Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Knowledge ...

Klaus Bredl, Amrei Groß and Jane Fleischer
4. Scenarios for <strong>the</strong> Application <strong>of</strong> Knowledge and Learning Settings in a 3D
Virtual Environment
The following scenarios were co-created by media students as prototypical environments to show <strong>the</strong>
prospects <strong>of</strong> combining contexts <strong>of</strong> game-based learning and simulations within virtual worlds.
Initial motivation for developing <strong>the</strong> scenarios came from studying <strong>the</strong> recognized limits <strong>of</strong> e-learning
and knowledge management via a traditional learning platform (like Stud.IP or Moodle) and
information and knowledge management systems − especially <strong>the</strong> limitations <strong>of</strong> synchronous
interactions with <strong>the</strong> participants <strong>of</strong> online courses.
The infrastructure, implementation, potential benefits as well as challenges will be described in more
detail in <strong>the</strong> following section.
4.1 Surrounding <strong>the</strong> Case Study
The infrastructure for <strong>of</strong>fering a knowledge space through a social virtual world is based on a location
in a region in Second Life on a virtual “island”. Thus, it was beneficial for <strong>the</strong> project to search for “a
space” in an academic surrounding. Thus, our university’s virtual environment was placed on <strong>the</strong>
<strong>European</strong> University and on <strong>the</strong> <strong>European</strong> Science Island (Simteach 2011).
Scenario 1 - Learning adventure
In <strong>the</strong> first project, a game accompanying <strong>the</strong> course “Introduction to <strong>the</strong> Methods <strong>of</strong> Empirical
Communication Research” was created. It was designed just like an adventure game and fully
implemented in Second Life. Its framing story reminds somewhat <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> one featured in <strong>the</strong> film
“Shrek”, following well-known fairy tales. The scenarios allows students to explore a “Magic Garden”,
“Sleeping Beauty's Castle”, a “Gingerbread House” and “Rapunzel's Tower”, while answering
questions about empirical communication research and completing different tasks (Bitzer et al. 2010;
Bitzer and Bredl 2010).
While picturing education at a German university, one might think <strong>of</strong> hundreds <strong>of</strong> students sitting in a
class and a pr<strong>of</strong>essor lecturing at <strong>the</strong> front <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> room. One may also think <strong>of</strong> a seminar where
students hold presentations one by one, <strong>the</strong>ir only motivation being to become better presenters.
These students feel more like <strong>the</strong>y have to learn <strong>the</strong> subjects ra<strong>the</strong>r than wanting to learn <strong>the</strong>m.
Most parents want <strong>the</strong>ir children to have fun while learning, but not everyone knows how to go about
this. One possibility is providing children with learning games. A large range <strong>of</strong> games are <strong>of</strong>fered for
students, many <strong>of</strong> which make learning a more attractive venture. Unfortunately, <strong>the</strong>re are only a very
small number <strong>of</strong> equally effective products for university students, since a game cannot be
programmed for only one course. A good alternative would be to use a platform where you can build
whatever you want to without needing to know how to program and without having to invest a lot <strong>of</strong>
money - for example, a virtual world like Second Life. In Second Life, you can easily build on your
ideas and bring your own game concept to life.
Second Life has a lot <strong>of</strong> potential in <strong>the</strong> e-learning field and many different approaches can be made
depending on your instructional design. Moreover, virtual worlds have <strong>the</strong> potential to be highly
immersive and <strong>the</strong> various communication channels <strong>of</strong>fer advanced collaboration possibilities. At <strong>the</strong>
moment, <strong>the</strong>re are two main e-learning settings that can be found in Second Life. On <strong>the</strong> one hand,
<strong>the</strong>re are virtual classrooms where students or people meet and can listen to a presentation or similar.
On <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r hand, <strong>the</strong>re are complex system simulations and premade parts. But <strong>the</strong>re are so many
more possibilities for <strong>the</strong> use <strong>of</strong> virtual worlds for education.
One such option is to connect Second Life with game-based learning and so-called “serious games”
(Abt 1970; Gee 2003).
This is a new and improved concept for an accompanying game to <strong>the</strong> course “Introduction to <strong>the</strong>
Methods <strong>of</strong> Empirical Communication Research” for students <strong>of</strong> Media and Communication. Students
<strong>of</strong> Media and Communication by definition have a high affinity to digital media, and some students are
already acquainted with Second Life –a good premise for learning and creating in virtual worlds.
134