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An accessible Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) environment should consider every learner's abilities, learning goals, where learning takes place, and needs for specific devices to facilitate the learning experience. Learners with accessibility needs can face difficulties in using certain technologies, and different MOOC designs may also affect their self-regulation skills, engagement, and communications with their fellow learners. Unfortunately, technologies and pedagogies used in MOOC platforms are not necessarily accessible. In the literature that the authors have reviewed, there seems to be a lack of understanding of what learners with accessibility needs expect from MOOCs, and studies that report demographic data of MOOCs rarely consider learners with accessibility needs. In this chapter, the investigations related to current state of accessibility of MOOCs are reported. The investigations involved conducting interviews with a range of stakeholders (providers and learners), analysing survey data, and conducting an accessibility audit. The results provide an insight into the understanding of how MOOC providers cater for learners with accessibility needs, motivations of learners participating in MOOCs, and ways to improve the accessibility of MOOCs.

In this presentation, we discussed the pedagogical design of the recently launched badged open course on the 'Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) in STEM' (URL: https://www.open.ac.uk/scholarship-of-learning-and-teaching-in-STEM). For the pedagogical design, we discussed how the principles and concepts of SoTL, specifically the systematic and ethically reasoned implementation of a SoTL inquiry, are detailed in the course. The course introduces reflective frameworks for planning a SoTL inquiry and facilitating the uptake of the inquiry’s outcomes to improve academic practice.

In this presentation, I outlined the definitions of academic integrity and the values of honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility, and courage encapsulated in these definitions. I discussed about why educators care about academic integrity and how it is the aim of an educational institution to reduce academic misconduct and to foster academic integrity. I proposed several strategies to foster academic integrity in our students and discussed two in detail: 'integrating academic integrity within the ethical integrity of the discipline' and 'professional development, and sharing of good practice and experiences of dealing with academic misconduct'. Finally, I discussed two strategies for designing assessment for academic integrity: 'process-oriented assessment alongside the product; with feedback that feeds forward into the next task' and 'design of authentic assessment to link theory to practice'.

The number of adults aged 65 and over has increased by 2% across Europe in the past 15 years, and in Northern Ireland by 22% between 2003-2013. The proportion of the population in this age group is projected to increase by 63% to just under 0.5 million by 2033 – which will be a quarter of the population in Northern Ireland. Given Northern Ireland’s Active Ageing Strategy (2015-2021), there is an increasing focus on encouraging physical activity as we get older to preserve mobility and motor skills, and to enjoy the benefits of living longer and to minimise health problems associated with ageing. Over the last two years, we have been investigating the role of wearable activity tracking technologies in self-monitoring of activity by people aged over 55. Example technologies include activity trackers from Fitbit, Garmin and Samsung, and smart watches. Typically, these devices record steps walked, sleep patterns, calories expended and heart rate.\ud \ud Based on empirical investigations, this policy paper describes the benefits of activity monitors for people aged over 55 for self-monitoring of physical activity, for adopting healthy lifestyles, and for increasing or maintaining physical activity as a way to avoid high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, and other medical conditions associated with weight or lower physical activity. It outlines the role of activity trackers in post-operative monitoring of mobility during rehabilitation, in caring, and for possible use of the data for diagnosis and medical interventions. It then discusses the challenges for adoption of these technologies, given currently, off-the-shelf devices are designed and calibrated for use by physically fit (typically young active people) with unrealistic fitness targets for the older generation.

Virtual reality is becoming pervasive in several domains - in arts and film-making, for environmental causes, in medical education, in disaster management training, in sports broadcasting, in entertainment, and in supporting patients with dementia. An awareness of virtual reality technology and its integration in curriculum design will provide and enhance employability skills for current and future workplaces.\ud \ud In this webinar, we will describe the evolution of virtual reality technologies and our research in 3D virtual worlds, 3D virtual environments developed in Unity 3D, and mobile virtual reality via 360-degree photospheres (e.g. as in the Google Expeditions app) and 360-degree videos. We will discuss the technological and pedagogical affordances of virtual reality technologies and how they contribute towards learning and teaching. We will discuss the significance of using virtual reality in education, in training and skills development, and for employability.

As a part of Google-funded research programme, we have been investigating the role of Google Expeditions, a smartphone-driven virtual reality educational app, in learning and teaching. In this presentation, we will discuss the empirical derivation of educational affordances of Google Expeditions. Through case studies from our data, we will examine how these affordances facilitate inquiry-based learning, bridge virtual fieldwork with physical field trips in geography and science education, and support experiential learning via simulations.

In this workshop-presentation, we described the evolution of virtual reality technologies and our research from 3D virtual worlds, 3D virtual environments built in gaming environments such as Unity 3D, 360-degree videos, and mobile virtual reality via Google Expeditions. For each of these four technologies, we discussed the affordances of the technologies and how they contribute towards learning and teaching. We outlined the significance of students being aware of the different virtual reality technologies for employability as organisations are increasingly integrating virtual reality technologies in marketing, training and skills development, and in design of products and services. Finally, we discussed the future of virtual reality in education and the role that an educator plays in optimal integration of virtual reality in the curriculum for student engagement and attainment.

Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs) have become an accepted way to make learning opportunities available at large scale and low cost to the learner. However, only if these are made accessible will they be able to offer the flexibility of learning and benefits to all, irrespective of disability. Experience in providing accessible online learning at distance universities suggests that this can be best achieved through understanding different roles and the options in planning for adjustments to be made. To effectively apply similar approaches to MOOCs, it is necessary to understand the various viewpoints and roles of stakeholders and how these impact on accessibility. This includes educators who create materials and facilitate learning and technologists who develop and maintain platforms. We report the results from a study involving semi-structured interviews to investigate the perceptions and accessibility-related processes of MOOC platform accessibility managers, platform software developers/designers and MOOC accessibility researchers. Our results show awareness that MOOCs can be valuable for disabled learners, and indicate that legislation acts as a driver for accessibility. However, our investigations suggest limited progress to date in either producing universally accessible MOOCs or tailoring MOOCs to meet the needs of individual disabled learners.

We showed a variety of virtual reality technologies, and through examples, we discussed how virtual reality technology is transforming work styles and workplaces. Virtual reality is becoming pervasive in almost all domains starting from arts, environmental causes to medical education and disaster management training, and to supporting patients with Dementia. Thus, an awareness of the virtual reality technology and its integration in curriculum design will provide and enhance employability skills for current and future workplaces.

In the Sir Halley Stewart Trust funded project on digital health wearables (http://www.shaileyminocha.info/digital-health-wearables/), we have been investigating whether and how wearable activity-tracking technologies (e.g. smart watches or activity trackers from Fitbit, Garmin, etc.) can facilitate self-monitoring of activity and health by people aged 55 years and over, and by carers for monitoring the health and activity of the people they care for.\ud \ud On the Sir Halley Stewart Trust-funded project (May 2016 - July 2017), through empirical investigations and in collaboration with Age UK Milton Keynes (MK), Carers MK, and GPs and healthcare professionals, we have identified: \ud \ud • challenges for adoption of these technologies; \ud • the need to design for age-related impairments (e.g. vision, hearing, memory, dexterity);\ud • concerns related to data management, security and data privacy;\ud • positive behavioural changes of using activity monitoring devices, and, in general;\ud • the role of digital health wearables in caring, self-management of health, post-operative monitoring of mobility, and for monitoring movement and locations in conditions such as dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. \ud \ud Ageing population, retaining independence of older people, support to carers, and using internet-enabled technologies to transform healthcare services are some of the national concerns. We are now involved in a multi-way knowledge-exchange (KE) programme (April 2017 - January 2018) through an ESRC Impact Acceleration Account Award to set up dialogues with/between key stakeholders including manufacturers for improving the design of digital health wearables for older users, carers and medical professionals.

This session will inform the results of the Sir Halley Stewart Trust-funded project investigating whether and how wearable activity-tracking technologies can acceptably contribute towards self-monitoring of activity and health by people aged 55 years and over. http://www.shaileyminocha.info/digital-health-wearables/

Google Expeditions is a Virtual Reality (VR) approach being promoted by Google in schools globally. Google Expeditions are guided tours (field trips) of places that students experience on a smartphone through a virtual reality viewer called Google cardboard.\ud \ud The Open University (OU), UK are conducting a school-based research project (funded by Google and the OU; July 2016 - June 2017) on the potential use of VR via Google Expeditions in secondary school science and geography.\ud \ud The project is being co-led by Field Studies Council, and UK's Association for Science Education and Geographical Association are the two partnering organisations.\ud \ud This workshop provided an opportunity to try out Google Expeditions and to explore how they could be used to support teaching and learning, including fieldwork.\ud \ud Are Google Expeditions a threat to traditional field trips or could they become a complementary tool for strengthening the quality of outdoor learning, for example by providing an immersive technology which adds context and substance to pre-field preparation, in-field activities and post-field revision and reflection?

Based on findings from the Value Ageing project http://www.value-ageing.eu and our projects at the OU http://www.shaileyminocha.info/people-aged-over-55-years/, we discussed how digital inclusion of older people can provide various advantages and opportunities: online socialisation and alleviating of social isolation and loneliness; maintaining, nurturing and growth of their interests and hobbies; enhancing employability and being able to sustain lifelong learning through use of MOOCs and open educational resources; and being able to use digital health wearables for self-monitoring and self-management of health.

In this workshop, we outlined the conditions that lead to social isolation and loneliness among older people (55 years and above) in Milton Keynes, and recommended possible strategies and solutions to prevent and mitigate isolation. The findings are based on the Milton Keynes Council-commissioned report http://oro.open.ac.uk/43925/. The research involved a review of academic and policy literature on social isolation and loneliness, and an information gathering exercise that included expert workshops, individual and group interviews, and site visits.\ud \ud The general risk factors that affect Milton Keynes residents include: low income, low literacy, poor health and disability, losses and bereavement, family, social and neighbourhood change, unemployment or redundancy, and aspects of the built environment and infrastructure. Specific additional challenges for Milton Keynes include: rapidly ageing population (from a low base); the pace of development of Milton Keynes and neighbourhood changes; structural elements including the design of and balance between the city centre, housing estates, and satellite villages; community diversity from deprived to affluent areas; a diverse and growing population of older people from Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic (BAME) groups; and the crucial on-going transport issues.\ud \ud We discussed services to alleviate social isolation and which cater to different kinds of needs, including one-to-one services (e.g. visits by community home visitors, regular phone conversations, walking ‘partner’ – e.g. after the bereavement of a pet), group services (e.g. lunch clubs, coffee mornings, Men in sheds, knitting club, walking groups, local history society), and wider social activities (e.g. capturing sporting memories or reminiscing). We identified a need for continuity of several of these services, and that new services should be developed to bridge gaps in provision. \ud \ud We recommended that Milton Keynes Council should consider: paying attention to events in the lives of older people, designing a variety of services for different age groups, life stages and health (55+, 65+, 75+, 85+, …), inter-generational initiatives, being gender-aware, focussing on the quality rather than the quantity and recognising that families play a key role. We suggested factors for successful service design: developing services that are co-designed and led by older people, council-provided framework for delivery of the services (e.g. ‘neighbourhood watch’ in West Bletchley), developing volunteering capacity within communities and training for the volunteers (e.g. by Age UK Milton Keynes). \ud \ud Further, we suggested that it is important to know the social and economic impact of the service and, therefore, evaluation should be integral when the service is being designed and delivered. We emphasised that there is a need for a ‘simple’ and low cost evaluation toolkit: e.g. well-being questionnaire or workshops to determine the reach and impact of the service. This evaluation will feed into the improvement of the service and possibly more funding to grow and sustain the service.\ud \ud We listed three key messages from our research: co-designing services with older people that match with their requirements; evaluation should be integral when the service is being designed and delivered and imparting digital skills to people aged over 55 years (http://oro.open.ac.uk/44009/) which would influence and possibly improve their interactions with the local government, help in cultivation of their interests, and facilitate social interactions.

We discussed our project that involves investigating the role of wearable activity-tracking technologies in the well-being and quality of life of people aged 55 and over: how such devices may promote behaviour change but also the challenges associated with making sense of the data, the ethical issues of sharing the data and the perceived risks. \ud \ud We outlined our project’s plans for the empirical investigations with older people, family members, carers and medical professionals. \ud \ud The Sir Halley Stewart Trust has funded this project. The views expressed in this presentation and any follow-on publications are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Trust.\ud \ud More details of the project are here: http://www.shaileyminocha.info/digital-health-wearables/

In association with Age UK Milton Keynes, we have conducted research to investigate the conditions that lead to social isolation and loneliness among older people (55 years and above) in Milton Keynes, and to recommend possible strategies and solutions to prevent and mitigate isolation. The project was funded by the Milton Keynes Council and commissioned by the Senior Joint Commissioner, Adult Community Services. The research has involved a review of academic and policy literature on social isolation and loneliness, and an information gathering exercise that included expert workshops, individual and group interviews, and site visits. This talk will be based on the project's report (http://oro.open.ac.uk/43925/) and will discuss several case studies of older people and interventions for social isolation and loneliness within Milton Keynes. We hope that the recommendations and the resources from our report and in this talk would be useful for other communities, towns and cities, who may also be facing the challenges of supporting an ageing population.\ud \ud Taking the example of an online photo journal which encourages users to document their life with just one photo each day, we will discuss how online social interactions influence the lives of older people, the challenges that they face, and the concerns that they have about being online.

There is a lack of published research on the design guidelines of learning spaces in virtual worlds. Therefore, when institutions aspire to create learning spaces in Second Life, there are few studies or guidelines to inform them except for individual case studies. The Design of Learning Spaces in 3D Virtual Environments (DELVE) project, funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee in the UK, was one of the first initiatives that identified through empirical investigations the usability problems associated with learning spaces in virtual worlds and the potential impact on student experience. The findings of the DELVE project revealed that applying architectural principles of real-world designs to virtual worlds may not be sufficient. In fact, design principles from urban planning, Human–Computer Interaction (HCI), web usability, geography, and psychology influence the design of learning spaces in virtual worlds.\ud \ud In DELVE, the researchers derived several usability guidelines: form should follow function, that is, that the shape of a building or object should be primarily based upon its intended function or purpose; use real-world metaphors such as mailboxes for students to leave messages, or search pods similar to real-world information kiosks; consider realism for familiarity and comfort; design for storytelling; or design to orient the user at the landing point, etc. However, the investigations in DELVE identified that the key usability problems experienced by users in 3D learning spaces are related to navigation and wayfinding. \ud \ud In this chapter, we report on the Navigation and Wayfinding (NAVY) project which builds on the findings of the DELVE project. As the most commonly used virtual world for education, Second Life was the logical choice for conducting the NAVY project research. Based upon empirical investigations of a number of islands in Second Life (an island is a space which is analogous to a website in a 2D environment) involving user-based studies, heuristic evaluations, and iterative reviews of the heuristics by usability experts, we have derived over 200 guidelines for the design of learning spaces in virtual worlds.

The Ageing Well and Living Well Scoping Workshop was organised by Gail Addison, Head of Public Health – Delivery, People Directorate, Milton Keynes Council in collaboration with Age UK Milton Keynes. \ud \ud The aims of the workshop were to:\ud • Explore the connectivity between the Health and Wellbeing Board (HWB) and existing Partnership and Programme Boards across Milton Keynes\ud • Explore the remit of the Partnership and Programme Boards in order to identify commonalities and fit with the HWB Board’s Strategic Implementation Plan and Priorities, including;\ud • Social Isolation (Priority focus for Ageing Well partnership)\ud • Reducing Obesity (Priority focus for Living Well partnership) \ud • Identify next steps and commitment to action \ud \ud At this workshop, Professor Shailey Minocha of The Open University along with Jane Palmer, CEO, Age UK Milton Keynes led the track on social isolation and loneliness in people aged over 55 years in Milton Keynes. \ud \ud We highlighted the effects of social isolation and loneliness on the well-being and quality of life of people. For example, individuals lacking social contact carry a health risk equivalent to smoking up to 15 cigarettes in a day. We discussed the societal impacts of social isolation such as increased use of health and social care services, higher number of emergency admissions and GP consultations, slower discharge from hospitals which causes pressure on financial resources and health services. We outlined the risk factors of social isolation and particularly in the context of Milton Keynes. Drawing on from our report (http://oro.open.ac.uk/43925/), we emphasised the challenges for the community and for older people due to the increasing population of older people in Milton Keynes. We presented possible solutions for addressing the problem of social isolation and loneliness in Milton Keynes in three categories: one-to-one interventions (e.g. visits by community home visitors, regular phone conversations, visits by neighbours); group interventions (e.g. Men in sheds, lunch clubs, coffee mornings, inter-generational initiatives – for example, learning to get online, walking groups, local history society) and wider community and neighbourhood interventions such as encouraging older people to be volunteers; co-designing the programmes with older people - e.g. neighbouhood watch programmes and design of age-friendly design of spaces – local neighbourhoods and city centre in Milton Keynes.

Taking the example of an online photo journal which encourages users to document their life with just one photo each day, I will discuss how online social interactions influence the lives of people aged over 65 years, the challenges that they face, and the concerns that they have about being online.

In a six-month long Innovate UK-funded project (November 2015 – April 2016), we investigated the feasibility of creating a sustainable national 3D ‘virtual field-trips’ (VFT) software service, to support and deliver field trip-based education through a virtual channel in schools and higher education institutions (HEIs). The idea of a 3D VFT service emerged from Virtual Skiddaw App, the 3D virtual geology fieldtrip, of The Open University’s (OU) Open Science Laboratory . In the feasibility project, we (at the OU) (co-investigator) along with Daden (project-lead) and Design Thinkers, UK (co-investigator) we looked into the technical, pedagogical, commercial and service design aspects of the 3D VFT service. \ud \ud In this presentation, we focussed on the pedagogy strand of this feasibility project: pedagogical advantages of 3D VFTs, and the challenges for their adoption in schools and HEIs. \ud \ud We discussed the following: \ud \ud pedagogical underpinnings of 3D virtual environments and 3D VFTs in disciplines such as geology, biology, environmental science/studies and geography which are founded on field observations, exploration and enquiry;\ud \ud potential of integrating VFTs within the curricula in schools and in HEIs;\ud \ud perceptions of educators, students and assessment bodies towards 3D VFTs, and virtual fieldwork, in general; we used the Virtual Skiddaw App in workshops and presentations to illustrate the concept of a 3D VFT;\ud \ud views of stakeholders towards the 3D VFT service: advantages, challenges and their requirements from this service. \ud \ud Our empirical investigations have been user-centred – focussing on the stakeholders and particularly, the end-users such as educators, students and fieldwork specialists, and we have interacted with them via interviews, service design workshops, demonstrations and a survey to elicit their perceptions and requirements.

The Open University has developed virtual field trips for teaching over a number of years, as a necessary supplement to their residential field schools. In common with many online virtual field trips (VFTs), these generally offered fairly simple, linear, isolated experiences. Users progressed from an overview/orientation page with some background information through to a series of static pages, each corresponding to a field locality and containing a set of resources (text, photographs, animations, questions, links). Little interactivity was possible, and most students experienced the VFT in isolation, whether studying it from a DVD or web browser.\ud \ud In 2013, a new VFT, Virtual Skiddaw, was produced via a collaboration between a virtual worlds expert (Shailey Minocha), a geologist (Tom Argles), and Daden, a software development company specializing in virtual worlds. The result is a rich, interactive virtual landscape in which detailed 3D localities are embedded in context, allowing users to follow a guided excursion or explore at their leisure. The VFT runs in a web browser using the free Unity 3D plugin. The Unity 3D gaming engine behind the VFT brings with it a number of features new to virtual field trips: multi-user capability (and interaction), ambient noise, avatar navigation (including flight for aerial views), teleporting (within world only!), 3D models of hand samples. Virtual Skiddaw offers distance students in particular a chance to learn together in the virtual environment, while tutors can lead a group activity in-world. The VFT is now embedded in a core second level Earth science OU module, S209, along with other assets from the recently launched OpenScience Laboratory at the OU (http://learn5.open.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=2).\ud \ud This session will introduce Virtual Skiddaw, and then progress to a hands-on demo, in-world, to showcase some of the features. Participants are invited to discuss affordances and pitfalls of the VFT, and its potential application beyond HE (for example, into schools).

As a part of The OpenScience Laboratory, (http://www.open.ac.uk/openscience/), an initiative of The Open University (OU), UK and The Wolfson Foundation, we (OU and Daden http://www.daden.co.uk) are developing a 3D simulation of a Geology field trip based around Skiddaw in the Lake District, using the Unity 3D software. We are using digital data and imagery to reconstruct the landscape faithfully enough to provide a real sense of presence for the user. The primary objective of developing an authentic 3D interactive simulation has been to provide an immersive experience to the users through sense of space. The virtual embodiment in the form of avatars and the multi-user environment will help give a sense of co-presence and provide opportunities for collaborative learning. The interactions and the learning activities within the 3D environment are designed to mirror the experience of a real field trip. During the presentation at the conference, we plan to address: comparison of the 3D experience with 2D virtual field trips; the role that a 3D virtual geology field trip can play in terms of preparation and reflection before and after a real field trip; and whether and how a 3D simulation helps in gaining geological fieldwork skills and the limitations of 3D virtual geology field trips.

We are investigating the role of online communities on the quality of life and wellbeing of people aged 65 years and over. We have conducted workshops and one-to- one semi-structured interviews, and have had free- flowing informal exchanges with our participants who have shared stories and incidents with us. In this paper, we discuss the challenges and opportunities of conducting empirical research with older people.

As a part of The OpenScience Laboratory, (http://www.open.ac.uk/blogs/openscience/), an initiative of The Open University (OU) and The Wolfson Foundation, we are developing a 3D simulation of a Geology field trip based around Skiddaw in the Lake District, using the Unity 3D software (http://unity3d.com/). We are using digital data and imagery to reconstruct the landscape faithfully enough to provide a real sense of presence for the user.\ud \ud The application will be based around a 10km x 10km low/medium detail model of the terrain and LiDAR data around Skiddaw, with overlaid aerial photography, and including walls, trees, buildings etc. \ud \ud The Skiddaw field trip in the Lake District is an integral part of Earth science teaching at the OU; students carry out a real field trip and can also learn about it through DVD activities. The primary objective of developing an authentic 3D interactive simulation has been to provide an immersive experience to the users through sense of space. The virtual embodiment in the form of avatars and the multi-user environment will help give a sense of co-presence and provide opportunities for collaborative learning. The interactions and the learning activities within the 3D environment are designed to mirror the experience of a real field trip. \ud \ud We aim to have an operational 3D virtual geology trip by the time of the Conference in April 2013. During the workshop and through demonstration of the 3D field trip, we plan to address: comparison of the 3D experience with 2D virtual field trips; the role that a 3D virtual geology field trip can play in terms of preparation and reflection before and after a real field trip; and whether and how a 3D simulation helps in gaining geological fieldwork skills and what are the limitations of 3D virtual geology field trips.

We are investigating the role of online social interactions on the quality of life and well-being of people aged 65 years and over. We have conducted workshops and one-to-one semi-structured interviews, and have had free-flowing informal exchanges with our participants who have shared stories and incidents with us. Initial findings indicate that older people need an incentive to get and stay online; that relatives and trainers need to structure their help and use repetitive strategies to aid retention; that social networking is a step further than most older people take while email, Skype, and closed mailing lists or forums related to their interests are the most common applications for social interactions. Using social capital theory as a lens to look at the evidence, we find that existing social capital inherent in family and neighbourly ties seem to motivate older people to go online. Being online then allows people to maintain and renew relationships. We have yet to gather firm evidence for creation of new online relationships by older people.

Higher and further education institutions are increasingly using social software tools to support teaching and learning. A growing body of research investigates the diversity of tools and their range of contributions. However, little research has focused on investigating the role of the educator in the context of a social software initiative, even though the educator is critical for the introduction and successful use of social software in a course environment. Hence, we argue that research on social software should place greater emphasis on the educators, as their roles and activities (such as selecting the tools, developing the tasks and facilitating the students’ interactions with these tools) are instrumental in a social software initiative. To address this gap, we have developed a research agenda on the role of the educator in a social software initiative. Drawing on role theory, both as the basis for a systematic conceptualization of the educator role and as a guiding framework, we have developed a series of concrete research questions that address core issues associated with the educator roles in a social software context. We have provided recommendations for further investigations. By developing a research agenda we hope to stimulate research that creates a better understanding of the educator’s situation and develops guidelines to help educators carry out their social software initiatives. Considering the significant role an educator plays in the initiation and conduct of a social software initiative, our research agenda ultimately seeks to contribute to the adoption and efficient use of social software in education.

We will focus on the following aspects of conducting empirical research in virtual worlds: the toolbox of techniques for data collection; selection of technique(s) for the research questions; tips on how the techniques need to be adapted for conducting research in virtual worlds; guidance for developing research materials such as the consent form, project summary sheet, and how to address the possible concerns of an institution’s ethics committee who may not be familiar with the avatar-based interactions in virtual worlds; Suggestions such as how the ethical guidelines of conducting research both in offline settings and on the internet need to be considered and combined in the preparation of research materials for conducting research in virtual worlds; outlining the issues related to in-world recruitment of participants; guidance on conducting interviewing and focus group techniques in virtual worlds; or conducting user-observations in virtual worlds; or carrying out guideline inspections or heuristic evaluations to evaluate the designs of learning spaces in virtual worlds; ecommendations for the logistics of conducting empirical research in virtual worlds such as voice versus text-based data collection, developing a researcher identity or a consistent persona, choosing the locations for conducting interviews or focus groups, how to facilitate and manage the multiple channels of communication such as text (local chat and instant messaging), gestures and voice; how the anonymity of the medium demands greater investment of time to establish a mutually beneficial trust relationship with participants; and pointers for the skills and training needs of researchers for conducting empirical research in virtual worlds.

Three-dimensional virtual worlds are multimedia, simulated environments, often managed over the Web, which users can 'inhabit' and interact via their own graphical self-representations known as 'avatars'. 3D virtual worlds are being used in many applications: education/training, gaming, social networking, marketing and commerce. Second Life is the most widely used 3D virtual world in education. However, problems associated with usability, navigation and wayfinding in 3D virtual worlds may impact on student learning and engagement. Based on empirical investigations of learning spaces in Second Life, this paper presents design guidelines to improve the usability and ease of navigation in 3D spaces. Methods of data collection include semi-structured interviews with Second Life students, educators and designers. The findings have revealed that design principles from the fields of urban planning, Human-Computer Interaction, Web usability, geography and psychology can influence the design of spaces in 3D multi-user virtual environments.

A 3D virtual world, also called synthetic world, is a synchronous, persistent multi-user virtual environment, facilitated by networked computers, in which people, represented as avatars, experience others as being present in the same environment, or 'being there together' even though they are geographically distributed. In 3D virtual worlds users synchronously interact in 3D spaces via avatars, their graphical self-representations, and converse in real-time through gestures, and audio- and text-based (chat and instant messaging) communication. \ud Second Life is the most popular 3D virtual world in the education domain and is increasingly being used at the Open University (OU) in the UK and other institutions all over the world. Seminars, small-group tutorials, conferences, art and design workshops, role-play activities, and meetings are some of the educational activities that are being carried out in Second Life. \ud \ud Over the last eighteen months, our experiences of bringing in students and educators into Second Life (SL) have shown that there are four specific issues related to socialisation and skills development: (a) educators and students require training (via user guides and hands-on sessions) to use the SL software; (b) it is important that students gain communication and group-working skills for interacting with fellow-students and educators during educational events such as seminars and tutorials; this involves learning to use the group communication features of SL and to become acquainted with the etiquette and norms of SL; (c) educators require awareness of and training to use the various educational tools and functionalities within SL such as the Power Point presenter, note-card giver, survey tools, and so on; and (d) educators need guidance for designing and conducting course-related learning activities within SL.\ud \ud We have designed and conducted SL socialisation and training activities that have enabled us to implicitly facilitate the SL skills development of educators and students. In this poster we will present the different phases of students' and educators' skills development for interacting with SL software and within the SL environment. For each of the phases, we will present scenarios from our experiences on two OU courses over two presentations indicating what has worked well during our induction and training sessions, and the obstacles that we have faced.

Three-dimensional virtual worlds are multimedia, simulated environments, often managed over the Web, which users can ‘inhabit’ and interact via their own graphical, humanoid, self-representations known as avatars. 3D virtual worlds are being used in many applications: education/training, gaming, social networking, marketing and commerce. Second Life (http://www.secondlife.com) is the most widely used 3D virtual world in education. Our research as well as experiences on two courses at the Open University has shown that it can be very challenging for an educator to design and conduct course-related learning activities in Second Life. There is currently little (formal) guidance for educators to assist them with the design and facilitation of learning activities. Most Second Life teaching and learning initiatives are personal initiatives in the sense that an educator or a team of educators have realised the potential of 3D virtual worlds in education and have adopted Second Life on some of their pedagogical activities in conjunction with other 2D tools (eg blogs and wikis) or the course’s virtual learning environment (VLE).\ud \ud For designing learning activities in Second Life, some of the questions that an educator or instructional designer may face are: How should Second Life activities be situated within the course to engage learners? How should the activities be designed to implicitly impart Second Life training and skills-development to students for using the Second Life software and for interacting within the Second Life environment? Is there a relationship between design of activities and design of 3D learning spaces in Second Life?\ud \ud In this paper, we report the results of a study in which we conducted semi-structured interviews and focus groups with Second Life educators, designers and students. Based on this empirical research, we have derived design guidelines for educators and designers who are involved in designing learning activities in SL. In our presentation, we will specifically focus on the relationship between the design of activities and design of learning spaces within Second Life, and the corresponding effects on student experience and learning. We will discuss vignettes from the data to illustrate the design guidelines. We hope that our presentation will provide useful guidance and triggers for ideas to educators and designers who are planning to set up learning activities and spaces in Second Life.

The designs of learning spaces in 3D virtual worlds such as Second Life can have widely different degrees of visual realism. For example, it could be a replica of a university’s real-life campus or a fantasy space with undersea areas and airships. At the Open University in the UK, we are investigating the relationship between the visual realism of the learning space design, design of pedagogical activities, and learner engagement. In this presentation, based on our empirical research involving educators, designers and students, we will present key guiding principles for designing learning spaces in 3D virtual worlds and specifically the issues of realism and fantasy that need to be considered. We hope that the guidance and recommendations from our research will support educators and designers to design learning spaces that foster students’ socialisation, informal learning, collaboration, and creativity.