Learning System for Virtual Environments

Using Sloodle:
Dubai-Korea Virtual Cultural Exchange
Using Sloodle to support learning and teaching

We look at a class taught across two institutions in Korea and Dubai,

illustrating how Sloodle can be used to enhance learning and teaching
activities that are using Second Life®. Second Life (and Sloodle) formed
only one component of the class – and we see how Second Life/Sloodle may
be used alongside a range of other communications technologies in
designing and supporting engaging learning experiences.
 Second Life® and SL™ are trademarks of Linden Research, Inc.

Sloodle is funded and supported by Eduserv

Sloodle is supported by the San Jos÷ State University School of Library and
Information Science

Sloodle is supported by the University of the West of Scotland

Sloodle is an Open-Source project, released under GNU Public License. More

details at http://www.sloodle.org

In the following case study you will see the following symbols used:

This is a note, and may indicate an alternative use of Sloodle or other
aside.

 Good practice tip – a tip which might make running a class with
Second Life and Sloodle go more smoothly.
Dubai-Korea Virtual Cultural Exchange
The Dubai-Korea Virtual Cultural Exchange program, which took place in
the spring of 2008, was a unique program which utilised a wide range of
modern information and communications technologies to bring together
learners from two distant nations.
Chris Surridge at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
(KAIST) and Nicole Shammas at Dubai Women’s College (DWC), designed
and deployed a seven-week course where students were able to work
together in international groups to learn about each other. The students
involved at both institutions were learning English as a second language –
and working together with other students where the only common language
was English helped the students experience a motivated, meaningful
community of practice.
To support both student interactions and provide support for learning a wide
range of technologies were used – the Moodle web-based learning
management system, podcasts, video conferencing and the virtual world of
Second Life. Moodle formed a single point of entry for all the varied class
activities, integration with Second Life being supported by ‘Sloodle’ – an
object-oriented dynamic learning environment for Second Life.

Setting Up
Preparations for the course included
setting up a small, dedicated, Moodle
site for the class. This included
placing links to appropriate Second
Life tutorials in prominent positions on
the front page – one benefit of having
a dedicated class Moodle being that
the front page matter could be
specific to that one class.
The Moodle site used the ‘Kubrick’
theme, which has a less formal and
friendlier feel than many of the
alternatives.

Getting to Know You

At the start of the session, the classes at KAIST and DWC were each split
into five groups, which were then paired with a group from the other
institution. The first challenge for each pair of groups was to find out a little
about each other. For this activity the groups communicated via pre-
recorded audio files, co-ordinated by placing the audio files in a Moodle
audio forum (using Moodle plug-in module “Audio Recorder 1.1”). This
activity resulted in a rapid, asynchronous voice-based conversation that
stretched over several weeks.

Students were tasked to not only ask relevant questions, but to respond
with answers which were personal and genuine. The pronunciation
differences between the sides required the students to develop their abilities
to repair and maintain what could have been a faltering conversation. Skills
of planned interaction, topic selection, response-consideration and
communication maintenance were intentionally built into the activity to
develop students’ self-sufficiency in English.

Getting to Know All About You

For the following activity, each side
prepared a ‘culture capsule’ containing
a number of small objects to represent
their culture. These were posted to the
other country, and opened in a live
video-conferencing session. For the
first time, students were able to see
and hear each other ‘live’.
As objects were taken from the
capsules, students asked and
answered questions about the
contents and their relevance.
This gift-giving activity emphasised
the personal nature of the program
and acted as a trust and friendship
building exercise.
This live video conference was then followed by another asynchronous
activity: a video exchange, where each group of students prepared small
videos of their own choosing to illustrate their college life.
Getting to Know You (Virtually)
The next activity for the students was to meet in Second Life. Video tutorials
on registering for, and more generally about, Second Life were accessible
from the course home page and helped students get started. For this first
session in Second Life, three of the core Sloodle tools were used – Access
Checker, Object Distributor and Web-Intercom.

Registering Second Life Avatars with Moodle

At the start of the class, students were asked to walk their avatars into, and
out of, a large transparent pink cylinder – the Sloodle Access Checker (seen
in the third image below). On doing so, a URL prompt appeared, taking
students to a Moodle web-page. This simple process is used in Sloodle to
record a Moodle user’s avatar details – after which any Second Life
interactions with Sloodle objects can be correctly attributed to the
corresponding student.

 In the example here, students were logged into Moodle before starting
Second Life. Following the URL prompt in Second Life took students
directly to the avatar registration page – which then simply required
them to click an ‘OK’ button. If they had not been logged into Moodle
already, they would first be re-directed to a login page and then to the
avatar registration page. This ensures that a student has an account
on the learning management system before they can add avatar
details, helping to verify their identity.

In the latest release of Sloodle, the Access Checker had been replaced
with an enrolment/registration ‘booth’ – which students click on to
register their avatars. The booths themselves are full permission, and
can be modified with institutional logos and colours.

Building an Inventory – the Object Distributor

The Object Distributor is an Second Life distribution system which can be
accessed from Moodle. In Second Life, a distributor was set up prior to the
class coming to Second Life and a large and varied array of free items –
clothing, custom avatars and accessories – placed inside for students to play
with and explore.
Students then spent a portion of their time browsing the list of objects and
selecting ones of interest via a Moodle web-page – and subsequent time
discussing and showing off their new items.

The Object Distributor also allows a teacher to send items to student

avatars via Moodle without having to login to Second Life.
 Chris had taken time before class to put together a varied and
interesting collection of items – giving the students instant access to a
pre-vetted inventory when they started Second Life with their own
accounts.

Real-time written conversation

The next activity for the students
was a Second Life text-chat
discussion in their group pairs. This
activity allowed students to practice
their written English skills in an
informal and real-time setting. Each
group pair was directed to a
different area where a Sloodle Web-
Intercom was waiting – by clicking
on the Intercom, student chat was
mirrored to a corresponding Moodle
chatroom, and archived there.

Second Life terms-of-service require that permission is obtained

before logging chat, and this is requested when the intercom is clicked
on. The intercom only records chat from avatars who agree to the
logging.

Using the Web-Intercom was straightforward, and provided a significant

benefit to the students – the ability to review their chats after the fact.
Viewing an archived chat is achieved by logging into Moodle, visiting the
relevant chat-room and clicking on a link labelled “View past chat sessions”.
This was particularly helpful, as students were able to review their chat
messages and see where communication succeeded or broke down. It also
provided review material for further interactions. The final three sessions of
the class (which took place over seven weeks) were all conducted using
Second Life.
Summary
In a staged program, Second Life was used for the final activities in a seven
week class. All class activities – including those using Second Life – were
focussed on student-student interactions, as students in Korea and Dubai
were given a range of opportunities to learn about one another, providing a
genuine motivation and context for learning English.
The Sloodle tools worked well, and students did not need to do anything
more challenging than click on an object in Second Life to use them. Having
the Sloodle tools configured and set-up prior to the class use of Second Life
was key to the successful use of the tools.
Students actively used the Sloodle Web-Intercom to support their learning.
The Sloodle Object Distributor provided an easy means for students locked
into a private island to have access to a varied and pre-selected inventory of
fun and interesting objects to play with and talk about.

The Sloodle tools may not require weeks of prefacing to be effective, but
embedding the use of the tools in a suitable context and with useful
applications is of clear benefit. Motivation and meaningfulness played an
enormous role in the effectiveness of these tools in the Dubai-Korea Virtual
Cultural Exchange.

More Sloodle
This case-study illustrates the
use of a subset of the Sloodle
tools – other tools (some
released since the study) include
a glossary tool, a blogging
toolbar/HUD, quiz and voting
tools, and even a prim “dropbox”
which integrates with the Moodle
gradebook, helping to make the
collection of 3D courseworks as
straightforward as the online
collection of written essays.

Visit the Sloodle homepage - http://www.sloodle.org – or come to one of

our regular inworld meetings to learn more.
 Getting Started with Sloodle

Sloodle Online – http://www.sloodle.org

Interested and want to know more? Visit the Sloodle project homepage.
Here you’ll find forums for users and developers (all welcome!) as well as
Spanish language forums. The forums are active, and most requests for
help are answered within 24 hours, sometimes significantly less.

Via the homepage you’ll also find links to our Wiki (with masses of
documentation for educators, students and Moodle administrators) and a
number of community produced tutorial videos which can walk you through
the process of downloading, installing and getting started with the Sloodle
tools.

Sloodle Inworld

You can also get support for Sloodle inworld – with regular weekly developer
meetings and weekly ‘Sloodle 101’ classes open to anyone wanting to learn
more. Soon we’ll be relocating to a new sim dedicated to Sloodle, and to
supporting Sloodle users – just use the “Teleport Now” link on the
homepage to find the classes.

Sloodle 101 – Wednesdays, 2pm ‘Second Life Time’

Sloodle Developer Meeting – Tuesdays, 2pm ‘Second Life Time’

About Moodle

The Sloodle homepage has been created using Moodle, the open-source
learning and content management system. You can learn more about
Moodle at http://www.moodle.org/

Moodle is used daily by hundreds of thousands of students worldwide, and is

the virtual learning environment of choice for many hundreds of schools,
colleges, universities and businesses worldwide.