Lesley A. Withers publishes research on computer-mediated social support and presents at academic conferences on teaching and communication in Second Life® (SL). She teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in the area of interpersonal communication, nonverbal communication, and research methods at Central Michigan University (CMU).
Active in SL since 2006, she has taught multiple courses incorporating SL and engaged in research on the effects of communication apprehension, competence, and social presence on students’ class participation in SL. She was a presenter in 2008 and an invited speaker in 2009 on topics related to education in SL at one of the national Lilly Conferences on College and University Teaching. She serves as chair of the SL learning community at CMU.
Along with Lynnette Leonard (in 2008) and with Leonard and John Sherblom (2009), she conducted SL training workshops at the annual meetings of the National Communication Association. An example of her recent collaborative work is:
Withers, L. A., Leonard, L. G., & Sherblom, J. C. (2010). Classrooms without walls: Teaching together in Second Life®. In L. Shedletsky & J. E. Aitken (Eds.), Cases on online discussion and interaction: Experiences and outcomes (pp. 88-104). Hershey, PA: IGI Global.