A conference presentation by Dr Simon Bignell & Rosemary Horry at the Learning, Teaching and Assessment conference at University of Derby (Buxton). Using 3D Virtual Avatars to stimulate Pro-environmental Behaviour through the Curriculum: Engaging Students on Sustainability in Times of Change.

1. Simon Bignell (Psychology) &
Rosemary Horry (Environmental Sciences)
LTA Conference, UOD Buxton 2013
Using 3D Virtual Avatars
to stimulate Pro-
environmental Behaviour
through the Curriculum:
Engaging Students on
Sustainability in Times of Change.

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The Emergence of Virtual Worlds in
Higher Education
• The Hype Cycles from Gartner provide a
graphic representation of the maturity and
adoption of technologies and applications.
http://www.gartner.com/

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Photo of Virtual Lecture

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Virtual Neonatal Ward: for a Developmental
Psychology Module at University of Derby
Video of Neonatal Unit (1m16s):
http://youtu.be/sEd9s0toHuk

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Project webpage: http://previewpsych.org/

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“We worked as a team...
this seemed much more
valuable than just
writing an essay or
having a discussion.”
“I was thinking
more about the real
life Psychology
because the avatars
represented real
people with real
psychological
problems.”
“...the content was
easy to access and
the tasks very
enjoyable.”

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Best Practices Document
Best Practices in Virtual Worlds Teaching: A guide
to using problem-based learning in Second Life

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Education for Sustainable
Development

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• Two Sustainability / TEL Projects:
– With Rosemary Horry (Environmental Sciences) funded by the Higher
Education Academy.
– With Zaheer Hussain (Psychology) funded by the Higher Education Academy
Psychology Network.
• Evaluated different methods of embedding ESD in the curriculum.
• Used Second Life to rate people’s pro-environmental behaviour and
attitudes to ‘green’ issues such as recycling, energy use and
resources.
• Participants reported more pro-environmental behaviour a week
after seeing the videos.

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• In the problem-based learning scenarios we used programmed
avatar interactions to lead the students to ask the question of ‘what
is Sustainability?’
• The scenarios had some concrete examples from a contemporary
lifestyle perspective.
• We constructed a series of learning scenarios for staff and students
that highlighted the motivational and behavioural factors that
impact on sustainability (e.g. resources, recycling and energy
efficiency).

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• Scenario 1. Resources:
• Small groups of students find out who
has been using the most water in the
virtual household and why, by
interacting with the avatars and each
other.
• Issues such as beliefs and behaviour
about showers vs. bathing, washing
the car and using the dishwasher were
explored along with wider issues of
sustainability of resources.
•
Example project video (3m20s):
http://youtu.be/N_0FNyUX1Uo

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• Scenario 2. Recycling: Students are
tasked to establish what the issues are
with one particular member of the
family who is refusing to engage in pro-
environmental behaviour.
• Issues such as beliefs about recycling
paper, card and metal were explored in
an attempt to find out why they think
recycling is a good idea but
nevertheless fail to engage in these
activities.
Project video (2m26s):
http://youtu.be/i4FOB6Yf_HQ

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• Scenario 3. Energy Efficiency: Students
worked in teams to answer questions about
home energy use (e.g., leaving things on
standby), replacing light bulbs with low wattage
equivalents, whether using a microwave is better
than the oven or the energy consumption of a
washing machine at 30°C rather than 40°C.
• These were contrasted with global issues of
sustainable development across different
contexts as the problem-based scenarios evolved
and the students found out more from each of
the virtual avatar family members.
Example project video (2m20s):
http://youtu.be/EusqbduUejg

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• xxxx
• xxx

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Educational Visual Storylines –
‘Cartoons’
• Uses a virtual world to
create educational
cartoons for Teaching
and Online Learning.
• Rapidly develop and
deploy to modules.
• Import straight into our
Virtual Learning
platform.

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‘JISC - Moving into Virtual Worlds -
Emerging Practice in a Digital Age’
• With Aston University
• JISC resources feature
commentary and
reflection on
pedagogical
applications of virtual
worlds.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aTvE2OBQHc
Emerging Practice in a Digital Age JISC VIDEO
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/emergeresource

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How to visit the University of Derby Second Life Islands:
1) Create and avatar: http://tinyurl.com/GETAN-AVATAR
2) Install Second Life: http://tinyurl.com/Download-SL
3) Teleport to us: http://tinyurl.com/DERBYSECONDLIFE
Virtual Campus Flythrough (1m6s):
http://youtu.be/GQnyb87Zj0o

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Using problem-based learning
within 3D virtual worlds
– Published book chapter in with
Dr Vanessa Parson (Sunderland
University, Previously at Aston).
• Parson, V. & Bignell, S. (2011). in
Hinrichs, R and Wankel, C (Eds),
Transforming Virtual World
Learning: Cutting-edge
technologies in higher education,
Vol. 4, pp. 245–265. Emerald
Group Publishing Limited:
Teynampet, India. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Transforming-Learning-Cutting-edge-
Technologies-Education/dp/1780520522

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Contact Dr Simon Bignell
Centre for Psychological Research
University of Derby, UK
s.bignell@derby.ac.uk
+44 (0)1332 593043 (ext: 3043)
www.MiltonBroome.com
www.PREVIEWPsych.org

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Second Life Video Playlist
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLX4ftfKp-z4EAKaTUO9ALkvbbjCTYJj0G

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Neonatal Ward Video

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Resources Video

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Recycling Video

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Energy Efficiency Video