Research Overview

With the current pandemic, there is an increasing need to provide education online. The advances in technology allow for the boundaries of the traditional classroom to expand to sites across the world. Second Life is a program that allows just that. Second Life is a 3D interactive website that allows users to create avatars and travel to different parts of the world (Second Life). Users within Second Life can also interact and socialize with each other (Second Life). This program is a great tool for educators looking to expand the learning for their students and will help continue education during this pandemic by promoting collaborative learning in an online environment.

Collaborative learning is when learners work in a group (Clark & Mayer, 2011). Through Second Life, students can work collaboratively in a virtual setting. Users of the program can interact and speak to each other on Second Life similar to a traditional classroom setting. According to Clark & Mayer, collaborative learning environments are known to improve student learning in most subjects and grades (2011). Second Life allows students to collaborate and discuss in real-time inside the 3D world. In a study conducted on individuals versus pairs working together in a synchronous chat, those who worked in pairs learned more than the individuals who practiced alone (Clark & Mayer, 2011). Interaction and socialization through Second Life provide students with opportunities to communicate with each other that they may not have done in a face-to-face setting. The traditional classroom has limited opportunities for students to share their perspectives, while collaborative environments give them the chance to communicate with their classmates they would have never spoken to before (Cobb, 2016).

Students can gain insightful knowledge through the multimedia that is presented within Second Life. In the textbook, Clark and Mayer have presented several principles and theories that can help to promote learning all while using technology. When the students are engaged in using Second Life, they can be viewing images as well as reading text that is presented in notecards. This ties into the multimedia principle, which is stated by Clark and Mayer, they mention it can be applied to the design of computer-based simulations and games which in our case is Second Life. (Clark & Mayer 2011).

The multimedia principle states that people are more likely to understand the material when they engage in active learning- that is, when they engage in relevant cognitive processing (Clark & Mayer, 2011). When a student is in Second Life, they are actively engaging with their classmates and teacher. The students can visit different educational worlds all while gaining new information from notecards that may be provided or simply by exploring the location they are visiting. The multimedia principle by (Clark & Mayer 2011), also suggests that learning and understanding are enhanced by adding pictures to text rather than presenting text alone, which appears to be well supported by findings from empirical research. Within Second Life, the students can immerse themselves in a virtual world which triggers the use of their auditory and visual senses.