Identifying what sounds can add to immersive learning in Second Life (SL)
Students taking a class in SL
Introduction
Immersive online experiences involve many forms of sensory input, which include visual, audio, touch/feel and kinaesthetic. These can be used to enhance the learning experience through learning styles, engage the learner more fully and to encourage interaction with the environment.
Sound is an essential part of language learning in traditional or distance learning but virtual worlds, such as Second Life, offer new opportunities for using sound for language teaching.
This learning object is part of a set exploring the use of sound in immersive language learning in Second Life.
Objectives
* To think about the role of sound in your face-to-face language teaching.
* To understand which types of sound are available in Second Life.
* To understand how ambient sounds play a role in immersive experiences for language learning.
* To understand how sound can be used for language learning in Second Life.
Activity: What sounds can add to the immersive experience in Second Life.
Sounds are usually included in immersive gaming experiences, and these are designed to enhance the atmosphere or theme of the game. Virtual worlds offer opportunities to communicate in 3D using texture, form, sight and sound. Virtual worlds encourage rich expression through tools, objects, video, images and demonstrations, as well as art, music, exhibitions and sculpture. (Johnson and Levine) Language teaching and learning often uses sound or audio as a resource for language acquisition, but less often as part of an gaming style experience. SL offers cost effective way to use sound to enhance learning environments.
Instruction
You would like to create an immersive learning experience to engage your learners in their activities. You already have traditional audio resources, but would like to use sound to enhance the learner experience and to encourage higher-level skills.
Select from the list any of the options that you feel could enhance your immersive teaching experience in Second Life.
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References:
Lawrence F Johnson and Alan H Levine, Virtual Worlds: Inherently Immersive,Highly Social Learning Spaces, http://immersiveeducation.org/library/Immersive_Learning-Johnson_and_Levine.pdf
© Ann Jeffery/University of Southampton/Creative Commons