NEWS

Colleges turn to online game for experiments too difficult -- or impossible -- in real life

Star-Telegram
July 13, 2008
By Bryon Okada

Fort Worth Star-Telegram/Jeffery Washington

Biology professor Mary Anne Clark stands in front of her avatar in the Schollmaier building at Texas Wesleyan University. Clark, a geneticist, uses the Second Life program to enhance her instruction. Star-Telegram/Jeffery Washington

Judith Kung Fu may be just one of more than 14 million computer-generated characters in the 3-D online game Second Life. But with her help, her creator may one day save your life.

In Second Life, Judith has walked through the walls of a human cell.

She has, in a flash, conducted complicated science experiments that took the world’s best minds years to complete.

She has helped her creator, 21-year-old Jacqueline Rodriguez, a senior biology major at Texas Wesleyan University, take crucial steps toward becoming a doctor.

"I can visualize everything," said Rodriguez, who took an advanced genetics course last semester that featured lab experiments conducted in the Second Life world. "When we’re going over an idea, you can simply walk over and 'see’ what you’re learning."

As computer games have become more sophisticated, their ability to mimic real life — and manipulate reality — has also become more convincing. "Massively multiplayer online" games, played simultaneously by thousands of people, offer their own economies, sports, business opportunities, places to socialize, brushes with culture and just about anything under the sun — or inside it or beyond.

Each player is represented in the Second Life world by an "avatar," a computer-generated character that can be made to resemble the user — or anything else he or she wants. Most players seem to prefer beautiful humans, although you’ll run into the occasional angel, mythological creature — or something weirder.

Because Second Life allows players to communicate directly, as well as to design and build whatever they choose, the more inventive players have developed practical uses for the game. Marketing, business applications, medical conferencing, teaching — all have emerged in Second Life.

It’s made the game a darling of mainstream media. And it’s undeniably popular. An estimated 14.2 million people have signed up for Second Life since 2003. About 1.2 million have actively used their accounts in the last two months.

Artists make art. Business types do business. And, not surprisingly, teachers teach.

Studying on Genome Island

Log onto Second Life, hit Search and type in the name of just about any university and you’ll get hits. Visit Southern Methodist University’s Dallas Hall. Or the UCLA Library. Or Harvard Law School.

In Fort Worth — inside a computer system at Texas Wesleyan to be exact — students are linking to the Second Life world not only to socialize but also to study. It’s all legit.

Biology professor "and resident computer geek" Mary Anne Clark is the owner and designer of Genome Island, where the Wesleyan students are working.

She’s part of a new generation of educators turning to Second Life as a means to energize her course material. The school is paying for the island’s "upkeep."

For a science teacher, the program is especially helpful, Clark said.

As designer, Clark can manipulate time, size, light and other factors on Genome Island.

That means students can replicate the famous 1928 Griffith experiment on mice — otherwise impossible at Wesleyan, which has no animal lab.

In minutes, her students finish the cross-breeding field experiments that took Gregor Mendel eight years to complete.

"It’s fun," Rodriguez said.

At Genome Island, the scrolling sign reads over and over: .".."Science is the next best thing to recess.

"The International Space Museum is just a couple of islands over," Clark said. "I fell off Jupiter while I was there — and it was a long way down."

Many schools use Second Life primarily for group meetings.

"One example of the way we’ve been using it is for virtual welcome sessions," said Katrina Adams, instructional designer for the University of Texas at Dallas’ school of management. "We’ll hold them and get people from around the country, and around the world. We’ll have program directors like George Barnes or Amy Troutman in Second Life and they’ll have their avatars there to meet you."

And in some cases, actual instruction is going on in Second Life.

At Wesleyan, there’s a flier going around: "Register for NSC 1414 Cats, Codons & ." . Chromosomes. .

On an even more promising note, Clark said, she has conducted a couple of orientations for fellow educators kicking the tires of Second Life.

"We’ll see," she said hopefully.

Enhancing teaching

A recent study indicates that teaching in the 3-D world can enhance education, according to Greg Jones and Scott Warren, assistant professors of computer education and cognitive systems at the University of North Texas. They conducted a study that will soon be published in the Journal of Interactive Learning Research.

From fall 2002 through summer 2007, the study tracked 250 graduate students at UNT taking 16 courses — some with a 3-D online environment and some without. Students using the 3-D world developed better rapport, stayed interested longer and debated subjects more deeply, according to the study.

The success or failure of the teaching, Jones said, depends on how well the teacher can translate the real-world lesson into the virtual world — and how well the teacher’s ideas harness the 3-D world’s capabilities.

"Technology does not replace teaching," Jones said.

To determine whether a technology like a game should be used in schools, teachers and administrators should ask the following questions, Jones and Warren say:

Is there evidence that the product improves learning?

Is there evidence that it accelerates learning?

Can it be used with the computers and servers we already have?