Ethical and Legal Issues in Teaching and Learning in Second Life in a Graduate Online Course

Abstract

As a growing number of faculty use SL as a teaching platform, outside of anecdotal articles and the legal literature, no research exists on the many legal and ethical issues that affect course development. Ethical issues include abuse (“griefing”) nudity and lewd behavior, and false/misleading identities. Legal issues include creation and use of copyrighted and trademarked items, faculty intellectual property rights in objects and course content, and criminal behavior. Following the experiences of the instructor and 5 students, their 12-week journey is documented through interviews, journals, weekly course activities, SL class dialogs, and in-world assignments. Additionally, 5 faculty and staff experts who teach or train in SL at this university were interviewed and consulted, as well. This study provides insight for designing courses that foster exploration of rich learning opportunities outside a traditional classroom-both real and virtual.

Desenvolvimento De Recursos Educativos Em Mundos Virtuais

“…No Second Life, instituições de educação como universidades, escolas e associações, criaram ilhas privadas e ambientes imersivos, onde os alunos podem experimentar novos designs na construção de edifícios, familiarizarem-se com os procedimentos de uma sala de operações, conduzir experiências perigosas em segurança, aprender como planear eventos ou explorar a história em 3-D [7]. As atividades educacionais implementadas no SL podem assumir diversas formas:  Aquisição prática de conhecimentos;  Colaboração, trabalho de grupo e ensino à distância (elearning);  Construção de uma comunidade;  Descoberta, inquérito e discussão; simulação e resolução de problemas;  Motivação;  Criação de ambientes de aprendizagem interativos e hiperligação a ambientes de aprendizagem virtual.…”

Constructivist and Constructionist Approaches to Graduate Teaching in Second Life

“…Together, all of these constructivist characteristics lend themselves to teaching in virtual worlds, in general, and in SL, in particular. Talab and Botterbusch (2009) found that while overall positive student experiences in a case study of SL was due to adequate preparation in both SL skills, dealing with harassment, and intellectual property rights during the many field trips that they took, and project-based in-world assignments.…”