Stage 1 in Production is to identify the context of both students and lecturers as they prepare to engage with the Second Life resources.  This is sometimes referred to as background or user research.  For a detailed description of the full production process please refer to the blog posting by Leigh Blackall – Producing educational resources through Second Life.

Three contexts will be examined.  The majority of students who will be using the Second Life resources fit into Context 1 which is a general context of Foundation Education (MIT, Whitireia, Otago Polytechnic, Wintec, and half of the North Tec students).  Context 2 includes a specific group of pre-degree nursing students from UNITEC, and Context 3 includes ESOL students from North Tec.  Context 1 will be examined in detail, while Context 2 and 3 will be discussed only where there are differences in comparison to Context 1.

Foundation students at Manukau Institute of Technology are fairly representative of foundation students around the country, so general assumptions will be made based on this group.

Ethnicities of MIT Foundation Students (2008)

  MIT possibly has a greater ethnic mix than other institutions because of the multicultural diversity in South Auckland.  The MIT Foundation students represent over 60 different countries of origin.  The main ethnic groupings are represented in the graph to the left.

There are always more female than male students, and students range in age from 16 to 60 years old.  Students are a mixture of those who chose to leave education early as the high school system was not working for them, those who were forced to leave out of financial necessity, teen pregnancy or family need, those who are at a crossroads and have made a conscious decision to change direction, and those who are battling with a new life in a new country and having to retrain in the English language.  Recent trends have seen an influx of younger school leavers, and this is not surprising as in South Auckland, Manukau City statistics show 800 students leave school each year with few or no qualifications.

What are the prevailing attitudes to computers, the Internet and if they have heard of Second Life, and what are their preconceived ideas of all that applied to their education?

The majority of students entering foundation programmes have a computer at home.  As the average age of students has decreased, more and more of those sitting in classrooms have some degree of skill using the computer.  Students who lack basic computing skills are enrolled in a computing course to help them achieve sufficient digital literacy to cope with further study/work demands.

Students use computers in many subjects.  Most subjects utilise the labs at least one session per week.  Students seem to enjoy using the labs and computers.  Student evaluations reflect a very positive attitude towards working in the computer labs.

Very few students ever hear about Second Life and the few that have, associate Second Life with gaming.  The idea that Second Life can be utilised for education is new to nearly all students.  Staff are starting to hear more about Second Life.  

What might their motivation levels be like?

Motivation levels amongst students would be high.  When asked about Second Life, students tend to respond with immediate curiosity and enthusiasm.  It is vital that the initial motivation be sustained carefully once students first enter Second Life.  It will be essential that Orientation is interesting and carefully structured with ample scaffolding.  There are many who enter Second Life who quickly lose interest without adequate support.  Foundation students need more support than most and it is imperative that they can have a successful start in Second Life.  If they feel they cannot make something work or that something is just not possible, the level of motivation will soon plummet.

In order to provide smooth Orientation within Context 3, instructions for Orientation must be in simple text, easy to follow and understand.  This requirement will assist all foundation students as there are many who have English as a second or even third language.

What is their access to computers with the right specs going to be, and what about Internet connection?

At MIT, of those interviewed prior to orientation, more than 95% stated they have home computers, also have the Internet.  The majority of these students have Broadband access.  It is expected that this will vary for students at different institutions depending on their geographical location and high speed access availability.

A lack of high speed connections from home computers will not impact on this project as all students (in all three contexts) will be using computers in computer labs at their respective institutions.  At present all collaborating institutions have IT support and there should not be any problems with ensuring students have adequate software and hardware to use Second Life.  If students want to operate Second Life outside of class time, they will need to check the specs on whatever home computers they have available.  IT personnel have agreed to limited use of Second Life at this stage (ie use from one or two computer laboratory(ies) only).

Will they only be able to access from their school and so their setting will be computer labs under supervision?  Or will some have access from home or outside, and want to (and/or be expected to) use the resources independently?

Students will have access to computers that are equipped to run Second Life within their institutions.  These sessions will be conducted with the lecturer present in all cases.  There will be no expectation for work to be accessed on Second Life outside of the class session, but provision will be made for asychronous learning activities for the highly motivated students who want more time than can be offered in class.  At MIT, if students want extra time in Second Life outside of class, and they have no home computer, the computer lab that is equipped with Second Life capabilities, will be made available over lunchtimes.

What sorts of supports (if any) will be in place from the school?

The IT Helpdesk is available to answer student queries.  It is hoped that the staff who man the Helpdesks in the institutions will be given some instruction/information so they can help students.  

What sorts of restrictions (if any) might the school have on the Internet and Second Life?

All institutions have firewalls in place, but all IT departments have agreed to make a provision for this project so that Second Life will be available in at least one full computer laboratory.

What else can you tell us about the context and frame of mind in which key people (especially other teachers) will be approaching these resources?

The Foundation Project Team will be highly motivated to make this a successful experience for students.  As Team Leader, I currently spend many hours in Second Life and it had literally become my home away from home.  I believe that this enthusiasm will flow onto the team.  I also believe that there are three core areas which will increase general motivation for this project:

• There is a nationwide push towards improving levels of adult literacy.  Second Life provides a tool for improving verbal literacy through avatar communication, reading literacy through information on notecards, noticeboards, and links to documents and webpages, and digital literacy through using the computer for activities outside of mere document creation and presentation.
• Foundation lecturers are acutely aware of the need to improve student retention by providing students with absorbing and varied learning activities.  As Second Life is inherently interesting and new, and is inclusive, in that all students can be equally active synchronously, there is a great potential for involving and absorbing the interest of students so that retention is more likely.
• Foundation students have a great need for social networking, for community, and the Second Life platform is ideal to promote this in a positive manner.

The students in Context 3 aim to have their students participate in speaking practise with tutors in a virtual environment. They will make use of the interviewing resources, but can extend their experiences inworld to include any of the already available ESOL resources in Second Life.