Skoolaborate and the future of e-learning

Yesterday, I attended a seminar at my workplace about emerging technologies and virtual worlds, which was presented by guest speakers Westley Field, the Director of Online Learning at MLC School and the Managing Director of Skoolaborate, Second Life “architect” Mike Mikula, and education consultant Lindy McKeown who joined us remotely via webcam and also via her avatar in Second Life.

Emerging technologies

Westley kicked off by providing us with an overview of emerging technologies, including QR codes and holograms.

The latter reminded me of the Princess Leia hologram in the original Star Wars… “Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope”.

The truth is, holograms are not restricted to the realm of science fiction. Sooner rather than later, we can have meetings with a mix of real people and holograms in the room. Don’t believe me? Check out this eye-opening video.

Skoolaborate

Next, Westley moved on to virtual worlds, which the Horizon Report identified in 2007 as likely to achieve widespread adoption in the higher education sector within 2 to 3 years. In fact, the education sector is really leading the charge in this space, with Westley’s Skoolaborate front and centre.

Skoolaborate is a growing collaborative of high schools that use Second Life to teach students around the world. It’s an initiative of MLC School in Sydney, which is somewhat famous in Australian e-learning circles for their use of innovative technologies in the K-12 sector.

Westley gave us a real-time tour of Skoolaborate’s islands in Second Life, with commentary from Mike. The islands have virtual lecture theatres where the teachers can show video clips and PowerPoint presentations to large audiences, plus breakout areas for small-group discussions and more open areas for informal styles of learning.

They have also built a virtual shopping centre not only to support the social/fun aspect of the virtual world, but also to explore principles of commerce, economics, marketing, design etc.

The Skoolaborate collaborative is really taking off. Currently 11 schools are participating, from Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Chile and USA, with interest from Singapore. The inaugural Skoolaborate Congress is being held in Sydney next week.

Corporate islands

Next, Westley, Mike and Lindy led us to IBM’s virtual Business Center in Second Life, which the company uses to bring together staff, customers and partners to meet, learn, collaborate and conduct business. IBM staff members are even at hand in real time to answer customers’ questions.

They also took us to the Cisco Systems island, which the company uses to host classes, meetings and other events.

Plenty of companies have dipped their toes into Second Life with mixed success. I think Skoolaborate, IBM and Cisco are showing us how to do it right.

A whole new world

The corporate sector is exploring a whole new world.

Which world?

The virtual world.

What is a virtual world?

A virtual world is a computer-generated environment that more-or-less replicates the real world.

Arguably the best known virtual world today is Second Life. Anyone can download the Second Life Viewer from the Internet and set up a basic account for free.

Each account owner creates a character (or avatar) which appears in the virtual world in – typically – human form. When the user logs into Second Life, they can use their mouse and keyboard to manipulate their avatar to walk, run, jump, dance, fly and teleport to other locations. Avatars can also socialise with other avatars via text chat, and more recently, real voice.

Second Life also has its own economy. Its currency is the Linden Dollar (L$) which avatars can use to buy virtual goods and even virtual property. Linden Dollars are bought with real money and can be exchanged back again. As of 7 July 2008, L$265 = US$1.

So what?

At first, I found all this is kind of hilarious, but of course Second Life was originally pitched to the entertainment market. In other words, people entered Second Life for fun.

Notwithstanding its intent, smart cookies soon cottoned on to the fact that real money can be made in this virtual economy. People like you and me are creating all manner of virtual goods – clothes, tattoos, furniture, you name it – to trade in the virtual world. In 2006, Ailin Graef became a real-world millionaire by dealing in virtual property via her avatar, Anshe Chung.

And business isn’t restricted to entrepreneurial individuals. In fact, the companies dipping their toes into Second Life read like a Who’s Who of the business world: Adidas, Armani, Coca Cola, Dell, Kraft, L’Oreal, Peugeot… the list goes on.

Financial services in the virtual world

Wells Fargo was the first bank to enter Second Life, which they did to provide financial education to young students. ABN Amro soon followed, taking the extraordinary step of opening a virtual branch. Just last year, First Meta launched Second Life’s first credit card.

So who else has entered Second Life? The list includes BNP Paribas, BCV, Deutsche Bank, Saxo, Visa, and from Australia, Westpac.

But it’s not all beer and skittles. Recently, Ginko Financial declared insolvency with debts of L$200 million – equating to approximately US$750,000 of real investors’ money. Since then, complaints about virtual financial services providers prompted the operators of Second Life to institute a new policy:

As of January 22, 2008, it will be prohibited to offer interest or any direct return on an investment (whether in L$ or other currency) from any object, such as an ATM, located in Second Life, without proof of an applicable government registration statement or financial institution charter.

E-Learning opportunities in Second Life

So what does Second Life offer legally incorporated, government-regulated financial services organisations in terms of e-learning?

Consider the following possibilities for customers:

• A virtual island where visitors can come to learn about your products and services.
• Avatars controlled by staff members to converse with vistors and provide them with information.
• Avatars controlled by qualified financial planners to provide visitors with financial advice.
• Virtual educational seminars about financial literacy.

Consider the following possibilities for employees:

• Virtual training sessions.
• Virtual inductions for potential recruits.
• E-meetings, workshops and discussions.

Road blocks

While the potential of virtual worlds is tantalising, very real road blocks exist.

For example, the need to download a plugin and register individual accounts is never a good start.

Another problem is bandwidth. Second Life’s media is so rich, users chew through the data – making it technically challenging and potentially expensive.

There are plenty more criticisms of Second Life.

What’s the verdict?

While the real-world companies that have entered Second Life thus far have had mixed success, I’d suggest the virtual world remains under-explored by the corporate sector, particularly for e-learning.

Mobile Mania and the Business Impact

I attended an informative presentation today called Mobile Mania and the Business Impact presented by Robin Simpson, Research Director at Gartner, and Matt Brennan, Enterprise BDM for Emerging Technologies at Apple.

While both speakers were excellent, Robin highlighted a trend that really struck a chord with me: Technology providers are primarily targeting the consumer market, not the enterprise market. Even when the enterprise market is targeted, it appears to be a secondary, subsequent concern.

Take Apple for example. The mania surrounding the opening of Australia’s first Apple Store in Sydney, coinciding with the imminent release of the 3G iPhone here, suggests to me that the big bucks are with the general public.

So what does it mean for the corporate sector? Well, when employees become au fait with various technologies at home, they’ll increasingly expect to use them at work too. We’re already seeing it with social networking, so who’s to say we won’t see it with the iPhone?

But it’s all academic because you use a BlackBerry for work, right?

Regardless of the policies and preferences of our corporate IT departments, people power may just force the issue.

5 Golden Rules for Polite Social Networking

With social networking starting to make in-roads into the corporate sector (eg NAB, ING), our attention turns increasingly to netiquette.

I feel that existing codes of conduct and other company policies probably cover most cases of unprofessional behaviour, whether in the online space or otherwise. For example, if swearing at a colleague is a no‑no in the office, then why on Earth would it be acceptable on a blog? Same goes for aggression, intimidation, ridicule, rudeness and all the other uglies.

However, the new medium does present some new social challenges. For example, is it OK to poke a colleague? What if she’s female? The double entendre is potentially serious.

In fact, Nicole Martin reports a survey by telco Orange in Britain that reveals almost two-thirds of the respondents are frustrated and confused by online etiquette.

So Debrett’s, the “modern authority on all matters of etiquette, taste and achievement” (LOL!) has produced 5 Golden Rules for Polite Social Networking:

1. You don’t have to make friends with people you don’t know. It’s not a competition to see how many friends you can get. Think before you poke.
2. Always wait 24 hours before accepting or removing someone as a friend. The delay will help you gather your thoughts.
3. Birthdays, engagements and weddings are not “virtual” events. Always send birthday cards or call your friends when there’s important news.
4. Consider your friends’ feelings before posting pictures. Put yourself in their shoes before uploading.
5. Think carefully about your profile picture. If you don’t want to see it in your local newspaper, don’t put it online.

It all sounds like common sense to me.

The Green Wiki and the rise of free media

The LearnX Awards were presented in Melbourne yesterday, and I’m proud to say that AMP won the Green Training Award for its Green Wiki.

However, I’m not hyperlinking to the Green Wiki for two reasons:

1. It’s on the AMP network, and
2. Everyone knows what a wiki looks like. (If you don’t, look up Wikipedia or Wetpaint.)

I think the following cartoon by Hugh MacLeod sums up my second point perfectly…

In this particular case, AMP employees are using wiki software to share tips on how to reduce our carbon footprint in the workplace, collaboratively making our company a better corporate citizen.

Notice I said “employees”, not a “task force” or a “strategic working group” or a “steering committee”. Just regular employees like you and me. And all because someone on the floor decided one day to put the wiki together – talk about democratising the workplace!

This prompts me to ask you… What kinds of software or technologies are available to you at your workplace? What do you use them for? What else could you use the for?