Research issues | Methodology | Rationale | Outcomes and Deliverables | Dissemination

The Research Project

The aim of SEAL is to explore viable and preferred futures for learning in formal education through and with the Second Life environment. SEAL will create communities of learners, teachers, technologists and creative practitioners who will interact in the Second Life environment itself. The events will focus on 'freeing up' of mindsets and working creatively to develop practical, sustainable, , engaging and advanced approaches to using Web2.0 technologies for learning and teaching.

Specifically to:

• Psychology, Community and Transferability
  To what extent do the frameworks, models and behaviours researched for use in asynchronous, text-based bulletin boards, for example, support knowledge sharing and creative collaborative work in Second Life? We understand how to use digital resources as ‘sparks to start a dialogue’ in conventional Virtual Learning Environments (Salmon 2002) - how will these frameworks succeed in Second Life to promote fresh approaches to learning futures? We’ve studied the psychological impact of working in remote groups, but we need to explore how concepts such as the participants’ sense of presence/absence and productive relationships with others change in Second Life .
  
• Visionary Outcomes
  We will test whether SEAL events result in more creative, visionary, implementable and viable plans for future learning (compared to say, running focus groups in face to face environments) and whether we do succeed in surfacing, eliciting authentic 'voices' who are able to provide useful commentary on the future for learning.
  
• Designing for useful SL events
  We will structure events in two ways for comparison. One set will be based on successful models and frameworks used in other online applications or in face to face group work (Jacques and Salmon 2007) and try out known pedagogical models, e.g. problem based learning, discovery learning, knowledge construction. The other set, will engage with Creative Practitioners and futurists to ensure we maximise engagement and value laden productive experience for the SL delegates and develop new grounded models and frameworks for others to try.
  
• Role of facilitation in Second Life
  We will study, identify, and support the role of the Second Life facilitator: We will investigatewhether the role of human/avatar intervention in groups successfully supports productive learning in Web 2.0 (user contributory) environments such as Second Life, and if so, how, including what training and support is needed. We will test and develop and transfer models of practice from other online environments (Salmon 2004)