SL ARTS & LITERATURE: Project DIRECT Builds Vital Connections Between Educators

It is that season when mortar boards soar through the air, and thousands who once were students now declare themselves graduates. On the SL grid, a quieter commencement has taken place as a group of 20 educators from rural schools throughout Oregon (the real one) mark their first year as part of Project DIRECT.

Since November 2010, Second Life has been the major thrust of Project DIRECT (Distance Innovations for Rural Educators using Communication Technologies), a program within the Oregon Writing Project, which is part of University of Oregon’s Center for Advanced Technology in Education. The goal of this program is to enhance the abilities of participating teachers to integrate technology into their practices and their classrooms.     

The picture above only looks like a “kumbaya” circle.  The educators participating in this first class of Project DIRECT quickly turned their once monthly initial commitment into weekly Wednesday sessions of networking and resource sharing.

“Teaching can be a very isolating profession,” says Peggy Marconi (i.e. Ruby Flanagan in SL) and Associate Director of the Oregon Writing Project, “Imagine that isolation multiplied when you are one of two or three teachers within in 50 square miles of each other.”  It is hard to imagine, for folks who struggle with traffic, air quality, and the line at Starbucks, that there are places in the Unites States where there are still one-room schoolhouses.  The State of Nevada has 23.  In Wyoming, itinerate “trailer schools” are pulled up to a ranch where there are school-aged children and learning commences, with children from neighboring ranches within a vast area in attendance.  Under these circumstances, the normal isolation of teaching (educators focused almost exclusively on students for nine months of the year) can become profound. 

Enter the University of Oregon, the Oregon Writing Project and Project DIRECT.  They began in last fall recruiting two to three teachers from multiple school districts, taught them how to access the grid and use the virtual world as a tool: create an avatar, walk, sit, talk, create – all the essential new skills.  They taught this using an Alice in Wonderland themed tutorial process which will play a key role in the program’s future – more on that later.  The initial commitment was once a month and blossomed.  Soon, in addition to lessons, participants took advantage of the benefits of the virtual world to take trips together: safari tours, traveling to Hyde Park in London, buying kimonas in ancient Japan.

Some particpants are not technologically savvy, and the virtual world can be overwhelming for those who think the presence of a “mouse” on their desks requires a trap or a hungry cat.  Jan Doyle from Bandon, OR actually physically carted her school computer home with her to plug it in order to participate.  Her rural district has Second Life as a blocked site, and her home computer will not support the viewer platform.  “Because of my adventures … I introduced some fun interactive educational games to my classroom. The kids love it!” Doyle enthused.  She plans on spending her summer evaluating more virtual sites and developing an anthology of them to use in the classroom.

“As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another” is the verse from Proverbs 27:17.  And so learning and exploring together lead to the natural open exchange of ideas: discussing teaching techniques, classroom challenges, lesson plans – the sort of resource sharing that makes most networking experts drool.  “The intimacy of the person to person connection opens doors,” says Marconi, despite the artificiality of the environment “it provides the freedom to inquire.”

The Project brought people in from the outside to speak to the virtual class.  Peggy Marconi refers to there being “ghosts” at their Wednesday sessions: colleagues and administrators visiting in the location where the participants are online and looking over their shoulders – becoming engaged.   Derry McMahon and I visited Project DIRECT in December, on behalf of the Seanchai Library, to present literature and discuss the role and potential of virtual libraries. Guests to the class have also come from the corporeal world and included Register-Guard Journalist Bob Welch whose April 2011 article A Virtual World of Discovery highlights his experience presenting to Project DIRECT.  Mr. Welch’s observations are clearly the observations of someone from the outside looking in. I bristled a little at his assertion that the people he encountered were not real – the avatars were not, but there were real people behind them he connected with.  Yet even he recognizes the benefits and liabilities of this as an educational platform.

When asked about the potential of virtual worlds as an educational tool, Doyle (whose virtual name is “Nur” meaning “light”) continued,” As an educational platform the virtual world is limitless. Students have access to the art, music, and language of every culture via the virtual world. Students can visit foreign lands, tour museums, and converse with other travelers.”  Yet those of us who have spent anytime on the grid know that there can also be a seedy under-belly to something that is really good, and Doyle acknowledges that as a major challenge,” These limitless possibilities also bring danger into the classroom. I don't think as educators we are prepared to vaccinate kids against the harmful activities that take place under the anonymity of a virtual world. Safeguards are both necessary and constraining; finding a balance between the two is a challenge for today's educators. Although I love virtual learning, I hesitate to recommend this platform without also advocating for increased vigilance of on-line activities.”  During a recent conference held in Portland a presenter on education in the virtual world was griefed during his presentation.

Yet despite these dangers, when asked about the future of the Project and the idea, participants and organizers alike are enthusiastic.  Each participant has committed to recruit one colleague to comprise next year’s class beginning in the fall. This year's class will act as one-to-one mentors with the new recruits.  Ya gotta love educators!

The immediate impact of the January fee changes to education and non-profit tier by Linden Labs will not hit the grant-funded Project DIRECT for another year.  In the mean time they have taken their successfully beta-tested teaching techniques and put them to use creating the Alice Academy as a place to train similar groups of new residents the basics of Second Life functionality in a remarkably simple and effective way.  The hope is that they can broker the use of the Alice Academy tutorials to help fund the project in the future.  Who better to develop educational tools than educators?

As opposed to lots of the tunnel-like cramped orientation centers I have seen, the Alice Academy has space to move while you are learning how to.  It is also ideal for bringing a clutch of new residents in, who all might be learning the same things at the same time. Alice and other characters lead residents via Video panels with clear, simple instructions. Lessons vary from basic “Second Life 101” to additional lessons on doing internet searches, how to build objects and apply textures.  I thought the virtual greenhouse near the field where building was taught was a particularly nice touch – an example of a complex object made up of simple shapes.  People interested should contact ArthurConan Doyle in world, or I would encourage them to explore the Alice Academy their own  - it is an excellent learning tool.

When I first occurred to me to write this article, I contacted my friend ArthurConan Doyle (RL Educational Advocate and retired educator Tom Layton) and it struck me that this was a tough article, not because it was a hard subject, but because the impact was so meaningful: teachers connecting weekly and having an impact on literally hundreds of classroom children. I know of another group in SL, The Virtual Pioneers, that uses a similar format to connect social studies educators.  The potential for it is vast.  It took a long time to write.  It is just one more reason why you look at the decision of Linden Labs to cancel the educational tier discount and just shake your head.  Clearly, it is only a matter of time before someone creates a content rich world for virtual educators with the sorts of safeguards required. 

You won’t find Marconi, Layton, and their colleagues waxing pessimistic about Linden Labs or the future of education in the virtual world.  They hope to develop a summer curriculum in the virtual world that can be used for continuing education as University accredited hours. When speaking of Project DIRECT, Marconi says, “It has made me proud to be an educator, and has brought out the best in collegiality that I could have hoped for. There’s always someone there ready to help.”  She references the Project DIRECT leadership team as being responsible for creating a supportive environment where everybody contributes.  She specifically mentions Mary Harwood who patiently assists guests, sitting down and reaching out computer to computer, showing unfathomable patience and understanding.  Project DIRECT is a success and children in classrooms all over Oregon have benefited this year from the act of building community links between their teachers.  Benefiting children: isn’t that what education should be about?  This is only the tip of the iceberg.

~ Caledonia Skytower, Reporting

“Any ink is good ink, even if it is virtual”