MA Dissertation: To What Extent do Tutorials Held in Second Life Transform Students’ Approaches to Learning?

There are links between the Masters I completed with the University of Plymouth in 2016 and my current research, so it makes sense to make my dissertation available here. Rather than trying to remember what it was all about(!), I've copied and pasted the Abstract here, and made the dissertation available below. Enjoy! (Or try to). 

Abstract:

"The economic recession of 2008 has changed society in ways that will affect it for many years and will see the population adapting their behaviours to accommodate ongoing budgetary cuts. A downturn of such severity makes for an unusual bedfellow in a society that has made technology ubiquitous and vital to daily life. Indeed, so entrenched is technology, life before the internet appears almost antediluvian.

Within education these phenomena have introduced innovative ways of working. Institutions have been forced to save money whilst thinking of ways to grow larger student bodies and shrink rates of attrition. Much research has been carried out looking at the successes and challenges of online learning and of the frameworks and methodologies that are emerging as a result, yet little has been carried out examining the more pastoral elements of teaching and learning.

The aim of this study is to examine the extent to which tutorials delivered in Second Life transform students’ approaches to learning. It examines theories and methodologies that link explicitly with online educational provision, but will have twin foci: tutorial support and the use of Second Life as a platform for this.

Fifteen university students studying a range of disciplines were interviewed in order to examine their experiences of attending academic tutorials in Second Life and to see whether their approaches to learning had changed as a result.

The study found that approaches changed when students joined communities of practice outside their institution, that allowing students free reign over their appearance gave a greater sense of ownership of their learning and that this, in turn, gave them the confidence to take greater risks. Such risks included taking self-directed field trips to areas of Second Life linked both explicitly and implicitly to their areas of study. The lack of 'real world' physical limitations in Second Life also meant that students learned to look at and interact with underpinning theories in new ways.

The study concludes by gauging the extent to which learning approaches were transformed, providing analysis of these transformations and highlighting a number of recommendations for staff and students considering the use of Second Life as a platform for academic tutorials."