Second Life at UWE

Just the thought of this question gives me goosebumps! It’s a question being posed by JISC for their blog competition at the JISC 2010 conference, and as this last semester has been such an exciting one with the  Second Life accident investigation I thought I’d have a go at writing some thoughts about the real benefits and significance of what we’ve been doing with online simulations, particularly the Second Life simulation.

Well, I think this blog tells the story of what we have been doing in text, video and pictures. But having the opportunity to reflect on what this all means for me and, most importantly for the students,  is too good to miss.  I guess my major feeling is one of relief! Everything actually worked, both technically and educationally. But most importantly, the use of Second Life has enabled me to solve a real teaching and learning problem – how to effectively facilitate students learning to investigate accidents. The act of accident investigation is complex and integrative, calling upon theories of accident causation, risk control and perception, human error and behaviour, together with  interviewing, investigation, data collection and analysis skills. These theories and skills can be taught individually in a classroom, but it is only when they are all brought together in a real accident investigation that they begin to make sense as an integrated set of skills, and the importance of the underpinning understanding and synthesis becomes clear.

Put bluntly, I can’t do this effectively without technology. Specifically, I can’t do it without the kinds of interactions made possible by virtual worlds and other web 2.0 technologies. For example, the manager  interviewing schedule was run on a wiki; this blog reports and reflects upon how the project is progressing; the students have been discussing risk issues that underpin accident causation on asynchronous discussion boards; email is invaluable (OK, not web 2.0, but still technology!)- need I go on?!

Our first evaluation with the students has been very revealing – some of the early outcomes are discussed in the PowerPoint presentation available from the post below. The most revealing to me is that about 2 thirds of the students were sceptical about using Second Life to carry out this investigation before it got underway, but once they had begun to take part in it, all of them said that it met their learning expectations for accident investigation. Phew!

In summary, I guess my main feeling is that it has been a lot of work for me and my colleagues, and for the students in getting to grips with SL, but it has repaid us in gold. It is also just one example of the kinds of learning simulations that can be so valuably facilitated by technology. We have now got a number of projects coming forward at UWE that will use combinations of technologies, not only Second Life, to facilitate learning simulations like this one. Exciting times!

OK, have to shout success now .  This has been a quite amazing experience for me as a teacher, and from our early evaluations it seems that the students are learning in ways that they are enjoying, and finding helpful, too.  Attached here is a PowerPoint presentation about the project, the week by week detail of how it has run, and the early findings from our evaluation. The picture above is of two of the students interviewing the depot manager of Grive Distribution, following their witness interviews, inspection of the premises and document research.  Fascinating to see how students approached this task and how their interviewing abilities had developed from the first witness interviews. Talk about learning being visible!

Click here for Accident investigation presentation

Warerhouse accident scenario

Well, it all went off really well on the 13th – quite a relief The computers in the PC lab all ran the viewers very well and there was no lag on the island. It was interesting to see how the students and witnesses interacted, and some of the early learning points to emerge. Probably the most important one was to be prepared before you try to undertake an accident investigation! The students’ reflective logs almost all make that point, and I think this is a really good example of the kinds of things that are difficult to learn in the classroom but come out well in simulations. As they collect more information from inspection, further interviews and documentary evidence, the case will get more complicated. Some students are already applying Fault Tree Analysis analytical techniques to the data they have collected so far, with some impressive results. I’m nervous of shouting “success!” just yet, but might do before long

Warehouse accident simulation

The accident simulator is now in use with students on the MSc in Environmental Health.  Three volunteers from outside the course have “witnessed” the accident in SL and will be interviewed inworld by the students on Friday this week (the 13th ). The students will also inspect the premises and collect documentation about the company that will help them to begin their investigation. They can revisit the site to take photographs at any time in the future as the simulation will be left in aftermath mode, and the depot manager will be available in a few weeks time for interviews too. So, it should all build into a case where the theory of risk and accident causation/investigation can be applied to the case and form the vehicle for the students’ reflection and evidence of learning portfolio, which is summatively assessed. I’ll be puting posts on this blog as the case goes along.

Oh dear. Due to having too few registrations I’ve had to reschedule the planned SHE09 conference into 2010. Don’t know exactly when it will be, but we may make it part of a wider workplace learning conference that explores that potential of real-life simulations in supporting learning in the workplace. And, forming a bridge between theory and practice.

Just sitting here sipping coffee in the evening sunshine.

We’re holding a one day conference workshop on simulations in higher education on 5th November 2009. The conference website gives you all the details, the call for presentations, the price and the registration process. Why not enter a presentation submission if you have any experiences in using simulations for teaching and learning?

Jim Vanides, who works in worldwide education strategy with HPs Global Social Investment initiatives, has written a posting on his blog about a meeting we had in SL and a demo of the simulator. It’s a really nice posting and his blog is really full of great ideas and reports from work in education, so I’m putting a link to it here.

I went to demonstrate the accident simulator to the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health in Leicester this week, and they very kindly recorded an interview for their YouTube channel. They have been really supportive, so I wanted to say a big thank you for that. Here’s the video of the interview. Isn’t it weird to see yourself? I look a bit Quasimodoish here. I really do have shoulders

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