Avatars Enhance the Language Learning Experience
This week we completed a collaborative activity with the German 3-4 classes and the Dresden Museum in Second Life. Students were able to chat and explore the artwork in the Dresden Museum. The experience provided new insight to the use of virtual worlds and education. My theory for the project was that students would be more inclined to experiment with language when they have an avatar as opposed to when they are in the classroom. I predicted that Second Life and virtual worlds would create a barrier of “self” to enable the students to have a sense of freedom to practice their language. I would like to give a few of my initial thoughts.
The first day I was disappointed because I felt my thesis was going down the drain. The students were enthusiastic, yes, but they spent too much time running, flying and changing their appearance. I felt as though the German teacher and I had to spend most of our time redirecting focus. I was frustrated, but she was not. The German teacher said it would take time for the students to get used to the new environment. I thought the virtual world environment created too many distractions and that learning standards were not being met. I reflected back on an article I read (for the life of me I cannot find who to give the credit to!) and the author explains an observable behavior of one student. When the student walks into the computer classroom, the first things he does are; adjust the mouse, move the monitor to his plane of vision, change the icons on the screen, and change the background to a picture he likes. Once those steps are completed, the student is ready and willing to begin school work. The point the author was making was that students in this generation want customization and want to display a sense of self through the computer. Thinking back on that article, I gave myself another day.
The second day I realized how immersive the virtual world environment can be. The students spoke in German with the Dresden doce
nts in Berlin and with other avatars in England and the Czech Republic. The conversations kept the student engaged and they no longer spent time customizing their avatar. The students had an avatar, a barrier to their true selves and therefore had more of an opportunity to experiment with their language. The virtual environment created an immediate immersible culture for the students to follow. They did not need to pretend they were in “Dresden.” They did not need to simulate real conversation. The students were in a virtual world and had true conversations with others who knew the language. The opportunity to take students to a location where this is all possible was immense!
These are some of my initial thoughts, and I hope that the students themselves will be willing to comment on the experience. I will continue to pursue this concept with our Foreign Language Department because I feel the experience has meaning and validity to provide students a language learning atmosphere.
I liked it a lot. It was an interesting experience that we should do more often. All we need is more time to learn from it.
Tabatha Cramer — December 18, 2008 @ 10:43 am
I believe that this was a good idea, if only we could have had more time. Once we got used to the controls, it was interesting to see what the museum looks like. I would have liked to have gone to more locations instead of just the museum. Overall, I think it is good to show that we are moving further into the ever-advancing world of coputer technology.
john — December 18, 2008 @ 10:44 am
i think that there is great learning potential in second life but i think that you need a fair amount of time to really get use to the controls and the whole idea of second life. once you do get used to it though, it is really cool.
Daniel — December 18, 2008 @ 10:44 am
i really enjoyed working with second life. It was a new and fun experienced that i would love to do again. one thing that would have made it better is if we had more people to speak German to. It would be cool if we could go to other places in Germany also.
Sarah Miller — December 18, 2008 @ 10:45 am
I found that my experience with second life was a lot like a video game. It gave me a chance to expolore our world, virtually. I visited the Dresden museum which was created in second life exactly like it is in the real world. I also had a chance to communicate with people from countries in german. Think about it like a chat program, except you have an avatar that represents you. You can chat with them through texting, or talk with them like in Skype with a microphone. You can even make it like a chat room and have anybody that wants to participate in a discussion through the local chating which sends a message to all users around. With this tool, you could get the opinions of others like you and the opinions of people from foreign countries. You can see everyone else who is online with you and interact with them at any time. The design of the museum adds another interesting aspect (aside from being create after the real museum). You can clikc on a painting or sculpture in the museum and hear a short history or story about that piece. Another option is to pick up a (virtual) headset in the museum and take an audio tour of the museum. Someone spent a lot of time to program that into the game. It was not a one day task for a single person. They tried to make as real as possible. However, there were a few drawbacks, you need a really fast internet connection and a lot of time. which severely limits school usage, atleast in the United States.
Nicholas Steele — December 18, 2008 @ 10:54 am
I think this was a very rewarding experience. Although I wasn’t able to talk to many people, I did watch others have conversations and hear the responses which was cool. I would like to try it again sometime; I just wish we could go somewhere with more people to communicate with.
Stephanie Stimeling — December 18, 2008 @ 12:10 pm
This was so amazing! It was a really neat experience. It was fun, but it was still a learning experience. It was cool because you didn’t have to worry about what you said becuase you weren’t talking directly to the people. They didn’t know who you were and you didn’t know them. It was great for me because I don’t usually just go up to people and talk to them.
Liz — December 18, 2008 @ 12:11 pm
It is not all that advanced. Nintendo and Microsoft have been doiing it for years. Fable, Fable 2, Animal crossing, all examples of this program and they allow for around the world play. They don’t lag and they allow more to be done with less menus crowding everything up.
Nate — December 18, 2008 @ 12:12 pm
I like how we can communicate with people from all over the world. It makes me more comfortable to talk to them without seeing their faces. Sometimes when your talking to someone face to face in a different language you get nervous and mess up, but with this program you can practice talking and not have to worry about making mistakes.
shannon — December 18, 2008 @ 12:12 pm
Its very cool i like it alot. Its a good way to learn a little more german. I like the flying to. I also like talking to people.
Chad — December 18, 2008 @ 12:14 pm
I didn’t like it. It was hard to do stuff.
jurek mills — December 18, 2008 @ 12:15 pm
I liked having an avatar instead of talking to someone face-to-face. When you speak directly to someone in a foreign language, you get nervous about screwing up. But on second life, you’re not talking directly to someone else. Also, if you mess up while you’re typing, you can fix it before anyone else sees it.
Chelsey — December 18, 2008 @ 12:15 pm
I found that SL was very rewadring. I had a conversation with a person from Berlin and I think that this will help me in my German class.
Megan — December 18, 2008 @ 12:15 pm
I think the program has many educational opportunities. we could pick our favorite painting and then write directions to it for other people in our class to use. It was also fun to be able to talk to other people in german. Since you can’t see them you feel equal to them and arent afraid to make mistakes. Even if the person you are talking to is a college professor you wouldn’t know that. With Second Life you don’t have to be nervous.
salena — December 18, 2008 @ 12:19 pm
It was interesting to see how my German 3 and 4 students would respond to this activity. With any technology activity, there is always enthusiasm, and I saw this here instantly. With only one exception, students were comfortable learning computer skills necessary to function quickly in Second Life.
I think a week should be allotted for educational performance to be assessed. Teachers need to monitor the classroom actively to make sure the students stay on task instead of doing social networking. It would be interesting if one computer, the teacher’s up front in the room, could actually monitor this.
Immersion in the language without being face-to-face, pre-guided learning skills that would be used as a daily lesson plan, student-centered learning–all these are possible in SL within a normal classroom period.
This is technology of the future in today’s world. Or, perhaps as one of the student’s above put it, it’s not future technology at all…it’s gaming technology put into the classroom!
Pam Stewart — December 18, 2008 @ 1:06 pm
Very interesting post. I love how you are showing action research truly “in action” by sharing your thinking processes. Your reflections on students spending time “playing” (for lack of a better word) reminds me of using manipulatives with elementary students–you have to give them time to play and discover to “get it out of their system” so they are more likely to be ready to learn the concepts you have to teach. I’m really big into the idea of reflective practice, which you eloquently demonstrate here; your reflection led you to persevere with your original idea. As a literacy coach myself (and former media teacher), I found it interesting that the teacher was not at all frustrated by the students’ focus on the environment, but you were. A juxtaposition of roles in my experience.
Thanks for sharing!
Linda704 — December 28, 2008 @ 10:47 pm
There seems to be a problem with your RSS feed…
I really like your posts and want to put it in my RSS, so I rememeber to check it.
Talia
taliacarbis — January 8, 2009 @ 7:47 pm