Let's welcome the second speaker. Dr Dafne González.
Dafne González is a professor at Simón Bolívar University.
As you can see in the program.
She's an expert in Second Life.
Her curriculum...
...is pretty long. I was surfing the net to introduce her today...
...but I could spend all day talking about her curriculum.
She's a professor at Simón Bolívar University in Venezuela.
She's an expert in Second Life.
She holds a PhD in Education from the University of Valencia in Spain.
Correct me if I'm wrong.
From 2007 she teaches using virtual worlds.
She's the coordinator of the Spanish as a Second Language Program
in Second Life.
You can look this up at languagelab.com
She's a Didactics course designer.
Creator of materials for education and also a teacher.
Among her courses we can highlight
Virtual Workshop on Course Creation and Online Communities.
Learning through Yahoo Groups.
She also has other workshops.
Course Creation and Online Tuition at the University of Valencia.
Among many others.
Let's begin her presentation. It's very interesting.
Contributions of Virtual Worlds to Distance Language Teaching.
-When you're ready. -Good morning.
I'm coming straight from Denia, where I live.
Straight from the AVE.
I'm glad to be here.
As always.
And even more to talk about...
...my research adventure.
Language teaching.
And teacher training in Second Life.
That's the title of this presentation.
Contributions of Virtual Worlds to Distance Language Teaching.
As we've known for years now. Decades.
Language teaching has invaded the world of technology and internet.
There are still, as I was saying...
...some problems teachers and students have to access.
To access these tools.
This is further complicated when we include virtual worlds.
What's a virtual world?
A virtual world is a 3D rendering
of the real world on the internet.
There are several virtual worlds which can be accessed on the web.
We'll talk about Second Life. Perhaps the one people know best.
The largest. The oldest.
The one I've been using.
Let me see. I need my glasses for that.
It's old age, you know.
What's Second Life?
It's a three-dimensional world.
It represents...
...or aims at representing our world.
We use avatars to move around it.
Avatars...
...are our digitized identity.
This is my avatar. Daf Smirnoff.
In Second Life.
Why do we say that virtual worlds...
...must be another learning tool in language teaching and learning?
Many oppose virtual worlds. Second Life has its detractors.
Many are against it.
The virtual world represents the real world.
It has its pros and cons as does the real world.
There are choices to be made.
Students must learn to choose between what's good and bad for them.
The same applies to the virtual world.
There are more advantages than drawbacks.
Let's see.
First. Total immersion without leaving home.
What's the difference between that...
...and a MOOC or an online course?
The ones we're familiar with already.
That we are online. Each one in their own home.
Or internet café.
But we're at a specific place by means of an avatar.
We interact by means of avatars.
Talking and making gestures.
As if we were all avatars. That's how we communicate.
Total immersion without leaving home.
Apart from that...
Immersion with other avatars...
...it's not only people who speak our same language.
This world encompasses all countries. All countries in the world.
There'll be people who speak the language we're teaching.
In my case, English. For a German, it'll be German.
In Second Life we can visit London, Amsterdam, Paris...
...Greece. Many countries.
Their virtual renderings, that is.
Museums.
Concerts.
We can go to talks.
Dancing. Shopping.
We can do things that...
...that we don't do in real life.
That's our role as teachers.
To tell the students where to go.
The same as in the classroom.
Students use their mobiles.
The idea is to use mobiles in the class.
Not to ban their use. It's not their nature.
You need to make the best of the tools they use in class.
That's where context simulation comes in.
How can we go to a museum
a restaurant, a party
a supermarket. Anywhere.
Students have these contexts.
To interact with the language that they're learning.
These simulations and contexts
might be the ones from Second Life. Where we go with the students.
Or those we create for our class.
You can build in Second Life.
She mentioned that I coordinated
Language Lab's Spanish program.
It's on hold because of the crisis.
The number of students is not enough for it to be profitable.
All four language disciplines are practised.
Second Life allows the use of voice.
So that the students can speak.
With the teacher and their classmates.
Even with others in Second Life.
Somewhere else. Distance communication.
From a different place altogether.
I'm in a course with ten avatars
and I can have a private conversation with some of my students.
I don't need to leave the place.
With the help of private voice messaging.
Then comes writing.
We have Note Cards. Just like Word.
Rather, text. It has no format.
And I can share Note Cards with my students.
Exchange them with others. I can receive them as well.
We can use and upload Power Point.
Display Power Point. Web pages.
Upload recordings. Podcasts.
Everything we use in the web 2.0
Everything we use in online courses. It's all compatible with Second Life.
Lastly, motivation.
Although Second Life is not a videogame
it looks like videogames.
We know that students
they are very much into videogames.
When they get to Second Life, they are playing.
Instead of using the computer, they are playing with avatars.
They aren't interacting with their teacher. They're interacting with avatars.
And interactive objects in Second Life.
I have a bottle of water and I say: "Let's drink some water".
They click on their bottle. And they have some.
A class about food.
They click on the table.
The menu pops up and they make their choice.
You can talk about the menu. About food.
We'll see some pictures of teachers building their own objects.
You can build learning objects.
It's all a motivation.
It's more complex than an online class. At the beginning.
You need to acquire certain skills.
And of course, Second Life is for free.
There are some things you buy, but...
...normally it's for free.
You'll be wondering how I entered Second Life.
We'll talk about Second Life later.
Ops, it's gone!
Since 2001...
I became interested in internet use for language teaching.
In 2002, I taught blended courses completely online.
And so I went. But in 2006...
I belong to a...
To a community of practice of English teachers at a global scale.
One day they invited me to enter Second Life.
I was very impressed. It left a mark.
"Very interesting. How could it be used in the language classroom?"
I didn't know then. It had to be possible.
I investigated further. During my enquiries...
...I met the owner of Language Lab.
An English company. No headquarters.
The headquarters were in Second Life. They have a huge virtual city.
For English teaching.
They called me in case I wanted to take part in the Spanish program.
And we built a city. I wanted it Mediterranean style.
It featured Valencia's central market.
Altea's streets.
I suggested things to the programmers.
I supervised and I took part in the construction.
As an advisor.
They were experienced builders. It was named Ciudad Bonita.
Unfortunately it's closed now.
We spent three years working there. All went very well.
Then I had the chance to participate in a EU-funded project.
Move Nation.
I met people from all around the world who were interested in the same as me.
Teaching languages in Second Life.
It was a fantastic activity...
...that's why I find Second Life engaging.
I'm a teacher at Simón Bolívar University.
I teach English for Architecture and Urban Planning.
I came up with the idea of using my students as guinea pigs.
For the sake of language teaching.
I prepared two projects. Level one and level three.
Level one was an introduction to virtual worlds.
There I talked about how architects...
They have their space in Second Life.
Some do their drafts in Second Life.
Before they build the real thing.
Because they can create spaces they will later build in real life.
And they take their clients there to see it before they build it.
To see if they like it or not.
There are museums. Frank Lloyd Wright's, for example.
There are finished houses. There are building contests.
The Island of Architecture. Many architects have studios there.
During my enquiry, I came up with...
...a plan for level three students..
...ranging from lower-intermediate level to upper-intermediate.
Levels are never homogeneous.
I thought that I could use the contents in Second Life.
The course curriculum...
...for Architecture and Urban Planning.
Colour, texture, light, pace...
...vertical and horizontal circulation, scale and space.
I thought they could go to Second Life.
And visit all the cities.
And see the use of those elements in the virtual world.
To compare it with real life.
I made up a list of places they should visit.
But they can choose. They're always building new things.
Once they're in, they start exploring.
What do I do? There are several spaces...
...Greece, Amsterdam...
...Frank Lloyd Wright's museum.
They go to my platform.
I have a space in Second Life. With its normal place.
At ground level, say.
But I also have a platform 700 metres from the ground.
In Second Life you can move around.
With my students I want privacy.
I want them to feel comfortable, not observed.
I raise the platform. I invite them. We have a meeting there.
I teach them what they need there. What do architects need?
They already master architecture concepts.
They need to learn how to move in Second Life.
To take photos and record videos in Second Life.
To make a video presentation for me...
...as an end-of-term project.
Students love it.
I let them choose between real life
and Second Life.
More than half choose Second Life.
Here...
I don't know if we have time...
Yes, we do.
-Only a bit. -Yes.
I'll show something else later.
-Two minutes. -Just that?
These are videos made by students. One after the other.
I chose the ones with the poorest English on purpose.
It's the motivation.
Students feel encouraged to do the project.
They do it in spite of their English level. They speak. They record the video.
Let's watch only a bit.
That gives you an idea.
How architecture skills are used.
In Second Life.
And other elements, such as video.
They have to make the video and write...
And write a script for the oral part.
To make a presentation on a wiki.
They have their e-portfolios and wikis. They reflect the work of each unit.
Let me see.
Let's move on to teachers.
I teach a course at UNED.
It's a Master's. About language teaching in Second Life.
Teachers don't know about Second Life.
They haven't heard about Second Life. They haven't played videogames.
During the term
they go from knowing nothing to finishing the term...
...teaching a mini-lesson in Second Life.
They produce their own teaching resources.
And present their lesson.
What is there to know?
What does the teacher need in Second Life?
First of all, moving around.
This is my aerial platform.
I build a labyrinth.
They learn to walk.
To walk through walkways.
Criss-crossing, circular... To climb stairs. To fly.
You can fly in Second Life.
To sit down. To pick up objects.
In the second they're moving objects.
They throw each other the ball. It looks easy, but it isn't.
When they arrive in Second Life they crash against the wall. They're lost.
Then I teach construction techniques.
This is an example.
Object cells first.
Giving them colour and texture.
Shaping them. Putting them together. Taking them apart.
Creating objects.
And turning them into didactic resources.
I also tell them how to. Here. In this square.
How to use didactic objects which are available in Second Life.
There are free objects in Second Life.
And games. For the classroom.
Apart from what we may build. We can also buy them.
Of course.
An object costs three lindendollars.
That's the currency there. About 0.25 euros.
Something like that. That's the exchange rate.
They all go through this process.
Until they get to...
...to mini-lessons.
These are four mini-lessons.
A restaurant with all kinds of resources.
This is in the open air.
This house shows diverse shapes and mathematical concepts.
Here I don't remember what they were doing.
I had a video that...
This is the third module.
I introduce them to my avatar in Second Life.
The module objectives. And the activities.
I see that you're doing the presentation...
...with a wiki.
-I imagine that... -Public. Access is allowed.
-Participants can enter freely... -Yes.
And the address...
I'll give it to them later.
There's also the link to the wiki.
It's the teacher training course. You can look at the contents.
And at some of the e-portfolios.
Teachers share their experience.
From the first day to the last.
They make a course assessment.
They evaluate the course. They create mini-lessons.
They evaluate each other's lessons.
It's a very complete course.
Could you increase the font size?
This is the wiki address.
These are the conclusions.
As I've already mentioned...
...we can create lessons in places that already exist in Second Life.
Lessons with ready-made resources. Like my platform.
I can change it. A labyrinth one day. A bar the next.
A disco the next. And...
It depends on the class.
And it's not only for language teaching.
I've told you. Many universities...
...are headquartered in Second Life.
Oxford, Leeds, Penn State...
In Spain I'm not sure.
There's one Virtual Spain.
And one Barcelona.
-UNED doesn't exist yet... -Not that I know.
-We'll try to... -My platform represents UNED.
It's where I teach the course. You can now take down the address.
HTTP.
Don't write WWW.
uned2013
DIC, as in dictionary.
Then dot "pbworks.com"
That's all. The rest writes itself.
Thank you for the presentation.
Excuse the speed.
-If there's any question... -Five minutes for questions.
We have a question here.
Good day. Thanks for the presentation.
I'd like to ask you for the platform...
...the aerial platform isn't for free, is it?
Are there free private spaces available in Second Life?
How to get access to them?
One of my students
wants to apply Second Life to English teaching.
It's for primary. From 10 to 12 years old.
Privacy is key to us.
-I'm not sure about that age... -We have no budget.
-We can't buy a thing. -I'm not sure about that age...
I believe you have to be over 16 to enter Second Life.
Now they have classified the spaces.
To separate the adults. I don't know. I mind my own business.
I don't know about the young ones.
A colleague of mine has a space for English lessons.
He gives English teachers free space.
Any of us can get English lessons
or French, German, or Chinese lessons...
He lends teachers space.
For sporadic classes, you also have...
...Sandboxes.
They're available for three or four hours. To build whatever you need.
Then you simply leave. These Sandboxes...
With the platform... You sit down on a little box.
And say: "take me to this height and extend the platform".
Closed or open.
You jump in and no one bothers you.
You aren't in the Sandbox where everybody is.
You go up and practice.
For that, go to Second Life.
To see how to deal with children.
The British Council had an island for young people.
It may not work now.
Graham Stanley was in charge of that.
Now I don't know.
He's not there now. Perhaps the British Council still is.
Any other question?
We still have time for another.
-Thank you very much. -Thank you.