Virtual Worlds Research Seminar is a graduate level course targeting Ph.D. and M.Ed. students interested in studying, understanding,and publishing research related to virtual worlds and their application for learning. Students in this course will synthesize existing research, conduct small scale studies, and draft reports of their findings suitable for future publication in peer-reviewed research journals. The following is an excerpt from the course syllabus:

Instructor:
 Steve Downey
Office:
 302-V Education Bldg (Secondary Ed)
Email:
 downey@coedu.usf.edu

Course Description

More than 16 million people world wide pay monthly fees to participate in virtual worlds, such as World of Warcraft, Lineage, Lord of The Rings, etc (mmogchart.com 2008).  Another 20+ million participate in free/open virtual worlds such as Club Penguin, Second Life, etc (Virtual Worlds Management, 2007).  Gartner Research (2007) predicts that 80% of active Internet users and Fortune 500 companies will have a virtual world presence by 2011.  With such a large global upside to the marketplace, it is not surprising that corporations and agencies alike are rushing to establish foot hold in these virtual worlds.  Universities also are working to establish a virtual world presence and explore the instructional potential of these environments.  Yet, for all of the interest in these worlds, very little is known about people’s behaviors, motivations, interactions, and personal preferences as they apply to virtual worlds (in general) and how they might apply to the use of virtual worlds for the delivery of online instruction.

This graduate level course looks beyond the hype of virtual worlds to examine research as it relates to:

  • education and learning  (and how cognition and instructional design might be employed in world)
  • HCI and computer science  (and how usability impacts users’ perceptions and interactions)
  • society and culture  (and how social networking and community building occur in virtual worlds)
  • other areas, based upon the research interests of students in the class

The end result of your participation in this research seminar will be: (1) a greater understanding of the diverse facets associated with virtual worlds beyond your own area of expertise (e.g., art, culture, cyberinfrastructure, learning theory, etc); (2) stronger skills for evaluating and synthesizing research related to virtual worlds and knowledge sharing; and (3) co-authorship on a research paper suitable for publication by a peer-reviewed research journal. It should be noted that this course will NOT focus on software coding or 3D development; our focus will be on research.


Course Text

Jones, W. P., A. (2006). Understanding Research: Becoming a Competent and Critical Consumer. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. ISBN: 0-13-119844-0 Price: $35 (approximately)


Course Assignments

Research Article Critique & Presentation #1 (15% of the course grade): select an article from a research journal, analyze the quality of the study (e.g., its design, data collection, data analysis, and conclusions) and the study’s implications for virtual worlds and their use in education.  You’ll present your critique of the article to the class.  The presentation will consist of a 15-minute review of the article, followed by a 25-minute discussion to be led by you.  Finally, you’ll draft a two-page, single-space, critique and post it to the Worlds of Education Research Wiki.  1-1/2 page of the critique will be your analysis and the other 1/2-page will be summation of the feedback from the other students in class.

Research Article Critique & Presentation #2 (15%):  same guidelines and requirements as described above.

Research Prospectus (15%): drawing upon your personal interests, knowledge gained about research and virtual worlds, you will draft a three-page, single-spaced, prospectus detailing a proposed research study on virtual worlds – introduction, brief literature review, study design, data collection and analysis procedures, etc.

Co-author Research Paper for Publication (45%):  in groups of 3-4 you will draft a research article on virtual worlds and submit the article for publication to a peer-reviewed research journal.  While most papers are likely to be position papers, white papers, or similar non-data centric papers, students may choose to conduct small scale empirical studies and/or qualitative research at their discretion.  The choice will be left to each authoring group.  The choice of journal to which submission will be made also is left to each group.  However, the journal must be research focused (versus practitioner focused) and must subscribe to a peer review process for article reviews and acceptance.  The final part of this assignment is a peer-evaluation in which you will assess the contributions of your co-authors.  This evaluation serves to reinforce the need for collaboration and inter-reliance of co-authors in the writing process.  As such, it represents 20 of the 70 points associated with this course assignment.

Course Participation (10%): as with any other job, you are expected to be prepared each class session (e.g., have the readings completed) and engage in the online discussions held outside of our class sessions. This includes sharing ideas, asking questions of others, answering other students’ questions and solicitations for input and doing so in a manner that advances a class discussion or aids others in advancing their pursuits.