Purplegrrl’s Second life

Introduction

The following report is an analysis of the group learning process that occurred while designing an e-learning community for the second assignment for E- learning experience one. The E-learning community /solution that our group (SANJT) designed main purpose was to assist geographically isolated nursing students who attended university at the satellite campus of Southern square University to be able to participate Clinical practice lectures and tutorials held at the central campus of Southern Square University which is located in Lismore without having to leave their home campuses.

To achieve this goal a virtual class room / clinical space would be created in Second Life. As Multi- User Virtual environments such as Second Life are emerging technology the group was fully engaged in the project and were excited about the potential educational opportunities could be create in these spaces.

This report will be divided into three parts:

Firstly I will describe and analysis the group learning process that occurred when creating the SANJT learning solution

Secondly Synthesis of reading and research

Thirdly reflect on how this process can further inform my experiences of learning communities.

Part one- Description and analysis of the group learning process

SANJT was created as a result of the discussions Joseph and I had regarding the various educational opportunities that are currently available in Second Life. As I have a keen interest in Second Life and its educational and social networking uses (as you can see from my various blog posts) and I have studied two different learning communities situated in Second Life, Joseph approached me and asked if I wanted to be in his group to work on creating a learning community in Second Life for our assignment.

Once our group was established we posted a notice on the Ning to see if we could attract any other members. Trent, Sabina, Anne Marie replied. The group name SANJT was chosen (combination of the first letters of our names) and we arranged for our first synchronous meeting on MSN chat to discuss what we wanted to achieve and how we would conduct meeting and collaborate on work.

To facilitate discussion and to establish some ground rules for the group, a group charter was created. Each member had to answer a series of 10 questions detailing their attitudes about group work and their expectations of the project.

This was a valuable exercise as it assisting in creating a group structure, culture and ground rules regarding such things as accountability, how the group should collaborate and measures of success. The group charter is outlined below.

(JY = Joseph Yeo, TM = Trent McAllan, SL = Sabina Levine, NB = Nic Brett)

1. What I like most about group work.
JY: That we can share the workload, learn from each other, tap on expertise of group members, and complement each other.
TM: I enjoy sharing the work load and sharing ideas about reaching a common goal
SL: Certainly enjoy the social aspect of working in a group. Plus if you get good results you have somebody to celebrate your achievement with.
NB: Sharing the load collaborating on new ideas.

2. What I dislike most about group work.
JY: Can be difficult to find the right people to work with, can be hard to organise logistically, some might not pull their weight.
TM: People that say that they will contribute but don’t, group members that miss deadlines.
SL: Coordinating meeting times that suit everyone can be tricky and can take up a lot of time. Also there is a dependency on other group members to do their part and not let you down. Likewise there is a pressure on me to ensure I live up to my side of the bargain.
NB: Finding time to meet not being totally in control of the outcome
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3. What makes a good team player (from your perspective)?
JY: Cooperative, committed to the group objectives, do their part to the best of his/her ability.
TM: People that are not afraid to share ideas, bring ideas to the table, contribute the best way they know how.
SL: A good team player is someone who is open to other people’s ideas. Someone who is also a ‘doer’.
NB: Someone who is willing to listen to others views and take them on board if they are valid. To do things when you say you will

4. What makes a bad team player (from your perspective)?
JY: Opposite of #3, not contributing, not sharing, not doing any work.
TM: Don’t contribute, don’t turn up to meetings, don’t come through with what they commit to
SL: Someone who is full of all the great ideas but no clue as to how to incorporate these.
NB: Someone who does not work.

5. What grade are you hoping to achieve for this part of the project?
JY: At least a distinction!
TM: High credit, distinction
SL: A good mark!
NB: Distinction

6. What are your strengths in relation to this project? Think of this in terms of how you can best contribute.
JY: Organisation, research, writing, graphic design.
TM: Think of this in terms of how you can best contribute - organisation, pick up on technology quickly, presentation mechanics ie putting a presentation together
SL: I usually work easily with others and don’t shy away from my responsibilities.
NB: Think of this in terms of how you can best contribute a good knowledge of Second Life and Second life learning communities

7. What are your weaknesses?
JY: Presentation…never good in public speaking…do I really have to speak in front of these people?!
TM: Putting to much on my plate
SL: Can get bored quickly, so need to stay focused.
NB: Lack of time

8. How would you like to arrange meetings - online or f2f - frequency?
JY: Online to start with, to come up with some meat before we meet f2f to prepare for the presentation.
TM: Online to start and during the week, f2f when possible on weekends and as required as the due date gets closer
SL: Perhaps a mixture of both, although mostly in an on-line from logistical point of view.
NB: Both we have had two in SL two face to face and one on IM

9. How do you think the group should make decisions?
JY: Majority rules…
TM: Majority rules
SL: If time allows perhaps a group vote.
NB: Consensus

10. What if a group member’s work doesn’t meet our standards - how do you think we should deal with this?
JY: I reckon we should be honest and upfront with each other from the start; if someone is not performing, we shouldn’t be afraid to speak out…
TM: Speak up early, it is better to be upfront and honest from the start.
SL: That’s tricky, focus on your role instead and make sure your part is up to the standard. Otherwise say something diplomatically.
NB: Work with them to get it up to standard

After the group charter was created SANJT met for the first time in MSN chat the purpose of this meeting was to establish milestones for the project, dates to meet both in Second Life (If we are studying it we need to experience it) and face to face. We also used this meeting to set up avatars for members of the group who did not have one. At this point Anne Marie had to drop out of the group as her computer did not have the capacity / memory to run Second life.

As Second life is a memory hungry application we incorporated into our design specification that students who where intending to be part of this learning community needed to have access to a computer that was capable of running Second Life as well as running the other tools we where purposing for the project. i.e. Learning Management System (LMS), web conferencing, Instant message, Blogs, del.icio.us, Wiki’s and Email.

The next SANTJ meeting was held in Second Life. The location of this meeting was in the learning community Jokaydia. I had studied this learning community for one of my other assignments and thought it was a good example of an active learning community in Second Life. It also has great places to meet and is an very interactive that would encourage new user or newbies to explore the environment. An added feature was Jokay Wollongong the operator of Jokaydia offered to give our group a tour of the island which made this new learning environment less intimidating.

Some of the members of the group encounted technical difficulties and not all of our group had access to voice chat so it was difficult to communicate.The idea for a computer training program for members of our proposed learning community came from this experience.

Students at the feeder and Central campuses of Southern Square University would be put through an introduction to Second life and online learning solutions the first week that they attended University. They would get assistance to set up their account and avatars and would have simple coaching in how to use the functions and applications in Second Life. They would also be encouraged independent exploration of the tools.

Then next two meetings were face to face These meeting where the most productive as we were not distracted by the new tools that we had been exploring in the previous meeting and could get down to the nitty gritty. In this meeting we brain stormed ideas regarding what type of learning community we wanted to create and explored ways which Second life could be used and generally sharing resources and ideas. Our team worked well and was cohesive unit with shared idea’s and goals. We used both online resources and face to face interactions to effectively create a project which created a model of a learning community using cutting edge emerging technology to achieve learning outcomes.

Part Two-Synthesis of reading and research

Part Three- Reflect on how this process can further inform my experiences of learning communities.