Can a Virtual World Inform Real-world Learning - Essay Example

The Chaotic Laboratory – Can a virtual world inform real world learning? The online virtual environments where a person can work together with other in a manner that is approximate to reality is greatly probable in conducting research about behavioral, social, economic sciences. The aim of this proposal is to develop an artificial online laboratory to teach the trainee science teachers by using the interactive 3D visualization. Safety is a serious element while working in a science laboratory. Since the science laboratories are to train the trainees about different chemicals and dangerous biological substances so it is very important to teach them about essential safety awareness measures and ways of improving their health. The aim is to spread the knowledge about how the trainees can save themselves from any mishap. This paper presents the rationale for the development of this interactive simulation, the resources used in the development, the deadlines that should be followed in the implementation of this idea and it also discusses the potential usage of this innovative idea in the educational sector. Introduction: Second life is a virtual world in which one can experience learning with the help of simulations. The users of second life interact and collaborate with each other by using avatars. These avatars act on the behalf of users in socializing and participating in individual and group events. This proposal is projected towards creating a facility in Second life in order to test the idea that interactive simulation can assist in health improvement and safety awareness among the trainee science teachers. For this purpose a virtual laboratory is built. The CoVASE technology is used for the development of this virtual laboratory. This virtual lab will teach the trainee science teachers how to take safety measures and how to improve their health by interacting with them through 3D visualization. It will develop a simulated atmosphere of real world incidents in a science laboratory for the trainee teachers. The trainees were given full control on the system and their responses and activities were recorded. The trainees shared their experiences on virtual simulated environment that it was very interesting, informative and motivating for all of them. The trainees can get the required information about the training without any cost incurred. It does not require any additional expense to gain experience from virtual world and interactive simulations. It is an interesting activity to be performed and it does not cause boredom among the performers (Fan & Geelan, 2013). Aim: In this project my aim is to create a facility in second life to test the idea that interactive simulation can be used to improve health and safety awareness for trainee science teachers. The need of this idea is felt because the trainee science teachers come across many problems when they work in science laboratories. They deal with hazardous chemicals, dangerous organic substances and gas, so they should know the safety techniques and they should be aware of how their health can be improved by taking appropriate measures. Literature review: This project is focused on the idea of incorporating the virtual worlds in the study programs to get new insights. This integration assists in some new learning experiences. According to Bainbridge (2007), the word virtual world means an online electronic atmosphere where the people can interact and collaborate with each other and these people are represented by some animated individuals known as avatars. In 2008, Royle proposed that the use of virtual world in the program records on to the learning based on the games. This learning game-based learning has many features in common with the training of problem-based learning. The virtual world also leads to an increase in reality as a method of outputting information from the view point of the real world. Furthermore, Billing hurstand Dünser (2012) projected that being closer to reality assists in understanding of multifaceted marvels by providing distinctive pictorial and visuals, and collaborative practices that associates the real and virtual information and support in communicating then on concrete problems to the apprentices. Second life is a virtual world developed by Linden Lab in which one can experience learning with the help of simulations. The users of second life interact and collaborate with each other by using avatars. These avatars act on the behalf of users in socializing and participating in individual and group events. The simulation about patient care or teaching the students etc. in the real environment is a rapidly increasing way to make the health providers ready to care about the patients and to make the student able to learn more from the simulations. The real world simulation trainings are taken within a laboratory but along with the training in the real environment, there is been a trend to do such practice in a virtual simulated environment. Virtual laboratories are simulated according to the requirements of the users. Second life provides such interactive sessions for learning and experiences (Lane & Peres, 2006). The previous work done at Anglia Ruskin University (2008) and Open University (2009), determines that it is really important to continue the development and assessment of the educational context within the virtual environments. With the help of developing the Chaotic Lab, it will become easy to conduct an innovative research in the educational practices. There will be an ease in researching the usability areas, incorporation with the training practices, communicating and evaluating the learning from the virtual world and supporting the students. Moreover, Glynn and Thorn in 2011 suggested that the development in virtual world technology is planned to resolve the educational problems in learning and teaching. Second life acts as an educational platform for the students, teachers, colleges and universities. The Derby University in association with The Institute of Quarrying has developed a virtual quarry using the platform of second life. The second life is selected for the purpose to train the students how to dig and how to quarry in a safe manner. All the quarrying students access the second life and get a virtual simulated tutorial about quarrying with safety. The virtual quarry also tells the students about the activities that are dangerous while digging out the ground. The students are reported to have great interest in such virtual activities (Miliszewska & Sztendur, 2011). Additionally, Alaimo, Langenhan, Tanner, and Ferrenberg (2010), described that the students have lack of interest in the training of safe lab practices in the traditional manner such as introductory lecture about the lab safety rules, weekly presentations and assignments about the safety rules and quizzes about them by the instructor. Students are bored of these traditional practices (Alaimo etal., p. 856). The students now belong to a new generation that has grown up in the environment of video games, computers and internet, so it makes the job more challenging to seek their attention with the old techniques (Oblinger & Oblinger, 2005; Prensky, 2001).A survey was conducted in 2005 that revealed the students and other safety professionals feel boredom in the traditional training techniques (Fivvizani, 2005). This is reliable with the substantial evidence that the virtual training approaches are very easy and provide effective learning and these learning are remembered by the students for long time (Schmidt and Bjork, 1992). The virtual labs should conduct the experiments that are done in the real labs. It should provide a successful way in which the data about the real life should be collected (Westaway, 1919, p. 94).The research conducted by Kulik (2002), reported that the students responded positively towards the interactive simulation and learning through the virtual world. The literature designates that the simulations are effective in developing skills and knowledge and it helped the students in gaining knowledge across many subject areas (Bell & Smetana, 2011). The University of San Martin de Porres of Peru has collaboration with Second Life virtual world since 2008. They are making models of Peruvian archeological structures, and preparing the teachers for new prototype of education. Above and beyond, it is reported that some professors who are teaching management and business in the United States give the students homework to create an account on second life in order to gain experience and learn from the businesses within the virtual reality. Another example of a virtual prototype on second life is Palomar West Hospital that is a virtual hospital. It was developed to display the design and technology that is planned to be used while making the actual Palomar West Medical Campus in San Diego, California. It was created to get responses that will help in improving the methods of care delivery. Furthermore, Imperial College London Polyclinic aggregated with the UK’s National Physical Laboratory (NPL), Imperial College London (ICL) has generated a sequence of documentary films and a virtual hospital that defines the healthcare provided in the future. This is a new, pioneering and effective way of sharing complicated healthcare messages as well as demonstrating what kind of health care will be provided in future. Heart Murmur Simis an example of a virtual simulated place for the heart patients on second life. It has many rooms for the examination of the patients. The rooms have many anatomy posters, diagnosis machines, touch pads and sound touch pads that teach about numerous kinds of heart sounds. The virtual worlds may assist in amalgamating some divisions of the social sciences and provide greater scientific accuracy to them. The interactive simulations help in building the required models. The suggested interactive simulation about improving the safety awareness and improving health of trainee science teachers will the trainee teachers to get active learning experiences and exploring the scientific phenomena. The trainee teachers can collaborate with other people and they can share their experiences and understandings (Honey et al., 2009). Method: To meet the purpose of improving the health and safety awareness, a virtual chaotic laboratory will be developed to teach the trainee science teachers about the required appropriate measures by using the interactive 3D visualization. CoVASE technology is used in developing the 3D visualization. It will develop a simulated atmosphere of real world incidents in a science laboratory for the trainee teachers. These real life incidents may be chemical and physical hazards, paths to exposure, emergency responses and safety material used in real life science labs. The simulations produce visuals and animations on the computer. The trainee teachers will be allowed to use the virtual model of science lab and collaborate with others on the second life. The users have control on the system and the environment. The data and all the responses received by them were recorded for further progression. Evaluation: The expert of the education department will share their personal view about the evaluation of the idea. It will be a beneficial project that will be used to teach many teachers and students as well, how to react when they come across some dangerous situations in the science laboratories. The virtual laboratory will also be evaluated by conducting a survey through questionnaires that will be given to the groups of trainee science teachers. The results of the questionnaires will be used to determine the effectiveness of virtual simulated environment. We will use these results to determine whether the users found it interesting, informative and motivating for all of them. In this scenario, they will share their experiences that this technique was successful in gaining their total attention as well. Moreover, the Heuristic usability test will also be conducted in order to evaluate the efficiency of the system after its implementation. Deadlines: Requirements capture from expert from education dept. Week 1 Outline design and story board for key training events Week 4 Implementation of laboratory in second life Week 10 Implementation of HTTP web site Semester 2 week 2 Initial Testing Semester 2 week 4 final testing Semester 2 week 6 First draft of write up Semester 2 week 9 Resources: The resources that will be used in the implementation of this idea include second life account and the database of MySQL / PHP web server. Benefits: The trainees can gain experience on virtual science labs. The trainees can get the required information about the training without any cost incurred. It does not require any additional expense to gain experience from virtual world and interactive simulations. It is an interesting activity to be performed and it does not cause boredom among the performers. Interactive simulations on second life make it possible to simulate dangerous situations that are impractical to experience in the real world and the learning through this method retain for long time. Some activities are too expensive to perform in the real world so they are conducted in the virtual world. Risk factors: Virtual reality deals with both technical and cultural aspects. Culturally, it can be described as a simulation in which we are invited to alter our faith in what is real. Virtual reality is significant for the reason that it follows the artificial intelligence as well as communicates to the most recent step in collecting crisis of modern viewpoint. However, there are a lot of issues in building an ethics of VR. Ethically, this technology can be used for online education, entertainment, and training purpose. It is a risk factor that whether the idea gets an ethical approval for testing by the authorities. There are many people linked with each other by second life so there may be many ethical issues as well as it is a public place. There is a continuous change in fashion and technology so the researchers should consider these factors as well. Another risk factor may be getting sufficient test subjects willing to participate (Gende, 2011; Miliszewska & Sztendur, 2011). References Bell, R.L. & Smetana, L.K., 2011. Using Computer Simulations to Enhance. New York. Clarke, E.M. & Wing, J.M., 1996. Formal methods: state of the art and future directions. ACM Computing Surveys, 28(4), pp.626 - 643. David, A. & Guy, F., 2003. Information systems development: methodologies, techniques and tools. Maidenhead: McGraw Hill. Fan, X. & Geelan, D., 2013. 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Design and natural science research on information technology. Decision Support Systems, 15(4), p.251–266. Miliszewska, I. & Sztendur, E.M., 2011. Playing it Safe: Approaching Science Safety Awareness through Computer Game-Based Training. Issues in Informing Science and Information Technology. Zelkowitz, M.V. & Wallace, D.R., 1998. Experimental models for validating technology. IEEE Explore, 31(5), pp.23-31. Read More