannon Gray

Hello I would like to take this opportunity to thank the board members for considering my proposal this evening when I am proposing is a pilot program to look at using virtual worlds to create parent centers. Virtual worlds are an upcoming innovation that will make parent centers available to meet the schedules of our busy parents. I would like to explain to you how this fits into our school financially. It would cost roughly $5000 per school to have our parent centers virtually. However, if we are paying our parent coordinators $12 an hour that comes out to roughly $18,000 a year; if the pilot is successful one parent coordinator would be needed for five schools. They would be at each school one day per week. The costs of the four additional parent coordinators would be $72,000 a year. To have the virtual world and all five schools it would cost $25,000 a year. That is a savings for the school of $47,000. At this time, I would like to present to you the innovation that I would like you to consider.

I would like to begin with a tour of the virtual world in Active Life. This particular clip is an example of a college, Appalachian State University, and their online campus. This is an example of their information garden where students go to gather information on topics like writing, or they can go and “sit” to listen to books or to read. This gives you an example of what can be built in World and how an area could be set up for parents. There are really numerous opportunities. If we can think it, then it can be created. A Virtual World can be a very inviting place for parents. We can also set up area for parents to collaborate with their children.

Next, I'm going to share with you the innovation and development process of virtual worlds as based on the work of Everett Rogers. Let's first look at the need for virtual worlds and schools. As educators we are required to have parent involvement at our school. Parents need 24 seven access to it the school; Teachers also need to collaborate with parent and it would be helpful to parents if all the information a teacher shares are in one place. Parents need to feel part of the school process. They need to fill supported the have resources available. They need to feel confident in the school and they need the school to be available to them.

The beginnings of virtual worlds have a long history and have been met with many obstacles along the way. In 1950 Morden heilig developed Sensorama: a motorcycle riding experience where the wind was blowing in your face, the seat vibrated, and there was a 3-D view. His plan was to create theaters of the future. The issue with this is that with high cost, he couldn't find financers, and he lacked a social system

In 1961 Philco Corporation created the first head mounted display unit. They used a closed-circuit video system to project and show an image. However, computers and image creation were not yet available.

In 1968 Ivan Sutherland created the first virtual reality headset, and was completely generated by computer him as a very lifelike in depth. The issue was that the head mounted display was extremely heavy and had to be hung from the ceiling First virtual-reality headset called ultimate display.

Most of the 1980s were spent working on flight simulators for the U.S. Army and computers began to get faster and have more memory. In 1984 Michael McGeevy envisioned and created the human computer interface and got the attention of the media and respect virtual-reality. However the media presented virtual-reality in a way because people to have unrealistic expectations for virtual-reality and this caused them to not believe in effectiveness.

In the 1990s this perception of virtual-reality continued in the public eye, however, virtual-reality has moved on and it is used for entertainment, training, research, and education. The issue is that it is more or less taking place behind closed doors, but is slowly beginning to get some attention.

Today, virtual-reality is being integrated into many arenas these include: virtual worlds, augmented reality, virtual pets, 3-D graphics, HD video backgrounds, video animation, virtual doors, 360° display and training.

I would like to share what research has to say about active world the virtual world that I am proposing for the pilot study. Virtual worlds are bottom-up diffusion. Active world is an open source software developed at Indiana University. This world allows researchers to look at diffusion patterns in a virtual environment. There are currently 80 education world in active world. The activities range from interaction, experimentation, meetings, and projects. Educational packaging prices are available and there is support for educators in the active world educational universe.

In looking at the production, manufacturing, and distribution of this innovation one must realize that virtual worlds are were the World Wide Web was in the early 1990s, when most people did not fully grasp or anticipate what the business implications would be and when performance, lack of applications, and poor usability hampered mass market adoption. Virtual worlds continue to gain popularity in training, marketing goods, interactive areas for collaboration, economic trade, and educational environment. The most widely spread commercialization at this time is with the younger generation: Open Sims, PlayStation, Wii, Webkinz and such. It is likely that as the next-generation proceeds, and technology advances, it will bring the virtual world into all aspects of our lives creating a social shift within society.

The following is a timeline showing the evolution of virtual worlds. The 1960s to the 1980s demonstrate the knowledge level of the diffusion process. This is when an idea is exposed and an understanding of an innovation is created. In the 1970s knowledge of virtual technology began to emerge through flight simulators and the capability to replace videos and models for training.

As we reached the 1980s we see evidence of the persuasion stage this is when favorable and unfavorable attitudes are formed toward an innovation. In the 1980s high-performance computers became available; this provided memory and speed needed for programmers to begin establishing virtual worlds. However, this technology was still very expensive and had not yet reached into the home. This is also the time when the World Wide Web became available.

In the 1990s we began to see early adopters and this reflects the decision stage of innovation. In the 1990s the first virtual world chat became available on the web. A world in 1995 provided a 2-D shared room where people could meet and chat for social interactions with avatars and to imitate social interaction. There were also the rudiments of building in the world. In the late 1990s Contact Consortium held its first conference called Earth to avatars with 450 attendees. By the end of the 1990s investors began to lose interest. There was a question at this time if virtual worlds were going to be successful. However, social networking came to the rescue and lead to games like ever quest and World of Warcraft at the end of the 1990s.

The 2000’s ushered in the implementation stage; this is when individuals put an innovation to use. In 2003 Second Life was launched as a beta program and regenerated virtual worlds. In 2009 the economy of Second Life grew 65% to $567 million. Virtual worlds have not made it mainstream yet games like World of Warcraft are where the largest implementation can be found.

The confirmation stage is when an innovation has been accepted in the mainstream. This is a future stage for virtual worlds. However, in the near future virtual world technology will be connected to GPS technology. You will be able to find friends in a crowd of avatars by following your phone. Such additions to this innovation will help it be seen in the mainstream.

This S-curve was created in by the CEO of Second Life, Mark Kingdon. He created the chart to show that the number of users and virtual worlds are increasing. The numbers are repeat users and not new sign ups. Though this is not the actual virtual world being utilized, it shows that there is more interest and use of virtual worlds. Data on virtual world is still very broad, and difficult to collect. I believe that this is because it is still in the early emergent stage overall. Most of the users represented on this chart would be innovators and early adopters, and maybe early majority. The technology is not diffused enough to represent the late majority. This is shown in the numbers. In comparison to other innovations which have users in the billion, virtual worlds are still in the thousands. However, I believe that the potential to impact society is just beginning to get recognized. The educational use of this technology could play a major role in the diffusion of this technology.

Next, I would like to look at the adopter’s, adoption, and perceived attribute of virtual worlds. Early adopters include educators for professional development, organizations such as is deemed, the international Society for technology in education and, ASTD, the American Society for training and development. Educators conduct classes, collaborate with peers, and participate in conferences. The military use virtual worlds for professional development teleconferencing, 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 virtual worlds. Virtual worlds create a power of presence, offer apprentice type exercise, and authentic experiences through role-play.

This chart shows the adoption phase of virtual worlds. According to Wienes, virtual worlds in the workplace are coming down from the hype bubble and are entering into the early adoption phase for a universal audience. Virtual worlds are on the verge of expansion.

When looking at moving toward adopting virtual worlds, the key elements that lead to failure are a focus on the technology instead of the user and their needs. There needs to be an objective and goal to increase the adoption of virtual worlds. The goal is to move 2D technology into a 3D environment. Badger, 2008, suggests four strategies for being successful when introducing an innovation for adoption. I would recommend that these steps are followed if we proceed with the pilot study. First we need to define our case, consider the team members skills, use a crawl and walk then run approach, and provide tutorials and training.

Every innovation has laggards. At this time with the virtual world, 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 successful. These are individual that will likely be hard 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 virtual worlds.

We will be able to encourage laggards by having a monthly newsletter with progress and success stories, by providing tutorials to make the transition easier. We can also utilize user-friendly virtual worlds, trained mentors to assist those who struggle, invest in and recruit the top 20% of interested teachers into the program. We can also begin providing professional development and teacher meetings in a virtual environment. There should also be someone available to answer questions in a very timely manner.

I would now like to focus on the use of perceived attribute. There were many expectations of virtual environments when they were introduced. Consumers were expecting to be in 3D worlds where they were interacting with an imaginary world through all of their senses. The advancement of 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 growth in order to form a strong tie with the virtual world and education.

Looking at the five perceived attribute of the virtual world as proposed by Rogers, the relative advantage of virtual worlds in the school would be the flexibility of scheduling, parents can participate around their schedule. When looking at compatibility, the teachers that parents interact with will be the teachers that parents already know. The children will be familiar with the virtual world and will have a common knowledge of how to navigate it so they can collaborate with their parent. In looking at complexity, this may be the first time parent’s work with this technology. There will have to be tutorials and face-to-face demonstrations to introduce them to the process. They also have to receive answers to questions again in a timely manner. There is no cost to parents; so triability will be easy for them. They will be able to experiment and utilize the technology at no cost other than their time in getting familiar with the program. For observability, there will be tutorials and mentoring available to the parents.

Next, we will look at critical mass: virtual worlds follow a decentralized diffusion system. Virtual world originate from a variety of sources. There are a number of worlds available to meet the needs of users. Virtual worlds, unless utilized in education or corporations are diffused horizontally among users. As users progress in virtual worlds, they reinvent the world. Virtual world users are decision makers who

make many decisions; spontaneous and planned. Virtual world users follow a problem centered approach.

Virtual worlds in the school will follow a centralized plan. The decision on how to design and implement the virtual world used by the school will be made by a committee with input from users. There will be individuals trained to be experts that will mentor others in the school. The building of in world artifacts will be done by designer; however, there will be sandboxes for others to learn how to build to contribute to the virtual world environment. In the beginning, reinvention of the virtual world will be limited; the goal is for this to grow as users become familiar with the technology.

It is speculated that virtual worlds will reach critical mass by 2017. Currently fewer than 10% of virtual world registrants actually become active users; however, this figure is projected to increase to 27% of users by 2017. Virtual worlds such as Sulake’s Habbo Hotel, have registered nearly 100,000,000 registrants, and it had 10 million unique monthly visitors. While Linden Lab, Second Life has a similar pattern, with 12 million registrants and about 1 million active users. The research indicates that virtual worlds represent a massive activity that is growing in Asia, the Americas, and Europe; which so far emphasize an interest that appeal to children and teens. Adult virtual world are beginning to emerge with more social and educational applications.

In looking at reaching critical mass in our school we will utilize those most interested in diffusing the technology to become trained experts in order to mentor and train other individuals in the building. We will market the in world parent center to teachers in a way that creates positive attitudes and share success stories so that they can see the value of virtual worlds. This will be a targeted school so adoption is not an option. Utilizing the technology will be adopted by the school and not the individuals.

In moving towards critical mass in the school, we will uncover the change agent in our school by having a survey that will find out who the key teachers are in respect to adoption of using virtual worlds in the school. The change agents will be trained on both virtual worlds and mentoring for the adoption of the virtual worlds. The change agents will be responsible for diagnosing and sharing any issues and will team to develop a plan to fix the issue. The change agents will help motivate users to utilize the virtual world and will seek ways to recognize those that are strong users. The change agents will help to mentor and facilitate the use of virtual worlds. They will help develop the grade level team and will meet with them monthly to ensure understanding and present strategies. The change agent will help laggards to better utilize the technology through support and reinforcement. And the change agent will eventually step back and become a consultant for the user.

You may be asking why there is a need for a virtual world parent center. Our parents are looking at 24 seven parenting. Our parents work crazy hours, are going to school, and have several family commitments. It is difficult for them to come into the school. Parents are under information overload. We are constantly sending home information on how to help your students learn. This information is coming from different teachers and it is often sat down and forgotten. Parents also may be busy and do not get a chance to check backpacks every night. Some assignments are difficult for parents. Assignments students bring home may be difficult for parents to help them with. We have several

students that are learning English as second language. Parents that are second-language learners may need more time to process information and may fill uncomfortable in the school.

A virtual world parent center will meet these needs in several ways. A virtual world parent center would be available around the clock for parents. They could access information and write questions on listserv within the world to get answers. Their work schedule and commitment to not interfere with finding information. They could sit in the comfort of their home and browse the resources. Teachers compose important information and reminders to send home. Information could be uploaded so the parents can find important announcements, permission slips, homework, and much more. This would keep the information organized and readily available. There will be links to homework help sites within the Virtual World. Parents will be able to find resources that will help their children of homework problems. English language learner parents can take their time and process the information presented. They can look over information that they know what to ask the teacher. As much as possible, information will be available in multiple languages. There'll be links to translation sites to help a parent.

The goal of the school and the requirements of the State are to have parents as active members of our community. We usually see the same parents at the school on a regular basis. This is fantastic and we want to continue to see these parents, but past attempts at getting the parents we don't see in the school there have been unsuccessful. The goal and hope of a Virtual Parent Center is that we will be able to reach the parents that seem to be out of our grasp. A Virtual World may be the opportunity that we need to establish stronger ties with our parents and to build a stronger community.