Mixed views on Immersive Education

Here's an interesting debate in the Chronicle of Higher Education about the value of immersive virtual education.

Link to Article

The idea that we should prevent some education from becoming game like and keep the boundaries separated from each other requires thought. I agree there is just no replacement, at present, for replacing traditional methods of teaching like reading academic books and attending lectures but I think immersive 'serious games' can contribute significantly to the current generation of learners. We certainly can't ignore their appeal, the question, as always, is how they can help our students and is this at least as good as existing methods.

Thanks to Aaron E. Walsh for the link.

Autism and Asperger's Research in Second Life

At University of Derby I run a course called 'Autism, Asperger's and ADHD' for Psychology undergraduates. One frequent discussion point is that of the Autistic label and the negative connotations that this has for 'suffers'. What is encouraging is that there is a move to reclaim the label by some Autism advocacy and parent groups. This trend to reframe Autism, not as a disorder, but as a different cognitive style is viewed in different ways across academia and the medical profession.

Parents seem to be divided on the topic as well. There is the diagnostic use of the term 'Autistic Disorder' as a descriptive category (e.g. DSM-IV, ICD-10), but also the more popular use of the term 'Autism' that means different things to different people. Then there is the often inaccurate way the condition is portrayed by the media. Even the words we use to describe a 'condition' or a 'disorder' are influenced by our thinking and our notion of what 'it' is. That's why for me it is vitally important to know what one is referring to when talking about Autism. Are we trying to describe a cluster of co-occurring symptoms or are we trying to give someone a classification, "He's Autistic" or "He's an Aspie" and what purpose does this serve? For research it's important to deal with the symptoms rather than the label. I'm interested in what it means to have a condition on the Autistic spectrum and how virtual worlds like Second Life might be of use to those diagnosed with Autism and Asperger's Syndrome.

The Second Life Group 'Autism Research' is now well established and I've had a number of discussions with people over the past few months about the use of the virtual world by people with Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD). There are a very large number of people with ASD in Second Life and what is apparent is that they are using it for a variety of reasons. Some people I've spoken to with Asperger's Syndrome claim that the text-based nature of the social interactions is a better way to communicate whereas others say it's the game-like quality of the platform that is appealing. There are a few papers recently published on this topic.

I'm currently setting up a research project that is investigating the use of the grid by people with these conditions. I'll post further updates here as the project develops.

Edinburgh University Guidelines for Using External Web 2.0 Services

The University of Edinburgh has recently released a very useful document that will be of value to those working with Second Life and Web 2.0 applications in an educational context. It highlights many, if not all, of the issues that one must consider with the shift away from University hosted (controlled) web-based applications towards external ones such as social networking sites and Second Life. It makes for interesting reading of some of the possible ethical and legal issues that may come to play a part in the success of teaching and research in 3D virtual worlds. It's a draft document of an ongoing wiki.

http://www.vp.is.ed.ac.uk/content/1/c4/12/45/GuidelinesForUsingExternalWeb2.0Services-20070823.pdf