Second Life at UWE

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

Welcome to the twitter stream for the E-learning Development Unit at the University of the West of England

Here are two machinima, that show the general layout of the island and how the HUD operates.

Island fly-over

HUD controls operation
 

Wow! Manuel and I just back from giving a paper at the AACE EdMedia World conference on technology in education, in Honolulu, Hawai’i. Fantastic location, great conference – see https://www.aace.org/conf/edmedia/ for details of the speakers and all the papers and activities. We were there giving a paper on simulations in HE, inculding our work here in Second Life. If anyone would like a copy of our paper, just click on this link aace-honolulu-09-lf-and-mfp. In the meantime, here are some pics of the location and the event. Be very jealous !